Hi ladies
Just wonder if any of you has tried any kind of chinese medicines , particularly anything helped??
thanks
I would be very very careful about this. Certainly make sure that anything you consider is talked over with your BC medics. There are dangers in using Chinese medicines, and there could well be adverse reactions with anything you are taking. If you do use them, try to find a practitioner who has standard medical training as well as being fully trained in Chinese medicine.
you might get more responses, especially useful ones if you suggest what kind of things you’re hoping to help with them? Eg flushes etc.
I’ve read that Tai-Chi can be very helpful in recovering mental health but that’s more of chinese exercise than medicine, I don’t know about chinese herbals myself but I know herbals in general are not wise while on chemo without checking the individual herb with the oncological team. Eg St johns wort does interact with the liver.
Also a few hospitals offer acupuncture to help with chemo side effects and it’s a form of chinese medicine I believe.
Acupuncture is not a medicine, but a method of treatment. Chinese medicine is herbal based, very complex, and can interact badly with Western medicines.
no but it is often approved and supplied by hospitals and the person posting the question didn’t say what she wanted help with so may be relevant to her, for example if she were doing chemo. Tai Chi isn’t a medicine either.
She did say “Chinese medicines” which rather implied using the herbal treatments rather than looking for amelioration of symptoms.
Hi, i’ve used chinese herbs. I started going to a chinese doctor after my chemo when i felt absolutely awful. I couldn’t have felt any flatter or worse. After the first acupuncture session i felt a million times better and left smiling. I wouldn’t try the herbs for ages becuz i worried they’d interract with my chemo; and when i did start taking them, i took them in less than recommended dose. At my first checkup, my chinese doctor looked at my face and asked if i’d been taking my herbs - they knew i hadn’t been. I admitted it, and they said i should really start takingthem. I thought, what the hey, as my chemo was over now; so i started taking them. Once i’d been taking the full dose for a while, i began to be amazed at how much extra energy i had. I felt a lot better. When i used up the first lot, i went off them for a while, and immediately started to feel crap again. I’m back on them now, and i feel like sometimes they’re getting me through. I feel like they’re a cushion between me and the effects of post chemo. I really would recommend chinese herbs to anyone recovering post chemo, although i was dubious at first. now i’m convinced they work.
Hi all
Just to comment that it is important that you speak to your medical team before taking any alternative medication.
Kind regards.
Louise
Facilitator
Hi Avon
I went to a chinese practioner about my immune system before chemo but when i asked my oncologist about it he said he would rather me not take it.
I think western doctors are very suspicious of chinese herbs, and certainly they are very powerful (and some of the herbs have anti cancer properties). However, if you think about it, where do drugs come from? Natural plants and herbs that are MODIFIED so they can be patented and sold. (i.e. the molecule is changed slightly from nature. The body has systems which try to reject artificial substances. And it is a fact that a lot of drugs cause cancer as a side effect.
Chinese herbs just go straight to the source of medicine - the plant, root or herb. They don’t modify it from nature, so there are no carcinogenic side effects. They have also had thousands of years experience in treating people with these herbs. My herbs have two pages of components, wiht the latin names of hte plants and herbs written down. I think it’s interesting that my so called extremely qualified western doctor wouldn’t even know what any of these herbs are or do in the body. No wonder they are skeptical. All they know is what drug companies tell them the latest drug does. Most doctors aren’t even taught much about nutrition in medical school. This needs to change - there is much that western doctors could learn from traditional medicines with their vast knowledge of the (time proven) qualities of herbs. When they need a new drug - often they steal it from a plant that works in traditional medicine (and alter it to make a drug from it - e.g. arthritis stuff from a chinese vegetable on the news recently).
As hippocrates said: let food be your medicine and medicine be your food. Where do we think aspirin comes from? Willow bark. You could just drink willow bark tea instead of taking a pill.
All medicine comes from food and plants and herbs. What else is going to cure you?
(In my humble opinion) 
Hello,
Having read all the comments here, I would want to ask if anyone by any luck have come across some chinese mushroom by the name of ‘Antrodia’?
It is of my curiosity because from my own readings, that particular type of wild fungus which can only be found in Taiwan is supposedly to have a very positive effect on cancer cells for treatment purposes.
And I wonder if anyone in the forum have any experience of such complementary treatment?
Thanks
Syed
My gp sister-in-law had a case of someone who turned to Chinese medicine and six months’ later was rushed into hospital with liver failure. It is potentially very dangerous, and certainly nothing should be done without your oncology team’s backing.
As for these “miracle” mushrooms - if you believe that, you will believe anything.