Edema with breast cancer - acupuncture treatment

Hi Chad
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately I don’t do herbs but I refer her
to a herbalist. Could I ask about another client? This is a lady age 65
who had breast cancer 15 years ago and had the lymph nodes removed. She
had a hysterectomy at age 35. She has haemochromotosis and manages this
by having blood taken every few months. She can get severe night sweats
and hot flushes. Last November her left arm become swollen and was
diagnosed with lymphodema. This never happened before. I think it was
more than likely linked to a family trauma which happened a month or so
earlier and the situation is ongoing but she is more accepting of it now.
The swelling is not very bad but limits her movement and worsens when she
uses the arm to lift anything. There was a 5 cm difference between right
and left when I started treating her. Its now about half that. Progress
is very slow however. I started treating her last February and she has
had 13 treatments to date. Her tongue is red, redder in the heart area,
coating is good, I really wasn’t sure how to treat her. I have been
calming the Shen and tonifying the Lung and Spleen. I have tried adding
Ren 9, Kd7, The hospital is very pleased with her and I am not charging
her for treatment so she is happy to keep trying acupuncture. However, I
feel a bit at a loss. I am not treating the affected arm in case of
infection but I did wonder would I do some cupping on it? I have given
her a moxa stick and she is using that on the affected arm at home. I
have read today that the San Jiao can be used to treat the lymph system so
perhaps Sj4, also maybe Bl39 as the lower he-sea point? I have no
experience of this and don’t know if acupuncture can clear it totally?
Kind regards
Deirdre

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