anyone tried acupuncture?

Hi, gf!

Some women here have tried acupuncture, and the results seem to vary widely. The important thing to know is that the needles do not have to be placed in the affected quadrant of your body. There's currently a study in progress to assess both the effectiveness and the safety (infection risk is high when the lymph system has been compromised by breast cancer surgery) of acupuncture for lymphedema, but there are no results available yet. At present the guideline call for no needles in the arm, chest, back and side that has been treated for breast cancer.

Keep us posted! And be well,
Binney 

i've been going to acupuncture for almost a month now, not for lymphdema issues but for help with chemo side effects. i have needles put all over my back, shoulders, arms....even my left side where i have no lymph nodes and have had no issues, in fact, acupuncture has given me my life back during chemo...energy levels are up, sleeping without meds, no emotionally down days, my body temp fluctuations are lessening. i never consdered acupuncture before cancer but i'm a believer now. i hope it helps your issues

bump

I've been going for over two years...Stopped for awhile then back at it due to being off my HRT since my BC in May.  I love it....I go twice a week....

I see my Onco next week regarding my elbow pain that I have had which started the last 3 weeks of radiation, not sure what is up with it.  Swollen (very little) Surgen said its from the Rad, Onco had me go for a Ultersound of the arm to make sure no blood clot, I have no idea what is causing this pain but its bad and hurts....I had 2-3 nodes removed and had a Lump.

I have no idea if I have LE, no one has said yet.  But I did find a good place to go in the event I have it, its all the specialize in, its at the same Hospital I had my operation at.

Julie

I am posting an abstract on one of the lectures held at the NLN conference regarding accupuncture and lymphedema.  I take no sides on this but wants to bring this up:

AMY L MATECKI, CARMENCITA C MERCADO-POE, LISA BAILEY, MARTHA TRACY, MING KUAN, JILL CHEN, DAVID

IRWIN.

Center for Integrative Medicine, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

been reported in two studies (Alem and Gurgel, 2008; Kanakura et al, 2002), acupuncture

use in lymphedematous limbs has been avoided because of infection concerns. To date,

there is no documentation in the literature of increased incidence of infection that is

attributable to acupuncture.

lymphedematous limbs, a retrospective chart review of women with post operative

lymphedema was conducted. Prior to treatment, consent forms explaining the risk of

infection and deviation from standard of care by utilizing acupuncture were provided. A total

of 1139 treatments were reviewed. Limb infection occurring within two weeks of treatment

is counted as possibly being treatment related. Signs and symptoms of infection were

evaluated pre and post treatment.

subclinical lymphedema (N=4) were included in the review. Upper extremity lymphedema

was noted in 23 women; 6 women had lower extremity lymphedema. A total of 1139

acupuncture treatments were evaluated as to its effects on the affected limb. No adverse

events including infection, bleeding, or increase in pain or swelling, were noted in the

medical records. Patients reported improvement in range of motion, shoulder pain and

function in affected limbs as well as reduced swelling and heaviness.

because of increased infection is called into question in light of this review of 1139

acupuncture treatments which demonstrated the safety of acupuncture in the treatment of

extremity lymphedema. Further study is warranted.

Alas and alack, "Further study is warranted" seemed to be added to just about all research on LE.

bump for Betsy