Top 10 Ways Acupuncture Can Help Anyone Going Through Cancer Treatment!

Getting the diagnosis of Cancer is a real life-changer. I think you’ll probably always remember everything about that day when your doctor sat you down to tell you the news. And it certainly does have the chance to be a real life-ruiner, doesn’t it?

As a person, I have been dealing with cancer in my family for as long as I can remember, and as an Acupuncturist I have been working with Cancer patients since I was in Grad school. I’ve seen both sides of the story and I’m here to tell you that although getting the news of Cancer will probably always be one of the worst days you can imagine, your cancer treatment doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds. Find a good Oncologist (shameless plug for one of the best Oncologists in Denver, Dr. Samir Witta of Mountain Blue Cancer Care Center) and you will find plenty of options if your cancer is treatable. Now bring on an Oncology Specialized Acupuncturist and you have a very well rounded team to get you through your cancer treatments.

Does it seem strange to think of a Medical Doctor and an Acupuncturist working so well together? Well it shouldn’t! Many of the best hospitals in the country offer Acupuncture as part of their treatment program.

Here are 10 things Acupuncture can help anyone going through cancer treatments with:
· Fatigue
· Neuropathy
· Nausea/vomiting
· Headaches
· Body-aches
· Insomnia
· Surgery Prep/Recovery
· Blood counts/Immune System
· Depression
· Hot flashes

Although that’s the list of things I most commonly see, there is so much more that Acupuncture can help with! The timing, a frequency, can change depending on what works best with your body and your chemo schedule, so be open to playing around with timing of treatments. A good place to start is the day before your Chemo treatment. Although once a week is useful, many of my patients, who have done the very best, have come in twice on the week of chemo and once a week otherwise.

So there you go… while the diagnosis of Cancer will always suck, the treatment doesn’t have to. Things like rest, sleep, good nutrition, laughter and Acupuncture, you are giving your body the tools it needs to take care of itself, while you go thru treatment, and I know that it will return the favor tenfold!

Click here for more about this article and acupuncture for cancer

Acute inflammation usually occurs when there is a trauma to the body. There are two kinds of physical traumas; blunt and penetrating. Blunt traumas occur when the impact or force of another object is significant enough to cause physical injury and penetrating trauma happens when the skin or tissues are pierced by an object or burned. Dr. Giordano explained that as soon as cells are damaged, the body responds immediately to protect the injured area. Initially, the blood vessels dilate and increase blood flow to the traumatized area creating the first cardinal sign of inflammation, redness. Soon afterward, fluids leak into the tissue creating the second cardinal sign, swelling. If trauma is on the surface of the body the increased blood flow to that area causes the third cardinal sign, heat. Heat occurs because the temperature of the skin is normally less than that of the blood. The fourth cardinal sign, pain, results from pressure and swelling. Additionally, cellular chemicals called kinins stimulate pain receptors and tell blood vessels to dilate. Finally, the fifth cardinal sign, loss of function occurs as the body attempts to protect theinjured area. In an acute inflammatory conditions is not treated effectively it may become chronic. Western medicine’s approach to the treatment of inflammation includes pain medications, steroids and in some instances chemotherapy.

It is difficult to establish a direct correlation between Western and Chinese medical views on inflammation. Each medical practice has its unique way of looking at inflammation. For example, the first cardinal sign for inflammation, redness is viewed in western medicine as increased blood flow to the injured area. In Chinese medicine, it signifies that there is heat. Western medicine views pain resulting from pressure from the increased blood flow and swelling, while Chinese medicine describes pain as obstruction or stagnation of the energy (qi) and blood.

Chinese medicine considers the constitution of the individual, the progression of the pathological changes, and the specific imbalance in the body before determining the frequency of the treatments as well as the specific herbs and acupuncture points to be used. The flexibility inherent in Chinese medicine to choose from a variety of treatment options reflects a very sophisticated form of medicine intended to treat each patient in an individualized manner. For this reason, Chinese medicine is very effective in treating inflammatory conditions. It is therefore not surprising to see chronic inflammatory conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibomyalgia, crohn’s disease, and colitis to respond positively when treated Chinese medicine. The frequency of treatment will depend on the severity of the problem. Severe conditions are generally treated several times per week, while less severe inflammatory problems can be effectively treated on a weekly or bimonthly basis.

