What can traditional Chinese medicine do for my cancer?

Whether you’ve been recently diagnosed or are in the middle of a cancer treatment regimen, it’s important to understand not just which cancer treatments may work for you, but how they work. When it comes to traditional Chinese medicine, the answer lies in the core objective of the field: restoring healing and wellness to the body, mind, and spirit. According to Chinese medicine, cancer may be the result of energy imbalances, blood stagnation, or systemic micro-inflammation in the body. Traditional Chinese medicine is designed to target the root of the disease. Once we pinpoint the underlying cause of the cancer, we locate energetic imbalances that may exist in that area, resolving disharmony in the body while promoting overall healing. Just as Western medicine aspires to treat cancer through treatments tailored to an individual’s cancer diagnosis, Chinese medicine aims to do the same energetically — identifying specific energetic deficiencies that lie at the root of one person’s cancer. And what’s more: traditional Chinese medicine has been doing this for literally thousands of years! 

More and more research is showing ways traditional Chinese medicine can be applied to integrative oncology, both as a means of healing the body from cancer, as well as promoting long-term wellness. Chinese medicine taps into the body’s innate healing capacity through techniques like acupuncture, herbs, moxibustion, nutrition, and exercise. These methods rebalance the body and can be directed toward the area of disease, the immune system, or specific physical and emotional symptoms.

Want to learn more about how exactly traditional Chinese medicine can make a difference in your cancer? Read below to find out.

Traditional Chinese medicine can enhance your cancer care in three key ways: 

1. Physical benefits.
   Traditional Chinese medicine improves the body’s capacity to heal itself, strengthening its underlying constitution and resolving energetic imbalances that lie at the root of cancer. Practitioners draw on their knowledge of both Western and Eastern cancer care to develop an individualized treatment plan tailored to your unique constitution and your allopathic treatment regimen (i.e. chemotherapy, radiation). We also specialize in restorative care after your allopathic treatments have concluded, helping your body to heal and restore balance. We may use a wide range of techniques, including acupuncture, herbs, moxibustion, nutrition, and exercise. These techniques, honed through extensive research in integrative oncology, work synergistically to promote healing where your body needs it most. Additionally, we carefully coordinate the timing of traditional Chinese medicine treatments so that they complement your allopathic cancer treatments. For more information about the application of traditional Chinese medicine to oncology, check out our book here.  

2. Emotional benefits.
   Cancer care is about more than just physical wellness; emotional wellness is also essential to the healing process. Traditional Chinese medicine is unique in that it addresses the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. Techniques like acupuncture, moxibustion, herbs, nutrition, and exercise can help balance your emotional terrain, promoting calmness and clarity, while also strengthening resolve. More specifically, traditional Chinese medicine can strengthen the kidneys, which translates energetically to more willpower to survive and thrive. Here at The Wellness Principle, we’re committed to helping you not only in physical ways, but emotionally and spiritually as well. You and your body are more than just your physical cancer and we treat you that way in all that we do. 

3. Side effect alleviation.
   Traditional Chinese medicine not only alleviates acute pain from cancer itself, but also the side effects that result from Western medical treatments. We use Chinese medicine modalities to treat common side effects of conventional treatments, such as nausea and vomiting, mouth sores, fatigue, pain, insomnia, and headaches. There are hundreds of research studies in acupuncture oncology showing the benefits of treating cancer with acupuncture, namely as a way of ameliorating physical side effects. These techniques are designed to reduce pain and discomfort and, maybe most importantly, to ensure you have the physical strength to continue your Western treatment regimens without interruption. For example, moxibustion can be used to increase white blood cell count, allowing you to safely continue infusion treatments. Treating chemo side effects with acupuncture reestablishes stability in your body, enabling you to move forward with your regimen. Our ultimate goal is to support you mentally, physically, and spiritually, so that you can maximize the benefits of your cancer care and move toward healing. 

Traditional Chinese medicine is all about enhancing your body’s natural ability to heal itself in body, mind, and spirit. While many treatment approaches address the symptoms of cancer, Chinese medicine is unique in targeting the root of your illness while improving the body’s capacity for wellness and healing. Here at The Wellness Principle, our team of compassionate practitioners is dedicated to helping you in every way we can. We've spent years researching traditional Chinese medicine and its application to integrative oncology, and we're on the cutting edge of new research about how Chinese medicine complements allopathic care in improving health outcomes. Exciting research is underway suggesting that Chinese methodologies can strengthen the body and its immunity, promoting holistic, sustainable forms of healing both during cancer and beyond. 

We’d love to chat with you about how traditional Chinese medicine could make a difference in your cancer.

Contact us here to set up a 30-minute telehealth consultation about our cancer treatment program in Napa.