Cachexia ("cancer-wasting")Cachexia (ka-kek'-sia) is the often-fatal muscle wasting that accompanies many types of cancer. It is a complex syndrome which combines weight loss, lipolysis (the breakdown of fat stored in fat cells), loss of muscle and visceral (internal) protein, anorexia, chronic nausea, and overall weakness. This catabolic wasting breaks down body tissue, regardless of how much nutrition the patient absorbs. The current view of many clinicians is that bodily wasting is the result of a combined action of tumor products and host immune factors. Wasting occurs in many life-threatening diseases, including certain cancers, AIDS, congestive heart failure and the blood infection known as sepsis. Wasting can occur in late-stage cancers of the lung, pancreas and upper digestive system. It is thought to be responsible for about thirty percent of cancer deaths. Unlike starvation, which diminishes fat stores but leaves muscle tissue alone, wasting results in the loss of both fat and skeletal muscle. Bodily wasting physically weakens patients to a state of immobility stemming from loss of appetite, asthenia (lack of body strength), and anemia, and response to standard treatment is usually poor. We have heard anecdotal evidence that taking essiac may help alleviate cancer wasting, though by what process we are unsure. It is thought that the detox properties of essiac, along with the increase in appetite it may provide, are some of the benefits of drinking essiac tea on a daily basis.
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