Lifestyle changes can help retard, if not cure, cancer. Lung cancer can be fatal if it is not controlled, and while radiation therapy and other such medical alternatives work, an herbal alternative may have fewer side effects. However, cancer is a disease that physicians are still trying to understand, and why treatments work on some and fail on others is still not understood.
Chemotherapeutic Drugs
While they are an unconventional form of cancer treatment, herbal products are being used to help cancer patients in the United States. There are different forms of chemotherapeutic drugs derived from botanical sources that help treat cancer. Etoposide, from the mayapple plant (Podophyllum peltatum), is one such plant. Its use was approved by the FDA in 1983 to treat lung cancer, especially small-cell lung cancer. The use of these drugs has to be approved by the physician, and the dosage is also dependent on his discretion.
Fungii
A higher fungus, which is a form of mushroom that can be either edible or inedible, is a good source of chemicals like polysaccharides that have anti-cancer properties. Lentinan, isolated from the shiitake mushroom or Lentinus edodes, shows antitumor properties and is used as a form of chemotherapy for patients with lung cancer. As cancer is disease that affects the lifestyle of a person and differs in its characteristics from person to person, it has hard to recommend how these fungi will alter the cancer in a person's lungs. Herbalists and physicians treat cancer differently in every person, and diagnosis and treatment are individualized as per the patient's needs.
Chaparral Tea
Chaparral Tea is a product found in folk remedies to help cancer patients. Though there is no reliable evidence to test its use and effectivenessm Chaparral has been used by herbalists in the past to treat cancers of the lung and kidney. American Indians used it for various disordersm and it seems to be an analgesic and an emetic. The tea is made with 6 to 8g of leaves and stems of dried Chaparral, which are steeped it in a quart of hot water.
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