How Can Acupuncture Help?

Nausea

The nausea and vomiting which commonly occurs in patients undergoing chemotherapy can often be worse than the disease itself. Most oncologists have experienced the patients who start vomiting at the thought of their next clinic visit. At the University of Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, a well-controlled study reported significant reduction of nausea and vomiting when pre-treated with acupuncture. It is now routinely administered before, after and in between chemotherapy treatment sessions for control or nausea and emesis. Such treatments are relatively simple and easily executed in an outpatient setting. Its effectiveness helps in minimizing the use of standard, expensive multi-drug anti-nausea regimens with their attendant side effects, given along with the chemotherapeutic agents. One of the major findings of the NIH consensus statement on acupuncture was its positive effect in treating nausea associated with chemotherapy.

Immune system support

Acupuncture theory suggests that acupuncture treatment may help to improve immune system function in a variety of ways. It is often used in people with compromised immune function to help bolster their immunity in a drug free manner. Here is a an example of some research findings on the subject.

Acupuncture: pain management coupled to immune stimulation (Gollub, 1999):

"The phenomenon of acupuncture is both complex and dynamic. Recent information demonstrates that acupuncture may exert its actions on pain and immune processes. The coupling of these two systems occurs via common signaling molecules, i.e., opioid peptides. In this regard, we surmise that:

1.  opioid activation leads to the processing of opioid peptides from their
precursor, proenkephalin, and
2.  the simultaneous release of antibacterial peptides contained within the precursor
as well. Thus,
3.  central nervous system pain circuits may be coupled to immune enhancement.
4.  Furthermore, acupuncture needle manipulation elicited signal increases
bilaterally in the region of the primary and secondary somatosensory corticies
in human brain as determined by magnetic resonance imaging.
5. The maps reveal marked signal decreases bilaterally in multiple limbic and
deep gray structures including the nucleus accumbens, amygdala,
hypothalamus, hippocampus, and ventral tegmental area.
6.  Taken together, we surmise a major central nervous system pathway as well as
local pain and immune modulation during acupuncture."

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