An External Analgesic Formula for Advanced Liver and Pancreatic Cancer
This is an empirical formula often used by the late celebrated TCM physician Duan Fengwu. I tried it out recently myself and it is indeed effective. The Xionghuang (realgar) and other herbs in it I have used myself; applied externally they are very safe and almost free of toxic side effects. Advanced liver or pancreatic cancer patients, or patients with bone metastases from any cancer, may boldly try it. If it stops pain, its effect is no less than morphine-type Western drugs, with very few side effects.
Ingredients: Xionghuang (Realgar) 60 g, Mingfan (Alum) 60 g, Bingpian (Borneol) 10 g, Qingdai (Indigo naturalis) 10 g, Pixiao (Glauber's salt/Mirabilite) 60 g, Ruxiang (Olibanum) 60 g, Moyao (Myrrh) 60 g, Xuejie (Dragon's Blood) 30 g.
Preparation: Grind the above herbs into fine powder, mix well, and divide into 60 g packets (or 30 g packets).
Usage: Mix rice vinegar and pig bile half-and-half (if too irritating to the skin, use less vinegar than bile). Stir one packet into a paste and apply to the painful area; as it dries, dab on more vinegar-bile to keep the surface moist. Once a day, eight hours each time. If the patient hurts more at night, apply at night for better effect.
Advanced liver and pancreatic cancer, in the final stage, causes severe pain at the lesion, generally because the tumor invades the peritoneum and nerves. Ordinary analgesics barely help, and even morphine may not work. For such patients, relieving pain is the first priority, and this formula has a certain response rate.
The formula is composed according to TCM theory of cooling blood and invigorating blood, resolving stasis and stopping pain. TCM holds that tumor pain is mostly due to qi stagnation and blood stasis, especially the latter, so treatment emphasizes blood activation and stasis resolution. Applied externally, the medication penetrates the skin directly to the lesion; its systemic toxicity is relatively small, so it can be boldly tried. Once pain is controlled, the dose and frequency of morphine-type analgesics can be markedly reduced.
I believe that if, along with this external application, the patient also takes an internal decoction combining Baishao (White Peony) and Chaihu (Bupleurum), Yujin (Curcuma), Gancao (Licorice) to soften the liver and relieve urgency, the Haifusan for stasis-resolving analgesia, and the Jinlingzi San for qi-moving analgesia, the effect will be even better. Several terminal cancer pain patients I treated, after a period of TCM analgesia, mostly no longer needed any Western analgesic at all. Only some TCM analgesics carry a risk of bleeding; use cautiously in tumor patients prone to major hemorrhage.