Question Details
HT Fire Patient With Hepatic Adenocarcinoma
by amymatthews - November 14, 2009
This little 8 year old FS shih-tzu yorkie cross has seen me for several years for IBD. She has always had a red-pink tongue, slt dry, with pronounced curl at the tip, that I have not been able to get an appreciable shift with using acupuncture (though her clinical signs improved significantly). She responds well clinically to PC3, HT3 use.

I'm wondering if Qing Ying Tang, which has anti-leukemic activity, has any potential as an anti-cancer herbal combo for her.

That said, she is positively GLOWING since we started her on Ge Xia Zhu Yu Tang and Xiao Chai Hu Tang, so this may be a bit of an academic question! She was a droopy little dog (and she is normally a rampant Fire personality) and is back to hold old self.

Thanks!

Amy
Replies
by naturevet
November 14, 2009
Hi Amy,

Congratulations on the symptomatic improvements. They speak volumes. As for the curl in the tongue, I don't ascribe diagnostic significance to that myself, but can see that you're circling around the idea of a Heart problem from a Chinese perspective.

My only concern about using QYT here is that it is a strong tonic, despite being cooling. The combination that is in place right now that is serving the dog so well has minimal tonic effect, and is instead moving the blood peripherally from the liver region to the skin and somatic regions. If you roll a tonic in there, you will increase liver blood flow again, and that may aggravate the tumor.

My sense is to keep doing what you're doing, and if you want to do something more, try an unrelated form of therapy. For example, before I knew about Chinese herbal medicine, I saw substantial improvements in liver cancer cases with just glutathione administration. It's powerful antioxidant effects on the liver and in general are in keeping with the anti-inflammatory effect of your protocol on the liver. Additionally, we're looking at using more IP 6 on cancer cases, since it is similarly benign, but is in frequent use by owners whose cancer patients have done dramatically well in our practice.

So that's probably the direction I'd go, apart from perhaps trying higher doses of what you're doing. Sorry if that doesn't satisfy from a Chinese medical perspective, but you've done so well that it's important not to upset the apple cart here.

Steve
by amymatthews
November 14, 2009
Ah, thank you SO much for that perspective. It does feel like her mass is growing (she's been on the aforementioned herbs about 2 weeks, may be a bit early to tell... plus curcurmin, plus a change from oral pred to budesonide), so we'll try adding in the supplements you recommend.

Thanks so much for the liver cancer protocol, the owners and I are thrilled to see her attitude so much back to her original feisty self.

Amy
by amymatthews
June 19, 2010
Dear Steve,

She's been doing great all this time (thanks so much!). Over the past month (and warmer weather), her tongue has started looking a little peeled (still pink) and she's developed intermittent highly aromatic diarrhea (remember she's an IBD patient as well as hepatic adenocarcinoma). General gi supportive herbs (GastriPlex) have not made a difference. Given her history and the timing, I suspect LR attacking SP.

At 14.6 lbs, she's currently getting 1/4 tsp BID of her herbs (total). Do you think it'd be worth increasing her dose at all? I'm reluctant to change the herbs themselves since they've done so well for her.

All the best,
Amy

by naturevet
June 20, 2010
GI signs that worsen through May and June are usually Damp cases. You can try adding in the appropriate anti-Damp formula. Si Miao San might be helpful if the animal particularly has stubbornly elevated ALP and GGT levels, with other liver enzymes being relatively normal.

If the pulse is deep and toned, and is better with needling of BL 40, the dog may do better on Huo Xiang Zheng Qi San or San Ren Tang. If the dog is overtly cold, you could consider Wei Ling Tang.

I understand not wanting to upset the apple cart here when things have been going well. Just adding a touch of the appropriate formula shouldn't be a problem. If problems do appear, they should be mild if you use a low dose, and appear early on. In that case, simply stop the formula.

If things do improve, if my understanding of seasonal changes is correct, you can probably wean off the herbs again in a month or two, and stay with your original formulas.

S
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