Experience in Treating Gynecologic Tumors from the Aspect of Depression (Yu)

For patients with gynecologic tumors, regardless of the type of tumor they suffer from, I am now trying to treat them from the aspect of depression (yu), and the results are better than in my earlier treatment.

When I see female patients, I have noticed a characteristic of women: whether they chatter on endlessly or sit in silence, they are all prone to depression. Women are naturally melancholic; they are not as self-assured as men, and at critical moments they are not as free and easy as men. Women who have fallen ill generally develop a depressive mood.

Moreover, traditional Chinese medicine teaches that women take the liver as their congenital root, and the phenomenon of liver depression is commonly present among the female cancer patients I treat. When I first see female patients, I like to add a little Bupleurum (Chaihu), Curcuma (Yujin) or Rose (Meiguihua) to soothe the liver and resolve depression. When composing a formula I sometimes tend to draw on the Chaihu series of formulas as the base, and results appear more rapidly than before.

When I treated my own wife for menstrual irregularity, doctors at the Air Force General Hospital first prescribed Siwu Tang (Four-Substance Decoction) plus Leonurus Granules (Yimucao Keli), with no effect. I prescribed Siwu Tang plus flavored Leonurus, adding one more herb—Bupleurum—making six herbs in total, just one more herb of Bupleurum than the Air Force Hospital had used. After two doses of medicine, her menstruation was smoothly regulated.

Of course, reflecting on this case now, I feel that using Rose instead of Bupleurum to soothe the liver and resolve depression might have worked even better. But the fact that adding Bupleurum to the traditional menstruation-regulating drugs produced such rapid efficacy shows that, for women, appropriately soothing the liver and resolving depression during treatment is very important.

In treating two breast cancer patients, I took the approach of soothing the liver, resolving depression, softening hardness and dispersing nodules as the main strategy; the rate of tumor shrinkage in both cases exceeded my own expectations. Not a single case took more than two months to shrink; one case is suspected to be cured, and the other's tumor continues to shrink. In relieving pain for one cervical cancer patient, I used flavored Chaihu Shugan San (Bupleurum Liver-Soothing Powder), which was effective. Later I consulted another experienced doctor, who thought using Bupleurum was wrong; when Bupleurum was removed, the effect was lost.

When treating female patients, soothing the liver and resolving depression is not absolutely mandatory, but when a patient shows emotional irritability or depression, moderately soothing the liver and resolving depression produces quite remarkable results. Symptoms that seem unrelated to liver depression, after adding depression-resolving herbs, show markedly improved efficacy.