Lung+Cancer

IBIS:

Definition:
Malignant primary or metastasized tumor in the lungs.

Etiology:
The typical patient is between 40-70 years old (esp. 55-65). The lung is a site for both primary tumors and, very often, metastases from other organs (breast, colon, kidney, thyroid, testis, bone and prostate). Most lung cancers are clearly associated with cigarette smoking, which explains the continual rise in lung cancers in women paralleling their increase in smoking. Primary lung malignancy is the most common cause of death from cancer. Tumor types are defined as being squamous cell, oat cell, undifferentiated large cell, and adenocarcinoma.

Somatic Therapies:
• regular aerobic exercise: associated with lower incidence of cancer

Nutrition:
eating principles: • moderately low fat • low sugar • high complex whole carbohydrates • protein 12-15% of diet • vegetarian cleansing diet or short fasts

therapeutic foods: • foods rich in Vitamin A, E • foods that tonify the Lung, invigorate the Qi and Xue (Blood), pungent foods, nourish Lung Yin • garlic, onions, leeks, turnips, grapes, pineapple, honey, green leafy vegetables (Jensen, 61.)

fresh juices: • carrot (Walker, 129.) • carrot and spinach (Walker, 129.)

recommendations for all cancers: • seaweeds, mushrooms - Chinese black and Shiitake, figs, beets, beet tops, papaya, mung beans, licorice, sea cucumbers, carrot, garlic, walnut, lychee fruit, mulberries, asparagus, pumpkin, burdock, dandelion greens, white fungus, taro roots, pearl barley, grains, fresh fruits and vegetables (Ni, 108-109.)

specific remedies: • soup of black or ling zhi mushrooms and white fungus, three times daily (Ni, 108-109.) • boil together mung beans, pearl barley, adzuki beans, and figs (Ni, 108-109.) • dandelion, burdock, and chrysanthemum flower tea (Ni, 108-109.)

avoid: • meat, chicken, coffee, cinnamon, anise, pepper, dairy products, spicy foods, high fat foods, smoking, constipation, stress

Botanicals
general cancer/neoplasm: • Avena sativa: nervous debility of convalescence (Felter, p. 235) • Baptisia tinctoria: for tumorous or malignant conditions (Harper-Shove, p. 169) • Berberis aquifolium: dyscrasiae due to cancerous cachexia (Felter and Lloyd, p. 348) • Conium maculatum (toxic): pain of cancer (Felter and Lloyd, p. 594) • Echinacea spp.: increases interferon production, purifies blood (Weiss, p. 326; Felter and Lloyd, p. 674) • Gentiana lutea: bitter: promotes appetite, improves digestion in chronic debility (Felter, p. 390) • Larrea divaricata: (Mexican folklore) • Phytolacca decandra (toxic): carcinoma, adenoma; hard, swollen lymph nodes (Felter and Lloyd, p. 1474; Felter, p. 535) • Rumex crispus: early stages of cancer; to prevent (Ellingwood, p. 379) • Taraxacum officinale: loss of appetite, weak digestion (Felter and Lloyd, p. 1915) • Trifolium pratense: alterative; purifies blood, cancerous diathesis; with daily use: patients are slower in developing carcinoma after excision (Felter and Lloyd, p. 1995; Felter, p. 682) • Viola odorata: malignant disease, neoplasm in alimentary canal; after tumor extirpation to protect from metastases. Combines well with Galium aparine (British Herbal Pharmacopoeia, p. 233) • Viscum album (toxic): tumor-inhibiting effects reported, main use as follow-up therapy after surgery or radiation. Extracts available: Iscador (Weleda), Phenesol (Madaus), Helixior (Weiss, pp. 324, 325)

