Summary:
According to statistics, 36 percent of US adults are using some form of complementary or alternative medicine. This article looks at the use of acupuncture in helping cancer patients deal with the symptoms of their illness and the side effects of its treatment.

Details or Sample:
Acupuncture as a Complementary Therapy in Cancer Treatment

While there’s no evidence to prove that acupuncture helps in any way with treating or curing cancer, there is evidence to suggest that it can relieve the symptoms of cancer and the side effects of cancer treatment. Clinical trials using different acupuncture techniques have shown that acupuncture can reduce nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, as well as relieving other common cancer and cancer treatment symptoms including weight loss, chest pain, night sweats, dry mouth, and speech problems.

Acupuncture is a form of therapy that involves the insertion of very fine needles into the skin at specific points on the body for therapeutic or preventative purposes. It originated in China more than 2000 years ago. It’s been used extensively in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for centuries, along with other techniques including herbal therapy and meditation, but it’s only relatively recently that acupuncture has been considered an alternative or complementary form of medicine in the Western World.

TCM practitioners believe energy called “qi” travels around the body under the skin along a network of channels (meridians) and affects a person’s mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. Qi comprises two opposite forces, yin and yang, that work together to form a whole, depending on each other for harmony. Most of the body’s major organs are thought to be yin-yang pairs that need be balanced in order to be healthy. When there’s an imbalance, qi can become blocked causing pain, illness, and other health conditions. Acupuncture aims to restore the balance by treating the acupuncture points, or “acupoints,” on the body where the energy paths come to the surface of the skin.

The most well-known form of acupuncture involves the use of very fine needles. However, there are other acupuncture techniques that don’t use needles; these include cupping, which involves placing a warmed glass cup upside down over an area of the body, and moxibustion, a type of heat therapy in which a herb is burned above the skin to warm a pathway at an acupoint: both techniques are used to increase the flow of blood and qi.

Anyone who’s considering undergoing acupuncture as a complementary therapy to their cancer treatment should always discuss their intention with their doctor as some therapies can interfere with the treatment they are receiving.

During acupuncture treatment, your practitioner will insert a number of very fine needles into your skin. Acupuncture needles are up to 50 times thinner than a regular needle, about the same width as a thick strand of hair. While most acupoints are located very near to the surface of the skin, the depth of insertion will depend on the nature of your condition, your age, size, and constitution. Some patients feel no pain at all, while others experience a moment of mild discomfort as the needle is being inserted. Some acupuncturists try to induce what’s referred to as “de qi,” a feeling of heaviness or soreness at the point of the needle’s insertion, which is believed to indicate that the acupoint has been located correctly. The length of treatment depends on the patient’s condition, and while some patients feel very relaxed after an acupuncture session, others feel revitalized and full of energy.

Some acupuncture practitioners also look at a patient’s tongue and feel their pulse to make an assessment of their yin-yang energy status.

The side-effects associated with acupuncture include fainting/dizziness, sweating, tingling or a dull ache where the needles were inserted. In order to decide whether acupuncture is right for you, you need to discuss with your practitioner what benefits you can obtain from the therapy. You also need to know what side effects can be expected, whether the therapy will interfere with your standard course of cancer treatment, and what the associated risks of acupuncture are. You should also investigate whether your health insurance will cover the cost of your acupuncture treatment.

Complications can arise when non-sterile needles are used in acupuncture. Because chemotherapy and radiation weaken the body’s immune system, it’s imperative that a clean needle is used when administering acupuncture to cancer treatment patients.

The US FDA approved acupuncture needles for “general acupuncture use” by licensed, registered, or certified practitioners in 1996. Before this, acupuncture needles, medical devices under the FDA regulations, were classified by the FDA as instruments for “investigational use.”

Not everyone derives relief from their cancer symptoms or the side effects of cancer treatment through acupuncture, but this form of complementary therapy can help some patients cope better with their symptoms during their period of illness.

Source:
cancer.gov
medic8.com

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