Research regarding acupuncture for the treatment of dental pain appears to have started in the West in the early to mid 1970’s but has been a part of Chinese medicine for centuries. Most research in the west found acupuncture to be effective for dental pain, as well as for temperomandibular joint pain (TMJ) and post surgical dental pain. Two important review articles that are still referenced today concerning dental pain and acupuncture were published in 1998 by Ernst & Pittler and in 2002 by Ted Kaptchuk. The investigators from these two review articles found that out of sixteen acupuncture trials for the treatment of dental pain, twelve of these trials had adequate methodology and concluded that “good evidence exists that acupuncture is effective for relieving dental pain.”

In my practice I have found acupuncture to be helpful in managing dental pain. Many patients have described acupuncture to be effective in minimizing acute dental pain and others have acquired pain relief while waiting for their dentist to perform a root canal. You may wish to consider acupuncture for post surgical dental pain especially if you are sensitive or allergic to analgesics or like my colleague, prefer to avoid pain medications altogether. Try using plain clove oil for tooth pain or our mouthwash formula made from Chinese herbs that is helpful for gingivitis, mouth sores and thrush.

References

• 1. Ernst E, Pittler MH: The effectiveness of acupuncture in treating acute dental pain: a systematic review Br Dent J 1998, 184:443-447
• 2. Ernst E, White AR: Acupuncture as a treatment for temporomandibular joint dysfunction. A systematic review of randomized trials Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1999, 125:269-272
• 3. Kaptchuk, T: Acupuncture: Theory, Efficacy, and Practice. Ann Intern Med. 2002; 136:374-383.
• 4. Lao, L., Bergman, S., Hamilton, G., Langenberg., Berman, B., Evaluation of acupuncture for pain control after oral surgery, a placebo controlled trial. Arch Otolaryngol Head and Neck Surg. 1999; 125:567-572.
• 5. Rosted P. The use of acupuncture in dentistry: a review of the scientific validity of published papers. Oral Dis. 1998;4:100-4.

Most people who come to the clinic have had a long history of problems with allergies. Many have regular bouts of cold or allergy symptoms turning into full blown bronchitis and/or sinus infections. Many have allergies as well as asthma.

Nancy came in for the first time this summer with complaints of allergies that had gradually gotten worse after moving to Houston many years ago. She had not found any combination of medications that had given her any measure of relief and was regularly suffering from bronchitis and sinusitis each winter and summer. She reported that the past couple of years have been particularly severe. In addition, she suffered with issues of regularity, gas and bloating and a general sense of heaviness in the body.

Nancy was given a summer allergy treatment along with herbs to dry the dampness in her body and strengthen her Chi (vitality of digestion & energy). The week after the first visit she returned to say she felt a 50% improvement. We discussed some dietary changes which would help with the amount of phlegm and damp in the body and she has done her part to “clean it up a bit.”

Nancy has continued to come in on a regular basis and no longer suffers from runny nose or heavy congestion in her chest. She no longer has problems with gas, bloating, digestive upset or a sense of heaviness in her body. The best part, however, is she never developed any bronchitis or respiratory infection during the height of the allergy season in Houston this past summer or fall. She still has some low level congestion in her head and ears, but that is more than likely due to having an allergy to her two cats. At the very least, her symptoms are at a minimum and she can spend quality time with her cats.

I do believe everyone with a new condition or problem should be evaluated by a medical doctor. Western medicine does have the best diagnostic equipment in the world. Western medicine is also the best for emergency medicine.

When there is a non-emergency or chronic condition, we can become advocates in our own healthcare. It’s good to hear what the doctor recommends and take it under consideration. Afterall, the doctor does have your best interests in mind. But the doctor may not be well versed in options that may be less invasive or requiring less medications. This is where we as patients have a right to have a voice in our treatment process.

I believe that one of the many reasons acupuncture has become such a popular option for many, is that in addition to making all kinds of physical problems better, acupuncturists listen to patients and treat them as a whole person. The doctors today who still subscribe to the “my way or the highway” mentality are not the doctors that patients like to go to or speak well of to others.