Chinese Formulae
• Ping Xiao Dan: Primary preventive and anticancer formula: (Jia Kun, p. 4, 13, 49) • Gua Qi Dou Feng Wan: administered with Ping Xiao Dan for cough with a little sputum (Jia Kun, p. 49) • Gua Qi Qian Jie Tang: administered with Ping Xiao Dan for mucus sputum; administered with both Ping Xiao Dan and Gua Qi Dou Feng Wan for infection and purulent sputum with yellowish or deep-green color (Jia Kun, p. 49) • Ai Feng Tang: administered with Ping Xiao Dan if purulent sputum, cough, SOB and thoracalgia (Jia Kun, p. 50) • Suan Ai Tang: administered with Ping Xiao Dan if serious cough, hemoptysis and blood expectoration (Jia Kun, p. 50) • Lan Feng Tang: fever and infection (Jia Kun, p. 50) • Shen Qi Ai Ju Tang: if cough and shortness of breath become very serious (Jia Kun, p. 50) • Dou Gong Wan: administered with Ping Xiao Dan when metastasis occurs and thoracalgia becomes sharp (Jia Kun, p. 50) • Er Lian Ting Ling Tang: administered with Ping Xiao Dan for thoracic edema or acrocyanosis (Jia Kun, p. 50) • Chih-ko and Curcuma C. (patent) plus Belamcanda 15 (patent): tumors (Dharmananda, 1990; Chih-ko and Curcuma, p. 41: Belamcanda, p. 64) • Zeng Ye Tang plus chrysanthemum flower (ju hua), trichosanthes root (tian hua fen), glehnia (sha shen), dioscorea (shan yao) and moutan bark (mu dan pi): Large Intestine Dryness: oral side-effects of radiation therapy: dryness that is worse at night, irritability, dry tongue, rapid thin pulse (Bensky and Barolet, p. 166) • Dang Gui Ji Xue Teng Tang: Qi Xu (Deficiency) with Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency): leukopenia or thrombocytopenia during radiation therapy or chemotherapy (Bensky and Barolet, p. 251) • Hoelen Five Herbs F. (Wu Ling San): side-effects from radiation. (Hsu, 1980, p. 516; Yeung, p. 244; Bensky and Barolet, p. 174) • Ji Xue Teng Qin Gao Pian (patent): increases white blood count. (Zhu, p. 103) • Ci Wu Jia Pian (patent): Qi Xu (Deficiency) with Kidney Jing Xu (Essence Deficiency): enhances immune system, helps protect body from radiation; inhibits metastasis. (Zhu, p. 284) • Adenophora and Oldenlandia C. (Dharmananda, 1986, p. 479) • He Che Da Zao Wan (patent): Kidney Yin Xu (Deficiency) (Zhu, p. 286) • Ling Zhi Feng Wang Jiang (patent): Qi Xu (Deficiency) with Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency) (Zhu, p. 262) • Yun Nan Bai Yao (patent): hemoptysis. (Zhu, p. 243) • Yang Yin Qing Fei Tang Jiang (patent): chronic dry cough due to Yin Xu (Deficiency) (Zhu, p. 84) • Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang: Qi Stagnation with Xue Yu (Blood Stasis). (Yeung, p. 269; Bensky and Barolet, p. 314) • Fritillaria and Wasp Nest F.; Dao Tan Tang: Phlegm. (Fritillaria: Dharmananda, p. 478; Dao Tan Tang: Yeung, p. 82 Bensky and Barolet, p. 448) • Adenophora and Ophiopogon C. (Sha Shen Mai Men Dong Tang): Lung Yin Xu (Deficiency) (Hsu, 1980, p. 593; Yeung, p. 194; Dharmananda, 1986, p. 431; Bensky and Barolet, p. 161) • Sheng Mai San: Qi Xu (Deficiency) and Yin Xu (Deficiency) (Yeung, p. 207; Bensky and Barolet, p. 245) • Astragalus 16 (patent): chronic lung disorders; builds immune system (Dharmananda, 1990, p. 80)

Acupuncture
after assessing the person and palpating, consider these patterns: Lung Yin Xu (Deficiency); Spleen and Lung Xu (Deficiency); Kidney and Lung Xu (Deficiency); Kidney Yin Xu (Deficiency); Qi Stagnation and Xue Yu (Blood Stasis); Stagnant Toxins

» therapeutic considerations: • difficult to cure with acupuncture alone, even when treated with appropriate points • exercise caution regarding use of moxa with Yin Xu (Deficiency) predominant patients

» illustrative combinations: • St-40, St-36 and PC-6 (+): resolve Dampness in the Lung (Ambrose) • Lu-7 and UB-13 (=): alleviate coughing (Ambrose) • CV-17 and UB-13 (D): warm the Lung and disperse Cold (Ambrose) • St-36, GV-14 and LI-4: return the white blood cell count to normal (leukopenia after chemotherapy) (Finkelstein, p. 20)

Homeopathy
• Antimonium tartaricum: frequent cough with frothy bloody sputum; after the attack there remains for a long time bloody shiny expectoration; profuse mucus of the chest with feeble expulsive power; cough with a shrill sound, compelling patient to sit up, is moist and rattling but without expectoration; much drowsiness, debility and sweat • Arsenicum album: deep dry, unceasing cough; great weakness and fainting with burning heat in chest and stomach; extreme prostration after loss of blood; air passages constricted; expectoration scanty, frothy; hemoptysis with pain between shoulders; low vitality; irritable weakness • Ledum palustre: expectoration of bright red foamy blood; chronic cases characterized by cold and deficiency of animal heat; before cough he loses his breath, after cough dizziness and staggering; burning pain in some point of chest from which blood seems to come • Phosphorus: rawness of entire respiratory tract; trembling of whole body when coughing; blood spitting with dry, tight fatiguing cough, intermixed with expectoration of mucus; profuse hemorrhage, pouring out feeling, then ceasing for some time or the scanty discharge alternates with profuse one, causing anemia with great debility; oppression and weight, fullness and tension in chest • Stannum: debility is very marked, characterized by profuse mucopurulent discharges; hemoptysis with tendency to copious expectoration; empty sore feeling in chest which feels so weak he cannot talk; copious sweating; dry racking concussive cough; short difficult respiration, from weakness of respiratory organs; without dyspnea; > by expectoration, which has a repugnant sweetish taste • Sulphur: blood is raised after every little hacking; stitches through chest; soreness and pressure in chest with dyspnea; palpitations; salty or sweetish taste expectoration; blood and mucus intermixed or dry; tickling cough with expectoration of dark, bloody sputum

