Acupuncture & Hot flashes

FloridaLady

Acupuncture beats drugs to treat hot flashes Study: Eases effects of menopausal symptoms from breast cancer treatment Reuters updated 1:30 p.m. ET, Mon., Sept. 22, 2008

WASHINGTON - Acupuncture works as well as a drug commonly used to combat hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms that can accompany breast cancer treatment, and its benefits last longer, without bad side effects, researchers said on Monday.

They tested acupuncture, which began in China more than 2,000 years ago and involves inserting needles into the body, against the Wyeth antidepressant Effexor, for hot flashes in breast cancer patients.

Acupuncture was just as effective as Effexor, also called venlafaxine, in managing symptoms including hot flashes and night sweats, according to researchers led by Dr. Eleanor Walker of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

After 12 weeks of treatment, symptoms were reduced for 15 additional weeks for women who had undergone acupuncture, compared with two weeks for those who had taken Effexor, Walker said.

"It was a more durable effect," Walker, whose findings were presented at an American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting in Boston, said in a telephone interview.

There were no bad side effects with acupuncture, and women reported increased energy, overall sense of well-being and sexual desire, the researchers said.

Those taking Effexor reported side effects including nausea, headache, difficulty sleeping, dizziness, increased blood pressure, fatigue and anxiety.

Value of acupuncture
The study adds to a growing body of evidence of the value of acupuncture. Earlier research had shown it can reduce chemotherapy-induced nausea and post-operative pain.

"It's been tested directly against a drug that we use regularly. And it's more effective. It has benefits, as opposed to any side-effects," Walker said.

"If you only have to give women treatment three to four times a year as opposed to having to take a pill every day, that's going to be more cost-effective for insurance companies and the patient," Walker added.

Breast cancer patients can develop menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes after treatment with chemotherapy and anti-estrogen hormones. Hormone replacement therapy is often used to treat such symptoms in women without breast cancer, but breast cancer patients cannot use that therapy because it may raise the risk of the cancer's return.

Effexor, one of a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, is one of the most commonly used drugs to treat hot flashes in these women.

But the researchers said some women opt not to take such drugs out of concern over side effects.

Forty-seven breast cancer patients took part in the study, about half getting acupuncture and half getting Effexor. The women kept track of the number and severity of hot flashes before, during and after the 12 weeks of treatment.

Walker said it is unclear exactly how acupuncture is working. Experts say it may help the activity of the body's natural pain-killing chemicals among other things.

FloridaLady

Posted By MedHeadlines On 1 May, 2008 @ 21:14 In Acupuncture, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Drugs, Prevention, Women's Health | 2 Comments

Knowing that acupuncture provides effective relief from hot flashes and other symptoms associated with menopause, Jill Hervik, a physiotherapist and acupuncturist, conducted a trial to see if the same relief could be achieved in breast cancer patients taking tamoxifen after surgery for estrogen-sensitive breast cancers.  Tamoxifen causes some of the same symptoms that are associated with menopause.

On April 18, she reported her findings to the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference in Berlin.  Hervik, affiliated with the Vestfold Central Hospital in Norway, announced a 50% reduction in the number of hot flashes during acupuncture treatment and for several months afterward.  The acupuncture was effective for both day and night hot flashes.

She further weighed the effect of acupuncture using the Kupperman Index to assess quality of life in relation to other symptoms such as depression, dizziness, heart palpitations, headache, joint pain, sweating, sleeping problems, and vaginal dryness, all symptoms associated with both tamoxifen and menopause.  Again, scores on the Kupperman Index indicated an improvement of about 50% in these symptoms, too.

To conduct the study, Hervik and her supervisor, Dr. Odd Mjåland, worked with 59 breast cancer patients between March 2003 and December 2006.  One group of study subjects received a ten-week course of traditional Chinese acupuncture while a control group received sham acupuncture treatment.  The sham treatment involved shallower punctures that were done at parts of the body well away from known acupuncture points.  For both groups, the setting was kept neutral, with no music or conversation, so as to reduce any response those elements might produce.

For four weeks before treatment, each study participant recorded the incidence of hot flashes.  The record was continued during the treatment period and for 12 weeks afterward.

The group receiving true acupuncture enjoyed a reduction of hot flashes by about half for both day and night during the study, with further reduction in the numbers three months after treatment was ended.  The group receiving sham acupuncture experienced a small reduction in the number of nighttime hot flashes only, while the daytime hot flashes remained as before.  The nighttime hot flashes returned once the bogus acupuncture treatment ended.

The other symptoms recorded in the Kupperman Index remained low for the treated group after treatment but the control group experienced a return of symptoms when the acupuncture treatments ended.

Hervik would like to see more breast cancer patients getting acupuncture therapy along with tamoxifen because it is inexpensive and doesn't come with the risk of adverse side effects.