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Chemotherapy and Nausea
(Acupressure, Cocculus Indicus,
Ginger)
Nausea is a common if not unavoidable side effect associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It can leave the patient feeling miserable and with no desire for food or liquids.
The following link is to a table on how likely different chemotherapy drugs are
to cause nausea: Link
to Drug Table at www.cancerconsultants.com.
The table is part of an excellent overview of nausea associated with chemotherapy
(Link
to page)
A number of effective conventional drugs are available (e.g. cyclizine, granisetron). Still, in an attempt to find palliative agents with fewer potential side effects, we had a quick look round the web to see what was available.
Ginger
One classic anti-emetic herbal remedy recommended on many web-sites was ginger.
Numerous on-line shops offer information on and sell ginger extracts. One site with useful information was Healthwell.com. It had two useful pages -
- A note on Chemotherapy (Link
to page)
- A page on Ginger (Link
to page)
However, high doses of ginger have their own side effect: the ability for blood
to clot can get reduced - something not desired when chemotherapy is causing
a severe drop in the patients platelet count.
(read
note on ginger preventing blood clotting at www.oznet.ksu.edu)
Acupressure
What sounded the most promising alternative to using anti emetic drugs was
acupuncture or acupressure.
There are special points or combinations of acupuncture points, which should
only be used by trained specialists, but as a rule acupuncture and especially
acupressure can only have beneficial effects.
An interesting bit of information we came across was that the WHO has recognised
acupuncture since 1997: Link
to www.bioenergyclinic.com
In the archives of Acupuncture Today we found an article by its editorial staff
describing a study with 17 female cancer patients on the use of acupressure
to alleviate nausea http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives/2000/jun/06nausea.html.
Because it was a small scale study, the article only concludes that acupressure
might be helpful, but does list the points used - the P6 (Inner Gate) and
ST36 (Three Miles) points located on the forearm and below the knee, respectively.
The Internet Health Library has two web pages dealing with nausea and chemotherapy.
One page covers the same study as in the archives of Acupuncture (Link
to page). Their other page summarises cancer and alternative therapies;
Under
acupressure, the Internet Health Library mentions that in June 1990,
researchers at the Northern Ireland Radio therapy Centre, Belvoir Park Hospital,
Belfast, had 75%-100% success rate using the P6 point. The acupressure
was given alongside the antiemetic drugs, there were no side effects and the
benefit lasted 6-8 hours. The method was simplified and made to last longer
by using elasticated bands with a plastic stud (Sea sickness Band).
Cocculus Indicus
At the Royal Homeopathic Hospital we were prescribed Cocculus Indicus C30.
Cocculus is a classical remedy for nausea in general. We didn't find any web
pages talking about using Cocculus in connection with chemotherapy.
Personal Experience
Our daughter liked the Cocculus although she was never certain about its
effect as she responded well to the conventional anti-emitics given. She has
so far had no patience with using the acupressure points.
Links mentioned in article
Chemotherapeutic Drugs and Nausea: www.cancerconsultants.com
A note on Chemotherapy: www.healthwell.com
Using Ginger to control Nasea: www.healthwell.com
On Ginger preventing blood clotting: www.oznet.ksu.edu
About the WHO recognising acupuncture: www.bioenergyclinic.com
Which acupuncture points to use against nausea -
P6 (Inner Gate) and ST36 (Three Miles) points : www.acupuncturetoday.com
and www.internethealthlibrary.com
P6 : www.internethealthlibrary.com
Other Links
www.cancerconsultants.com
www.healthwell.com
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