Many more people are surviving cancer and are able to lead long and healthy lives. However, after treatment ends many people are left with physical and emotional problems resulting from cancer itself or from the treatments used to eradicate it. This is the time when acupuncture can be really helpful: acupuncture cannot cure cancer but it can help people recover and find their way back to the life they once had.
A key problem for many people is extreme tiredness, lack of motivation and self-confidence. In addition, chemotherapy and hormonal treatments may result in severe hot flushes and surgery may give rise to persistent pain, or swelling and discomfort due to lymphoedema. Acupuncture is not a ‘quick fix’ but with its focus on increasing energy and wellbeing, its personalised approach, and its safety, it is there for you when Western medicine says that no more can be done.
A colleague and leading expert in this field, Beverley de Valois, has written a new textbook called ‘Acupuncture and Cancer Survivorship: Recovery, Renewal and Transformation which gives access to her deep knowledge and experience in treating and researching in this area. This has enabled me to undertake further study, update my own understanding and improve my own expertise. The book includes many patient stories and quotes from patients, often collected during research studies and always included in the book with permission. A few of these quotes are given below and may strike a chord with readers of this blog.
For example, understanding patients heightened worries about needles results in me being very careful to use as few as possible and be gentle.
“My first reaction was, I don’t think I can cope with the needles, because after chemotherapy I now have this awful time giving blood, its dreadful, my veins.”
“She was really helpful and if there was anywhere that I was not going to be comfortable having a needles, she would never say, ’We need to put it in here’, we always discussed it at length but she always managed to put them in a bit further away … And then, as I got more used to them, she’d say, ‘Would you mind if I put one in here because I think it would help?”
Beverley has developed clear guidelines about avoiding certain areas of the body in people who are at risk of lymphoedema and researched alternatives so that acupuncture is safe for everyone.
Here are a few more things people say about their experiences of acupuncture:
“Acupuncture has given me some ‘life’. I was just existing … constructive thinking is now possible. Fewer night sweats mean much-improved sleep. Wake with some energy”
“My energy levels. Prior to the treatment, I would return from work at 5pm and by 8.30pm I had to go to bed. I was very tired. After treatment started, The tiredness decreased and I could stay awake till10 or 11pm and still wake up refreshed in the morning”
“I feel much more relaxed and not much anxiety and stress pre and post hot flushes. Still have hot flushes but without attendant embarrassment. Acupuncture was a great experience – emotionally and psychologically”
“I went from 26 flushes in 24hrs day and night and I was almost awake the whole night soaking wet … to about three or four flushes in 24 hours”
People’s experiences of the consequences of cancer treatment are very varied and individual, so don’t hesitate to contact me to talk things over before making a decision to try acupuncture. I am here if you need me.
Acupuncture in Bristol 