▲Acupuncture can improve neuropathy caused by chemotherapy in cancer patients; the picture is a situational photo. (Photo provided by Li Yiting)
Text / Li Yiting
▲After the tumor patient received chemotherapy, the palms appeared dark, blood stasis, and numbness. (Photo provided by Li Yiting)
Many tumor patients have numbness in their fingers and toes, sluggish walking and other neurological diseases during chemotherapy. They feel physically and mentally injured and do not want to undergo chemotherapy. Fortunately, after cooperating with traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture treatment, drug-induced neuropathy has been improved. , the patient is finally willing to accept chemotherapy again, and those who have completed the course of treatment can continue to repair the damaged neural body and improve the quality of life.
Therapeutic drugs cause abnormal sensations in the nerves
Drug-induced neuropathy is a common side effect of cancer patients during treatment. It is generally dominated by sensory nerves, manifested as numbness of the hands and feet, abnormal perception, and often symmetrical limb distribution. Initially, the numbness is limited to the distal extremities, such as the ends of the fingers or toes. As the drug dose accumulates, the paresthesia gradually increases and may extend to the arms and calves.
The numbness of neuropathy affects the convenience of life. For example, when holding a bowl, the fingertips feel abnormal, so the bowl becomes unstable; or when walking, the foot plate touches the ground abnormally, resulting in unsteady walking. It mainly affects the quality of life, which is reflected in the patient’s satisfaction with treatment, and even affects the willingness to continue treatment.
For example, paclitaxel commonly used in breast cancer patients, platinum used in colorectal cancer patients, and vinca alkaloids used in lymphoma patients are all common drugs that may cause neuropathy.
In order to improve the quality of life, cancer patients can use acupuncture and moxibustion together with traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to improve the abnormal nerve sensation caused by drugs during the tumor treatment stage.
◎Acupuncture is suitable for use in tumor groups for two main reasons:
●There are many indications for acupuncture, including poor appetite, neuropathy, chronic pain, and emotional regulation.
●Acupuncture treatment does not require more oral medication.
In traditional medicine, peripheral nerve paresthesia belongs to paralysis, and “the evil enters the yin, it is blood paralysis”, and according to the “Golden Chamber Synopsis”: “In the case of blood paralysis, acupuncture should be used to induce yang.” Therefore, in accepting During chemotherapy, once related symptoms occur, acupuncture can be used to improve the discomfort of abnormal nerve paresthesia. Even after the course of treatment, if there is still numbness in the hands and feet, acupuncture can be continued until the symptoms are relieved.
Because acupuncture can repair damaged nerve bodies, the numbness will not recur after treatment until the symptoms are completely relieved unless new damage is caused by chemotherapy.
Those who are afraid of acupuncture can also choose laser acupuncture, which stimulates acupuncture points with low-energy laser light irradiation, which has the benefits of improving nerve conduction, promoting the synthesis of intracellular granulocytes and glands, and increasing microcirculation.
(The author is a physician in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Changhua Xiu Chuan Memorial Hospital)
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