Auntie Wang was diagnosed with breast cancer half a year ago. After her first chemotherapy treatment, she had obvious adverse reactions, such as hair loss, vomiting and poor appetite, and she became more and more emaciated.
Although her family disagreed, she felt that “mild” Chinese medicine might be more suitable for her, so she resolutely stopped chemotherapy on her own and went to a Chinese medicine clinic for help.
In fact, there are many patients like Auntie Wang who have worries about surgery and chemotherapy. In their eyes, Chinese herbal medicine, which does not require surgery and is not aggressive, can fundamentally cure cancer.
So, is this really the case? Is Chinese medicine really better than Western medicine in treating cancer? Today, Ai will analyze it rationally with you.
Ⅰ. Who is better and who is worse in treating cancer, Chinese and Western medicine?
For cancer treatment, the more common clinical methods of Western medicine include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, etc., while Chinese medicine mainly includes Chinese medicine, acupuncture, chiropractic treatment, etc.
Some people think that modern western medical treatments are more aggressive and often “kill a thousand enemies but lose 500”, which is very harmful to patients. In fact, this view is very one-sided.
Take chemotherapy as an example, it mainly kills cancer cells through chemical drugs, but it lacks the ability to distinguish between “enemy and me”, so it may injure normal cells, thus causing some side effects. Indeed, we cannot deny the objective existence of chemotherapy side effects, but whether chemotherapy is beneficial or harmful to cancer patients depends mainly on whether it is used reasonably. Therefore, since Western medicine is the main means of modern cancer treatment, it must have its rationality and effectiveness, and we cannot generalize and deny its role completely.
In addition, some people think that TCM can treat cancer fundamentally and that relying on TCM can achieve a cure, which is also a very one-sided view.
We often say that “Chinese medicine can cure the root”, but it should be noted that “the root” here means to find out the cause of the disease and then treat the symptoms, not to cure the disease completely.
Therefore, we should understand the role of TCM in cancer treatment correctly. We should not “deify” or “marginalize” TCM in cancer treatment, but use it reasonably to achieve better anti-cancer effects. For example, before and after surgery and during radiotherapy, TCM can be used in combination with Chinese medicine to reduce adverse reactions, improve the cure rate and prolong the survival cycle; or for patients in the middle and late stages who have missed surgery or radiotherapy, TCM treatment can also be used to relieve symptoms, improve immunity and prolong the survival cycle.
Generally speaking, 5 types of patients are more suitable for TCM treatment.
① Those who are too old and weak.
② Patients with mid to late stage who missed surgery.
③ Those who cannot receive radiotherapy.
④ Those who have failed conventional treatment such as radiotherapy.
⑤ Those who have completed standardized radiotherapy but the tumor foci still exist significantly.
Therefore, which treatment method is suitable needs to be determined according to the individual’s specific situation. If Chinese medicine is suitable for treatment, the treatment principle of “early, full and moderate” should be followed in order to achieve better treatment results.
Therefore, from a comprehensive point of view, Chinese and Western medicine have their own strengths and weaknesses in cancer treatment, but at present, Western medicine is still the main treatment method in clinical practice, and it is not recommended to use Chinese medicine alone for conventional anti-cancer treatment, and it cannot completely replace the standard treatment such as surgery and radiotherapy. However, if TCM is used in combination with conventional treatment, it may play an auxiliary role, and 1+1>2. However, before the treatment process, it is necessary to listen to the advice and plan of professional doctors, fully evaluate the side effects, as well as the accessibility and significance of the enhancement, avoid unnecessary over-treatment, and always monitor during the treatment process to deal with the discomfort in time.
Ⅱ. 4 points to be kept in mind when taking Chinese medicine for cancer patients
Patients who take TCM treatment must also follow the medical advice instead of taking TCM treatment without authorization or blindly to avoid the serious consequences of improper medication.
1. There are food taboos
Chen Xi of the Department of Spleen, Stomach, Liver and Gallbladder Disease of the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine reminds that in order to achieve better anti-cancer effect, there are certain food taboos during taking Chinese medicine.
Such as spicy foods should be avoided, as they are mostly hot and dry, which can easily lead to fire after eating, especially for people with Yang deficiency and hyperactivity, which can easily reduce the efficacy of medicine; fishy foods should also be avoided, such as seafood, beef and mutton, which are incompatible with some Chinese medicine (containing a lot of volatile oil) and may affect the efficacy of medicine; sour and astringent foods should also be avoided, as acidic foods can stimulate the stomach and aggravate the condition of digestive tract cancer patients, while astringent foods, such as tannic acid in tea, may combine with some substances in the medicine to produce precipitation, thus affecting the absorption of medicine.
2. Avoid blindly taking tonic
Many people think that patients suffering from cancer are generally weak, so they will choose to take some herbal medicines such as ginseng, ganoderma lucidum, snow lotus, etc. However, Chinese herbal medicine is a big subject, and it is necessary to choose suitable herbs according to the patient’s specific condition to make a personalized regimen, so as to achieve better regulating effect and reduce the occurrence of deficiency.
3. Do not stop taking them at will
Some cancer patients make a mistake in the treatment process: they stop taking the medicine as soon as they see the cancer tumor is removed or the lesion subsides after radiotherapy or chemotherapy, which leads to the consolidation treatment not keeping up and eventually the cancer recurs and metastasizes. Therefore, the treatment of cancer must be persisted for a long time and should not be stopped at will. The evaluation of the efficacy should be combined with the overall condition of the patient, rather than the increase or decrease of the tumor alone as the standard.
4. Do not take strong medicine
Some people are afraid of side effects after taking too much or too long medicine and want to see the curative effect quickly, so they will blindly increase the dosage of medicine in the treatment process, but the dosage ratio of Chinese medicine for cancer is very strict, so blindly taking strong medicine will only aggravate the body burden, aggravate the cancer condition and even bring more health problems.
Therefore, we should look at Chinese and Western medicine rationally and not to be over-worshipful or hostile to one treatment method, but to choose the most suitable one according to our condition.