Acupuncture For Cancer Patients

Acupuncture can help patients tolerate the side effects from doses of radiation or chemotherapy applied. By helping them to manage various unavoidable side-effects of progressive treatments,  they are able to stay fit and remain well throughout the treatment stages; stay healthy on the recovery path. After all, acupuncture is widely used to treat a multitude of illnesses without medication. Its ultimate aim is to achieve homeostasis, so that the body can heal by itself (see page on Acupuncture). 

Using acupuncture on cancer is common overseas, not many is aware locally of its clinical benefits  for cancer patients with treatment-related side effects such as nausea and vomiting, leukopenia, hot flashes, nerve problems, dry mouth, cancer related pain, bodily weakness, reduced appetite, weight loss, gastrointestinal dysfunction after surgery, constipation, diarrhoea, anxiety, depression and insomnia.

Some studies may have shown inclusive indication that acupuncture can work wonders for cancer; however, the studies highlight the fact that acupuncture can be an important tool to correct symptoms linked to cancer and complications arising from cancer treatment.

Another critical element we must bear in mind is that acupuncture is drug voided and hence, there is less complication in usage. Acupuncture can rejuvenate and relax our body. The treatment can improve our general physical and mental health too.

Everyone of us is of different body build and body constitution. Thus, the result will also varies accordingly. There is nothing to lose and all to gain by trying it.

To us, every available chance is a new hope.

Comprehend further to know how acupuncture has evolved overseas.

From cancer research UK, Acupuncture is widely available in hospitals, hospices and clinics. Patients are often referred to go for the acupuncture treatment because they have pains or other symptoms such as tiredness and fatigue, dry mouth, breathlessness, hot flushes due to anti cancer treatments. Some people do find that they feel a greater sense of well being, as they do not experienced the negative symptoms or side effects of cancer treatments after acupuncture.

In Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society quoted, there is no scientific evidence that acupuncture is an effective treatment for cancer. However, it does appear to be a useful complementary therapy for relieving some of the symptoms related to cancer and other conditions.

In the United States, acupuncture is used to treat a variety of symptoms and conditions associated with cancer and the side effects of cancer treatments. 

Can an Ancient Healing System practiced for thousands of years be useful in the modern cancer care setting?

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) says YES!

National Institutes of Health, one of the world's top medical research centers puts that the evidence currently available has suggested that acupuncture is a safe and effective therapy to manage cancer and treatment related symptoms, while giving patients the ability to actively participate in their own care plan.

Advances in acupuncture clinical research suggest that acupuncture does have clinical benefits. Since 1997, National Institutes of Health researched on the effect and safety of acupuncture working as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for cancer causative symptoms and relieving side effects from cancer treatments.

Countries like China, Japan, Australia, England, France and Sweden have performed different studies on acupuncture efficacy. Below are the scopes on the effect studied:

Effect of acupuncture on pain

Effect of acupuncture on sleeping problems

Effect of acupuncture on the immune system

Effect of acupuncture on ileus caused by cancer surgery

Effect of acupuncture on fatigue in patients treated for cancer

Effect of acupuncture on lymphedema in breast-cancer patients

Effect of acupuncture on hot flashes in patients treated for cancer

Effect of acupuncture on muscle and joint pain from aromatase inhibitors

Effect of acupuncture on nausea and vomiting caused by cancer therapies

Effect of acupuncture on peripheral neuropathy caused by anticancer drugs

Effect of acupuncture on xerostomia (dry mouth) in patients treated for cancer

Effect of acupuncture on other symptoms of cancer and side effects of cancer treatment

Acupuncture assistance is an extra big help for cancer patients in another sense because it helps patients with emotional and psychological issues. As acupuncture uses holistic approach, curing the above symptoms is only part of the total healing process. While working current disorder, acupuncture at the same time also improves mental and emotional control. This is an additional reason for the application of acupuncture.

Patients living with cancer always feel the anxiety and distress; for example, when one is receiving a cancer diagnosis, waiting for the results of tests, being treated for cancer, or worrying that cancer will recur and so on. Physical symptoms of anxiety disorders include worry, dread and uneasiness that may increase pain, affect sleep, and cause nausea and vomiting.

Distress is a feeling of great sadness and despair, inability to cope with stress. Patients who are distressed may have a range of feelings from vulnerability, depression, panic and isolation. From the start of discovering cancer malady to the completion of treatment, the patient may face one or more anxiety disorders, adjustment disorder; and the psychological and social distress add up to the already hardship they endure.

Anxiety and distress may affect a patient's ability to cope with a cancer diagnosis or treatment. If not managed properly, they may cause patients to miss medical appointment or decrease motivation for treatment and eventually treatment cessation. As such, the uncontained negative mental disorder can be rather nerve wracking as it affects not only the quality of life of patients with cancer but to their family, relatives and friends.

Below is an abstract from acupuncture in the treatment of cancer-related psychological symptoms conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.

‘In conclusion, results are encouraging for the development of randomized trials to directly evaluate the therapeutic impact of acupuncture in cancer-related psychological symptoms, including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and quality of life, but attention to acupuncture methodological specific challenges in the development of high-quality research is necessary. ’