Acupuncture and Nutrition Clinic – Houston

As I was contemplating writing a blog about some of my patients who are undergoing chemo and/or radioation therapy, I received this blog from another acupuncturist. I thought she wrote about it so well that instead of writing my own, I decided to go ahead and post her blog.

Top 10 Ways Acupuncture Can Help Anyone Going Through Cancer Treatment!

Getting the diagnosis of Cancer is a real life-changer. I think you’ll probably always remember everything about that day when your doctor sat you down to tell you the news. And it certainly does have the chance to be a real life-ruiner, doesn’t it?

As a person, I have been dealing with cancer in my family for as long as I can remember, and as an Acupuncturist I have been working with Cancer patients since I was in Grad school. I’ve seen both sides of the story and I’m here to tell you that although getting the news of Cancer will probably always be one of the worst days you can imagine, your cancer treatment doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds. Find a good Oncologist (shameless plug for one of the best Oncologists in Denver, Dr. Samir Witta of Mountain Blue Cancer Care Center) and you will find plenty of options if your cancer is treatable. Now bring on an Oncology Specialized Acupuncturist and you have a very well rounded team to get you through your cancer treatments.

Does it seem strange to think of a Medical Doctor and an Acupuncturist working so well together? Well it shouldn’t! Many of the best hospitals in the country offer Acupuncture as part of their treatment program.

Here are 10 things Acupuncture can help anyone going through cancer treatments with:
· Fatigue
· Neuropathy
· Nausea/vomiting
· Headaches
· Body-aches
· Insomnia
· Surgery Prep/Recovery
· Blood counts/Immune System
· Depression
· Hot flashes

Although that’s the list of things I most commonly see, there is so much more that Acupuncture can help with! The timing, a frequency, can change depending on what works best with your body and your chemo schedule, so be open to playing around with timing of treatments. A good place to start is the day before your Chemo treatment. Although once a week is useful, many of my patients, who have done the very best, have come in twice on the week of chemo and once a week otherwise.

So there you go… while the diagnosis of Cancer will always suck, the treatment doesn’t have to. Things like rest, sleep, good nutrition, laughter and Acupuncture, you are giving your body the tools it needs to take care of itself, while you go thru treatment, and I know that it will return the favor tenfold!

Click here for more about this article and acupuncture for cancer

I frequently have patients who experience neuropathy, numbness, pain and tingling in their feet.

Neuropathy is a fairly common problem that many acupuncturists see. Either with or without diabetes. I have found that treating the pain and burning of neuropathy is usually faster than treating the numbness. However, many of my patients, sometimes even after the first treatment, notice reduction in the shooting pain, and get some feeling back in their feet.

Of course, reducing or eliminating the pain of neuropathy is a great relief. Many patients complain that much of the pain tends to be worse at night. Once the pain and burning is gone, there is eventual improvement with the numbness. In my experience, numbness takes longer to treat. Although the numbness associated with neuropahty takes time to treat, acupuncture concurrently provides indirect benefits to the whole person. Some of those additional benefits include improved energy, better sleep, a sense of calm, relaxation and overall experience of well-being.

I’ll tell a quick story about my dad. He had come to visit while I was still in school studying Chinese medicine. He shared with me that he was experiencing some neuropathy, mainly numbness on the bottom of his feet. He told me that he’d been to the best doctors and they all said, “There’s nothing that we can do for you. It’s just the way it is.”

At that time, I said, “You know, Dad, from my studies, I’ve heard that acupuncture might help stimulate some of the nerve endings and bring some feeling back to your feet. Why don’t I just take you to one of my professors?” And after one treatment, he got some feeling back in his toes, especially in his big toe which is an important toe if you’re going to be driving or doing a lot of walking. So, he had been given “that’s it” type of storyline from the doctors and he got some feeling back in his toes after one treatment. I find that’s the case with many of my patients.