Health

Acupuncture Therapy to Reduce Vasomotor Complications After Chemotherapy

Vasomotor complications are associated with a variety of ailments but can be especially complicated in those cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy. As a complication very common in cancer patients, many oncologists are looking for ways in which their patients can overcome their vasomotor complications once their chemotherapy is complete.

If you are facing chemotherapy treatment for your cancer, it is important to speak with your doctor about the implications of vasomotor complications and what you can do to eliminate some of the risk. While not a traditional form of medicine, many individuals are turning to more alternative forms of treatment including acupuncture and massage therapy.

While not a sole form of treatment for vasomotor complications during and after chemotherapy, the use of acupuncture and massage therapy provide excellent results as a supportive role to traditional medicine. Because herbal remedies to improve vasomotor function can interfere with your chemotherapy treatments, these other forms of alternative medicine are more widely accepted by physicians.

When considering options for acupuncture treatment or massage therapy, you will want to find an alternative medicine specialist who has a background in the complications of cancer and the issues that arise from the side effects of chemotherapy. In addition, be sure that your acupuncturist or massage therapist is well versed in the use of treatments to resolve vasomotor complications. Without these specialties, you may not get the best possible outcome from your acupuncture and massage therapy treatment.

Chemotherapy is an essential part of treatment for individuals who are living with a cancer diagnosis but often leads to its own set of health risks. For many cancer patients, especially those with prostate cancer or breast cancer, there is a marked risk for vasomotor complications. To mitigate this risk, be sure to ask your doctor about the appropriate healthcare treatment you need to improve your overall health outcome, including acupuncture and massage therapy in lieu of alternative medicinal herbal remedies. Without proper intervention, the vasomotor complications can lead to long term health risks well beyond the time your cancer is in remission.

Career Counseling for Teens: How to Help Your Child Find a Potential Career

Choosing a career is difficult for anyone, but it can be especially confusing for teens who are about to enter college. There are several things you can do to help your teenager research potential careers and determine their interests. Career aptitude tests will give them a basic idea of the types of things they enjoy or will be proficient at. Once they have this basic framework, teens can do more detailed career research both online and by asking people who are already working in their chosen career.

Career counseling for teens: Aptitude tests

The first thing to do is figure out what type of career will interest your teenager. People are more motivated to work hard in a career that they enjoy, especially teens. Look for a career aptitude test or interest inventory questionnaire. Many of these can be found online or you can purchase a career counseling book with these types of surveys. Some of the more common career interest tests include the Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator or the Holland personality type test. These can identify certain aspects of your teen’s personality and offer suggestions of potential careers.

Career counseling for teens: Research the job

After you and your teenager have decided on a list of potential careers that may be interesting, it is time to do some research into the details of the job. Searching online is usually the best place to start getting some rough information, such as the type of education required for the career and the expected starting salary. Job websites like Monster or HotJobs can usually give a rough description of the job duties required and the type of skills your teen must have in order to be successful in the industry.

Career counseling for teens: Talk to someone in the industry

The next step after researching a potential career online is to let your teenager speak to some people who are already working in the desired field. This person can give your teen more information on what the job will really be like. Some good questions to ask are what the working environment is like and how much potential growth there will be. If your teen is older, the worker may be able to show him or her some of the duties that will typically be performed on the job and determine if the student has the necessary aptitude for the desired career. This step is important because it will give your teenager a true picture of the career, which may not be available on the job websites.

Common Cold

Treating the Common Cold with Chinese Medicine

According to Western medicine, both the common cold and the flu are caused by a category of virus called rhinoviruses. Western medicine has no treatment for this type of infection. Taking antibiotics, for example, will do nothing for a disease caused by a virus. However, practitioners of Chinese medicine have been treating the common cold effectively with both herbs and acupuncture for 2,000 years. More than 100 generations of Chinese doctors have proven that you don’t have to just stay in bed and let a cold run its course.

Types of colds in Chinese medicine

In Chinese medicine, there are two main types of colds, wind cold and wind heat external contractions. The symptoms of each are different. In a wind cold pattern of common cold, the main symptoms are fever, aversion to chill, lack of perspiration, and bodily aches and pains along with nasal congestion, a headache, and possible cough. In a wind heat pattern of common cold, the main symptoms are fever, less aversion to chill, no particular lack of perspiration, sore throat, nasal congestion, and cough with no body aches and pains. Depending on which of these two main types of cold a person manifests, practitioners of Chinese medicine will recommend different Chinese herbs and treat different acupuncture points. The most common pattern of common cold in both children and adults is the wind heat variety. Depending on the climate and geography, these two patterns may be complicated by dampness or dryness.

Acupuncture for the common cold

In terms of the common cold, acupuncture stimulates the body’s own innate healing energy or immune system in order to more effectively combat the viral infection. Fifty percent of persons infected with any given cold virus manifest any signs or symptom of infection because their immune system is strong enough to suppress the virus’s activity. It is only the other 50% whose immune systems weaker that develop symptoms. So strengthening the immune system is extremely important in fighting off a cold. In addition, certain points can relieve stuffy nose, cough, headache, bodily aches and pain, sore throat, fever, and reduce the production of phlegm. For instance, needling a point at the base of the thumbnail can markedly reduce sore throat literally in a matter of minutes. Some practitioners will combine acupuncture with other techniques such as cupping, guasha (a type of scraping technique), and tuina (Chinese medical massage) in order to get even better, quicker relief of symptoms.

Chinese herbal medicine for the common cold

Chinese medicine has a number of herbal medicinals, which are effective for the treatment of rhinoviruses, and formulas with these ingredients can stop a cold dead in its tracks or drastically reduce its symptoms and duration. In addition, Chinese herbal formulas for the common cold typically also contain anti-inflammatory, decongestant, antihistaminic, and immune-boosting herbs. Such Chinese herbal remedies come in various forms. Some of the names of these commonly prescribed ready-made Chinese medicines include Yin Qiao San, Gan Mao Ling, and Cold Quell. All three of these products are for wind heat external contraction common colds whose main symptoms are fever and sore throat. Typically, one should begin taking these ready-made herbal remedies at the first signs of a cold and continue taking them for a day or two after the symptoms have disappeared. Because it is so important to begin taking these kinds of antiviral Chinese herbal medicines as soon as the symptoms are noticed, it is a good idea to keep bottles of these kinds of remedies in your medicine chest at home, in the glove compartment of your car, and in your desk at work. If you always start a cold with a sore throat followed by the development of a fever, then you may want to keep one of the three herbal remedies on hand. The longer you allow a cold to develop prior to treatment, the more likely it is that it will continue to develop. So stopping it as quickly as possible is the key.

Copyright: Arlington Acupuncture