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Preface
The World Health Organization has released a report predicting that the number of cancer patients will increase to 24 million by 2035.
So what is such a difficult disease in modern times, could anyone have suffered from it in ancient times?
Of course, the answer is yes, but cancer is just the name of Western medicine, and cancer in ancient times had different names, and there is only one word, which is still a word that we are very familiar with.
1. The name of cancer in ancient times
Ancient medicine was not developed, there were no advanced scanning machines, and the spread of information was relatively closed, so cancer was rarely detected.
Moreover, in the records of the emperors of the past dynasties, except for the last emperor Puyi, there is no record of the emperor suffering from cancer.
According to experts, Cao Cao's head disease is most likely cancer, but he refused Hua Tuo's craniotomy because of suspicion.
The earliest record of cancer appeared in the "Yellow Emperor's Neijing", which was born more than 2,000 years ago, and the description of tendon tumors and intestinal tumors is very similar to modern tumors.
In the "Treatise on the Prescription of Ren Zhai Zhizhi", the ancients recorded a detailed record of cancer, which is called a hard object that is high at the top and deep at the bottom, and the cavern-like hard object, and the appearance is uneven, and the middle of the sore is concave after the ulceration.
There are also some literatures that refer to cancer as cancer, cancer sores, etc., or even attribute it to a type of anthrax.
Through the observation of cancer patients, ancient doctors found that most patients with advanced cancer were becoming thinner and thinner, and their physical condition was deteriorating, just like trees losing their glory and gradually withering and drying out.
Glory means nutrition, and loss of glory means loss of nutrition. In addition, cancer patients have a loss of appetite and a thin face in the advanced stage.
Therefore, some medical books call cancer patients "out of camp" and "sperm loss", and in the Ming Dynasty's "Surgical Authenticity", cancer of the neck and ears is called "loss of glory".
Although there was this way of naming after physical conditions in ancient times, the most widely used name for cancer was still named after the shape of the tumor, and the most common name was "喦".
This word seems to be relatively obscure, but its pronunciation is the same as "rock", and the meaning is the same as "rock", and it is simply replaced by rock in many later sources.
"Rock" represents the hard stone on the mountain, and the word is used to refer to cancer, indicating that this disease is like a stone on the human body, which is hard and difficult to treat.
It grows in different parts and has different names.
"Women's Prescription: Sores and Sores" records: "If it is at the beginning, the internal nucleus is small, or like a turtle chess piece, it is not red and painful, and the years of accumulation are getting bigger, and the rock collapses like a ripe pomegranate, or the deep hole in the inner collapse, and the blood drips ... The name is milk rock. ”
It can be seen that breast rock is what we now call breast cancer.
"Surgical Diagnosis" records: "The root of the tongue is rotten like a rock, which is caused by anxiety and heart. ”
This is the tongue rock recorded in the mainland classics, that is, tongue cancer.
The addition of the word "rock" to the name of the site represents a different type of cancer.
Therefore, in ancient medical books and some dictionaries, cancer is common and also rocky, which all represent malignant tumors.
In addition, in ancient times, different cancers were named after the state and shape of the tumor.
2. Other names for cancer in ancient times
The volume of "The Complete Book of Sores and Ulcers" records: "Those who have calloused lips are born from the lips...... If it is swollen, the white skin is wrinkled like a silkworm cocoon, so it is named cocoon lip. ”
The cocoon here refers to the hard scab that grows on the lips, and the longer the scab grows, the white skin on the surface will crack like a cocoon, so it is called a cocoon lip, and some medical books call it "cocoon lip wind", which is actually lip cancer.
In ancient times, tongue cancer was also called tongue fungus because the lump was shaped like a bean and grew up to be shaped like a fungus.
"Yu's Laryngology Secretary: Tongue Fungus" said: "On the raw tongue, it is either like a fungus, or like a fungus, and its color is red and purple." ”
In addition, tongue fungus also has names such as "tongue fungus wind", "lotus wind, sores fungus" and so on.
In addition to the fungus, once the tumor of some cancers festers, the wound will turn outward and shape like a stamen, so it is also called "flower sore".
Some kidney cancers are also called "chancre" and "nephritis".
In ancient texts, the meaning of anti is the same as that of turning, and turning flower sores is also called reverse flower sores.
For skin cancer that is itchy and painful, constantly leaking, and sometimes secretes stinky water, carrion like cotton, the ancients called it "chancre".
The volume of "Surgical Enlightenment" records breast sores as follows:
"After many years, it will not heal, or it will rot in half, like a lotus pengxiang, the pain is unbearable, the meat in the inside will not go, and the good meat will not grow."
