Acupuncture doesn’t treat cancer — but it can help relieve the anxiety, aches and pains, fatigue and other side effects following a breast cancer diagnosis and course of treatment, according to local acupuncturists JoAnn Simon and Donna Leon. As acupuncture becomes increasingly accepted in the United States, more cancer patients are seeking the traditional Chinese treatment to help put their bodies in balance during chemotherapy and radiation or after surgery.
“When they get acupuncture they say they feel more centered, more relaxed. It doesn’t sound relaxing to lay on a table with needles in you, but believe me, it is,” said Simon, a Westford resident who practices in Littleton,Wayland and at the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden in Harvard.
Acupuncture is performed by inserting hair-thin needles into specific points along the body. According to traditional Chinese medicine, the practice removes blockages in qi, described as the energy or life force pulsating through meridians in the body.
“It helps a tremendous amount with nausea and GI [gastrointestinal] discomfort from chemo. It helps with fatigue. I treat a lot of women who are stressed, anxious,” Simon said. Acupuncture uses sterile, single-use needles, which are usually not painful. “They’re nothing like the sewing needles you have stuck yourself with by accident. They’re nothing like injection needles or blood draw needles. They’re way finer, flexible, hair-like,” she said.
Acupuncturists in Massachusetts are licensed by the state Board of Registration in Medicine and must have completed at least 1,905 hours of clinical and didactic instruction in an acupuncture school. Numerous clinical trials have studied acupuncture and cancer during the past decade and many have found improvements in patient fatigue, pain and nausea.
Leon, who practices in Littleton and Lunenburg, specializes in treating cancer patients. In addition to relieving common discomforts, she said, she aims to provide a quiet, caring environment in which patients can vent their emotions. While she isn’t a psychotherapist, Leon said she practices deep listening.
“When they’re first diagnosed, it’s a very emotional upset. ‘Oh my gosh, I’m here going through life, and it’s the C-word.’ A lot of people think of dying,” Leon said.
For women with breast cancer, the diagnosis threatens their identities, Leon said. Losing hair during chemotherapy or losing a breast to a mastectomy can cripple a woman’s sense of femininity.
“There’s this huge loss of looks. In our society, [people think] ‘You’re a woman, you have to look this way,’” she said.
Paying for acupuncture can be difficult. Most health insurers don’t cover acupuncture, which can cost $60 to $120 per session, according to acufinder.com. However, acupuncture clients of the Healing Garden operate under a pay-what-you-can model and Leon offers adjustable rates based on income and dependents.
Acupuncture treats the whole person, Leon said, whether it’s alleviating the emotional toll cancer takes on a person or restoring the full range of motion after surgery. There isn’t a set regimen of acupuncture treatments for breast cancer patients — instead, acupuncture focuses on what the patient needs when she walks in the door.
“Acupuncture is a healing art,” she said. “Every woman who walks in here doesn’t get the same treatment — I ask them, ‘What do you need today?’”