Many medical practitioners have provided patients with scientific articles on how to see a TCM doctor, but how should leukemia patients see a TCM doctor and what are the special features? With medical progress, leukemia treatment efficacy has been greatly improved, through chemotherapy, targeted therapy, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has enabled many leukemia patients to obtain a cure, but there are still many patients difficult to complete remission, relapse; there are most patients can not tolerate chemotherapy drugs, severe gastrointestinal reactions, nausea and vomiting, constipation, weakness, fever infection, bleeding, drug-related liver and kidney function damage, slow recovery of blood picture This affects the next course of chemotherapy; although the post-transplant examination index is normal, there are various discomforts, etc. In fact, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, the western chemotherapy for leukemia patients only kills the leukemia cells that already exist in the body, but the question of why they have leukemia and the production of leukemia cells is not resolved, so there is a potential risk of relapse. Some patients always struggle with how they got leukemia, will say, I may be exposed to toxic substances, hair dye, decoration, etc., but the same environmental and occupational conditions, others did not get, but you suffer from the disease, in the end, or your own factors, that is, Western medicine said the genes, Chinese medicine said “this” The “cause”, the external factors are only contributing or inducing factors, the real role is the “internal factors”, which highlights the essence of Chinese medicine treatment: identification and treatment, treatment of the disease to seek the root. Therefore, Chinese medicine is indispensable in the treatment of leukemia.
But how do leukemia patients see a TCM doctor? What do you need to pay attention to? The following is a detailed description of what I encountered in the clinic: 1. Be sure to bring previous Western medical diagnosis, examination and treatment information.
The important thing is the information from the first and last hospital visit, such as blood picture, biochemistry, bone marrow examination, immunophenotyping, chromosomes, genes, etc. It is best to have a discharge summary so that the TCM hematologist can better understand your medical history and treatment history, which is also an important part of the four diagnostic aspects of the TCM examination. Some patients think that I came to see a TCM doctor, the pulse will be able to all number out, the western medical examination is useless; some patients bring western medical examination and treatment information, certain non-hematology TCM doctors do not see or can not read, and even think that the western medical examination results directly interfere with the TCM doctor’s TCM thinking model, which is very scary. Imagine you are in the chemotherapy stage, the doctor does not understand, and add some so-called toxic Chinese medicine, is not adding insult to injury; In addition, all drugs will also react with each other, between Western medicine and Chinese medicine is also the case, do not understand the Western medicine treatment, how can prescribe the right Chinese medicine? This is probably one of the main reasons why western hematologists are afraid that Chinese medicine will interfere with chemotherapy and do not recommend that patients go on Chinese medicine. Therefore, it is important to bring all your medical records to the clinic as much as possible.
2. Patients should be seen in person.
This reasoning has already been discussed in the previous article, so I won’t repeat it. A reminder: Do not wear makeup and look natural when you come to the clinic. Some patients are anemic and have a bad complexion, so it is easy to affect the doctor’s diagnosis by deliberately applying makeup and powder; do not eat colored food and chew gum, do not scrape your tongue, do not dye your nails, do not sprinkle perfume, so many “don’ts” are to present the real sick you to the doctor, so as not to confuse the doctor and cause misjudgment. In addition, don’t regret why you didn’t come to see a Chinese medicine doctor earlier, dwell on whether the past treatment is appropriate and proper, live in the present, start from now, it’s not too late to mend the fold.
3, to tell all your combined diseases and discomfort.
For example, dermatological problems, ophthalmological problems, anorectal problems, cervical spine problems, etc. Do not limit yourself to blood problems; do not feel that this symptom is not related to leukemia and do not say, the real TCM doctor is very concerned about the patient’s whole body discomfort, because the core of TCM theory is the holistic view, that is, all the abnormalities and all the symptoms are caused by a cause, are interrelated. When the cause of the disease is sought and the main contradiction is grasped, all the problems of the whole body will be solved. Some patients register for several departments at one time, each doctor has prescribed medicine, do not know which one to take.
4, to tell your doctor all the drugs and health care products and supplements you are taking.
Some leukemia patients, think they have such a serious disease, coupled with chemotherapy drug damage, too weak, need to make up, so regardless of the right symptoms, eat a large number of tonic, the result is that the original evil is strong, tonic all complement to the evil, the disease is becoming more and more powerful; In addition, it is true deficiency is also to identify the yin deficiency or yang deficiency, is the gas deficiency or blood deficiency, fill the wrong full screw. The upper work to cure the disease, is to say that good Chinese medicine hematology doctors pay more attention to the problem of leukemia recurrence, for its yin and Yang bias hobbies “to adjust the level”. Leukemia patients come to see a TCM doctor through constant communication with the doctor to understand their physical condition, physique, know how to correct the deviation in daily life, that is, how to eat, drink, sleep and live each day. As the saying goes, three points of treatment, seven points of conditioning.
5, not the more expensive the formula the better.
Some leukemia patients think I have such a big disease, how the doctor gave me a prescription so cheap, the taste of medicine is not much, can work? In fact, a good Chinese medicine prescription needs to be carefully thought out by the Chinese medicine doctor, not simply a pile of Chinese medicine, and not the more expensive the prescription is, the more expensive the prescription is, but the large prescription will affect the efficacy because of the interaction between each Chinese medicine. Many patients like to ask a lot of questions when the doctor is not talking, which is especially likely to disrupt the doctor’s thinking, but can add some symptoms or situations that they forgot to mention, which facilitates the doctor’s judgment.
6, a prescription should not be prescribed for too long.
Some patients feel that it is easy to get a number and ask the doctor to prescribe more than one prescription at a time, or even a month or two at a time for foreign patients. In fact, traditional Chinese medicine requires constant adjustment of the prescription according to the patient’s reaction after taking the medication, the different stages of development of leukemia and the different medications used in Western medicine treatment. Even the best TCM doctors are not able to give 100% accurate diagnosis on the first visit; besides, even the best drugs and allopathic Chinese medicine vary from person to person, and individual reactions vary greatly. Generally speaking, 1~2 weeks is appropriate, while special cases require 3~5 pairs of prescriptions, such as acute and critical leukemia fever and bleeding, and even need to be prescribed one pair after another to adjust the prescription at any time.
7, repeat patients must bring the prescriptions and medical records of the last visit.
It is not easy to make the doctor remember you in the large number of patients every day. The doctor will quickly remember the patient’s condition at the first glance of the medical record, compare before and after, and have a continuity. This will give the doctor a comprehensive understanding of your medication from the last visit to this visit.
8. Whether you choose to take your own decoction or no-decoction pellets.
Many patients ask whether it is better to take soup or pellets. From the viewpoint of efficacy alone, it is believed that decoction-free pellets are comparable to traditional tonics, but decoction-free pellets are slightly more expensive. Some patients who have chosen no-decoction pellets say that the taste of the pellets is not as good as their own decoction of Chinese medicine, too thick to melt easily, and there is slag; you can brew the pellets for an hour or two in advance and then take them with heat. If you can boil Chinese medicine and have the time and patience, it is best to boil it yourself; if a leukemia patient is being hospitalized during chemotherapy, it is recommended that it is more convenient to use pellets. In addition, it is better not to have the soup decoction made by the hospital.
With that much on my mind, I will write here first. If patients and families have other questions, please feel free to communicate with me.