Subtle Support
• notes: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, G, G#

• chords: dominant 7th, diminished 7th, diminished 8th, A Major, A# Major, C Major, G Major, G# Major (Gimbel, p. 116)

Mind/Body
related materia medica listings: cancer patients: personality characteristics cancer correlations: psychoneuroimmunology

• People don't get lung cancer because they smoked too many cigarettes. People who want to die select one of the many methods available to them which are socially acceptable at the time. Smoking is one of them. (Harrison p. 135) • Significantly higher association of recent life change with younger patients than those with later onset in study of 74 patients. (Locke, 1983, p. 100) • Lung represents the ability to take in life. (Hay, 1984, p. 173)

• Lung ~ Fei is the home of the Po (Corporeal Soul); governs the Qi; facilitates the immune function by assisting the dispersal of the Wei (Protective) Qi; regulates the rhythm of respiration, the pulse, and all bodily processes; relates to strength and sustainability; moves and adjusts fluid metabolism; includes the throat; opens at the nose; extends through the skin, controls the pores, and manifests through the body hair. » Healthy expressions are righteousness and courage. » Weakness, dysfunction, and illness associated with excessive grief, sadness, worry, and depression. » Lung Xu (Deficiency) signs include cold shoulder and back; changing complexion; and inability to sleep (Seem, p. 28); shortness of breath; changes in urine color; rumbling in the bowels with loose bowel movements; pallor; malar flush; chills; sniffles; sneezing; light cough; and sensitivity to cold. Chronic Lung Yin Xu (Deficiency) increases susceptibility to Heat rising and acute Shi (Excess) conditions such as Phlegm, Wind, Cold, and Heat. » Lung Shi (Excess) signs include panting; yawning; sneezing (Seem, p. 28); pain in the upper back, shoulder, and chest; colds with stuffed nose; hoarseness; wheezing respiration; frequent urination with small amounts; heavy chest; reduced lung capacity; coughing; and nasal discharge.
 * Chinese psychophysiology:**

• Kidney ~ Shen stores Jing (Essence) and governs birth, growth, reproduction, development, and aging; houses the Zhi (Will); expresses ambition and focus; produces the Marrow which generates the spinal cord, "fills up" the brain, and possibly manifests through the immune system; carries the constitutional endowment from the parents; and displays the effects of sexual dissipation, overwork, chronic degenerative processes, and extreme stress. » Healthy expressions are gentleness, groundedness, and endurance. » Kidney Xu (Deficiency) signs include indecisiveness; confused speech; dreams of trees submerged under water; cold feet and legs; abundant sweating (Seem, p. 28); fearfulness; apathy; chronic fatigue; discouragement; scatteredness; lack of will; negativity; impatience; difficult inhalation; low sex drive; lumbago; sciatica; and musculoskeletal irritation and inflammation, especially when worse from touch. As always, Yin Xu (Deficiency) predisposes to Empty Fire and/or acute inflammation. » Intense or prolonged fear depletes the Kidney. Often chronic anxiety may induce Xu (Deficiency) and then Fire within the Kidney. (Maciocia, p. 250) Overwork, parenting, simple aging, and a sedentary or excessively indulgent lifestyle all contribute significantly to Kidney Xu (Deficiency).

• Liver ~ Gan is the home of the Hun (Ethereal Soul); it relates to decisiveness, control, and the principle of emergence; stores and cleanses the Xue (Blood); maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); and reflects emotional harmony and movement. » Healthy expressions are kindness, spontaneity, and ease of movement. » Liver Xu (Deficiency) signs include impotence; frigidity; pain in thighs, pelvic region, and throat; ready tendency to "the blahs" (Seem, p. 28); timidity; depression; irritability; vertigo; pruritus; dry eyes, skin, and/or tendons; asthma; aching at the waist; hernia; and difficulty raising head up and down. Liver Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency) predisposes to Xue Yu (Blood Stasis). » Tumors and other masses are considered a form of Xue Yu (Blood Stasis) and thus ultimately are derived from Qi Stagnation. Liver Qi Stagnation reflects and accentuates emotional constraint as the Liver's function of facilitating smooth flow in the body is constricted. Stagnation is associated with frustration, irritability, tension, and feeling stuck. With time this pattern tends to produce a gloomy emotional state of constant resentment, repressed anger or depression, along with tightness in the chest, frequent sighing, abdominal tension or distension, and/or a feeling of a lump in the throat with difficulty in swallowing. (Maciocia, p. 216)