It is common to hear many cancer patients asking:
"Doctor, I'm a tumor patient, can I take Chinese medicine?"
"Will taking Chinese medicine affect the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy?"
"Do I need to avoid eating Chinese medicine?"
......
Similar questions, blind spots, and even misunderstandings are puzzling for many patients. Today, I will take stock of the misunderstandings encountered by cancer patients in the anti-cancer treatment of traditional Chinese medicine~
Myth 1: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment will hinder the efficacy of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy
The treatment of tumors is a comprehensive treatment, the traditional treatment of tumors in modern medicine is still based on surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and the research in recent years has made biological therapy an important means of tumor treatment, but these treatments are aimed at the tumor and the tumor cells themselves, and the overall system of the patient is less concerned, therefore, this treatment will have many toxic side effects, such as the weakness of the patient after surgery, various organ function damage after radiotherapy and chemotherapy, etc.
The role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is to regulate the overall function of the body, restore the normal physiological activities of various systems, and thus mobilize the body's own anti-cancer function.
Myth 2: Tonic is better than expensive medicine[2]
Some patients believe that the more expensive the herbs, the faster the body will recover. Therefore, in the treatment of cancer, expensive medicinal materials or supplements are used as much as possible to hope that the body will recover as soon as possible.
In fact, there is a saying in Chinese medicine that "deficiency is not replenished". Most cancer patients are weak after surgery or after radiotherapy or chemotherapy, and their spleen and stomach function are reduced, and their appetite is significantly worse. At this time, if expensive medicinal materials are used as a tonic, it is likely to cause indigestion, and the effect of the medicine is difficult to be absorbed by the human body. If the herb is hot or greasy, the patient is prone to irritation. The use of a large number of various precious medicinal materials will not only increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, lead to a worse appetite of patients, but also be detrimental to the recovery of health.
When the patient's physical strength is weak, it is indeed suitable to use Chinese herbal medicines for conditioning, but it is not possible to blindly use precious Chinese herbal medicines to regulate and tonic, but to judge the patient's physical deficiency through the "looking, smelling, asking, and cutting" of professional Chinese medicine practitioners, and according to the patient's deficiency of qi, blood, yin and yang, targeted selection of Chinese herbal medicines that replenish qi, blood or warm yang and nourish yin. If the precious Chinese herbal medicine is used in a situation that is not suitable for supplementation, it will deplete the true qi and affect the patient's recovery.
Therefore, it is important for patients to use the right medicine, not the expensive one.
Some patients with poor economic ability can use some affordable medicinal materials to replace precious medicinal materials. Ginseng is an expensive medicine that replenishes qi and yang, and its nature is warm, the taste is pungent and sweet, and it can enter the spleen, stomach and liver meridians, and has the effect of nourishing yang and invigorating qi.
Cheap medicinal materials that have similar effects to ginseng to replenish yang and invigorate qi can be selected Codonopsis, Astragalus, Yam, Atractylodes, Polygonatum polygonatum, Licorice or Eucommia. For Ganoderma lucidum or yew that is warm and nourishing yin, it can usually be replaced by some cheap medicinal materials with similar properties, such as rehman, white peony, sand cucumber, maimendong, ligustrum, and dogwood.
It should be noted that no matter what kind of Chinese herbal medicine you choose, you must consult a professional TCM practitioner before using it.
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Myth 3: Prescriptions are big, comprehensive, and fierce[3]
Some patients take it upon themselves to find the so-called "famous Chinese medicine practitioners" to prescribe traditional Chinese medicine, but they do not know that many Chinese medicine practitioners blindly emphasize generosity, comprehensiveness, and heavy prescriptions when treating tumors, ignoring the patient's spleen and stomach, which is not only not beneficial to the patient, but may also bring harm to the patient.
Moreover, not all TCM physicians have experience in treating cancer, and patients must choose TCM physicians from regular cancer hospitals with qualifications, and cannot be superstitious about the so-called "famous doctors".
