Acupuncture to Treat Hot Flashes

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Acupuncture to Treat Hot Flashes

Question:

I had breast cancer and am taking Arimidex. I recently heard about using acupuncture for hot flashes. Could acupuncture help me? I do not want to take the anti-depressants suggested for this.

Answer

Hot flashes are a common and annoying symptom of menopause. They can disrupt sleep and make you miserable. Arimidex can make hot flashes worse, by blocking the production of estrogen from androgen hormones made in the adrenal gland.

Because women with breast cancer can't be treated with hormone replacement therapy (estrogen) for severe hot flashes, other treatments are often tried. A small study in 2006 found that acupuncture treatments reduced the severity of hot flashes. Twenty-nine women with bothersome hot flashes were studied. Half the women got "sham" acupuncture treatments, while the other half got "real" treatments. Sham treatments used needles that felt real, but did not break the skin. Also, the sham needles were not used in traditional acupuncture points on the skin. The women didn't know who was getting real treatments and who was getting the sham acupuncture.

The women who got real acupuncture treatments reported milder hot flashes, although both groups had the same number of flashes each night.

More studies are needed to confirm these findings. However, since acupuncture is quite safe it might be worth trying. I would suggest you check with your oncologist about the possibility of trying acupuncture treatments.

Diana Post, M.D., is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Last updated:	July 20, 2009