Acupuncture Supportive Care with Cancer Treatments

Cancer diagnosis can be shocking, the treatments difficult, and the treatment side effects challenging. Acupuncture can help you negotiate your cancer journey. To help manage symptoms of your cancer and cancer treatment.

Acupuncture can be used alongside your cancer treatments to support your individual needs throughout the process. It can help ease the side effects of treatment, while also addressing the emotional challenges that often accompany a diagnosis, prognosis, recovery and long-term health. Creating a safe space to treat and support you.

Individual and Holistic

Every person’s experience with cancer is unique. How you respond physically, emotionally, and mentally depends on your individual makeup, the nature of your diagnosis, and the circumstances surrounding you. Your support network, work commitments, family responsibilities, and personal resilience all shape how you cope with what lies ahead. Traditional Acupuncture understands that each person needs unique care and treats your needs holistically.

Over the years of working as a Traditional Five Element Acupuncturist, I have helped many patients through and with their cancer treatments, effects of the treatments and prognoses. Helping them through the physical and emotional moments and anxieties. I am honoured to help, treat and encourage my patients through some very difficult times.

Knowledge and understanding

I also used to work as a nurse on a cancer ward and lost my Mother to cancer many years ago. So I have much experience: treating and caring for each person with my wide range of knowledge and understanding, in many ways with western medical experience as well as acupuncture.

Western medicine within oncology generally accepts that Acupuncture has a positive part to play in Cancer care. NICE has recognised the use of complementary therapies (including acupuncture) in supportive and palliative care.

Acupuncture Treatment

For information and treatment on your cancer journey, contact Hannah Charles LicAc MBAcC at; https://www.southwellacupuncture.co.uk/contact/

How acupuncture can help with cancer and treatment symptoms

Cancer and cancer treatments are associated with various symptoms. Fatigue is the most common symptom reported by survivors of cancer 40%of people with early or intermediate stage cancer, and 90% with advanced cancer, have moderate to severe pain; up to 70% of those with cancer pain do not receive adequate pain relief.

When undergoing treatment for cancer using traditional five-element acupuncture alongside other treatments, it can improve your wellbeing in body, mind and spirit.

Pain – Acupuncture may provide long-term pain relief in patients with cancer, and working alongside the pain medication and treatment.

Fatigue – Acupuncture can be helpful with fatigue caused by cancer and cancer treatments. Radiotherapy can cause significant fatigue and flu-like symptoms. Recovery can be helped with Acupuncture.

Nausea and Vomiting – Cancer and cancer treatments can cause nausea and vomiting. Other causes include anxiety, pain medicines, taking certain medications on an empty stomach, and other medical conditions. Acupuncture may help with your nausea and help you have the strength to get through the treatment.

Insomnia – cancer treatments can cause sleep disturbances, from the treatment and your emotions. Acupuncture treats your individual issues with sleep.

Oral dryness – can be experienced by patients who have had radiotherapy of the oral cavity and neck region. When undergoing chemotherapy, the mouth can be a major source of infection; therefore, strengthening your immune system at this time is important. Also, when your immunity is low, your mouth can easily become infected. Acupuncture may help ease dryness and infection and help improve the immune system.

Hair Loss

• Chemotherapy can cause hair loss, which can be overwhelming and emotionally charged, let alone the fact of your hair loss. Acupuncture can help you through this loss and recovery

• Radiotherapy can have effects on hair in the body, for example, on the face, which can cause the nasal hair to stop regrowing; if there is no nasal hair, nothing to stop the flow of secretions. Though acupuncture cannot make hair grow back, it can help your emotional strength to tackle these issues.

Neutropenia –   this is a decrease in the number of white blood cells (leukocytes) found in the blood, which places individuals at increased risk of infection. When having cancer treatment, this is often a side effect. acupuncture may help improve the immune system and improve the ability to fight infection.

Hot flushes

• night sweats, and vaginal dryness, as well as many other of the numerous symptoms of menopause. These are mostly caused by hysterectomy and breast cancer treatments.
• Men also often get hot flushes as a side effect of prostate cancer treatments too.
• Acupuncture can be effective in balancing hormones during and after cancer treatments.

Nausea and vomiting – acupuncture can help relieve nausea and vomiting, especially in acute situations, mostly the nausea is caused by cancer treatments, but it can also be the cancer itself.

Bowel and Bladder issues, radiotherapy in the abdominal area can cause issues after treatment, these are often short-lived. Acupuncture can help you recover your strength after these bouts.

Anxiety – traditional five element acupuncture can help with the anxiety of diagnosis treatment and decisions that are difficult, supporting you the many stages cancer treatment and life that is affected.

Peripheral Neuropathy – Cancer treatments can sometimes cause PN, where feet and hands go numb but can be very painful to as nerve messages are disturbed. Acupuncture may help with recovery and pain relief

Long-term Health – supporting you beyond the first stages of treatment, many cancer treatments are long term, acupuncture can help with the physical and emotional affects. Also when you have finished treatment, helping you find your way forward.

Whole System – Traditional five element acupuncture can stimulate our system. The resulting biochemical changes influence the body’s homeostatic mechanisms, thus promoting well-being in body, mind and spirit.

NB- Traditional five element acupuncture may be used for some of the symptoms of cancer, and the side effects of Western medical cancer treatments, but it is not used to address the cancer itself.

Caring for Carers

I also treat many family and friends of those who have cancer, supporting them through the emotional, exhausting, and difficult times. The grief of losing a loved one is difficult in many ways. These people often find themselves forgotten or neglect to look after themselves. Do come and have some acupuncture to look after yourself when a loved one has cancer.

Treatment with Acupuncture

For your and your family’s needs, traditional acupuncture addresses your holistic needs, for recovery,prognosis and life going forward. For information and treatment on your cancer journey, contact Hannah Charles LicAc MBAcC at; https://www.southwellacupuncture.co.uk/contact/

Hannah Charles is a founder member of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC)

The BAcC is an advocate for traditional acupuncture professionals and maintains the highest professional standards to protect the general public. BAcC members are registered on an accredited register, regulated and approved by the Professional Standards Authority for Health & Social Care (PSA). For More information, see the website:https://acupuncture.org.uk/