New group member

[Guest guest]

Hello

I have been asked to introduce myself, so since you are all on-line please see my web site www.l5tcm.com

 

I will follow the debates as and when I have time and join in when I can.

 

Andy

[Guest guest]

Welcome

Andrew,

 

I checked

your website and found it very interesting, particularly the page on PROSTATE.

You are obviously a very accomplished guy and I look forward to your

contribution on this list.

Although your PROSTATE page does not 'give away' an awful lot J it is evident from your approach that you have dealt

successfully with this problem. I feel that treatment with saw palmetto and

zinc are just the start since the prostate will actually shrink, and prostatic

disease go into remission, if the system is strengthened. The problem is that

prostatic disease is perceived by the WM system as a disease of excess when it

is in fact a condition of deficiency. I have written about this on my own list

called pc-art which is on , mainly from a mechanistic viewpoint.

Although I am trying to integrate TCM knowledge in to this new paradigm since

the course of prostate disease is so very different East vs West despite the

epidemiological evidence which points to all races of men having the same age-dependent

occult disease status. The disease manifests differently in the West because of

differences in diagnosis and treatment. I'd go so far and say that TCM offers a

pre-diagnostic 'anticipation'

which renders the course of the disease different, leading to different

objective, diagnostic outcomes. Because of this there are vastly different

prostate disease fatality rates say between Hong Kong (7 per 100k) and the UK

(30 per 100k).

 

The

tragedy is that many Chinese doctors in PRC establishments fail to recognise

this 'phenomenon' and increasingly treat manifest prostate disease with western

methods, surgery, radiation and castration, when all that is need is

strengthening of Ki Qi. In my simplistic way I'd say that was maximising

androgen status, minimising estrogen status, but of course there is a little

more to it than that. Hopefully, the case of the PROSTATE will help to

strengthen TCM against the continuing onslaught of WM in the PRC and make a

special place for TCM alongside WM in years to come. This is something we as

westerners can give back to TCM in gratitude for the great gift and treasure to

the whole of humanity that it is. Hopefully too, the case of the PROSTATE is

something that students on the MDX TCM course will be able to engage with doctors

in China over.

 

Sincerely,

 

Sammy.

 

P.S. Just

for completeness I include my abstract which may be used as a template for

further studies in this area.

 

Abstract: The Hormetic Principle and

Androgen Challenge in Prostate Cancer: A Case Study

 

Background: In the UK about 1000 men of working age die every year from

prostate cancer. In the USA the number of pre-retirement deaths due to prostate

cancer is about 5000. For a disease that has a median age of diagnosis of

70-plus years and a median age of survival of 5-plus years, the diagnosis of

prostate cancer for a younger man spells an almost certain early death.

Following diagnosis, decline follows a familiar pattern:

 

Failing prostatic surgery and / or radiotherapy, long term hormone ablative

palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer impacts on overall health

status and well being; not to mention the social consequences of disability:

compromised productivity and reduced earning power. Intermittent hormone

ablative treatment holds out some respite but elevated disease markers

invariably reappear after a few months to years and a return to debilitating

treatment is clinically indicated.

 

This case study outlines the novel experience of a 'younger man' and some

general principles that might be applied to the treatment of prostate cancer in

the 21st Century.

Methods: Since the success of Huggins and Hodges in the 1940's using castration

to effect a temporary remission in patients with advanced prostate cancer,

conventional medical thinking perceives this disease as one of androgen excess:

further advances in its treatment have been frustratingly limited to variations

on a theme of castration - hormone blockade being the latest variation of this

traditional practice with its roots in the slave trade. Indeed a causal link

between androgen excess and prostate cancer is not established. To the

contrary, case studies in the clinical literature spanning the last 60 years

demonstrate the exact opposite: an increase in androgens may offer respite from

even terminal disease. An emerging concept of the 20th Century, the

'hormetic principle' may shed some light on this phenomenon.

 

The methodology employed in this case study was to treat the condition as one

of deficiency rather than excess. Following a period of clinical disease marker

reduction induced by hormone blockade (i.e., chemical castration), androgen

levels in the patient were then allowed to rise as high as possible under the

influence of recovered testicular function. Blood draws measuring prostate

specific androgen (PSA - the main prostatic cancer disease marker) and hormone

levels (e.g., testosterone) were taken at approximately monthly intervals over

a period of time* to obtain an understanding of the patient's response to

androgen and associated factors. *[ Blood serum and imaging data were

available over an eight year period. ] The intelligence thus obtained, plus a

range of interventions (primarily exercise, functional foods and herbal

supplements), was used to obtain observable hormetic functionality of the

androgen axis.

 

Results: After withdrawal of androgen block and return to normal male androgen

levels, an increase in PSA trend (straight line log plot) was observed for

several months. Thereafter PSA failed to reach predicted values in the Gompertzian

model of tumour growth and instead stabilised as androgen levels were

maintained at normal values with reference to the average male.

 

Conclusion: It is concluded that in the context of prostate cancer the hormetic

principle is admirably demonstrated by androgen challenge. Both

clinically documented and anecdotal accounts of androgen induced recovery, or

disease stabilisation, are not fluky and freakish exceptions to the

Huggins' model. Herein represents an entirely new paradigm for the

etiology and treatment with curative intent of prostate cancer. The question

of whether treatments such as prostatic surgery, systemic hormone

ablative therapy, or even passive watchful waiting, should be considered as

primary modalities in the face of this evidence is acquiring increasing

urgency.

 

Copyright © 2003-4 Sammy Bates England, UK. sammy_bates pc-art/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original

Message-----

Andrzej Sordyl

[armsordyl]

21 January 2004 12:44

To:

Chinese Medicine

New group member

 

Hello

I have been asked to introduce myself, so since you are all on-line please see

my web site www.l5tcm.com

 

I will follow the debates as and when I have time and join in when I can.

 

Andy

 

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