So, it’s up to us, as healthcare customers to consider all of the options to treat our specific problem. Because there are alternatives and different ways to treat problems, we have to do our research and find out what might work as well or even better and with fewer side effects.

Just because a doctor tells you to take another drug or have asurgery, (it might be that you need to take that drug and have that surgery), you can also wonder and question whether there may be another way to treat the pain or deal with the problem (reflux, depression, hot flashes, migraines, etc). Is it possible to manage or treat the problem without drugs? Can surgery be avoided through acupuncture and physical therapy? Remember, once you cut, you can’t go back. It’s certainly worth trying everything before undergoing anesthesia. So I do think we have to be smart consumers of medical care. It’s about taking responsibility.

We are very lucky in Houston as we have a world class medical center and hospitals and world class doctors. But it’s also ok to have a little healthy skepticism and consider all our options.

Another patient recently reported “I tried acupuncture many, many years ago. It’s probably about 15 years ago. It didn’t seem to do much for me at that time. Since then I’ve tried chiropractic, physical therapy, including epidurals. Epidurals helped me for about a year, but when I took it the second time around it wasn’t much help. So I was wondering if there had been any change in the treatments which could help the pain.”

I told this man that there are variables that can affect outcome. The main variable is how long a patient has had a certain condition. The longer it’s been around, the longer it usually takes to resolve, especially if one wants to do it gently and naturally without the use of drugs or shots. Patients typically come to my office when Western medicine can no longer help beyond giving drugs to alleviate the pain. Many patients do not like the efffects that pain medication or steroids have on their bodies.

Also, with regard to prior experiences with acupuncture, outcomes can be influenced by frequency, proximity of repeat treatments and duration of treatments. For long standing problems, it may not be unusual to need 20 or more treatments. One of my teachers, Dr. Tan, explains acupuncture treatments this way. “Acupuncture is like a therapy. The treatments build on each other over time.” When my patients tell me they feel better after the first treament, I am honest with them and tell them it’s a very good sign they responded so quickly, but “what I can’t promise is how long this treatment is going to hold.” Like chemotherapy or psychotherapy, the treatments build on each other for maximum effectiveness.

Also, one much take into account their age, lifestyle, daily actitivies, exercise, diet and stress. These all affect how the body heals.

So, back to the issue of multiple areas of pain. When there are so many areas that have pain I can either chase the pain and put needles all over the areas of pain or try to come up with a strategy that can efficiently move energy all over while still targeting some areas of pain. So many areas of pain makes me think of Times Square in NYC at rush hour. All lanes in all directions are backed up, everyone’s honking and nothing is moving. My typical approach to this is to create energy flow all over the body and then see what pain is left over. It’s called a global treatment and moves energy at the various levels that it flows in the body.

Because the channel system is a closed circuit system, it’s easy to move all twelve channels with just a few needles. Once energy is moving smoothly, there is less pain and then I will be more inclined to do a targeted treatment of the pain that is left over.

When I hear that a patient has had pain for 20 years on and off, it makes me think of a smoldering flame waiting for a gust of air which then fans the fire (increased pain). I usually ask about the history of auto accidents, falls or physical traumas. Especially when the diagnostic tests such as MRI’s or X-Rays are inconclusive and there is no apparent problem beyond general aging issues with the lumbar vertebrae.

When there has been a history of physical trauma like a serious fall or accident when younger, the tendency is usually to brush it off, especially if all that is felt is a little soreness and achiness. When young, active and busy, life keeps going without paying much attention to general aches and pains. Those aches and pains get better, but perhaps not completely and they smolder just under the surface as the aging process continues. And then 20 years, even 30 years later, all of a sudden, there is a flare up and increase in pain and no recent memory of what could have caused the pain. Sometimes its hard to find an apparent reason for the pain. In reality, the area that was hurt many years before ends up coming back to haunt if it’s not properly addressed at the time of the initial accident. Sometimes all it takes to fan the flame years later is a awkward move or stress and then there’s a flare-up.

The first thing to do when the pain is severe is to go the doctor. You want the diagnostic tests to rule out anything serious and/or to get an idea of what is going on with the low back or area of pain.