Such a lump on the tongue is also called a chancre.
Even the pomegranate, a fruit, has become synonymous with cancer.
The tumors found by the ancients had many internal particles and were shaped like blooming pomegranates, so they were named after pomegranates.
For example, breast cancer is called "pomegranate sore", and some ophthalmic diseases are also called "caviar pomegranate".
Some tumors resemble Ganoderma lucidum, and some resemble hemorrhoids, so they have different names, such as tongue cancer, which is also called "tongue hemorrhoids", and some people call it "tongue hemorrhoids".
For tumors with unusually hard masses and uneven surfaces, most of them are given the name "stone".
Hard carbuncle knots are called "stone carbuncles", and tumors in the neck, waist and crotch are called "stone gangrene".
The volume of "Treatise on the Origin and Syndrome of Diseases" records: "The skin is gathered and the skin is thick, the shape is like a boil, and the coconut is like a stone, so it is called stone gangrene." ”
For example, in the "Three Causes", it is recorded that thyroid cancer is called "stone gall".
To sum up, the ancients gave many names to cancer according to the patient's later state and the different appearance of the cancer, and even one cancer may have multiple names at the same time.
It's just that in ancient times, transportation was not developed, and information was relatively closed, so there was no special unified understanding of the name of cancer.
It is possible that different regions will have different names, and different teachers will call cancer differently.
However, no matter what kind of cancer, "Zhe" is a general term, and any part of the lesion can be called "Zhe".
Since there are cancer-related records in ancient books, Chinese medicine naturally has corresponding treatments.
3. The response of traditional Chinese medicine
In modern medicine, many cancer patients have reached the middle and advanced stages when they are diagnosed, and even the cancer cells have begun to metastasize, and the patients are facing great physical and mental pressure.
However, for TCM, these cancers are better treated if they can be detected at an early stage.
Traditional Chinese medicine generally believes that cancer is a deficiency of righteous qi, qi stagnation, blood stasis, and accumulation of evil poisons. Therefore, to deal with this disease, we must start from the aspects of harmonizing the spleen and stomach, nourishing yin and nourishing blood.
According to ancient Chinese medicine, the spleen and stomach play an important role in cancer treatment.
"Su Wen Thorn Forbidden Treatise" records: "The spleen is the messenger of premature life, and it is prudent and healthy with five flavors. ”
"Medical Sect Must Read" says: "If you have stomach gas, you will live, and if you don't have stomach gas, you will die." ”
"Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach" also records: "Those who are good at curing diseases are especially good at regulating the spleen and stomach.
"Heal the spleen and stomach, so the five internal organs are safe."
Therefore, for stubborn cancer, regulating the spleen and stomach is also the top priority.
Moreover, cancer patients will become thinner and weaker, and their qi and blood will be consumed by cancer. In order to provide nutrients to the body, it is necessary to strengthen the replenishment of qi, blood and nutrients.
In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the spleen and stomach are the source of qi and blood biochemistry, and they are also the foundation of the body's nutrition.
In addition, it also plays an important role in the treatment of cancer, and when choosing drugs that nourish yin and nourish the body, ancient doctors will also mix some solid drugs to help the body fight the side effects caused by tumors.
In the course of the disease, the patient's blood also has serious problems, blood stasis runs through the entire diseased area, and the hematopoietic function is also greatly reduced.
In order to deal with this problem, ancient Chinese medicine also adopted the method of blood replenishment to improve the hematopoietic function of patients. At the same time, it will cooperate with the effect of blood circulation and blood stasis, so that patients can reduce pain and help the body cope with cancer.
When the cancer is in the advanced stage, the patient will have different degrees of hard lumps on his body, accompanied by symptoms such as pain, thirst, and fever.
In the view of traditional Chinese medicine, this is caused by evil heat and poisoning, which can only be alleviated by clearing heat and detoxifying.
Therefore, ancient Chinese medicine will prescribe traditional Chinese medicine to reduce swelling and detoxification according to the situation of different patients, and remove edema and inflammation around the tumor.
All of the above coping methods are treated through Chinese herbal medicine.
While the patient is taking medication, some TCM practitioners will also adopt moxibustion, cupping, massage and other methods to strengthen the patient's physical fitness to achieve the ultimate treatment goal.
Most importantly, while taking various treatments, ancient Chinese medicine also focused on the mental health of patients and increased their confidence in defeating cancer.
However, the ancients had a relatively simple lifestyle, did not have any bad habits, did not have access to too many scientific and technological products, ate pure natural food, and lived a shorter life span than modern people, so the prevalence of cancer was not high.
