The benefits of Acupuncture

specifically for Cancer Sufferers and their Carers

by  S.Wheeler  Lic.Ac.

Firstly, ‘Acupuncturist’ is not yet a protected title, neither in Britain nor in Spain, so it’s very important to ensure that your acupuncturist, or indeed, anybody to whom you entrust your health can prove certification, and insurance.

For those of you who don’t already know, Acupuncture is treatment stimulating acupuncture points along channels or ‘Meridians’ of the body, traditionally by needles, heat or pressure and recently with mild electrical current or laser light.

The first written record of acupuncture is over 2200 years old, and in a 1100 year old burial site, a set of gold, silver and bronze needles recognisably similar to sets available from modern suppliers today was found; so acupuncture, as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has a long, well-documented history of clinical success.

Acupuncture considers illness, injury or ‘Dis-Ease’ as a disruption to the normal healthy flow and balance of Qi pronounced CHI. Qi is the term for Energy or Vitality - which we  all have, partly from each parent as we grew from conception and partly we gain and exchange Qi as we live our lives, from our surroundings and nourishment. Traditional belief is that Qi flows along the meridians, and a blockage of this energy flow results in illness, and the insertion of needles along the meridians on points unblocks and stimulates the Qi once more, regaining balance & harmony, in body, mind and spirit. It’s a holistic treatment, meaning the whole person is treated, rather than different pills for different complaints – holism believes that a patient’s mind, body and emotions interact & are integral to health, and disharmony will lead to dysfunction in both mind    and body. However,  it’s not a case of ‘all in the mind’, it works wonders in veterinary medicine, and although with some humans there may be a partial placebo affect, enough studies have been done on the physical objective responses of the body and brain to discount this.  

Despite Acupuncture’s ancient oriental traditions, it wasn’t really until the 1960s that acupuncture began to be more commonplace in the West, initially as a pain relief, then as an alternative to general anaesthesia, and eventually as a significant, side-effect-free treatment for the majority of medical problems. Western medicine demanded double-blind controlled trials toward establishing proof as to whether acupuncture worked & also how it worked: however early results were flawed due to the fact that it’s impossible to truly give a patient ‘sham’ acupuncture, and that any point was being used to prove effectiveness in a specific problem – a bit like giving a migraine sufferer an antacid tablet in the assumption that a pill will cure it!. Recently, more trials are being done by qualified acupuncturists, so at least when a boffin is trying to find out if acupuncture works, say, for Bell’s Palsy, the points being stimulated aren’t those normally used for incontinence! Consider that stringently controlled drug trials, for which they can substitute sugar pills with patients none the wiser, can only produce validated improvement in about 46% to 62% of cases; it is accepted that not all drugs work for all people. But of the drugs that make it past NICE or the FDA onto the market, most have some side-effects, which in about 10% of takers, will be so distressing that the medication has to be stopped, or other tablets  given to lessen the side-effects of the original!

Acupuncture does have side-effects too! – You generally feel deeply relaxed, sleep better, have clarity of thought and feel more confident and in control if you’ve previously been stressed or anxious or depressed. Some patients can feel quite drowsy or even euphoric after treatment, although this side-effect is reduced if you ensure you have something to eat and a non-alcoholic drink within a couple of hours before treatment.   

Trials have now established that acupuncture definitely works –  in fact, the World Health Organisation actually recommends acupuncture as being safer, more effective & cheaper than medication in many conditions, hay fever being one of them! They’ve a list, available on the internet of conditions which they accept are helped by acupuncture, on the basis of sound scientific statistical evidence. Scientists have also found parallels between ancient concepts & modern anatomy: many of the main acupuncture points along   with the channels or ‘Meridians’, correspond to physically defined nerve bundles or connective tissue planes. There’s increased electrical conductivity along these meridians and in particular, reduced electrical resistance at acupuncture points. Studies using laser light absorption and emission, and others using thermal infrared imaging techniques indicate altered reactions between classical meridians in comparison to lines running parallel to them and therefore, a physical difference between the meridians and nearby tissue. Detailed neuro-imaging studies show a reduction in activity in areas of the brain that register pain & also activation in those areas involved in rest, relaxation & recuperation. Other studies show that acupuncture causes the release of endorphins and serotonin, the body’s hormonally produced natural painkillers. Doppler ultrasound imaging shows increased blood flow in areas treated with acupuncture. Thermal imaging shows inflammation actively reducing. So acupuncture can stimulate blood flow & tissue repair & send nerve signals to the brain regulating the perception of pain, or ‘rebooting’ the autonomic  nervous system which governs unconscious functions such as heartbeat, breathing and digestion.

