Hot Flashes SLASHED in Breast Cancer Patients
Women battling breast cancer have a lot to face.
However, treatment side effects can make an already bad situation worse. Fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, pain, heart problems, nausea, ulcers, weight gain… it’s awful.
If you’ve ever seen a loved one fight through breast cancer, you already know she can be tough as nails.
But there’s no need to suffer unnecessarily.
Today, I want to tell you about an ancient treatment that can significantly slash one of the most frustrating treatment side effects … hot flashes.
Acupuncture is an ancient therapy that involves placing thin needles into pressure points around the body.
Researchers wanted to see if this therapy could help ease hot flashes in women on endocrine therapy for breast cancer.
This study included breast cancer patients who were finished with their chemotherapy and radiation and who had been on endocrine therapy for four weeks.
They had to experience at least 14 hot flashes per week to participate—but many were having six a DAY.
Endocrine therapy blocks the body’s ability to produce hormones, which helps to slow or stop hormone-sensitive cancers.
Unfortunately, this ALSO causes many women to experience hot flashes because it causes a decrease in estrogen levels, which ultimately sends your brain’s thermostat haywire.
This study showed that acupuncture can help. And not by just a little.
The women were divided into two groups. One group received 20 acupuncture sessions over 10 weeks. The second group had no treatment for the first 10 weeks and had one acupuncture treatment a week for the next 10 weeks.
After treatment with acupuncture, their hot flashes decreased by a stunning 46 percent.
While it didn’t cure the hot flashes, it led to a significant decrease which sent quality of life soaring.
Any woman going through a breast cancer battle can certainly benefit—and deserves—that relief.
P.S. Slash breast cancer recurrence by up to 40 percent!
SOURCE:
Lu, W., Giobbie-Hurder, A., Tanasijevic, A., et al., Acupuncture for hot flashes in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer: A pooled analysis of individual patient data from parallel randomized trials. Cancer. [doi. org/ 10.1002/cncr.35374]
