Chinese Herbs - Have you heard of these?

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Chinese Herbs - Have you heard of these?

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  • KiminJax
    KiminJax Member Posts: 531
    edited February 2008

    Hi Everyone!  I've just added accupuncture and chinese herbs to my chemo treatment.  My accupuncturist has recommended three chinese herbs as adjuvent therapy.  Have any of you heard of these?  Any concerns you know of?  Here is what she recommends:

    C/R Support - a combination of herbs to strengthen systems for people doing chemo and/or radiation.

    Imperial Tonic - same type of thing

    Calm ZZZ - to help with sleep at night.

    All of these are in pill form.  No powders or teas to drink or eat.  Please let me know if you have heard of any of these.

    Thanks,  Kim

  • Jaybird627
    Jaybird627 Member Posts: 2,144
    edited February 2008

    Kim, I'm not familiar with these. If I were you I'd check out what each herb in each pill contains and then go from there.

  • Blundin2005
    Blundin2005 Member Posts: 1,167
    edited February 2008

    Kim,

    I'm not familiar with these either.  I would be very careful with anything I use in pill form that can not be verified as tested for purity.  There is much pollution coming from the asian markets....both verbal and food.  That does not mean that very good herbs can't come from there...just that you need to be very careful of the source...as anywhere these days IMHO.

    When I used an acupuncturist and chinese herbs, she was recommended to cancer patients by a university.  The herbs that she gave me were in dried plant form and with instruction how to prepare them for tea.    

    Best wishes to all as always 

  • althea
    althea Member Posts: 1,595
    edited February 2008

    Kim,

    I'm trying to remember things I avoided during treatments and my fuzzy brain isn't letting me recall.  I think maybe I recall that I was told to avoid anything rich in antioxidants during radiation, for example.  In general, antioxidants are beneficial, but things are different during treatments.  The treatments are trying to zap the undesirables, and some desirables are casualties along the way.  So if you're taking something that bolsters cell resistance to invasive entities, in short, that could diminish the very treatment you're pursuing.  I'm sorry I don't have something more definitive, and my rads were 2 years ago, and things are changing all the time.   

    The point I'm trying to make is to question your choice to pursue traditional and nontraditional at the same time.  That could wreak some unintended havoc in your system.  Now I'm thinking about people on cumiden who are not allowed grapefruit.  Chemo is way more powerful than a blood thinner. In my experience, our medical professionals don't seem to know enough in the areas of their training.  A traditional doctor is going to know even less about alternative treatments.  More isn't always better.  

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