Things you didn't learn in acupuncture school about breast cancer and how to treat it. Chris Powell, one of the voices behind Yin Yang Podcast, goes over minute details of the pulse (Empty and Muffled) in relation to cancer that he learned from Shen and Hammer. From there he expounds upon how to formulated herbal prescriptions with modifications from his 20 plus years of experience.
Breast
Cancer and Pulse picture
By Chris Powell
Many pulses
obviously exist at any given moment in time in the body. The typical
pathological pulse picture will vary depending upon disease and level of
involvement, i.e. taiyang, shaoyang, etc. As it pertains to cancer in general,
and most often in breast cancer, the two qualities of most significance are the
muffled quality and the Empty quality. I am using the terms as taught by John
Shen and Leon Hammer, but I am also providing my own clinical experience in the
treatment of cancer over the last 20 years.
The Empty
quality, as defined by Shen and Hammer, is a quality that “is found in
the superficial layer and is accessed at the Qi depth of the pulse. The Empty
quality separates and diminishes significantly, or even disappears, as pressure
increases to the blood and organ depths.” I describe this sensation as if you
have a tube filled with a substance like Jell-O. When one presses on this tube
you will feel the Jell-O squish out to the sides of your fingers. This is, in my
opinion, a perfect way to describe the sensation beneath the fingers. This
quality is often confused with the Hollow quality that most learn in schools,
but it clearly not the same sensation or, more importantly, the interpretation.
Whereas the Empty quality will have NO substance with increasing pressure
applied to the pulse, the Hollow quality will have a harder and wiry sensation
at the surface and at the bottom. It will appear empty in the middle levels,
but will reappear as one goes deeper into the pulse nearing the organ depth or
bone.
My clinical
experience with the Empty quality is quite profound when it comes to cancer
treatment. It can be a predictor of things to come so to speak. The important
part to remember is that with the Empty quality one will find that the yin
fluids are sinking down and away whilst yang is floating up and out. This is
significant if one will remember that the separation of yin and yang can
portend serious illness and death. This is physiology that has become chaotic at
a very deep level. I will often find in the most serious of situations, and
most often in hospice, this pulse will present itself. The final stages of this
pulse will have just a sensation at the superficial level, with no waveform,
and nothing beneath. Often called the
“flat line” pulse for obvious reasons.
The Muffled
quality, I believe, is purely a Shen and Hammer description and generally
indicates a neo-plastic process. One can
“palpate a distinct quality, but the sensation is slightly muted and unclear,
as if a towel or blanket separated one’s fingers from the pulse.” I often
describe it as a pulse that you can definitely feel the beat beneath the
fingers. However, you will NOT feel any defined borders to the pulse. I often
equate this to being able to feel a guitar string or a string of spaghetti
lying on a counter top and being able to feel the edges to pick it up. With a
Muffled quality, one cannot feel the edges. It is amorphous. As mentioned
above, one can feel the beat, but no defined borders. Once again, this is a condition of separated
yin and yang and complete chaos in the body. Again, this is a definition of
cancer at the cellular level. Shen and Hammer often described this quality
appearing only when serious illness was present in the body. Dr. Shen often
described this sensation with extreme and protracted cases of qi and blood
deficiency. My clinical experience suggests the same finding.
HERBAL
COMMENTS
The herbal
formulas listed below are guidelines that are often used in Chinese medicine clinics
for the treatment of breast cancer and the concomitant effects often
experienced with cancer treatment. However, the formulas provide a glimpse into
treatment regimens as well as the causative factors in breast cancer.
The
formation of cancer in the breast is often due to impaired function in the
meridians that course the breast and underlying constitutional pathologies,
i.e. phlegm, toxic fire, etc. What is truly important to understand is the
mechanism that fails with the transportation of qi, blood, and fluids that
course the body and the breast. Many breast cancer patients often will describe
a fullness or tightness in the rib area of the body. We do know that this is
often found when stagnant liver qi has inhibited the channel qi that flows
through the Shaoyang. The Gallbladder channel descends into the chest, goes
through the diaphragm, influences the liver and harnesses it, and heads
directly into the Gallbladder along the inside of the ribs. As this condition
escalates, the gallbladder fire will influence the spleen and stomach, hence
Wood retrains Earth and spleen and stomach function is impaired. The channels become blocked and can lead to stagnant
qi and stagnant phlegm and the formation of tumors. This condition is often
wrongly treated with purgative herbs or toxic heat clearing herbs. What is
truly needed is a harmonizing formula in the midst of cancer. For instance, in
my clinical experience it is often found that a patient will exhibit “chai hu”
pulses. What this actually means is that both guan positions on the pulse will
be elevated over the other positions. Of course this indicates a total failure
in the pivot mechanism and formulas such as Xiao Chai Hu Tang (Minor Bupleurum
Decoction) and Chai Hu Gui Zhi Gan Jiang Tang (Bupleurum, Cinnamon Twig, and
Dried Ginger Decoction) can be used with exceptional results. In my clinical
experience with breast cancer, it is often the result of evil qi that is
depressed in the shaoyang that inhibits the pivot mechanism, which causes the
impairment of free coursing and internal depression of gallbladder fire. As
this happens, the Sanjiao fails to keep the “sluices” moving and the clear
fluids begin to cloud and become sticky. Water Rheum will collect in the
shaoyang causing a chest bind to appear with fullness in the chest and ribs.
This impairment leads to further gathering of toxic fluids and the development
of cancer most often.
The above
description is just a thought process on cancer, the breast, and disease
through impairment of normal physiological function in the body. It is where
Chinese medicine is so exceptional in treating disharmonies within the body.
All of the herbal formulas listed are used quite effectively in the clinic.
This generally is my personal experience in the clinic in treating breast
cancer.
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