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Chemotherapy And Anemia

by amymatthews - October 19, 2009

Hello again!

I'm seeing a rather unusual case involving a 6 year old MN lab who developed a sudden onset (very attentive owner) LARGE necrotic lesion involving the labial gingiva and the lip on the left side. Aggressive surgical removal by a dental surgeon (who had never seen anything like it) has resolved it. Biopsy showed necropy but no inciting cause. Then a cough developed, and several lungs masses were identified. No cytology was done, but a chemo protocol was followed and the lung masses have shrunk. I have been doing chiro and acupuncture support plus curcumin, omega-3 fatty acids, Japanese mushrooms.

His problem now is that he has mild but progressing anemia. His tongue is pale with a thick white coat, pulse is deep. Prior to chemo, his tongue was a little pale and dry or no coat, but pulse was strong and rapid. At his last appointment he was active at BL17, SP6 (after SP4 placed), BL14.

Can I use a blood tonic in this guy? He sure seems like he could use it. On the other hand, chemo may be stopped this month (of course, it may not, too), and if it's stopped, I may wait to see what shows up.

Thanks!

by bannink

October 20, 2009

Hi,

A Blood tonic certainly seems like a good idea here. For chemo patients, the way I look at treatment of blood deficiency is this: Blood comes from transformation of Qi (SP and ST) and KI essence. So for treatment we need to consider the following three treatment principles:
1) nourish Blood
2) tonify Spleen
3) supplement Kidney

The four formulas that I would think of for chemo patients are:
1) Liu Jun Zi Tang: usually I use more for Qi def signs and have not found it too useful for anemia or neutropenia – only really has Ren Shen for bone marrow stimulation
2) Gui Pi Tang: for SP Qi def and Blood def – esp if with anxiety – calms shen
3) Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang – has a little more damp drying than Gui Pi Tang
4) Shi Quan Da Bu Tang: this is the only one of the four that has prepared rehmannia which tonifies KI Essence, has more blood tonics than the other ones and also

A slight modification of Gui Pi Tang is used in people with chemo related leukopenia and anemia –the modification has Da Zao (Jujube) and E Jiao instead of the Suan Zao Ren and Suo Sha Ren – but I have found the unmodified formula works fine for me.

Ren Shen (all four formulas): promotes function of bone marrow cells and stimulates production of RBC and WBC. Ren shen also has direct and indirect (via immune stim) anticancer effects.

Huang Qi and Dang Gui (in the last 3 formulas) are very good for promoting recovery of bone marrow cells after chemo according to clinical studies.

Hope that is somewhat helpful and gives you a place to start. Steve has a great way of simplifying and maybe can pick up on some things you mentioned that would help pick betweent he last 3 formulas or steer toward another one.

Erin

by naturevet

October 20, 2009

Hi Amy,

Erin's suggestions are excellent, and I have one more that I can add to them. As mentioned by Erin, in Chinese medicine, digestion (Spleen Stomach) makes Essence and Ying Qi; Kidney stores Essence; and through both of these organ functions, Blood is generated. The final generation of Blood from Ying Qi and Essence occurs in the Lungs. Essence enters, is combined with Da Qi (Qi from the air), and under the influence of Ying Qi, turns into Blood. So an important aspect of manufacturing Blood is Lung health. It is essentially a conveyor belt with Essence going in one end and Blood coming out the other.

I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. The dog may be Blood deficient because of the stasis (radiodensities) in the Lungs. The quintessential formula to deal with this problem (stasis - including neoplasia - causing Blood deficiency) is Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang. You can use the version that has San Leng and E Zhu added to ramp up the anti-neoplastic effects. It even has limited anti-Phlegm activity - maybe not enough to be cavalier about the coating on the dog's tongue, though. So watch for loose stools, digestive upset or mucous. Otherwise, if you don't see those symptoms, it should be helpful.

I just received word today that one of my human lung cancer patients has had 80% shrinkage of his tumors while on this formula, so it's worth a shot. He also had radiation, which was not expected to aid. But XFZYT contains a sub-formula, Tao Hong Si Wu Tang, which has been shown to enhance radiation efficacy in humans with cancer.

Sometimes, after such a long-winded reply, Murphy's Law dooms my advice to result in failure. But hopefully that doesn't happen and this advice proves useful.

I'm sure between Erin's suggestions and this one, you'll get somewhere.

All the best,

Steve

by bannink

October 20, 2009

Ah, Prepared Rehmannia and Dang Gui are XFZYT. Interesting. My mind didn't go there.

Brilliant as usual!

Thanks for developing the metaphor :)

Amy, let us know how it goes.

by amymatthews

October 21, 2009

Thanks so much!

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