09.16.06
The Knee Bone’s Connected to the Thigh Bone
There are many different healing disciplines depending upon which country you research. For instance, in India, ayurveda is one of their popular healing disciplines. In China, acupuncture is well-known as is Chinese herbal medicine. Unani Tib is associated with ancient Greek-Arabic roots. The list goes on.
But why am I thinking about the various healing disciplines? Well, I was reading a cancer resource book called, “Choices, the Most Complete Sourcebook for Cancer Information.” I came across an interesting section regarding metastases (cancer that has spread to organs or tissue at some distant location from the original site). There was a little chart labeled, “Common Areas of Distant Spread.” The reason why I thought it was interesting was because in many foreign disciplines such as the different ones I mentioned above, they look at the whole body and find (link) “connections” to what affects what. For instance, in Traditional Chinese medicine they may look at patient’s tongue and nails to help them assess digestive distress. Change in vision may be linked to liver troubles. Or in ayurveda, the practitioner may look below the patient’s eyes to see if there is any kidney sluggishness. So this chart of common metastases spread makes me wonder what the link is to those original sites. Let me attach the list below so you can see what I mean:
Common Areas of Distant Spread
Original Cancer Site —->Where it Usually Spreads
Bladder —->Bone, lung, liver, brain
Breast —->Bone, lung, brain, liver, adrenal gland, ovary, other breast
Bone —->Lung
Colon/rectal —-> Lung, liver, ovary
Eye —->Liver
Head and Neck —->Lung, liver, brain, bones
Kidney —->Bone, lung, liver
Leukemia/lymphoma —->Liver, lung, membranes of brain and spine
Lung —->Brain, liver, bone, adrenal glands
Melanoma —->Brain, liver, bowel
Prostate —->Bone
Sarcomas —->Lung
Stomach —->Liver, lung
Testicle —->Liver, lung
Thyroid —->Bone
Uterus —->Lung, liver
~Choices, the Most Complete Sourcebook for Cancer Information, by Marion Morra and Eve Potts, 2003, pg 935.
**Apologies for the goofy table alignment. I confess I’m a bit computer challenged, and it’s showing! I can’t seem to figure out how to align my table properly. . . sigh***
The thing I find curious is why are there actually “common” sites where cancers spread? Why doesn’t it just spread to any “random” site? Is it then possible that those organs are some how connected in some way similar to what those other healing disciplines suggest? So that if I were suffering from cancer in my uterus, should I do things to help strengthen my lungs and liver? It seems to me that if cancers normally spread to these areas from their original sites, then there must be some sort of connection to them. I mean why isn’t it common for cancer in the uterus to spread to, say, the pancreas? Or to the kidneys? Instead it’s common for uterine cancer to spread to the lungs and liver. Or why does eye cancer commonly spread to the liver, and not to the brain, which is closer?
It may be a good idea to keep tabs on lists like this. Some things that at first blush may not seem related might actually be related.
Marlakins 
Andrea said,
September 17, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Well, what would make sense is if those organs shared common “meridians” as they’re called in TCM, which means pathways of energy.
Those pathways must really exist, for acupuncture, a branch of TCM has proven its effectiveness and it is based on the meridians.
When you practice yoga as long as I have, you can actually start to feel the energy begin to loosen and move through your body. And then you can start to sense the energy moving or blocking, more subtly, in other situations.
Andrea
Jen Backus said,
September 17, 2006 at 7:52 pm
If you look at the chart of where cancer spreads next, and look at a list of body parts chemo either destroys or deteriorates, you will see a most interesting correlation. My inital thought is that cancer spreads to the organ most weakened by the inital treatment.
Jen
Administrator said,
September 17, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Oh, interesting thoughts, ladies! Andrea, I hear really good things about acupuncture, and that some conditions really respond well with it. I have never tried it myself, but my sister had some knee troubles that completely cleared up with acupuncture treatment. However, I tried to look up a little bit about meridians. It all looks like Greek to me! But I did find that it is believed that acupuncture is good for certain conditions, but not all, and the conditions that acupuncture aren’t effective with are then treated with herbs. I wonder how they would treat cancers? Probably with both acupuncture and herbs, I imagine. I have met with an acupuncturist who told me that she did not feel that acupuncture was effective for eczema. She had a fellow acupuncturist who actually had a very severe case of eczema herself and was not able to help her own eczema with the acupuncture. I would like to understand more of how this meridian stuff works, tho, cuz there really does seem to be a connection with pressure points which affects other parts/organs in seemingly very distant parts of the body.
Jen, I agree that the areas that have been weakened are likely more susceptable to cancer or other disease conditions. Makes perfect sense. And so I did start to look at it in that respect and tried to look up some of the chemos and what it effects. I’m sure the list above is just a very general one and in no way complete, but I noticed that there was no kidney or heart metastises mentioned. And I know that there are some chemos that definitely affect the heart, yet heart cancers are supposedly kinda rare. And also, the odd thing about the kidneys is I’ve heard that in bone marrow transplants, the kidneys don’t usually get affected by GVHD. It’s all the harsh drugs that usu. end up damaging the kidneys. Somehow, the body’s immune system (even the foreign ones from the transplanted stem cells) don’t attack the kidneys even though they have been weakened by all the drugs. Oh, also think of the bladder. I know the bladder can also be damaged depending upon the chemo and if the bladder is being flushed properly. I’ve read of a guy who during his chemo treatment wasn’t able to flush his bladder properly, so he ended up having damage to his bladder so that he permanently has very little control over his bladder. But I don’t hear much about bladder metastises. Course I’ve just started thinking about it this weekend, so might find more information that will put all these musings in the circular file. Ha ha!
After your reading your comments, it does seem there’s likely multiple factors involved. Definitely the weakening of the organs by the chemos makes a lot of sense to me, but so does the meridian relationship. I stumbled across an article on why God allows sickness, and there were several “different” reasons listed. I’m thinking that could also apply to various sicknesses, that is, there are likely multiple reasons, and not just one reason. That’s my current thought at “this” moment. Ha ha!
Oh, another thought. . . I have read that thyroid function affects the bones. For instance if you have (I think) low thyroid function it supposedly increases the risk for osteoporosis. I’ve also read that lung disease increases risk for osteoporosis. If you notice on the list, both lung and thyroid cancer commonly metastisizes to the bone. Could be also since those organs are weakened, it weakens the bones and allows cancer growth more easily.
Boy, I think I could preoccupy myself with that list quite a bit. If I come across anything else like it, I’ll be sure to post it.
Thanks again, ladies!
Marla
Marlene said,
September 22, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Unfortunately, cancer spreads to those areas in people not treated with any chemo. If you are diagnosed with late stage cancer, it most likely spread to other organs already. John’s dad had lung cancer and chose not to treat. It had spread to his brain. My mother was the same.
Marlene