Acupuncture

BridgetO

I finished radiation a few days ago. Shortly before I started it, I began going to a traditional medicine clinic that has a program for people getting cancer treatment. The intention isn't to treat the cancer, but to help with side effects of treatment and help maintain health and vitality. I have been getting acupuncture twice a week and shiatsu every other week. I've been taking a vitamin/mineral supplement  and a form of ginseng (tien chi ginseng) that's supposed to be specially helpful for people on radiation. They also made recommendations for skin care.I had some pretty severe burning near the end of my treatment.

I had very little fatigue during my treatment-- a bit tired and had a little extra sleep near the end when I had some pretty severe burning, which was painful. I kept up my activity including daily walking durning my treatment. So I guess the traditional treatment helped, although there's  no way of knowing how I would have been without it.

 Now that my radiation is over, I'm going to be working with the naturopath at the clinic on some dietary changes, possibly anti-inflammatory diet. She recommended against any major changes during radiation.