Mrs Vivien Chou in London -=- Equiguard Seminar On Line

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

I had a very interesting meeting with Mrs. Vivien Chou in London this

Wednesday. The reason for our meeting was the common interest we have in

Equiguard.

Mrs. Chou is the Managing Director of the company in Honk Kong promoting

Equiguard. Equiguard is a traditional formula for the treatment of 'kidney

deficiency'. On the strength of the very favourable thousand year plus

history of the Equiguard formula in China, and on the basis of a very

favourable in-vitro study at NYMC[1] showing the cancer kill potential of

the herbal mix, Mrs. Chou hopes to persuade some notable researchers in the

USA to give Equiguard a thorough scientific testing, including double blind

human trials. I wish her well in the USA, and I wish Equiguard success - we

all need a helping hand to defeat this disease which brings us together.

What follows is my assessment of Equiguard based on my limited research and

personal experience of prostate cancer and should not in any way be taken to

represent the opinion or 'off the record' comment by any other party.

Since traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) defines the kidney as the guardian

of reproductive function and sexual virility as well as urinary excretion,

the urinary-prostate symptoms typically experienced by aged hypogonadal men

are well suited to a herbal mix such as Equiguard[2]. The herbs together

have a strong 'yang' flavour which will bring up vitality generally and act

as a tonic for sexual impotence and senility. The constituent herb

astragalus will help the immune system deal with infections of the

genito-urinary tract and thereby improve flow and reduce pain on urination

or ejaculation.

The constituent herb epimedium has an agonist effect on the

hypothalamus-pituitary which accounts for the ability of Equiguard to tonify

sexual function. This may be a desirable quality in men who are suffering

from hypogonadal status due to natural causes brought about by ageing.

However there is only limited scientific evidence[3] to suggest that LHRH

agonist stimulation of men with prostate cancer is a desirable function and

we should proceed with caution at this stage.

It may well be the case however that Equiguard could be used with great

benefit during the withdrawal phase of hormone block (HB) for example LHRH

synthetic analog agonist treatment: lupron or zoladex; LHRH synthetic analog

antagonist abarelix; or synthetic estrogen DES or PC-SPES. During the

withdrawal phase of HB which can last anywhere from three to six months a

deliberately invoked sudden rise to normal sex steroid status may counteract

the onset of prostate cancer cell proliferation due to the low levels of, or

imbalance in said hormones (including male estrogens) which are typically

experienced[4].

By the same token I understand it would not be productive to use Equiguard

in a context of LHRH synthetic analog agonist induction of HB as the herbs

will synergise with the agonist to exacerbate testosterone flare and

stimulate an increase in tumour growth[5].

I feel there is a place for herbs with a 'yin' flavour in the treatment of

aggressive prostate cancer which seems to characterise many men -

particularly younger men in the West. Indeed, Western conventional HB can be

considered as 'yang-reducing' from a TCM point of view, without a

complementary yin-enhancing aspect. In their strictest sense TCM herbs

convey both yin and yang curative aspects and we in the West need to

understand this complementarity if we are to advance our fight against

prostate cancer. Herbs such as artemisia, saw palmetto, and fungii such as

coriolus, ganoderma and cordyceps, all have a yin-enhancing effect to

counteract the excessive yang which characterises Western prostate cancer.

Again, good luck to Mrs. Chou and Equiguard. Please feel free to post this

information to any other group. You are welcome to take this discussion to

PC-TCMgroups ( subscribe:- pc-tcm-subscribe )

Cheers,

Sammy.

References:

1. pc-tcm/files/EQUIGUARD/1/

2. pc-tcm/files/EQUIGUARD/2/

3. pc-tcm/files/ARCHIVE/PROUT/4.gif

4. http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-130.shtml

5. http://www.prostate-cancer.org/education/andeprv/hormone.html