Acupuncture can be used to treat and help manage chronic health conditions including pain management for people with cancer receiving chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery. The adjunct protocols are found to ease many common side effects after cancer treatment, such as hot flashes, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, and xerostomia (dry mouth).
Acupuncture as a palliative therapy to patients with advanced cancer has been shown to significantly decrease symptom severity for fatigue, pain and insomnia — helping with an overall quality of life. A number of high-profile cancer centers in the U.S. — including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston — are integrating acupuncture into cancer care regularly. Valley Acupuncture Center also offers acupuncture treatment for cancer patients.
More and more research is showing that acupuncture can be an effective and safe adjunct therapy for cancer care. Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that acupuncture is effective for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, insomnia, anxiety and overall well-being.
Bone cancer pain is traditionally one of the worst kinds of pain to treat. Acupuncture is generally not effective for this kind of pain. However, there is a treatment for it using Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) which is painless. FSM is a needless form of electro-acupuncture.
Acupuncture treatments for cancer patients are usually once a week prior to beginning cancer treatment, one to two times per week during treatment, then once a week post treatment to help with recovery.
More recently, Chinese researchers found electro-acupuncture performed in a unique way was effective in treating gliomas and breast cancers in mice was successfully treated causing no harm to the mice. From a practical point of view, using regular acupuncture needles limits the treatments to skin and breast cancers where the needles can be successfully inserted into the tumor without too much trouble. This technique kills the cancer cells bu two mechanisms. First at the positive needle ions of the metals in the needle (mostly iron and nickle) are driven into the tissues and are toxic to the cancer cells and kill them. At the negative needle, the water in the tissues is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen which changes the pH of the area around the needle to one they don’t like again killing them. I’m sure that as this method becomes more widely known, doctors will start using it on other tumors as well using a technique similar to taking a biopsy to insert the electrodes accurately into more inaccessible tumors. The main advantage is no drugs or radiation is needed. Larger tumors would require multiple treatments with different placement of the electrodes. It would also be minimally invasive. The only limiting factor is the ability to get the electrodes to the tumor so brain cancers would be problematic. Surgery would only be practical for small tumors where changing the placement of the electrodes wouldn’t be necessary (unless you could place all the electrodes at once). In addition, using polarized electro-acupuncture with silver plated needles can cause a slowing of cancer cells division. Again, the tumor must be close to the surface. Here it is electrically impregnated ions of silver that stop the cells from dividing. The silver ions have no effect on normal cells.Dr. /Bjorn Nordenstrom killed inoperable lung tumors using higher current level to dry out the tumor via he discovered a technique he calls electro-osmosis. Here, he inserted the positive electrode into the tumor using a biopsy needle. The negative electrode was put in a vein near the tumor. SSo there are ways using electricity to slow or stop the growht of a tumor and even kill it.
Acupuncture in Palliative Care
Many types of cancer patients can experience some welcome respite with acupuncture treatments from a qualified professional. Relief and comfort have been found useful for breast cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancers and many others.
Precautions are taken based on your unique health circumstances. Please discuss any pertinent issues with your practitioner prior to receiving acupuncture. Issues may include:
- Bleeding
If you have a bleeding disorder, low platelet counts, or take blood thinners. - Infection
You should not receive acupuncture if you have low white blood cell counts since you will have a higher risk of infection. Your lowest immunity will be about 7 to 10 days post chemotherapy treatment. - Lymphedema
If you have had lymph nodes removed there are concerns that acupuncture in the area could increase the risk of infection. The acupuncture meridians help the lymph flow in timed of rest an inactivity. Acupuncture can stimulate lymph flow and can treat lymphedema. FSM can also treat it.