Acupuncture during radiation, has anyone tried?

shaz68
shaz68 Member Posts: 9 ✭
in Health and wellbeing
Although i would love to be taking herbs and supplements to support me during rads - which begins soon - I understand it is frowned upon because of any possibility that it may protect the very cells that rads aim to kill off.
Reluctantly I have decided to forego taking any herbs or supplements - out of respect for the process and concern of blocking effectiveness for treatment - apart from drinking herbal teas and maintaining a healthy diet/lifestyle.
I am exploring acupuncture as a means of reducing severity or even avoiding any potential side effects during treatment. Has anyone tried this? Thoughts?
Thanks. 

Comments

  • kezmusc
    kezmusc Member Posts: 1,553 ✭
    Hey @shaz68

    I didn't take anything or do anything special during rads apart from moisturise, moisturise, moisturise.  Fortunately I found rads pretty easy and missed most of, well all of thie side effects apart from a bit burnt right at the end. Besides trying to jam anything else in the day with rads, work etc...well too hard.
    I did however try acupuncture for the side effects of hormone therapy.  The chronic back and hip pain, hot flushes and insomnia.  To be perfectly honest it was the biggest waste of time and $600 ever.  It was relaxing though but thats about it.
  • Sarnicad
    Sarnicad Member Posts: 318 ✭
    @shaz68 I second what @kezmusc says about moisturising. I was slapping it on three times a day and only had one bad patch 

    I disagree on the acupuncture though. Best money I am spending for pain relief from side effects from either ai or herceptin(no one is clear on which is causing it - one onc says one, the other says the other). Had some today and I’ve gone from clicky arthritis ridden knee to moving without pain. For me it works amazingly well
  • kezmusc
    kezmusc Member Posts: 1,553 ✭
    Maybe I just went to a crap accupuncturist :)
  • kmakm
    kmakm Member Posts: 7,974 ✭
    I'm undecided about the acupuncture. It may have helped my hand pain a bit, but it could be that my body adjusting anyway. It's made no difference to my ankle pain. I'll persist for now, but it hasn't been an oh wow solution for sure.

    And he did say he didn't think he could do anything for the hot flushes as the AI was too strong to counterract...
  • shaz68
    shaz68 Member Posts: 9 ✭
    Thanks to all of you for your experiences, I think I will give it a go just for at least the relaxation and calming effects perhaps once a week on a Saturday and see how it goes. Will not commit to a package - just one session at a time - and see if they can do anything about the upper back/neck/shoulder tension that i've pretty much been carrying round since diagnosis. 

    As for side effects of hormone therapy, well I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

    @kezmusc I am so hoping I will breeze through it as you did.. fingers crossed:)!

    Regarding the moisturising - I get that everyone raves about Moo Goo, but why their udder cream rather than the moisturising cream? Does it matter? I already have the moisturising cream so wondering whether that's good enough... 

    One last thing, the literature I was given in advance of rads says use mild unscented soap for washing - any recommendations?
  • Sister
    Sister Member Posts: 4,961 ✭
    I think I just used Dove soap but only washed the area on weekends.  I also used the Moo Goo udder cream on the weekends and after treatment ended...I'm not sure what the difference is but maybe check their website.  I had the Mepitel film applied during rads and it was left on for the week, taken off for the weekend, then reapplied before treatment each Monday.  This was in the public system - if I hadn't asked for it, it would not have been offered.  I do think it made a difference because there was a tiny gap in the film one day that no-one had noticed, and when the nurse went to fix it, it was obvious that I had a very fine tan line there.  I went through the treatment with no problems.  Three weeks later, I had a small area which was red and a bit sore but that's all.
  • Sarnicad
    Sarnicad Member Posts: 318 ✭
    Rads clinics all go about it in different ways. I just had qv cream and used qv wash in the shower to wash with because that was what they recommended. As I said I only had one smallish patch that could have been considered a burn - solugel for a few days with glad wrap and then back to a silicone dressing. I’m still moisturising 6 months later as my skin is quite tight

    generally clinics seem to like unscented creams - less chance of irritants I guess

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