Acupuncture, which dates back to the first millennium BC, was protected by practitioners, doctors and patients as an effective tool for achieving balanced health. Acupuncture uses thin needles that are inserted directly under the skin and left in place for half an hour.
According to the theory of Chinese medicine, acupuncture helps restore balance and a healthy flow of energy in the body. Although scientists do not fully understand how and why acupuncture works, some studies show that it can provide a number of medical benefits, including reducing nausea and chemotherapy caused by chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that involves the introduction of chemicals into the body that are toxic to malignant cells. Chemotherapy, often successful in treating malignant cancer cells, often causes strong side effects in the body. According to a review published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, some types of acupuncture stimulation can cause chemotherapy-induced nausea. Despite significant progress over the past decade in the fight against nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, more than half of all patients receiving chemotherapy still suffer from these side effects. In addition, nausea can persist when vomiting is controlled. These symptoms can be severely debilitating and often lead patients to further chemotherapy courses. Failure to chemotherapy can minimize the likelihood of optimal release from the body.
The acupuncture point, which is believed to be associated with the relief of nausea, is P6, which is located on the wrist. This point can be stimulated using various methods, including manual acupuncture (needle insertion), electroacupuncture (passing an electric current through the inserted needle), non-invasive electrical stimulation (applying electric current without a needle), or applying pressure from an acupressure with your fingers or an elastic bracelet. According to a study published in December, patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy found that electrosurgical procedures combined with anti-nausea were more effective than treatment only when controlling their chemo-associated vomiting. 6 from the Journal of the American Medical Association. According to cancer experts, the study adds evidence that nontraditional treatments may be useful for patients suffering from side effects of chemotherapy. An increasing number of well-designed studies focus on complementary and alternative treatments.
Additional support for acupuncture to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy was proposed at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2000.
One hundred and four women who underwent high-dosage chemotherapy prior to bone marrow transplantation received anticancer drugs. In addition, each woman received either electroacupuncture once a day for five days, “minimal acupuncture” without electrical stimulation once a day for five days, or without additional therapy. Women who received electroacupuncture experienced significantly less nausea and vomiting than women who did not receive the thread, or who only had acupuncture. Women who received acupuncture without electrical stimulation also had less nausea and vomiting than women who did not receive acupuncture.
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium offered the following message: “Acupuncture can help curb nausea, one of the most dangerous and debilitating side effects of high-dose chemotherapy. This can provide additional relief for nausea, beyond what only one medicine can achieve.
David Rosenthal, MD, chairman of the National Advisory Committee of the American Cancer Society (ACS) on complementary and alternative medicine, agrees that more research is consolidating. “The effects of this treatment can vary between different groups of patients with chemotherapy,” he says. "You would also like to know whether there is enough benefit, not only in efficiency, but also in efficiency." “However,” he says, “patients find that acupuncture can sometimes be effective in treating pain, nausea and treating mucositis (ulceration in the mouth).” Acupuncture treatment is provided in many cancer centers, including the Dan Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where Rosenthal is responsible for integrative therapy. "We started offering acupuncture a month ago, and the appointments are already filled." Rosenthal says.
