Acupuncture?

megryan57

I have no experience with it. Has anyone had luck with it? My issues are tightness, pain, and scar tissue. I will try anything.

FloridaLady

I have done acupuncture for my neuropathy and I do know other's say it helps with pain and side effects.  Scar? I just don't know.  I have issues on my right side for three years.  I found going to physical therapy and getting setup with a exercises program helped big time. The exercises are not anything fancy but they do help.  You can do them at home.  Also I have a great massage therapist that uses Olive Oil heated in the microwave on a wash cloth, than rub gently into scar will help release the tissue.  You should do this twice and day and than do slow range of movement exercises. Olive oil is natural and the body will take it in easily.

I feel for you...I know how bad it can be.  I get to the point I can not left my right arm.  Do try physical therapy just a few times really did make a difference.

Flalady

Abbey11

I started acupuncture soon after my diagnosis of bilateral bc.  I have continued post mastectomy.  I think it has helped significantly with anxiety and pain.  I had a lot of neuropathy and it really seemed to help with that.  I have just started tamoxifen today and my oncologist suggested acupuncture as a way to alleviate hot flashes.  So, we'll see how that works.  Of all of the methods I have tried to use to combat the stress, sadness, and fear that I'm feeling (ativan, counseling, exercise), the acupuncture works the best.  I feel really calm when I finish a session.  I had never had acupuncture before and was very skeptical, but I love it.  I have no idea how it works; I'm just thankful it does. Try it!

I also go to physical therapy twice a week.  I had significant scar tissue under my armpits and the therapist has taught me how to massage it - it's getting better.  Make sure you ask for someone who has experience with breast cancer patients.

vivre

My chinese chiro is a master at acupuncture. I have not tried it yet, because I have no pain, but he is offering me a free session so I am going to try it. He says that American trained acupunturists use needles that do not go as deeply as those trained in China so they do not always do so well.

I might also add that his PT did deep tissue massage and ultrasound on my scar, which had a hard knot on it and under my arm, where the muscle was damaged from the node surgery. The scar tissue really broke up and is now soft and the scar faded a lot after just a few treatments.

artsee

Vivre...who sent you over to have the deep tissue massage? You post interested me because the scar I have is very hard and I was wondering if i was the only one that has this. Does this go away on it's own eventually? Has anyone massaged the area on their own? I did acupuncture for the pain that I had from the Ai's and it worked pretty well.

Artsee

vivre

Artsee, I found this chiro because I was having pains in my chest and none of the doctors could tell me what it was, after constant tests. I knew it was muscular, but they continued to have me take all kinds of cardiac and pulmonary tests, so I went off on my own. I talked with this Chinese doc for 2 minutes and he said "Oh, you have costalcondritis". I was so releived when he said he had treated it before. That is why I started the massage and ultrasound. He said he uses ultrasound a lot for scar tissue. No only did he get rid of all the chest pain because the massage between my ribs broke up the inflammation, the ultrasound broke up the scar tissue and made my scar really faint. I then went back to my breast surgeon for my last visit and he was asking me all kinds of questions. I could tell he was impressed with how my scar looked, but would not admit it. I wanted to rub it in his face because he was a bit pompous, but a great surgeon. I love this Chinese doc. He was trained in China as an MD, 8 years, but chooses to practice here as a chiro because he wanted the freedom to use alternatives. My last hurdle is clogged sinues so I will go back to him when I get a chance because he was able to drain my girlfriend's sinuses. She has been seeing a doc for this for years, who has kept her on all kinds of drugs that did not work, so I am not going to even try that route. We have the same thing, a polyp in the sinus cavity. But I am waiting for it to warm up around here. Are your freezing even more up there?

Oh, by the way Artsee, when I am in my wonderful air bath tub, I still massage the scar with this hard foamy bath scrubby thing that my son gave me. Gotta keep that lymph moving!