Xerostomia (dry mouth) “is the sensation you may feel when you don’t have enough saliva (spit).” It can be caused by certain medications and underlying health conditions including salivary stones, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Xerostomia also may occur in conjunction with radiation treatment for cancer, particularly head and neck cancer, and may become chronic post-treatment.
A new randomized clinical trial1 involving 258 patients with head and neck cancer and suffering from radiation-induced xerostomia compared acupuncture with sham acupuncture and standard intervention for improving xerostomia symptoms and overall quality of life. The three-arm, placebo-controlled trial recruited patients from community-based U.S. cancer centers (33 sites in 13 states) participating in the Wake Forest National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program Research Base.
All patients reported grade two or three radiation-induced xerostomia 12 months or more after receiving bilateral radiotherapy as part of their cancer treatment. Patients were randomized into one of three groups: true acupuncture, sham acupuncture or standard oral hygiene (the control group). Patients in the acupuncture cohorts were treated two times a week for four weeks. (Patients who experienced a “minor” response to initial treatment received an additional four weeks of treatment.)
A total of 14 points, body and ear, were used for both acupuncture groups, with each session lasting 20 minutes. True acupuncture points “were at 3 sites on each ear (Shenmen, point 0, salivary gland 2-prime), a site on the chin (CV24), a site on each forearm (LU7), a site on each hand (LI 1-prime), and a site on each leg (K6) with 1 placebo needle at GB32 for a total of 14 sites.”
According to findings, published in JAMA Network Open, nearly a third (31.3% of patients receiving true acupuncture experienced a partial response at week four, compared with only 17.1% of patients in the sham group and only 14.1% of patients in the control (standard oral hygiene) group. The differences between true acupuncture patients vs. controls persisted through week 12. “Although there was some suggestion of a sham effect, the benefits of sham treatment were minimal and not associated with improvements in overall [quality of life].”
The research team concluded: “Although acupuncture mechanisms are not well understood, findings from multiple studies suggest possible central nervous system effects through manipulation of the fascia. Studies have revealed significant increased blood flow in the skin of the cheek of patients with xerostomia. Other plausible hypotheses suggest that increased production of certain neuropeptides after acupuncture stimulation may cause vasodilation and increased microcirculation.”
Reference
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
| Digital Exclusive
One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
| Digital Exclusive