I have a new patirent who is starting radiation for prostate cancer.
Are there any points that would be helpful?
I have a new patirent who is starting radiation for prostate cancer.
Are there any points that would be helpful?
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
This is a pretty broad question, so it has to be a broad answer, for better or worse. There are many, many options that can be helpful for people undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, but what that individual needs will depend on their current state, medical history, other medications and it will likely be a moving target as you work to help balance the side effects of the more aggressive western treatments.
In general, you treat what you see and then balance that with what you know about the patient. So relatively straightforward things like knowing that radiation therapy may challenge a persons yin, blood and induce localized stagnation. So if the person is already yin deficient, for example, it will likely go a long way towards helping them to focus at least in part on that.
And then there is the prostate aspect which needs to be properly diagnosed in Chinese Medicine terms and treated as such - frequently, but not always, related to damp heat issues in the body. Diagnosing them, as you would any patient, in their root and symptomatic terms and moving forward with that, flexing as needed to better handle what may or may not arise from the western treatments is the only way to help them.
Comment by Archived User
Many people recomend miso, either in food or as a soup on a daily basis whilst undergoing radiation treatment.
It makes sence to balance the extream yang effects of radiation with the extream yin qualities of an aged , fermented , dark, bean and grain paste . It has been said that thoes who drank miso soup regularly in japan after the atomic bombs went off did a lot better than thoes who didnt.