When I asked my patient about the diagnostic test results he said “the best they can tell is I got a problem with my L3-4 and L4-5, those discs.”

Lumbar disc problems are the most common cause of low back pain that I see in the clinic. Lumbar 3, 4,5 and the first sacral disc are the usual culprits. Sometimes you get your mid back pain in your thoracic spine area but when it comes to low back pain, that’s really where most of the problem is, quite often from a fall or accident. Frequently when there is no obvious source of pain the doctor will tell the patient it’s age associated arthritis.

So what would I do if you came in with this type of complaint? I would take a history and get a sense of where the pain is. Does it radiate out to your side or to your hip? Does it go down your leg? Does it go down the side of your leg or the back of your leg or is still pretty much located in your low back and buttocks area? Once I have a pretty good idea of the channels that are affected, I will come up with a strategy of points to treat the problem.

Over the years I have received extensive training in various styles of acupuncture. One of the methods is called the Balance Method. In general, the needles rarely get put in at the location of the pain. I will identify the painful channels or meridians and then treat areas opposite and farther away but that have a relationship with the channel(s) that have pain. For example, if the pain is on the lumbar spine and across the low back, I might put some needles in the back of your head to treat the end of the channel where the lumbar pain is and where it mirrors your lower vertebral column. I might also put some needles in your opposite shoulder and upper arm to mirror the buttock or low back or on the hand, behind the knee or side of the ankle that correspond to the channel of pain.

Then we can play show-and-tell and have you move in a way that usually causes pain. We then see what happens to the pain. In the majority of cases, there is relief on the table.

I can generally tell within four to eight treatments if I can help you. I won’t have you come for six months and say, “Oh, by the way, this isn’t working.” I’m pretty clear in terms of being able to help a patient. If a patient is not getting any relief between four and eight treatments, then sometimes surgery is required or another set of diagnostic tests to see if something was overlooked. I have sent patients to a neurosurgeon or for another MRI or X-ray if there’s no relief. I can usually tell by how the patient responds to the acupuncture if this modality is a right fit.

“I would like to ask Karen if she can help my husband. He is 67 years old and has a lot of hip pain. He is still very active and very much works 40 or 60 hours a week. The pain radiates down the side of his leg into the knee area. Does she think that she might be able to help that?”

My response: “I treat a lot of hip, low back and sciatic type pain. Pain down the side of the legs does sound like a type of sciatica that’s coming from the low back, maybe the hip. I do treat a lot of sciatica at my clinic. The usual location of needles would be on the opposite shoulder. I would actually needle various joints of the shoulder because that mirror-images the hip and then down the middle of the upper arm to the elbow which would mirror the knee. Once the needles are in I would ask him to move in a way that normally would elicit pain. If it’s better, then I’ve done my job well. If not, I need to go back and reassess my diagnois of the channel problem. Sciatica down the side of the leg is actually a very treatable condition.”

I frequently tell patients to remember that acupuncture is like a therapy: chemotherapy or psychotherapy. The treatments build on each other until the body is able to maintain the “re-routed” circuitry. If someone has had a condition for 20 years, it’ going to take more than a few treatments to make it better. It’s good to be realistic in those expectations.

Even if you think about one month of treatment per year. Obvioiusly that’s a lot of treatments and its doubtful that many treatments would be necessary. But the take home message is about being patient and recognizing that Chinese medicine is a gentle form of medicine that nudges the body to work in a way that it used to know how to do. There is memory. Once you really promote healing in the area that’s hurting or diseased, the body will respond in the majority of cases.

“I went into a regular doctor to get my hot flashes treated and they ended up prescribing antidepressants which I chose not to fill and chose not to proceed with because I’m not a depressed person.”

There are some antidepressants that doctors prescribe for hot flashes and symptoms of menopause that seem to help some people. But of course taking antidepressants is not for everybody and they are not without side effects. My preferred approach to treating menopausal issues is with acupuncture and herbal therapy.

When I was learning about menopause and hot flashes during my studies, it was as if a light bulb went off. It was that special aha moment. An interesting way to understand hot flashes is to first get the concept of Yin and Yang. One of my previous blogs talks about Yin and Yang.

