Cancer Patients Should Start TCM Treatment as Early as Possible

Cancer patients often ask me: "When is the best time to start TCM treatment?" The answer is simple: "The earlier, the better!"

Some patients insist on waiting until Western medicine has exhausted every option before starting TCM, but by then it is already too late. When Western surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy have all failed, not only has the patient's disease progressed badly, the body has also been worn out; treating with TCM at that point is extremely hard. That is why many clinicians politely decline follow-up from patients after radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Whether early or mid-to-late stage, once cancer is discovered, regardless of whether Western treatment is pursued, the patient should immediately find a TCM physician who is convenient to follow up with, devise a corresponding TCM treatment plan, and follow long-term. TCM treatment can proceed in parallel with Western treatment. Some patients worry that if combined treatment works, they will not know whether the credit goes to TCM or Western medicine; this worry is unnecessary. As a patient, you only need the disease cured; you need not fuss over whether TCM or Western medicine works better.

Cancer can be called a chronic disease or an acute one. It is called chronic because it is indeed not as immediately deadly as many acute diseases. It is called acute because often cancer's speed of progression is astonishing; patients frequently progress rapidly even while being treated. If one uses TCM alone or Western medicine alone and it fails, there is no turning back. Integrated Chinese-Western treatment gives a better chance.