TCM and Cancer

[Guest guest]

Hi Dianne,

 

I have a book that I purchased at PCOM, for reference for one of my herbology classes... I believe yours, Z'ev. The title is Cancer Treatment and Prevention (with TCM) by Dr. Binyan Sun, Offete Enterprises, Inc. San Mateo, CA 94402, 1991. Also, follow this link... a fellow PCOM graduate was recently in the news

 

 

http://www.kfmb.com/healthcast/details.php?storyID=7689

 

ALTERNATIVES HELP EASE BREAST CANCER PAIN

 

In Health,

Teresa

 

Patrick Darcy

Monday, April 29, 2002 6:37 PM

Re: channel entry - gui1 jing1

 

Hi!!!!

 

I'm new to Chinese Herbal Medicine. I'm a Shiatsu practitioner now in my 2nd year of acupuncture school. For practise management class we must present to an organization of our choice. Ours is our local cancer retreat center.

 

This is my first attempt at contacting someone at this site, so forgive me if my request for information is misdirected.

 

What I need: What are great sources, texts, websites etc. for the benefits of for cancer patients and their caregivers/supporters????

 

Thanks to whomever can help out there. Any information will be greatly appreciated.

 

Your exchanges so far have been fascinating and exciting. Thank you for sharing.

 

Dianne Darcy

 

 

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Thursday, April 25, 2002 10:37 AM

Re: channel entry - gui1 jing1

One of the reasons that Todd opened this discussion, I believe, were conversations we had regarding teaching and testing methods, including state board exams, on both herbal medicine and acumoxatherapy. Some modern texts at best have an accurate CONSENSUS on such aspects as flavor and channel entry. when memorization of the material in one text, usually one approved by a state or national licensing board, is required in a classroom, however, it gives the false impression that this information is fixed and arbitrary, i.e. like a hard science. In fact, as we see in the material in the Great Dictionary of Chinese Medicinals, there is often a differing of qualities of flavor, channel, and even functions of medicinals in the literature. This has been apparent in our discussions here. The same issue applies to acupuncture points and their qualities, locations, depths, and indications. One English language text is chosen, the information given as gospel, and the information is memorized. My experience is that this leads to a rigid, narrow, and incorrect view of Chinese medicine. While certainly some memorization is required, the end result is often that students do not continue to study further after graduation, feeling that the essential material has been covered.As Bob Flaws has pointed out in several articles on his web site, there are often 'off-label' uses of herbal prescriptions that are surprising, but backed by the literature and clinical studies. The same is true with single medicinals. As Xu Da-chun points out in"Yi xue yuan liu lun/Forgotten Traditions of Ancient ": "The functions of medicinals are not one-deimensional. In one particular prescription one takes advantage of one particular ability, in another precription one takes advantage of another ability. As long as one is truly familiar with the actual functions of the medicinals, one will be able to accomodate their application to the chararacteristics of the illnesses, and thus take advantage of the powers of the medicinals."

(Bob Flaws) > In any case, I do think these differences in opinion helpsubstantiate> the clinical necessity of reading the literature widely and not> taking a single statement from a single source as some sort ofgospel> truth.Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education.