ACUPUNCTURE BODY & MIND CARE CLINIC (Deer Lake) ACUPUNCTURE BODY & MIND CARE CLINIC (Deer Lake)

What is Acupuncture? Link

Several thousand years ago, East Asian practitioners discovered that the body forms disharmonies as a result of the various physical and mental stresses of life. Oriental medical theory explains these disharmonies as an imbalance of opposing forces called yin and yang. This imbalance disrupts the movement of the body's vital energy (qi) along the meridian pathways, which are channels through which the body's energy is thought to flow. Acupuncture restores the smooth flow of qi. By inserting and manipulating hair-thin needles at specific points, I am able to return the body to its natural balance and promote the body's ability to heal itself.

Acupuncture returns the body to its
natural state of balance and harmony.

Is Acupuncture Safe?

Yes. Acupuncture is used by millions of Americans every year. Acupuncturists are required to undergo extensive education, including detailed study of human anatomy and training in Clean Needle Technique. (NCCAOM) As required by law, I use pre-sterilized, disposable, single-use needles to ensure your complete safety.

ACUPUNCTURE THERAPY FOR CANCER CARE

From my clinical practice, I’ve been helping many patients with cancer to alleviate their cancer-related and chemo/radiotherapy induced adverse reactions. This allows them to better cope with and complete their cancer treatment cycles and improve their chances at controlling cancer growth.

If you are experiencing some symptoms related to cancer treatments such as low physical and mental energy, nausea, vomiting, hot flashes, anorexia, insomnia, headaches, diarrhea, constipation, foggy brain, depression, anxiety, and immune weakness, I will highly encourage you to consider Acupuncture therapy at Acupuncture Body-Mind Care Clinic in Deer Lake,NL.

Value of Acupuncture in Cancer Care: It Can Help Alleviate Symptoms from Cancer and Chemo-radiotherapy

Chemo/radiotherapy, as one of the primary cancer treatments, are often applied, in combination with each other and other cancer treatments, such as surgery, to combat cancers and to help improve an individual’s chances of surviving cancer.

While chemo/radiotherapy provides significant benefits, they are often associated with severe side effects that may be devastating on the quality of life of cancer survivors.

Recent advances in acupuncture clinical research suggests that cancer patients may benefit from acupuncture to alleviate their serious chemo/radiotherapy related discomfort, including pains, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, insomnia, headache, etc., and to support their immune systems as well.

  Acupuncture, as a Chinese ancient healing art, has flourished throughout over 2,500 years of Chinese civilization. By stimulating the body’s natural healing abilities, it avoids harsh side effects that could result from prescription medications. While much of the benefits of acupuncture involve reduction of pain, it has also been shown to help boost the immune system and create a general feeling of well-being.

In addition to improving quality of life, acupuncture as a complementary treatment to conventional cancer care can help improve the chances of a patient’s ability to tolerate chemo/radiotherapy treatment cycles, which can directly improve cancer survival rates. Acupuncture was successfully studied on its application in treatment of cancer-related symptoms (e.g., cancer pain, anxiety, depression and insomnia), management of chemo/radiotherapy induced side effects (e.g., hot flashes, nausea and vomiting) and enhancement of immunity (e.g., blood cell count, lymphocyte and NK cell activity). The following are some highlights of clinical studies supporting the acupuncture’s effectiveness in the management of common symptoms in cancer care:

Nausea, Vomiting and Hot Flashes:
In 1997, based on existing research evidence for acupuncture in adjunctive cancer care, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its consensus statement on acupuncture officially approved that “There is clear evidence that needle acupuncture is efficacious for adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and probably for the nausea of pregnancy.”

Hot flashes, another side effect associated with insomnia, fatigue, and irritability, are troublesome to cancer patients during their hormonal treatments. Although various pharmacologic interventions are available to reduce hot flash frequency and severity, many of these have the potential for significant adverse side effects. Acupuncture has been shown to a promising treatment modality to alleviate these symptoms. A pilot trial by Hammar et al. (1999) of prostate cancer patients treated with hormonal therapy indicated that the frequency of hot flashes was reduced by 50–70% at various points with no adverse effect reported. Similar findings were also reported by Frisk et al. 2009 (73%), Hayes et al. 2005 (50%), Harding et al. 2009 (58%), Ashamalla et al. 2011 (80.3%), Nedstrand et al. 2005 (58%) and Hervik et al. 2009 (60%).

Cancer pain, Anxiety, Depression and Insomnia:
Cancer-related pain remains a major challenge in modern healthcare. Although patients experience some pain relief by painkiller drugs, their side effect profile may be unacceptable to many. Research shows that acupuncture represents a potentially valuable adjunct to existing strategies for pain relief. In a trial on analgesic effect by Dan et al. 1998 reported that the pain was reduced by 50% for the group having painkiller medication, 73% for the acupuncture group and 92.9% for acupuncture plus medication group. Another randomized and controlled study by Alimi et al. 2003 on patients with chronic peripheral or central neuropathic pain arising after cancer treatment reported that pain was decreased by 36% at 2 months from baseline in the group receiving acupuncture, and there was little change for patients receiving placebo (2%).