Acupuncture can therefore boost production of natural pain relief; control blood pressure, cause increased secretion in the substances which protect the gut mucosa, improve gut motility; reduce excess stomach acid, boost the body’s natural immune defences, better regulate the breathing, for example, with sleep apnoea or asthma, or regulate other hormone release in a natural way, thereby regulating the menstrual cycle, improving the chances of conception, aiding in in-vitro fertilisation, reducing painful cramps, the effects of Premenstrual Tension, and reducing or eliminating the unwanted side-effects of menopause, such as hot flushes.

It also works for chemically induced hot flushes and other symptoms associated with hormone control    therapy for cancer treatment. Diabetics who have a peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage due to chronic poor circulation causing numbness in the extremities of their limbs) were found to show significant improvement in actual nerve conduction, motor function and sensory perception after acupuncture.

Boffins are still a bit baffled at how acupuncture treatment effects last longer than they think they should, for example, during a test on acupuncture versus a new type of eye drop for treatment of ‘Dry Eye’, results were pretty neck and neck, but on recall, those who had the acupuncture were still reporting less symptoms than those who had finished taking the new drops.

A study assigned patients to receive 12 weeks of acupuncture or Venlafaxine drug treatment for symptoms associated with hot flushes in female breast cancer patients who had been receiving long-term anti-oestrogen therapy. Both groups had significant decreases in hot flushes, depressive symptoms and other quality-of-life symptoms. These changes were similar in both groups, indicating that acupuncture was as effective as Venlafaxine, but by 2 weeks post-treatment, the drug group experienced significant returns of hot flushes, whereas in the acupuncture group these remained at low levels. About 40% of the drug group had unwanted side-effects like nausea, dry mouth, dizziness, anxiety, whereas the acupuncture group experienced NO negative effects. Acupuncture had the additional benefit of increasing sex drive in some of   the women, and most reported improvements in their energy, clarity of thought and sense of well-being.

 Acupuncture can also produce meaningful improvement in hot flush frequency for men undergoing Androgen Ablation Therapy (AAT) for prostate cancer. In one study, patients underwent electro-acupuncture for 10 weeks and by the end of the course, 55% of patients had a more than 50% reduction in the hot flush score, associated with improvement in quality of life and sleep quality. In another study the average improvement at week 6 was 68.4% and at eight months the improvement reached a staggering 80.3%.  Acupuncture also produces measurable benefits in symptom reduction and quality of life in general for patients with cancer. In a trial, patients with advanced cancer received 12 acupuncture sessions over 8 weeks, with follow-up at 3 months, there was improvement immediately post-treatment in anxiety, fatigue, pain severity, anxiety and depression, and significant improvement over time in physical and psychological distress, life satisfaction, and mood states, with sustained benefit at follow-up.

Those who are still sceptical about the benefits of acupuncture sound at best, ignorant, or at worst fanatical! It’s a complementary medicine in that it works well with other therapies, from Osteopathy and Physio through to chemotherapy. Acupuncture has no nasty side-effects, it’s safe in the hands of a professional for children, the elderly and even pregnant women; it’s not painful, it’s long-lasting and cost effective, and on the odd occasion, if it is not fully effective at relieving the symptoms a patient may come with, they at least usually go away feeling better in themselves, sleeping well and with their body in better balance than before.

If you decide to try acupuncture, your first treatment will be mainly consultation, finding out about that which ails you, other related or unrelated physical or mental problems, medications, previous illnesses and so on, doing a physical examination, and then having a short treatment to establish how you respond to acupuncture. In most cases, loose comfy clothes are best to wear as you may have to expose abdomen, knees or areas of the body you wouldn’t think correlated to, for example, headaches, dizzyness or nausea!   Most conditions respond to treatment within a few sessions, but most need between 6 to 12 sessions for optimal lasting results. Some problems, like asthma or Hay-fever, are best with annual top-ups as a preventative, whereas treatment for nausea during chemotherapy treatment is regulated by the number of Chemotherapy infusions and the severity of reaction to them.

Acupuncture needles are so fine, they could be dropped straight through the hypodermic syringes which you suffer blood donation or injections! There are also the non-invasive stimulations, laser, Electroacupuncture and Moxa (a compressed and processed herb which is used to heat the point in ‘Moxibustion’), so if you are afraid of needles, or on drugs which thin the blood, treatment is still possible.

 So, to recap, Acupuncture points may be used to treat and ease a variety of physical and mental symptoms, including stress, anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, disrupted bowel or bladder function, joint pain, muscle pain, poor circulation or healing, hot flushes and hormonal disruptions. It may assist in reducing the craving for cigarettes, alcohol or recreational drugs. It can be safely used in combination with prescription medicines and other therapies. Regrettably, it won’t cure cancer nor is there any evidence of it encouraging remission; however, it helps in achieving a more objective acceptance of problems and a better ability to deal with them, reducing the incapacity of distress, and boosting general well-being.

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