ips-aiims

Pain Relief For Cancer Patients?

Karen had an advanced case of breast cancer when her friend asked her to see me. Doctors had given up hope on her and wouldn't operate and told her it was too late to treat her. She was looking for some sort of alternative health solution for the pain she was in, not the cancer, since she knew her time was limited.

At the time, I knew of nothing that could be used for the pain. In alternative health practice, the answer to reducing pain is to eliminate the cause of the pain, and in Karen's case, this solution looked pretty grim. Certainly one could try supportive measures such as increase CoQ10 and germanium levels that would oxygenate the tissues and possibly activate some healing, or try using acupuncture to open all the right energy channels for healing energy to flow through. But as far as an actual pain relief formula for cancer goes, that drew a big blank.

I find that by posing questions during the day in my mind, answers always seem to pop up and sometimes they do within a few days. Sometimes the answer comes in a matter of minutes.

How can cancer patients get pain relief? Certainly there must be an answer out there. Enough people have gone through the ravages of cancer and someone must have tried something that worked for at least 10 to 25% of those suffering from cancer.

The answer came through an indirect way. A friend had told me about her journey through life the last year, watching four of her good friends die of cancer. It was heart-wrenching to see her friends suffer. She began searching for pain relief solutions for cancer patients. After a few months, she found one.

I learned that pain from cancer ruins the quality of life they have, and does it rapidly. One-third to almost a half of all cancer patients experience moderate to severe pain during their bout of cancer. In those with advanced cases of cancer, that percentage jumps to between 70 and 90%. The sad news is that cancer survivors can continue to suffer from the pain years later. What an unfair situation that is, to have recovered from cancer and then be left with the pain and no solution for pain relief anywhere!

My friend found an herbal combination that was specifically designed by Chinese herbalists to control the cancer pain. It was actually designed as a pain relief solution for cancer victims. She had recommended it to some people who used the herbal pain relief formula and it had worked quite well, she said.

Some of the herbs included in the formula are Notoginseng, Red Sage, Red Peony, Cnidium and other analgesic herbs. As a master herbalist, I knew there were herbs that could interact with the nervous system and some that had the capability to decrease substance P, the substance responsible for pain sensations, but had never been taught what herbs to mix together to accomplish the degree of pain relief that cancer patients needed. It makes total sense physiologically and herbally that an all natural herbal formula could make a difference in pain management.

The good news was that the Chinese had already created the pain relief formula for cancer pain. As an herbalist, if you come across a formula that works, the rule is leave it alone! Use it.

I was sad that Karen, the woman with advanced breast cancer, moved away and was unreachable for me to share the good news. But the thought of helping others find a solution for pain relief for cancer was important enough to write this article.