Acupuncture therapy may treat some related symptoms spontaneously by needle stimulation on several or a dozen of acupoints over a specific meridian or different meridians of the body. In a recent clinical trial in Montreal of advanced stage lung cancer patients, Acupuncture was found to have a statistically significant improvement in pain, appetite, nausea, nervousness, and well being. The authors suggested that acupuncture is a safe and minimally invasive modality, and it may have a particularly useful role in patients undergoing anticancer treatment (Kasymjanova et al. 2013).

Immunity weakness:
The immune system of a person undergoing cancer treatment may be weakened by the chemo/radiotherapy or the cancer itself, which can increase the risk of getting a life-threatening infection and force one to delay or withdraw from cancer treatment.

While conventional prevention such as vaccination, taking immunotherapies/medications, taking hygienic precautions, and following a healthy lifestyle are essential, acupuncture can offer you a unique and natural healing process to enhance the immunity of your body and to help you complete your chemo/radiotherapy as planned.

Chinese medicine theory views lowered immunity and susceptibility to infection as a weakening of vital energy or “qi” and the “kidney” element, which lowers the so-called “blood” element, which leads to such symptoms as pallor, general malaise/weakness, dizziness, palpitations, insomnia, cold sensations, etc.

Such an ancient practice has indeed been explored with great interest, and shown by modern clinical trials to be an effective and valid approach complementary to conventional treatments in cancer care. For instance, in a pilot randomized and controlled quality clinical trial at the Osher Research Center of Harvard Medical School(Lu et al. 2009) suggests that acupuncture may improve white blood cell counts in patients with ovarian cancer undergoing concurrent myelosuppressive chemotherapy, and may also reduce the severity of leukopenia. Another trial of electro-acupuncture on immune function during one-month chemotherapy showed that T cells and NK cells essential in immune function were maintained on the acupuncture treatment group versus a decline seen in the conventional treatment group (Ye F et al. 2002). Similar findings were also reported in other studies (Mori et al. 2002; Jong et al. 2006).

Acupuncture is an ancient healing art valid in the treatment of many conditions, and especially helpful in the adjunctive treatment of chemo/radiotherapy side effects. This has been recognized by World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health. While acupuncture has been shown to help with many tune-up and pain processes applicable to healthy people, it is especially helpful in the high-stakes needs of cancer treatment and should be considered by all individuals interested in supplementing their current health regimens.

References:

US National Institute of Health, “NIH Consensus Statement: Acupuncture”, 15(5), November, 1997.

Hammar M, et al., “Acupuncture treatment of vasomotor symptoms in men with prostatic carcinoma: a pilot study”, J Urology 1999;161(3): 853–856.

Frisk J, et al., “Two modes of acupuncture as a treatment for hot flushes in men with prostate cancer—a prospective multicenter study with long-term follow-up”, Eur J Urology, 2009;55(1): 156–163.

Hayes M, et al., “Acupuncture for hot flashes in prostate cancer patients”, J Clin Oncol. 2005;23: 8160.

Harding C, et al., “Auricular acupuncture: a novel treatment for vasomotor symptoms associated with luteinizing-hormone releasing hormone agonist treatment for prostate cancer”, BJU Internat. 2009;103(2): 186–190.

Ashamalla H, et al., “Acupuncture for the alleviation of hot flashes in men treated with androgen ablation therapy”, Internat J Radi Oncol Biol Phys. 2011;79: 1358–1363.

Nedstrand E, et al., “Vasomotor symptoms decrease in women with breast cancer randomized to treatment with applied relaxation or electro-acupuncture: a preliminary study”, Climacteric 2005;8: 243–250.

Hervik J, et al., “Acupuncture for the treatment of hot flashes in breast cancer patients, a randomized, controlled trial”, Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009;116: 311–316.

Alimi D, et al., “Analgesic effect of auricular acupuncture for cancer pain: A randomized, blinded, controlled trial”, J Clin Oncol. 2003;21: 4120–4126.

Dang W, et al., “Clinical study on acupuncture treatment of stomach carcinoma pain”, J Tradit Chin Med. 1998;18: 31–38.

Kasymjanova G, et al., “The potential role for acupuncture in treating symptoms in patients with lung cancer: an observational longitudinal study”, Curr Oncol. 2013 Jun;20(3):152-157.

Lu WD, et al., “Acupuncture for Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia in Patients with Gynecologic Malignancies”, J Altern Complement Med. 2009 Jun;15(7): 745-753.

Ye F, et al., “Effects of electro-acupuncture on immunity function after chemotherapy in 28 cases”, J Tradit Chin Med. 2002 Mar;22(1):21-23.

Mori H, et al., “Unique immunomodulation by electro-acupuncture in humans possible via stimulation of the autonomic nervous system”, Neurosci Lett. 2002; 320: 21-24.

Jong MS, et al., “Effects of electro-acupuncture on serum cytokine level and peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulation at immune-related and non-immune-related points”, Acupunct Electrother Res. 2006; 31: 45-59.