Case 1: Tonification of patient’s Original Yang so they can continue chemo/radiotherapy as needed:
Next to surgery in fighting against cancer, chemo/radiotherapy are widely used by oncologists. Although they work well on certain cases, their negative side effects are known drawback. The side effects include but are not limited to fatigue (the most common side effect of both chemotherapy and radiation), flu-like symptoms, pain, mouth, gum, and throat sores, gastrointestinal problems, skin changes, weight changes, and hair loss.
TCM does well in tonification of cancer patient’s Original Yang so they may experience fewer side effects during the chemo/radiotherapy treatment and pass through chemo/radiotherapy procedures more easily. There is a rich body of literature on how TCM can benefit cancer patient’s chemo/radio treatments as needed. Some English publications are listed here:
1) Chinese Herbal Medicines Facilitate the Control of Chemotherapy-Induced Side Effects in Colorectal Cancer: Progress and Perspective Chen, D. et al, Front. Pharmacol., 07 December 2018 Volume 9, Article 1442
2) Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine in treating cancer (Review) Nie, J. et al, Biomedical Reports 4: 3-14, 2016
3) Traditional Chinese Medicine in the treatment of symptoms in patients with advanced cancer. Ling Y. Ann Palliat Med 2013:2(3): 141-152
4) Long-Term Effectiveness of Combined Treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine on the Prognosis of Patients with Lung Cancer Tang W. et al., J Alternative Complement Med. 2016 Mar 1; 22(3): 212–222.
5) Effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Chemotherapy-Induced Myelosuppression and Febrile Neutropenia in Breast Cancer Patients Tian, H. et al Evidence Based Complement Alternative Med. 2015; 2015: 736197
6) Survival Benefits of Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for Patients With Pancreatic Cancer Yang X. et al, Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Jul; 94(26):e1008.
Case 2: Improving the quality of cancer patient M.’s life:
M., female, born in 1942, was diagnosed with metastatic gastric cancer in April, 2016. There was no surgery to remove the cancer because it has already metastasized to her entire digestive system by the time it was diagnosed. M. tried 2 chemo drugs: the first one did not work and she was allergic to the second one. M. was discharged from the hospital after she declined a medicine still in clinical trails.
Her initial visit to our office was September 3, 2017 with 2 tubes on her abdomen: one to remove ascites and another for liquid food. No other treatment was offered to her to treat or manage her cancer. Due to the ascites, M. has a lot of pain in her abdomen. She was very weak and her life quality was poor because she could not sleep due to the pain. Before her TCM treatments, nurses came to her house 3 times a week to remove ascites from her abdomen and collected large amounts each time. For instance, on September 9, 2017, the nurse got 4.2 liter water from her belly. She started her TCM treatment on September 3 2017 and follow-up visits were on September 6, September 9 and September 13, 2017.
On September 18, 2017, no ascites was removed although 2 bottles were tried. The nurse told M. that the equipment could be broken.
On September 27, 2017, 0.95 L water was removed.
On October 2, 2017, 1 L water was removed.
On October 4, 2017, 0.5 L water was removed.
On multiple other occasions, there was no liquid to drain.
Given no other intervention, patient M. believed that Chinese medicine was the reason her ascites and her pain decreased drastically. M. was able to enjoy a significantly better life quality as her pain diminished and she could sleep much better which helped with her overall state of emotions consequently.
The treatment was discontinued due to Dr. Zhang’s travel to China in the middle of October, 2017. M. passed on a Thursday morning for a reason while Dr. Zhang arrived Boston Wednesday night in the beginning of November, 2017.
Case 3: Delay or even prevention of the recurrence of cancer after complete reconstruction of the environment of a bladder cancer patient.
Z., Male, born 1970, worked as an organic chemist for about 20 years. Z. usually worked long hours on his bench, sometimes up to 100 hours per week. In the fall of 2009, Z. started to see light reddish urine but did not pay enough attention. In February of 2010, suddenly Z. found the urine was extremely red after drinking a little bit red wine. Z. was diagnosed bladder cancer in March, 2010 and had a surgery followed by several-month chemotherapy. Z. had previous contact with bladder cancer inducers: 4 aniline-derivative compounds in 3 kilo scale synthesis and some immune-suppressors in his laboratory. Z. quit chemistry after the treatment was finished. He took more than one thousand pounds of Chinese herbs and received moxibustion and acupuncture treatment regularly to prevent the recurrence. Z. has been cancer free since 2010. Some top oncologists mentioned that most likely Z. would have recurrence of bladder cancer for 2 reasons: 1, bladder cancer has 70 to 80 % recurrence rate; 2, Z. had been working in organic laboratory for 20 years and had exposure to cancer-causing substances.
Z. believes that complete reconstruction of his life as well as combination of Chinese herbs, moxibustion and acupuncture help him remain cancer free since 2010.
Case 4: A delicate balance was reached on a tongue cancer patient J. for 7 years.
J., Female, born 1953, had been a regular patient with some pain, insomnia or digestion issues of our clinic since 2007. In September, 2009, J. mentioned that a small ulcer on her tongue for about 4 months was diagnosed as tongue cancer. It seems like a not very complicated surgery but J. insisted to try some natural methods. She saw an American herbalist in New York City and started to take some local herbs which are slightly different than traditional Chinese herbs. The evil Qi causing her tongue cancer and the Original Yang of J. reached a delicate balance so her cancer did not get worse or disappear in the next 7 years. Then the tongue cancer spread most likely due to her unemployment and subsequent relocation. J. had a surgery to remove one thirds of her tongue plus 20 lymph nodes on her neck with 4 of them were cancerous in 2016.