getting acupuncture

Patteee
Patteee Member Posts: 945
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I had my first acupuncture treatment last Thurs. I am working with the Alternative Medicine Clinic at Hennepin County Medical Center in Mpls. I worked with this group on a research grant 15 years ago, so it is rather like reconnecting with old friends. Uli, the clinician I will be working with is also a specialist with Chinese herbs. I will get a treatment tomorrow and one on Wednesday. He has worked with arthritis and with neuropathy- actually is going to add a bit of electricity to the acupuncture as he says he has seen some benefit with neuropathy issues. We talked a bit about my feeling that I need to detox from chemo (still have dark lines on the palms of my hands, which to me is a chemo red flag)and he mentioned an herb that will warm me up, I think he means "sweat me out", says one of the things it is given for is to women after childbirth.

And no, no results from Thurs acupuncture. But hopeful that I am on a better path with dealing with some of this crap. :)

Comments

  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #2
    Great!!
    Hey girl, let me know how it goes with that, I was thinking of even massages and acupuncture to go with the panic attacks I sometimes get when I start going to "that" place, and as I await on my money to get my juicer, I know I will be making some lifestyle changes as well. I was watching Melissa Etheridge, who is a 5 year breast cancer survivor in an interview, and she said the alternatives and the habits are what we have to change, and got me thinking more, I do need to learn to exercise more as well, but acupuncture although looks scary, let me know if it hurts, or helps, good luck with it :)

    Hugsss!
    ~Donna
  • 2bhealed
    2bhealed Member Posts: 2,064 Member
    #3
    Very cool
    Hi Patteee,

    Great to hear about your acupuncture. Chinese Medicine often refers to heat and cold. Certain foods/herbs/activities create "heat" and certain foods/herbs/activities create "cold". Illnesses, if I remember correctly, also correlate with either wet/cold or dry/warm. Don't be surprised if he looks at your tongue and feels your pulse before you get the acupuncture. My TCM didn't like me to juice so much because it was so much cold/wet so I would offset the juicing with eating "heat" foods.

    Donna, the needles feel like a mosquito bite. When they start releasing blockages be prepared....you may get emotional. Well at least I did. Between the needles and the massage a whole lot of gunk was released from me that needed to go....

    Enjoy!

    peace, emily
  • robinvan
    robinvan Member Posts: 1,012
    #4
    Very Good Patteee
    How wonderful to have such an awesome source of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I'll definitely be looking into acupuncture options here in Vancouver once my radiation is over.

    I hope it brings you the relief you are looking for.

    Be well... Rob; in Van
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #5
    glad to hear it
    Hi Pattee,

    I'm glad to hear you're trying the acupuncture! Just because you haven't had relief from it yet on the 1st try, doesn't mean it won't work. Mine did actually work on the first time, but I didn't get any relief this last time I had it, for some reason. It has worked most times, though. Maybe if your "channels" are blocked, as it was explained to me, it may take a few more times before you feel relief. It was even explained to me on my first time that sometimes some patients have their pains move around a bit before they get full relief. Interesting!
    Best wishes to you & I'll be glad to hear how it works out after the next few times you have it done. You've reminded me that I need to call early tomorrow a.m. to set up my acupuncture appt for this week. :)

    Take care,
    Lisa
  • Kathleen808
    Kathleen808 Member Posts: 2,342 Member
    #6
    Pattee and Lisa
    Hi Ladies,

    ****'s neuropathy is quite nasty right now. He's having a hard time with his fingers, buttons and stuff. Can someone do acupuncture when on chemo. Lisa, you're in treatment right now, right? So, did your onc give you permission? Is there any conflict with chemo?

    Thanks.
    Aloha,
    Kathleen
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #7
    Kathleen808 said:

    Pattee and Lisa
    Hi Ladies,

    ****'s neuropathy is quite nasty right now. He's having a hard time with his fingers, buttons and stuff. Can someone do acupuncture when on chemo. Lisa, you're in treatment right now, right? So, did your onc give you permission? Is there any conflict with chemo?

    Thanks.
    Aloha,
    Kathleen

    yes
    Hi Kathleen,

    YES, **** should be able to get acupuncture while undergoing chemo. I imagine different doctors have different ideas about that, but at my cancer center, they can even set up your acupuncture appt on the day of chemo- you just wheel your chemo cart with you down the hall to the acupuncture room. One time I had it the day after infusion while I still had my 5FU pack hooked up to me. I drove myself into the office that day (even though I was feeling kind of lousy) & had the acupuncture done. It was kind of nice that time because they focused on three things for me that day in acupuncture- nausea, the colon (for the diarhea), and for pain I was having in my foot and knee. It definitely helped- the nausea was gone by the next day when it normally lasts several days after chemo and the diarhea wasn't totally gone, but hardly anything.
    They can do the treatment on your back or your frontside. Since I had the needle in my port on my chest that day, everything was done on the front of me.
    So, hopefully, ****'s onc is open to the idea of acupuncture, but if he/she has any reservations about doing it while on chemo, please share what I told you- I know that several cancer centers across the country now do acupuncture or at least advocate having it done somewhere.

    Best wishes-
    Lisa
  • lesvanb
    lesvanb Member Posts: 905
    #8
    Kathleen808 said:

    Pattee and Lisa
    Hi Ladies,

    ****'s neuropathy is quite nasty right now. He's having a hard time with his fingers, buttons and stuff. Can someone do acupuncture when on chemo. Lisa, you're in treatment right now, right? So, did your onc give you permission? Is there any conflict with chemo?

    Thanks.
    Aloha,
    Kathleen

    acupuncture during chemo
    Hi Kathleen

    I'm sorry to hear that ****'s neuropathy is nasty. I still have Grade 1 now 5 months after my last FOLFOX tx. I had acupuncture all the while 2x/week during the last year so during chemo as well. It's very helpful. I never had nausea though I had mild fatigue and mild chemo brain after tx 6+ and everything accumulated. Neuropathy is damage to the nerves and though acupuncture can relieve pain of it, it won't solve the problem since the nerves regrow slowly. My naturopath also had me taking glutamine powder 30mg/day in 3 dosages, alpha lipoic acid, R-lipoic acid, plus B vitamins (Vital Nutrients is a good source for quality vitamins). I did not take supplements during infusion days and for 3 days afterwards. I'm also getting infrared tx at Physical therapy which has been shown to help diabetic neuropathy. My anthroposophical/internal medicine doc has me on mistletoe subcutaneous injections as well. She also recommends wearing silk long underwear and staying warm (cancer doesn't thrive in warm) which helps ease the pain of the neuropathy. If your core is warm, your extremities stay warmer as well. My oncologists and surgeons all know/knew about acupuncture and TCM. The Huntsman center where I had my surgeries offer it as part of their complementary medicine focus.

    Good luck and best wishes to you both, Leslie

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