We must bear in mind that conventional doctors are only trained in Western medicine, and therefore, most of them are not properly informed about Traditional Chinese Medicine. Much less would they know about the importance of includig TCM in the treatment of cancer patients. Traditional Chinese Medicine is way at head of Western medicine in the use of natural and effective immunotherapy for cancer patients, and it is very important and crucial in the fight agaist cancer. Therefore, I encourage people to seek the advice of a qualified licensed practitioner of Oriental Medicine, together with the advice of a doctor of Western Medicine. Patients should not wait for a referral or recommendation from a conventional doctor, because with some exceptions, it may never happens or it may be too late.
Patients should consult an "open mind" conventional doctor and discuss advantages and disadvantages of complementary and integrative therapies. Disregarding benefits from legitimate forms of integrative or complementary therapies can be detrimental to the patient's health. But also indiscriminate use of some complementary therapies without medical supervision, and or the lack of conventional medical examination and care may be harmful. It is wise to seek the advice of a licensed health care provider with knowledge on herbal medicine, before using any herbal remedy.
CANCER / CHINESE MEDICINE
Here is an example of how Traditional Chinese Medicine can help a cancer patient. Immune therapy with Traditional Chinese Medicine promotes the destruction of tumor cells. Immuneotherapy with Traditional Chinese Medicine has been clinically proven to highly enhace the body's immune ability to fight cancer cells, and potentiate the effect of conventional therapies.
Besides enhancing the body's own ability to fight cancer cells, TCM herbal medicine has been shown to make cancer cells more susceptible to the antitumor effect of conventional chemotherapy and or radiation (RT), and it has also been clinically proven to reduce the adverse effects of those conventional therapies.
The use of TCM selective citotoxic therapy with herbal medicine such as Artemisinin;extract, Indirubine extract, etc., can help to destroy tumor cells. Acupuncture and herbal remedies are effective in managing chemotherapy nausea, post-operative pain, and also in supporting normal physiological and structural functions.
The spectrum of TCM pharmacology is vast. Some traditional Chinese herbal medicines are already available as conventional cancer treatments in the West. For example: Chan Chun Hua (vincristine and vinblastine); Xi Shu (irinothecan or campothecan); Xiong Huang (arsenic trioxide); etc. are cancer treatments derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine. Even though most conventional doctors do not know the history of those medicines, they are familiar with the modern administration of those medications. But there are many more herbal medicines within the Chinese pharmacopea that are clinically used for their antitumor effects. This information on herbal medicine has not been evaluated by the FDA of the United Sates.
Let's review some aspects in the process of the illness we call "cancer":
It is suspected that several factors, external and internal (diet, environment, stress, over-exposure to certain chemicals, viruses, genetic, etc.), could play a role in harming the DNA of normal cells, and therefore, contribute to the formation, conformation, and growth of cancer cells.
Chinese medicine holds that in order for cancer to conform and further develop in the body, first, there must be an overwhelming of the contributing factor or factors that impede the normal function of the immune system. This theoretical reasoning is proving to be correct, and scientifically we know that our immune system, especially the NK cells, has the ability to fight and destroy cancer cells.
Epigenetic studies have shown that our life style plays a definitive role in triggering the methylation of cancer genes. According to traditional Chinese Medicine, aspects such as a balanced diet, proper physical activity, and good emotional state of mind are very important in the prevention as well as in the treatment of illnesses. Our lifestyle has a big influence over the way our immune system functions, and therefore, on the outcome of a treatment.
Make no mistake about it. We should never overlook the role of our immune system in preventing, fighting, surviving, and even avoiding the recurrence of cancer.
It is well known that our immune system, especially the NK cells, is our body's defense tool to fight abnormal cells. However, the role and importance of the NK cells function is often ignored in the strategy of actual conventional treatments.
Unless very well informed, most conventional doctors would run a CBC (a common hemogram) to determine whether the patient can stand chemotherapy or radiation.
A CBC blood test is useful in evaluating a patient against a bacteria infection. But a CBC blood test is not sufficient to evaluate the immune system of a cancer patient.
The NK cells evaluation test is necessary to better assess a cancer patient's immune ability to fight cancer cells. The NK cells evaluation test also provide a mean to know whether the treatment is really helping or further harming the patient's ability to fight cancer cells. (The levels of NK cells are severely deficient in cancer patients, and it tends to get worse with chemotherapy or radiation).
Overlooking the role of the NK cells when treating a cancer patient, especially when using chemotherapy or radiation, can be compared to neglecting a CBC (hemogram) when treating a patient with a bacterial infection. It simply does not make sense.
Believe it or not, with some exceptions, this important test for a cancer patient is usually forgoten or disregarded, and most cancer patients are still not getting the so important NK cells evaluation. Some do not even know the clinical importance of the NK cells evaluation.
What are the NK cells?; I want to schedule an NK cells evaluation test;
There are so many ways in which a cancer patient can benefit from professional Traditional Chinese Medicine. Let's analyze TCM Immunotherapy in the treatment and management of cancer patients, and the importance of receiving this immune therapy.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, immune therapy for cancer patients is directed to restore and support the body's immune system and awaken its ability to fight abnormal cells. For that purpose several herbs and herbal formulas have been scientifically studied and clinically proven effective.
