When it comes to cancer, sometimes the side effects that come with treatment can be as debilitating as the disease. That's why more and more doctors are offering alternative therapies like acupuncture to deal with either the cancer pain or nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.

Because that's the beauty of acupuncture, say local cancer treatment specialists. It comes with no side effects.

"It can really improve a cancer patient's quality of life," said Dr. Sharyn Lewin, director of gynecological oncology at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. She said acupuncture is very effective in dealing with peripheral neuropathy, or numbness, gynecological and colorectal cancer patients experience as a result of chemotherapy.

Dr. Karen Lin, assistant dean for global health at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, said acupuncture is even effective in treating the terminally ill. "Some of the pain medications either affect the liver or the kidneys. Terminal cancer patients will have morphine or narcotics that will not only make them sleepy, but cause constipation because the medications slow everything down. Acupuncture can help with those symptoms, without giving them any adverse effects."

Check with doctor first

During acupuncture treatment, a practitioner inserts tiny needles into your skin at precise points. Studies show acupuncture may be helpful in relieving nausea caused by chemotherapy and may help relieve certain types of pain in people with cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Acupuncture is safe if it's performed by a licensed practitioner using sterile needles, the Mayo Clinic says, also noting that acupuncture isn't safe if you're taking blood thinners or if you have low blood counts, so check with your doctor first.

Other alternative treatments for cancer patients recommended as possibly helpful by the Mayo Clinic include aromatherapy, meditation, massage and music therapy.

Longtime practitioner

Acupuncture, as applied to cancer pain, is a newer concept to some than to others. While Lewin says it has been incorporated as a cancer therapy at Holy Name in the past year, Lin says she has been practicing it since 1998 in RWJ's outpatient office.

"We at Holy Name use a certified acupuncturist who is licensed and comes one day a week. You lay on the table, with pillows, and a heating mat. The acupuncture needles are tiny and put in at different meridians, different points, depending on what symptoms the patient has. You lay there with the needles in place anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes on average. It's been really well-received. When people try it, they become convinced and how powerful it is, and they come regularly. Even people who are afraid of needles. Because the needles are as fine as hair. You can't even feel them."

An associate professor in the Family Medicine and Community Health Department of the medical school, Dr. Lin of RWJ also has a practice that is divided into two parts – half family medicine, and half acupuncture.

"Oncologists at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey here in New Brunswick regularly refer patients to me specifically for the cancer or side effects. For example, one of the side effects can be losing your hair. Or circulation problems after chemotherapy in the finger tips and toes. I use acupuncture to help them most of the time, as we don't have effective medication for those types of things. By using integrated Eastern and Western medicine, we can really help people with cancer pain," said Lin, who sits on the New Jersey Board of Acupuncture Examiners.

Lin noted that she uses acupuncture for a lot of other demographics too – like veterans suffering both from the psychological pain of post- traumatic stress syndrome and serious drug addiction.

"When regular people feel pain, it doesn't matter whether it comes from the cancer, or other places," she said.

"Pain is pain."

By JOHN PETRICK
Email: petrick@northjersey.com