The Long Term Effects of Acupuncture on Hot Flashes
In my last post, I pointed out how multiple studies have shown that acupuncture helps relieve hot flashes. Acupuncture not only lowers the intensity of hot flashes in women with breast cancer, it also helps keep their hot flashes down after each treatment. In fact, it does this much better than gabapentin, a standard hot flash medication with numerous adverse side effects.
How long does relief last?
I’m fascinated by acupuncture’s ability to limit the number of hot flashes a cancer patient experiences even after treatment. So I took the time to find more information on how long patients can expect to enjoy this kind of relief.
According to a study conducted by researchers in Norway and published in SpringerPlus, both real, traditional Chinese acupuncture and minimal sham acupuncture effectively relieve the symptoms of hot flashes for up to 3 months after each treatment. That’s just incredible.
The study observed 80 cancer patients who were experiencing hot flashes over the course of two years. These patients randomly received either 15 real or sham acupuncture treatments over 10 weeks, and were asked to self-report their quality of life using the Kupperman Index (KI) questionnaire.
Of the 80 participants, 61 filled out questionnaires. All the patients who had received real acupuncture reported marked improvement at week 10 and up to three months after treatment had ended. The study suggested that for some women, the benefits of acupuncture lasted even longer. Read the full article for more information.
Putting this in perspective
Not only is acupuncture more effective for hot flashes than drugs like gabapentin, the relief it provides lasts much longer, too. It provides superior relief over fewer treatments and has no side effects. I don’t know about you, but the evidence seems stacked in acupuncture’s favor.
Hot flashes can greatly reduce your quality of life. If you or a loved one suffers from hot flashes, there’s really no reason not to come in and see me today.
