Dr. Bianca on the Gutsy Health Podcast: Integrative Cancer Care and Chinese Medicine
"I started working at her second ovarian cancer recurrence, and there's more metastasis. She cried and said, 'I think my cancer came back because I had chocolate cake at my daughter's birthday.' That was a pivotal moment in my practice because I recognized how easily a cancer patient could shame themselves from something so benign, that brought so much joy. So I said, 'I think it's more important that you focus on the joy of your daughter's birthday and that you enjoyed that chocolate cake."
Always eat the chocolate cake.
Podcast Highlights
Chinese Medicine is highly individualized, entirely based on a person’s constitution and health. Therapeutic recommendations consider a person's health history, habits, lifestyle, and even state of mind and emotions.
Acupuncture is a pivotal gateway toward integrative cancer care. Aside from empirical research based on 5,000 years of Chinese Medicine, PubMed also has thousands of modern studies supporting its efficacy.
Consuming cold food, especially in the morning, is like a cold bomb to the gut. It inhibits the absorption and metabolism of food and fluids, which influences the body’s ability to generate “qi and blood”.
Show Highlights
What does “integrative” mean in medicine?
Integrative is a beautiful blend of multiple principles, approaches, and therapeutics to optimize health and wellness. It isn’t East versus West, or that one is better than the other. They aren’t mutually exclusive disciplines.
Dr. Bianca Di Giulio 08:56
Western oncology requires labs, scans, and blood work to monitor tumor progression. At the same time, it’s translated into Chinese medicine principles and theories, examining potential emotional components, lifestyle trends, or other underlying causes. There is a constant translation from one to the other, a synchronistic balance and blend of medicine.
Instead of focusing on guilt and shame around unhealthy food, the core of Chinese medicine is balance, and everything should be in moderation. Just as Oscar Wilde said, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Dr. Bianca Di Giulio 15:17
Overwhelming someone disempowered by a cancer diagnosis with a long list of do's and don'ts only induces stress and anxiety, causing unnecessary cortisol spikes that are detrimental to cancer healing.
Slowly developed over fifteen years, oncology specific acupuncture headlines the 6-Week Formula of her Insight Cancer Program.
Dr. Bianca Di Giulio 29:01
By targeting specific acupuncture points in combination with chemotherapy and radiation, the synergy among those point prescriptions optimizes healing from acute side effects, as well as preventing long term injury.
Chinese herbal medicine is integral to integrative cancer care. Careful formulation of multiple herbs targets anticancer approaches, benefits the immune system, regulates digestion, sleep, and decreases cancer-related pain, among many other things.
Dr. Bianca Di Giulio 35:02
Astragalus, or Huáng Qí, increases the white blood cells and strengthens the immune system. Dan Shen breaks down the cells' fibrin barrier to synthesize and potentiate radiation therapy, it’s considered a radio sensitizer, both as a protectant and as an optimizer. Cordyceps, a well known fungus, offers a protective mechanism for breast cancer patients who receive Herceptin, considered cardio-protective.
Patients who include integrative cancer care approaches at the onset of their diagnosis, as well as through conventional treatment manage the aggressive nature of cancer treatment exceptionally well, enabling them to continue with the allopathic protocols—and quality of life as they heal.
Dr. Bianca Di Giulio 42:57
Along with the positive physical impact of following integrative protocols, it has also benefits emotional components, by lessening anxiety and stress that is so commonly partnered with a cancer diagnosis.