Hot flashes plague many women during menopause and also during breast cancer treatment because the women experience fluctuations in hormone levels. Well, it looks like acupuncture is now recognized as providing relief from this miserable symptom.The following article is worth reading and sending along to any family or friends who are being treated for breast cancer. The study with cancer patients confirms that acupuncture helps hot flashes and is more effective than other treatments because it has no side effects so women retain their sex drive, energy levels, and clarity of thought.
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Dec. 31, 2009 -- Acupuncture not only cools hot flashes that occur as a result of breast cancer treatment but may offer a host of other benefits to boost women's well-being.
A new study shows acupuncture was as good as drug therapy with Effexor (venlafaxine) at easing hot flashes in breast cancer patients, but it also improved sex drive, energy levels, and clarity of thought.
"Acupuncture offers patients a safe, effective and durable treatment option for hot flashes, something that affects the majority of breast cancer survivors. Compared to drug therapy, acupuncture actually has benefits, as opposed to more side effects," researcher Eleanor Walker, MD, division director of breast services in the department of radiation oncology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, says in a news release.
According to the National Cancer Institute, one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Typical treatment for breast cancer involves chemotherapy and five years of hormone therapy that often causes unpleasant side effects, such as hot flashes, night sweats, and decreased sex drive and energy levels.
Researchers say these side effects of breast cancer treatment significantly decrease a woman's quality of life and may cause some women to discontinue treatment.
Acupuncture has already been shown to reduce hot flashes in menopausal women, but researchers say this is the first study to compare acupuncture to drug treatment in easing hot flashes in breast cancer patients. The results appear in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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