Role of Unani medicine in cancer control and management
Routine allopathic chemotherapy for cancer treatment has several side and toxic effects. Since long time Unani medicine in cancer control is being used to cure cancer. More than 20 Unani herbal drugs are being used for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth. There are over 100 different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected. Cancer harms the body when altered cells divide uncontrollably to form lumps or masses of tissue called tumors. Tumors can grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous, and circulatory systems, and they can release hormones that alter body function.
Treatment is applied through diet therapy and/or pharmacotherapy consonant with the patient’s temperament. Unani medicine believes in health promotion and manages the disease through various modes of treatment such as regimental therapy, diet therapy, and pharmacotherapy. A variety of clinical studies have shown that Unani medicines are effective with minimal side effects.
The Unani philosophy is that cancer is the end stage of the degeneration of the metabolic efficiency of the body–the extinguishing of the innate heat–brought on primarily by incorrect diet and other imbalances in various aspects of the patient’s life, usually occurring over a long period of time. In the Unani medicine in cancer control, cancer is not actually one disease, but several hundred different symptoms affecting virtually any organ. As noted above, cancer is a disease of the black bile humor. It can occur with only the black bile humor out of balance, or one or more humors out of balance along with it. In severe cases, all four humors may be disordered. Cancer will be eliminated only when people return to a more balanced, natural lifestyle, and keep the body, mind, and spirit free from impurities.