Myth 4: Excessive taboo [2-3]
It has always been believed that cancer patients or people with wounds after surgery should not eat some "hair products". "Hair products" include taro, duck meat, seafood, peanuts, beans, etc., which are thought to cause itchy wounds, erosion, and even cause cancer recurrence or metastasis.
From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, "hair matter" does not refer to specific food, it is only a concept, excessive consumption will cause phlegm, easy to induce old diseases, and add to new diseases. Some patients eat seafood, peanuts and other "hair products", which can cause allergic reactions, or cause wound inflammation, or acne, aphthous sores and other irritation.
In fact, if you do not have a related constitution such as allergies, you do not have to worry about these "hair products" aggravating your condition. The onset of cancer patients is more complex, and eating certain "hair products" will inevitably affect the body. On the contrary, because tumor is a wasting disease, patients should pay more attention to supplementing foods rich in high-quality protein, vitamins and other nutrients, such as beef and mutton, milk, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables.
Long-term improper diet will affect the health of the body and aggravate the condition. Therefore, in daily life, cancer patients should develop good eating habits, pay attention to the intake and taboos of some foods, and do not have to be too obsessed with the problem of "hair".
Patients should reduce their intake of red meat. Beef, sheep, and pork are all red meat. Although these meats are rich in protein and trace elements (such as heme, iron and zinc), large intake of these meats can increase the risk of colon cancer and cardiovascular disease. Red meat is also one of the causative factors for chronic diseases such as diabetes.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified red meat as a Group 2A carcinogen, so cancer patients should be careful to eat less red meat. Patients should refrain from smoking and alcohol. Alcohol is a class of carcinogens, accounting for 4.1% of the pathogenesis of cancer, and is closely related to oral cancer, throat cancer, esophageal cancer, rectal cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer. Excessive intake of alcohol can also produce acetaldehyde and reactive oxygen species, which damage the DNA of cells and increase the risk of cancer.
Cigarettes are also a class of carcinogens, which, like alcohol, can produce a lot of reactive oxygen species, which affect the health of cells, especially lung cells. Patients should eat less pickled products.
Eat less pickled products, sugary drinks, and overnight foods, as eating them regularly will cause cancer.
(Swipe to see more dietary suggestions)
Myth 5: "Fighting poison with poison" to treat tumors[3-4]
Some doctors and patients believe in the treatment method of "fighting poison with poison", superstitious in scorpions, centipedes, toads and other toxic home remedies, and use a large number of toxic drugs to fight cancer, but the result is not only not effective, but causes aggravation of the disease, and even life-threatening. There was once a lung cancer patient who listened to a home remedy that could be "cured", and this home remedy contained a lot of toxic drugs. After taking the home remedies for a month, the patient turned yellow, returned to the hospital for re-examination, and found that the jaundice index was very high, the liver and kidney function were seriously impaired, and a large pleural effusion appeared, and the disease worsened.
It can be seen from this that the practice of "fighting poison with poison" is not advisable. Blindly "attacking" the TCM treatment method is not suitable for tumor treatment, but will damage the patient's righteousness. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment should be more "people-oriented", and at present, the mainstream Chinese medicine anti-cancer in China mostly recommends the treatment idea of Fuzheng Peiben, so that patients can achieve the goal of long-term "survival with tumors".
In short, traditional Chinese medicine plays an important role in the treatment of tumors, however, in the long-term anti-cancer process, many patients have many misunderstandings in the use of drugs, which may miss the best treatment time and affect the treatment effect.
Bibliography:
[1] Han Jing. Inner Mongolia Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine,2013,32(04):111-112.DOI:10.16040/j.cnki.cn15-1101.2013.04.041.
[2] Lv Xuexuan. Healthy Life,2023,(06):40-41.
[3] Wang Wei. Family Medicine,2014,(11):28.)
[4] Zhang Ying. Anti-cancer window,2012,(05):16-17.
Tips: This article is only a popular science article, does not provide professional diagnosis and treatment opinions, specific diagnosis and treatment, please under the guidance of professional doctors.
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