| Acupuncture and Cancer When someone is diagnosed with cancer there is often a lot of fear. We don’t know exactly what to expect, although our life may be in the balance by our decisions. Further there are so many decisions to make. Suddenly, you have the choice to either be led blindly by the hand or learn all there is to know about medicine and the human body in a manner of weeks. Alternative therapies have a huge place in cancer treatment. The doctoral program at Bastyr University in Seattle Washington focus on acupuncturists working in hospitals and clinics with medical doctors to work out where acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine can fit in with modern Western Medicine. I think this is a huge step forward. I firmly believe, as an acupuncturist, that there is a place for acupuncture even in the most extreme cases. I would not, however, state that acupuncture can cure everything on it’s own. One of my professors once said that if he were diagnosed with cancer he would do everything. I suspect I would as well. The alternatives I would choose would be joining a support group, making sure I got 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (I try for 7 now), and acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. Acupuncture can be a big help in supporting patients going through chemotherapy and radiation. It is minimally invasive. In our clinic when we treat patients who are undergoing chemotherapy we take extra precautions to maintain sterility as the immune system might be compromised. We also tend to have shorter needle retention time. The NIH recognizes that acupuncture can be effective for the nausea caused by chemotherapy. There are practitioners studying the effects of acupuncture on the fatigue caused by chemotherapy as well. As a therapy that looks at quality of life versus quantity, acupuncture and Asian medicine is uniquely suited to working in tandem with Western Medicine in fighting cancer. Studies include The NIH concensus Dundee, JW, Ghaly RG, Fitpatrick KTJ, Abram WP and Lynch GA (1989b) Acupuncture prophylaxis of cancer chemotherapy-induced sickness, J Roy Soc Med 82:268-271. Dundee, JW and Yang J (1990) Prolongation of the antiemetic effect of P6 acupuncture by acupressure in patients having cancer chemotherapy, J Roy Soc Med 83:360-362 Aglietti L, Roila F, tomato M, Basurto C, Bracarda S, Picciafuoco M, Ballatori E and Del Favero A (1990) A pilot study of metoclopramide, dexamethasone, diphenhydramine and acupncture in women treated with cisplatin, Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 26:239-240 |
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