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Canine Cancer: Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a range of traditional
medical practices used in China that developed over several thousand years. It
is based on the concept that the human body is a small universe with a set of
interconnected systems, and that those systems usually work in balance to
maintain the healthy function of the human body. TCM views cancer as a slowing
or stoppage (stasis) in the flow of substances in the body. It plays an auxiliary role in cancer treatment
through the use of herbal medicine, acupuncture, and food therapy. Specifically,
TCM treats the side effects of
conventional therapies, helps control pain, and helps keep the immune system
strong.
Food Therapy in Traditional Chinese
Medicine recommends the popular Chinese
cancer-preventing foods of green tea, cabbage,
shiitake mushrooms, garlic, kelp, carrots, and cauliflower, has received much
recognition in the research community. Check out this
article by Dr.Wei Liu and Dr. Changzhen
Gong on cancer-preventing foods.
Dr. Xie, founder of
The
Chi Institute (leading veterinary continuing education provider of Traditional
Chinese Veterinary Medicine), is
the first clinician of
Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine to ever be hired by a
university in the United States. He tends to avoid the word alternative,
however, when describing the role of this therapy in veterinary medicine.
Instead, he prefers the term complementary since he sees Traditional
Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) complementing
Western medicine, and not as mutually exclusive medical
systems. He teaches that the best medicine is integrated medicine—Western
medicine integrated with traditional Chinese medicine, and says the following
about such integration: "Each has aspects that place them on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but there is a large area of overlap between them. In general, Western
medicine believes in control, while traditional Chinese medicine believes in
balance; Western Veterinary Medicine is more mechanistic, while TCVM is more energetic. Western medical
practitioners are very familiar with analyzing a disease process to discover its
specific, fundamental, physical cause, whether this be an infectious agent, an
enzymatic defect, or a toxic insult. By fully understanding the functions of the
physical body, all the way down to a cellular and molecular level, one can
target the abnormality and better control the disease process. On the other
hand, TCVM practitioners recognize disease as an
imbalance in the body. They understand that the body is an integrated, energetic
structure, and that disturbance of energy flow creates disease in the whole
organism. When a disease pattern is identified, one can restore balance and
health by helping the body regulate itself."
Learn more about Chinese Medicine through the following articles & podcast:
Cancer and TCM: Treating Side Effects of Chemotherapy
& Radiation with Traditional Chinese Herbs
Traditional Chinese Medicine (from Dr. Marsden, Dr. Messonnier & Dr. Yuill)
Methodological Aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional
Chinese Veterinary Medicine: Food Therapy
Dr. Wen Podcast: Traditional Chinese Medicine's integration into
Traditional Veterinary Practices
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