Acupuncture and Cancer Drug Side Effects

By Toby Helmstetter, LAc

On January 19th at 8pm, tune in to WPTF 680 AM radio for The Cornucopia Cancer Support Center's program, "That Cancer Show.". Triangle Acupuncture Clinic will be talking about how acupuncture helps decrease side effects from conventional cancer treatments.

The day after Christmas, an article came out online in the New York Times showing that acupuncture helps to ease the side effects of cancer medications. You can read the Times article here, and the study to which it's referring here. The study was very interesting though because it showed that acupuncture, whether sham or the real thing, helped decrease the side effects of aromatase inhibitors--the medications prescribed to many women for treatment of breast cancer.

In our work with the Cornucopia Cancer Support Center, we've been able to help many women going though breast cancer treatment and beyond, including helping to mitigate the side effects of aromatase inhibitors. Hot flashes are one of the main side effects and patients, who often have to be on these drugs for 5 years post-chemo, find tremendous relief with acupuncture. We are looking forward to sharing the benefits of acupuncture with the listeners of That Cancer Show in a couple weeks. We invite you to tune in to hear more about the patients, the studies, and the stories of people who have been helped by acupuncture.