Astragalus Membranaceus (Huang Qi), Ganoderma Luciidum (Ling Zhi), and other Chinese herbs highly stimulate the body's production and activity of B cells, T cells, NK cells, interferon, and interleukin.
TCM Immunotherapy can help a cancer patient at any stage, but especially if the patient will be treated, is being treated, or was treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
As mentioned before, both treatments, chemotherapy and radiation, create a severe suppression of the immune system, especially of the essential NK cells. Promoting high functional NK cell level supports the patient's immune system in fighting cancer cells, and it can be a decisive factor in winning the struggle.
The efficacy of Fuzheng immune therapy has been clinically documented. The life expectancy doubled for patients with rapidly advancing cancers when Chinese herbs were added to their treatment plan. In general, patients who received Fu Zhen immune therapy survived longer and tolerated their treatment better than those patients who were treated by Western medicine alone.
Clinical studies in China also reveal that when immunotherapy is used, the five (5) year survival rate is twice as high among patients with nasopharyngeal cancer (53 percent versus 24 percent in patients that only received conventional treatment).
Immuno SG;an enhanced immunotherapy herbal formula specifically prepared with full spectrum 5:1 concentrated herbal extract powder to bust the immune system of cancer patients, is now available from our clinic, TCM Physicians and Associates, 7360 S.W. 24th Street, Suite 7, Miami, Florida 33155. For a description and purchase information, please go to our Pharmacy; on this site.
Recently, there have been some interesting discoveries in traditional Chinese herbal medicine that may also benefit cancer patients. One is the use of the herb Artemisia Annua "Qing Hao" which is well documented in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Artemisia Annua has been used during thousands of years for the treatment of malaria, febrile diseases, intestinal parasites, etc. It is the most powerful remedy so far known against malaria. We now know that Artemisinin, the active ingredient in Artemisia Annua, appears to be effective against cancer tumors. Studies have shown that Artemisinin has powerful selective cytotoxic action against cancer cells. See Artemisinin;
The use of Artemisinin for gastrointestinal disorders has a long history with no known adverse effects when compared to Western chemotherapy, and because Artemisinin is extracted from the herb Artemisia Annua "Qing Hao", which is a natural source, it is relatively cheaper than more expensive synthetic drugs.
From the 1960s until the mid- 1990s, Fluorouracil was the primary chemotherapy agent available for the treatment of colorectal cancer. During the past decade, the Food and drug administration (FDA) has approved (5) five different new drugs for metastatic colorectal cancer. Irinotecan (approved in 1996) and Oxaliplatin (2002) are cytotoxic agents that act interfering with DNA replication, and Capacitabine (approved in 1998) is an oral formulation of fluoruoracil. This year (2004) the monoclonal antibodies Bevacizumab and Cetuximab, which target vascular endothilial growth factor and epithelial growth factor receptors, respectively, were approved by the FDA for use in conjunction with cytotoxic regimens. These medications have severe adverse side effects and, like any other cancer therapy available today, their grade of effectiveness is on an individual basis.
According to the article "The Price Tag on Progress - Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer", by Dr. Deborah Schrag, M.D., M.P.H, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 351: 317-319, July 22, 2004, the Irinotecan and Cetuximab regimens costs approximately $30,790.
Artemisinin selective cytotoxic action against iron overloaded cancer cells can be used in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer and colorectal cancer, both, as an alternative to the intolerance of chemotherapy agents, and in enhancing those conventional treatments.
Artemisinin Injection treatment; Integrated treatment options;
;Applying the TCM bio-energetic principle of "yin and yang" in the evaluation and treatment of a patient with malignancy, is irrefutably beneficial. In the same manner that some plants grow well in the sun and others benefit from the shade, the bio-energetic aspect of the cancer (size, anatomical location, cell pathology, etc.), and that of the host (yin/yang, excess/deficiency, etc.), may determine the behavior of a tumor and the course of the illness.
Traditional Chinese Medicine puts emphasis on balance, and a therapeutic diet should be adjusted according to the bio-energetic actions and properties of foods. For example, if the patients have signs of yin deficiency (a TCM diagnostic term denoting lack of fluids, dry mouth, and flush), he or she may benefit from a yin supporting diet, and vise verse, he may aggravate with the intake of bio-energetic yang type of foods.
Beyond vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates, the bio-energetic concept of foods is mostly absent in the Western mind. Sometimes I see patients having a diet detrimental to his treatment. For example, a prostate cancer patient may have a treatment to control the production of testosterone, and his diet is mainly based in foods that are bio-energetically yang, which is contrary to his treatment (bio-energetically excessive yang type of foods tend to stimulate the body's production of yang hormones "Testosterone"). Many times, the patient's PSA level drops considerably when his diet is properly adjusted according to the bio-energetic rule of yin and yang.
After a vast scientific review, acupuncture is now recognized and promoted by the National Institute of Health (NIH) of the United States, as an effective treatment for nausea caused by chemotherapy. Acupuncture can also be an integral part in the treatment for the management of pain. There are many ways in which a cancer patient can benefit from acupuncture.
Integrated treatment options;