To reveiw briefly, Yin, our moist, cooling energy and Yang, our hot, rising energy should be in relative balance. As we age, our Yin and/or Yang energy becomes deficient. For many who experience the internal heat sensations of hot flashes, it means that the cooling energy has become depleted causing a relative excess (too much) of the Yang, hot energy. The heat is not coming from the outside, but from the inside and rises up into the head and face area.

Treating the hot flashes in Chinese medicine is more about strengthening the Yin energy thereby cooling the relative excess of Yang (hot) energy. It’s not about trying to trick the body into thinking we are younger hormonally again by giving hormone replacement. It’s more about tonifying or strengthening the Yin, cooling energy which has become depleted over time.

When I learned that, I said, “Wow! What an interesting common sense way to understand the mechanism of hot flashes in menopause!” The treatment goal in Chinese medicine for hot flashes is to tonify or strengthen what has become depeleted. We increase the Yin, cooling, moisturizing part of us to put the Yin and Yang back in balance. The goal is not necessarily to reduce the Yang by itself because it’s only elevated due to too little of the Yin. It’s better to treat the root of the problem (too little Yin) rather than treat the symptom (too much Yang). It’s a beautiful way to treat the symptom while treating the root of the problem. So what I do is I put needles and give herbs to help tonify and strengthen the cooling mechanism so the Yin and Yang are in balance and the hot flahses are reduced or eliminated.

I love treating menopause because along with hot flashes comes disturbed sleep, irritability and mood swings. Acupuncture can help regulate a lot of those problems.

What’s important to understand with Chinese medicine and menopause and hot flashes is that our goal as acupuncturists when a woman comes in is to help a woman through this time in her life. It’s to help balance them so their life isn’t defined by menopause.

I have a lot of patients who do not want to take hormone replacement. The acupuncture helps. I have helped women wean off of hormone replacement who didn’t want to take it anymore. So it’s certainly a very viable option to try. It makes sense because the heat comes from inside. It makes complete sense that your cooling mechanism is off.

I actually do quite a bit of “mental health” acupuncture. Because of my nutrition specialty of working with eating disorders (for over 25 years), I have developed a great network with some of the best mental health professionals in Houston.

Acupuncture can help with depression, anxiety, stress and bi-polar disorder. So in terms of various mental health issues, yes, acupuncture can frequently help.

I caution to say that acupuncture is not in lieu of continuing or being in therapy. I do not take patients off of their Western medication if they’re already on it. Medication is a discussion between the patient and their doctor. Acupuncture, and in many cases Chinese herbal formulas, work just fine in conjunction with Western medication as the mechanism of action is quite different. They can complement each other beautifully.

When a patient comes in with a Western diagnosis of depression, anxiety or bi-polar disorder, my job is to determine what the underlying problem(s) are from a Chinese medical perspective. For example, if someone presents with anxiety along with insomnia, excessive worrying, hypervigilance and internalizing feelings, the strategy might be to balance the heart and kidney channels. However, if the main complaints include depression, irritability, sleep disruptions and digestive problems, the approach might focus on smoothing the liver channel.

Usually, a patient will present with a combination of the above plus more. After a thorough evaluation, a point selection is chosen based on the most disruptive concerns working our way in to the deepest and most chronic issues. We as human beings are rarely uni-dimensional, therefore it is more complicated than I have described. However, it gives you an understanding that the treatment strategy is quite individualized.

I have treated bipolar disorder and have found that acupuncture can be stabilizing; but with bipolar, it’s really important to stay on your Western drugs and/or be in regular communication with your therapist. What the acupuncture can do is help balance and stabilize some of the mood swings: the degree, frequency and intensity of the ups and the downs. You might be able to reduce the dosage of some of the medications, but again, that’s between you and your psychiatrist.

Stress is a major variable in just about every health issue we have. I think that stress is the one variable in our life that cannot be controlled in a double-blind, placebo control study. So you can have everything, all variables equal, but how do you really control for stress? Stress definitely triggers mental health issues and it triggers health issues overall.

Because stress is a major factor in all of our lives, acupuncture in and of itself helps with mental health issues because it works to balance the mind, body and spirit. When we are in balance, our emotional and physical health is improved.