NAUSEA AND VOMITING WITH CANCER DRUGS

Nausea and vomiting are often the biggest challenges facing patients who need drug treatment (or chemotherapy) for cancer.  Patients are unwilling to take the drugs or may refuse treatment, and poor compliance following their prescription undermines the effectiveness of their treatment programme.

Research by Professor Dundee in the UK in the late 80s reported that acupuncture could significantly reduce nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy (1) . Although a successful way of managing the symptoms, it has always been limited in its availability because acupuncture needles have to be inserted by someone who is trained in acupuncture. 

A way round this difficulty is to use transcutaneous electroacupuncture which does not need any needles (2). 

Our treatments using a personalised prescription to tap into the body's own healing mechanisms and pathways. By careful selection of points and areas on the body we can stimulate anti-inflammatory pathways, boost pain-relieving substances such as endorphins and produce changes in other chemical signalling systems such as dopamine pathways which lead to change and even remodelling in the brain itself.

(1) J. W. Dundee, R. G. Ghaly, K. T. J. Fitzpatrick, G. A. Lynch, and W. P. Abram, “Acupuncture to prevent cisplatin-associated vomiting,” The Lancet, vol. 329, no. 8541, p. 1083, 1987.
​(2) Xing Zhang, Hai-feng Jin, Yi-hong Fan, Bin LU, Li-na Meng, Jiande D. Z. Chen, "Effects and Mechanisms of Transcutaneous Electroacupuncture on Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting", Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2014, Article ID 860631, 6 pages, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/860631