Cancer Treatments with Traditional Chinese Medicine
by Al Stone, L.Ac. |
A seven year old boy has been suffering from slow growth (he looked to be about the height of a five year old) and frequent bouts of nausea. With Western testing procedures, it was determined that he has a small brain tumor.
From left to right is the cancer specialist from Shanghai. Next is the little boy's uncle. Standing above the boy is his father. The boy sits in the lap of another uncle who was kind of in the driver's seat regarding this young man's medical care because he had some education whereas the father had none.
Cancer, according to Chinese medicine is often times the accumulation of either phlegm or stagnant blood. Remember, when we talk about phlegm or blood in Chinese medicine these are wholly different concepts than what we call phlegm or blood in the West. There is some overlap, but in the case of cancer, they really aren't the same thing.
Because of the psychological research that we're doing at the Kunming hospital, I couldn't help but wonder about this young man's pathology on a psychological level.
If the tumor is considered an accumulation of phlegm, then the cause of the tumor might be considered an event in his life that was not well understood nor accepted. In Chinese medicine, phlegm is a byproduct of an inefficient digestive system. Digestion relates to one's ability to digest the circumstances of one's life. Perhaps a specific event such as a divorce for a child, or a long string of events such as bad luck in an area of one's life such as their career. Its a little like learning algebra. If you don't really understand the concepts of variables and other really basic equations, then the rest of the class will be very difficult to understand. You get stuck back at the point where you became confused and cannot progress beyond that point. Of course, some emotional trauma is much the same way. Until one can understand, on whatever level, the significance of an event, there follows digestive problems and perhaps the accumulation of phlegm in the body. Left long enough to fester, and it can become a cancer.
In the case of blood stagnation, the cause might more relate to one's sense of self. Blood is among the deepest, most personal of all materials in Chinese medicine. It relates to one's sense of who they are. If who you are is inconsistent with cultural, or even personal expectations, it will stop moving well, and perhaps begin to collect in one particular area. The area that it chooses will likely be consistent with that area of one's being that they feel is wrong, at least on a metaphorical level. In the case of a brain tumor, because the brain is an extension of the Kidneys in Chinese medicine, the blood stagnation might be due to one's disgust with their own race, something that deals with ancestors and descendants. Kidneys hold the Chinese equivalent of genetic material. That's just one of many possible interpretations.
For this seven year old boy, it is unlikely that the cause of the tumor had anything to do with him or the way in which he thinks. He seemed rather calm, even intelligent. But it would be interesting to pursue the state of mind of his parents at the time of conception. Pathologies that effect children, especially when they relate to the (Chinese concept of the...) kidneys are often due to the genetic material that he was given. If the parents were especially fearful regarding a pregnancy, or perhaps their ability to raise the child well, then that can end up effecting the newborn's kidneys.
Another possibility is that there is a great deal of fear in the household and because the kidneys are especially sensitive to fear, the child may have been raised in an environment that was conducive to kidney pathology such as a brain tumor.
It is interesting to note the emotional dynamics in the picture at the top of this page. We see a great deal of concern on the part of the father and the two uncles. That doesn't seem strange at all, considering the circumstances. However, we also see that the child shares that concern.
Some children are especially sensitive to the emotional environment in which they live. I think that this is the case with this little boy. During the 20 or so minutes in which they were all talking, he did not fidget, he was not looking for something to play with nor was he intrigued by the two foreigners in the room with him, but reflected exactly the emotional state of his father and uncles. This observation could support the theory of the child's kidneys being damaged by his sensitivity to the chronic fear in his environment
The doctor was not very forthcoming regarding this case nor the therapeutics that he was prescribing and so we left none the wiser. Some doctors are like that. However, certainly, this young man gave me something to think about.
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