Another Case of Cancer Pain Treated with Maxing Yigan Tang
Two days ago, the author wrote an article "Experience with Maxing Yigan Tang for Cancer Fever and Pain", mentioning a melanoma patient who, after receiving ipilimumab, developed an autoimmune reaction with frequent generalized body pain. The author had tried many methods to treat this patient, but none gave good analgesic effect; later, using Maxing Yigan Tang relieved the patient's pain.
In that article, the author also mentioned the side effects patients may experience when taking Maxing Yigan Tang, such as profuse sweating and dry mouth; therefore Maidong (Ophiopogon) and Tiandong (Asparagus) were added to the formula, and the final prescription was: Mahuang 6g, Xingren 6g, Zhigancao (honey-fried licorice) 3g, Yiyiren 12g, Maidong 15g, Tiandong 10g. After taking this formula, the patient no longer had dry mouth; the problem of profuse sweating was solved by having the family apply baby powder. Incidentally, Mahuang also has side effects such as elevated blood pressure and palpitations; other patients using this formula may also experience such side effects.
Yesterday morning, another melanoma patient developed the same problem: severe generalized pain, with poor effect from analgesics, so she sought the author's help.
The patient, a woman surnamed Zhang, 65, from Weinan, Shaanxi Province, was diagnosed with advanced melanoma at the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University (HISID: 1800644745), with enlarged lymph nodes in the groin and axillae; the inguinal lymph nodes were highly suspected to be metastatic lesions. The patient had previously received 4 courses of PD-1 treatment, with poor effect and disease progression, and had been on interferon therapy ever since. Some time ago she had also consulted an old TCM physician, again with poor effect and disease progression.
The situation of the patient I had treated two days earlier happened to be very similar to hers, so I told her not to try anything else but to use that patient's prescription exactly as written. Daily, Mahuang 6g, Xingren 6g, Zhigancao 3g, Yiyiren 12g, Maidong 15g, Tiandong 10g were decocted twice, taken once in the morning and once in the evening. Within a few hours of taking the above formula, the patient's pain was greatly relieved. Because of the previous patient's experience, the formula had already been refined, so this patient reported no side effects such as dry mouth.
Both patients achieved the same therapeutic effect with the same formula, showing that the efficacy of Maxing Yigan Tang for this type of pain is reproducible. This result also encouraged the author; refractory cancer pain is a medical problem plaguing oncologists and pain specialists worldwide, and being able to resolve some refractory cancer pain counts as bringing real help to patients.
Currently, the author is also trying this formula's approach on a breast cancer patient with bone metastases. If it proves effective, the author hopes to add modifications to the formula to further improve its efficacy, so that it can not only relieve pain but also inhibit bone metastasis.