Exploring the TCM Approach of Fighting Poison with Poison to Treat Cancer
"Fighting poison with poison" is one of the major principles of TCM cancer treatment; in virtually every TCM anti-tumor prescription, there are more or less some poisonous herbs. Practice has proved that fighting poison with poison is also one of the TCM anti-cancer means with notable efficacy.
The methods of fighting poison with poison and the commonly used poisonous herbs accumulated by TCM have been borrowed by contemporary Western clinical practice. Treating leukemia with arsenic trioxide has been recognized worldwide. In addition, active ingredients have been extracted from highly toxic Chinese herbs such as Camptotheca fruit (Xishu guo), Taxus (Hongdoushan), Cephalotaxus (Sanjianshan), and Mylabris (Banmao), and made into chemotherapy preparations or oral pills, tablets, and capsules. One of the greatest achievements of contemporary TCM anti-cancer work has been the development of a large number of anti-cancer patent medicines that fight poison with poison. The development of patent medicines helps control the safe dosage of poison-fighting herbs and makes medication convenient for patients.
The four characters "fighting poison with poison" often frighten patients, but in fact the toxicity of Chinese medicine is far less dreadful than imagined. Because it is absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract rather than the blood, its toxicity to the human body is greatly reduced. Even unprocessed Pinellia (Sheng Banxia), whose direct oral lethal dose is only 0.1 g, can be used at 15 g a day in a decoction—as long as it is first-decocted for half an hour—and used continuously for five years without causing any organ damage. Exaggerating the toxicity of Chinese medicine to frighten patients is truly not advisable.
For patients living with a tumor, as long as their constitution permits, one should consider fighting poison with poison; otherwise the best treatment window will be missed. TCM physicians through the ages with outstanding anti-cancer achievements have boldly adopted the idea of fighting poison with poison when treating cancer. Toxic herbs such as Croton cream (Baidou shuang), Aconite (Fuzi), and wild Aconitum (Caowu) were among Li Zhongzi's most-used anti-tumor drugs. The modern TCM anti-cancer master Dr. Sun Bingyan frequently used arsenic, Croton cream, Aconite, Aconitum, and unprocessed Pinellia. According to Shengdi Mei Ya, a well-known Sina blogger who was Dr. Sun's patient, when he was treated by Dr. Sun for his cancer, the medication caused his whole body to swell—showing how violent the toxicity was. Yet after treatment by Dr. Sun, his cancer did not recur for over ten years, and no major liver or kidney damage was seen.
Professor Fang Mingqian was also a master of fighting poison with poison. In treating cancer, he commonly ground unprocessed Pinellia (Sheng Banxia), leech (Shuizhi), and gecko (Bihu) together into a powder for patients to take internally. This method of administration is extremely dangerous, but the patients' tumors were cured by old Professor Fang, and no side effects were seen. Some classic formulas of TCM external medicine—such as Little Gold Pills (Xiaojin Wan), Plum-Blossom Point-Tongue Elixir (Meihua Dianshe Dan), Toad-Venom Pill (Chansu Wan), Three-Grade Single-Bladder Spear (Sanpin Yiqiang), Red Ascending Elixir (Hongsheng Dan), White Descending Elixir (Baijiang Dan), and Asafoetida Mass-Dispersing plaster (Awei Huapi Gao)—all contain highly toxic Chinese herbs, yet they have high efficacy in treating related malignant tumors.
Toxicity is relative. As Paracelsus of Switzerland put it: "All substances are poisons; there is none that is not a poison. The dose alone determines that a thing is not a poison." Treating cancer with the idea of fighting poison with poison can be said to be a principle common to both Chinese and Western medicine. Western chemotherapy works by poisoning cancer cells. But as everyone knows, while chemotherapy poisons cancer cells, it also poisons the body's normal cells, causing great damage.
So in treating cancer, one need not be rigid about whether an herb is toxic or not. Non-toxic is not necessarily good, and toxic is not necessarily bad. Failing to use poison to attack a tumor and thus delaying treatment until the patient dies is more immoral than using poison to fight cancer and prolong survival. In treating cancer, one only needs to control the amount of poison—one should not fear using poison.
Generally, the toxicity of Chinese herbs is divided into three levels. The first is "great poison," also called extreme poison, such as arsenic, mercury, and Mylabris (Banmao); extra care with safe dosage is needed when using them. Mylabris, after modern pharmaceutical processing that removes its methyl groups, has greatly reduced damage to the body's vital organs, so such herbs can be used safely with the help of modern research.
The second is the so-called "moderate poison"—here "moderate" means medium, not "striking." When these herbs are decocted, as long as they are first boiled a bit or combined with herbs that mitigate their toxicity, they are quite safe to use. For example, when using Aconite (Fuzi) and Pinellia (Banxia), first-decocting them or decocting them together with Ginger reduces their toxicity and lessens damage to the body.
The third is the so-called "small poison." These herbs are less toxic—for example, Stiff Silkworm (Jiangchan)—but they still have some toxicity and are relatively safe to use.
When using the idea of fighting poison with poison to treat tumors, one should prevent cumulative poisoning. Generally, after using a poisonous herb for one or two months, switch it out, and use it again after a period of time; this prevents the slow accumulation of poison that leads to chronic poisoning.
So in TCM's fighting-poison-with-poison treatment of cancer, the key is to grasp the proper measure. As long as the measure is well judged, it can exert its positive effect while avoiding its negative side, safeguarding the patient's health.