Menopausal Symptoms Helped by Acupuncture
From the conclusion of this study: “We found that a course of acupuncture treatments was associated with significant reduction in VMS, and several quality-of-life measures, compared with no acupuncture, and that clinical benefit persisted for at least 6 months beyond the end of treatment.”
Note: VMS is vasomotor symptoms, or hot flashes.
People’s Pharmacy, a National Public Radio (NPR) program, had their latest weekly show (on 7/14/16) about Acupuncture entitled How Acupuncture Can Help You Overcome Health Challenges. In this particular program, they highlight newly published research on acupuncture benefiting menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes (aka vasomotor symptoms) and answer basic questions about acupuncture.
The mission of People’s Pharmacy is “Empowering you to make wise decisions about your own health, by providing you with essential health information about both medical and alternative treatment options.”1, which is completely in line with my philosophy of healthcare! People’s Pharmacy is one of my favorite NPR programs, and I listen to it on my local NPR station, KCHO, or North State Public Radio.
Reference:
1 http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/about
I see Gabapentin, aka Neurontin, typically prescribed for diabetic peripheral neuropathy, or post-herpetic neuralgia (nerve pain), or more so nowadays, any type of pain. Anyhow, it has also been prescribed by some doctors to relieve the hot flashes associated with menopause (although this use was advised against by the FDA in 2013 ). Anyhow, this is another study showing how acupuncture will benefit hot flashes. In this research, acupuncture was used specifically on patients who had “treatment-related hot flashes”. This means that patients were taking pharmaceutical medications such as Tamoxifen and Arimidex (because they were diagnosed with Estrogen-Receptor Positive (ER-Positive) breast cancer), which results in hot flashes.
NOTE: See that the direct link to the MedScape article above does not work unless you log into MedScape unfortunately. But you can search for the title above on MedScape and find the article easily (or logging in anyway will take you directly to the article).
Alliance for Natural Health Article:
Popular Antidepressant May Promote Breast Cancer
NOTE: There are many natural and safe alternatives to both depression and menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, including Acupuncture! See my other blog entries (click on tags for depression or menopause).
A few of the the herbal formulas I use for Menopausal Symptoms:
Estrovera – a nutraceutical product especially for hot flashes. (This is a phytoestrogen product that doesn’t include soy).
Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan – typical Chinese herbal formula for the symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats, especially when the patient presents with a dry, red tongue.
Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan (Black Chicken, White Phoenix formula) – also used post-partum, this herbal formula nourishes the Blood and Kidney Qi and Jing (to be explained later).
Diet is of the utmost importance too! Increase intake for blood-building foods such as dark green, leafy veggies and seaweed.
Acupuncture is also excellent for menopausal symptoms!
Many more options to be added later.
Acupuncture Reduces Side Effects from Tamoxifen, Arimidex
Finally research shows that acupuncture will treat menopausal symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats, and in this case, specifically the side effects of Breast Cancer drugs!