Lung nodules are one of the respiratory diseases that have a high incidence and occur in every age group, especially in the elderly and young children who are frail and have poor resistance. Because of the aging population severe air pollution, smoking or second-hand smoke, and other factors, the incidence of respiratory diseases has increased, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary nodules, bronchial asthma, and lung cancer.
What are the principles of TCM treatment of lung nodules?
Most of the benign nodules show a simple deficiency constitution and malignant nodules are common in people with solid constitution. Early nodule generation usually stays at the stage of granuloma, without generating cancerous toxin, and such nodules usually tend to be benign. When benign nodules are relatively small, treatment can be based on different stages of nodules, and the focus of treatment is to dissolve phlegm and dissipate nodules and swellings. If lung cancer has been diagnosed, post-surgical treatment can be carried out with TCM under the guidance of TCM practitioners, and the key points of treatment are to tonify lung qi and activate blood circulation to eliminate blood stasis.
How does TCM treat lung nodules?
1. Enriching qi and supporting corrective action
The basis of lung nodules is the deficiency of positive qi, and the principle of treatment is to replenish the qi of the lung and spleen, which can be regulated with Chinese medicines such as Astragalus, Chinese yam, Ganoderma lucidum, and Atractylodis Macrocephalae under the guidance of doctors.
2. Activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis
Lung nodules have been ill for a long time, the nodules do not go away for a long time, phlegm, blood stasis, and qi are combined, and you can choose medicines with the ability to activate blood circulation and eliminate blood stasis, such as Salviae Miltiorrhizae Safflower Peach Kernel, Panax Ginseng, Curcuma longa, and Ulmus, etc, to strengthen the effect of dispersal of the nodules.
3. Exercise qi to eliminate stagnation
When the qi runs smoothly, the blood runs smoothly. Chen Pi, Acacia, and Rose can be chosen to regulate the qi and eliminate stagnation of qi.
4. Clearing heat and removing toxins
Phlegm and dampness are easy to accumulate in the body and turn into heat, you can choose Chinese herbs with heat-clearing and detoxification effects, such as dandelion, Xia Gu Cao, etc., which can improve the inflammatory nodules, and play the effect of elimination of accumulation and dissipation of nodules.
5. Resolving phlegm and dispersing nodules
In the early stage of pulmonary nodules, dampness gathers and generates phlegm, and phlegm continues to accumulate in the body, thus generating pulmonary accumulation. At this time, you can use raw oyster, zhebeimu and half-summer, and other traditional Chinese medicines to resolve phlegm and disperse nodules.
What else should lung nodule patients pay attention to?
1. Diversify your diet
Reasonable combination of meat, vegetarian and coarse and fine, to achieve a diversified diet, the types of food eaten every day should reach more than 12 kinds of food, appropriate to eat food containing high-quality protein, such as eggs, fish, lean meat and milk.
2. Eat less sweets
Eating too much sweet food can easily produce phlegm, and too much sugar can promote the growth of tumor cells.
Warm tips
Lung nodule patients should be treated in a scientific and standardized way, and at the same time, do a good job in life management, eat less or not eat spicy stimulation, so as not to damage the spleen and stomach, resulting in phlegm and dampness, and also should eat less fried and glutinous rice and other indigestible food. Try not to eat pickled food, such as salted fish, bacon, preserved sausage, etc., in which nitrite can be converted into carcinogen nitrosamine after entering the body.