Even if cancer is present, most TCM practitioners detect and treat it at an early stage.
For modern people, many factors from the outside world can increase the risk of cancer.
4. Modern cancer risk
The Journal of the American Medical Association has published a report that from 2006 to 2016, the global cancer prevalence increased by 28%.
The British Association for Research on Cancer also predicts that by 2027, one in two men will develop cancer.
The risk of cancer will increase from 44% in 2010 to 50%, and the risk of cancer in women will increase from 40% to 44%.
More precisely, it seems that with the development of the times, the probability of people suffering from cancer has also increased, and when people's lives are becoming more convenient and richer, the seeds of cancer have been quietly planted.
First of all, with the development of the Internet, our lives and work have undergone significant changes.
When there is no Internet, the only fun for everyone is to spend time by exercising, shopping, reading books, etc.
Either way, it is impossible for you to stay in one position for a long time, and you will inevitably change spatially.
At that time, I didn't have to sit in front of the computer every day, so I was able to relax my body properly.
But when the Internet is developing rapidly, most jobs are sedentary, and everyone's entertainment has become lying in bed and scrolling on their phones, even for days without going out or doing any exercise.
And with the acceleration of the pace of society, people's pressure is getting bigger and bigger, and the first thing after work every day is to quietly swipe the mobile phone, and even release the depression in their hearts by staying up late.
But it has been medically proven that sleep deprivation increases the risk of cancer.
Researchers at the American Institute for Cancer Research conducted an experiment in groups that slept less than seven hours and those who slept enough, and found that the prevalence of cancer was 47 percent higher in those who did not get enough sleep.
In addition, sitting for long periods of time and lack of exercise also increase the risk of cancer.
What's more, the diet we eat today also greatly increases this risk.
With the advancement of science and technology, the variety of food is becoming more and more abundant, enough to meet the taste buds of different groups of people.
As everyone knows, some foods have been heavily processed and many artificial chemical reagents have been added, which has greatly lost the nutrients of the food itself, and increased the risk of obesity and disease to a certain extent.
In particular, many people pursue foods with heavy taste, high oil and salt, which increases the obesity rate to a certain extent.
Both unhealthy and fattening foods are the cause of cancer.
Take the beverage that we all love, for example, the additives and sugar content in it are seriously exceeded, and long-term consumption may induce more than 20 kinds of cancer.
A 2016 study showed that people who drank more than two drinks a day had a significantly higher risk of colon and kidney cancer than those who did not.
In addition, force majeure factors such as genetics, depression, and environmental pollution can also increase the risk of cancer.
In general, most of all the inducing factors that cause cancer are related to one's own lifestyle habits, and most of them can be avoided.
In 2012, the China Cancer Attribution Analysis pointed out that 57.4% of all cancer deaths in China were avoidable, and the mortality rate caused by chronic infection was as high as 29.4%.
Active smoking and second-hand smoke accounted for the second place, accounting for 22.61%.
Finally, there are factors such as occupation and environment.
From this point of view, while the development of science and technology, although people enjoy convenience, they pay a certain price because of excessive indulgence and excessive pursuit of enjoyment.
There are also studies that show that the increase in the probability of cancer in modern people has a lot to do with the increase in life expectancy.
The ancients lived a short lifespan and left the world before they could be diagnosed with cancer. Modern people live a long life, so they suffer from various diseases.
But in any case, to insulate ourselves from cancer, we should still pursue a healthier lifestyle.
Epilogue:
Although the prevalence of cancer was not high in ancient times, ancient Chinese medicine still named cancer "Zhe" through observation, and the ancients also took different names for different parts of cancer.
Maybe the life expectancy of the ancients was too short, maybe the ancients lived a healthy life, or maybe the information was lagging behind, the probability of the ancients suffering from cancer was not high, but in today's developed medicine, the probability of people suffering from cancer has increased dramatically.
It is not so much that cancer is an incurable disease, but that cancer is caused by the accumulation of bad lifestyle habits.
Bad habits for a short period of time do not quickly lead to cancer. In the same way, cancer treatment does not happen overnight.
The most important thing to say goodbye to cancer is to develop healthy lifestyle habits.
Resources:
CNKI "Global cancer cases have increased by nearly 30% in ten years"
CNKI "Modern Life and Changes in the Cancer Spectrum" - Zhao Lin
CNKI, "Discussion on the Naming of Cancer in Ancient Documents" - Shi Lanhua
CNKI "Information Express WHO: Global cancer patients may increase by 50% in the next 20 years"