How Acupuncture Helped My Peripheral Neuropathy Go Away!

Chemotherapy saved her life, but left her in constant pain. Here's how acupuncture relieved her pain. Peripheral neuropathy can make every day feel like an uphill battle, and for many cancer survivors, it's one of the most frustrating side effects of chemotherapy. Peripheral neuropathy occurs when the nerves outside of your brain and your spinal cord, your peripheral nerves, become damaged. It can disrupt everything from how you walk, how you feel temperature, or even touch. The most common symptoms of peripheral neuropathy are numbness and tingling, which often feels like pins and needles, burning or shooting pain, muscle weakness or difficulty with balance, trouble with fine motor skills like buttoning a shirt or using a pen, even changes with your blood pressure or bowel function. There are many causes of peripheral neuropathy, but the most common one with cancer patients is chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. CIPN is the result of the chemotherapy drugs used to fight the cancer to cause damage to the nerve cells. In fact, some studies show that up to 68% of people undergoing chemotherapy will experience some form of CIPN. For some, the symptoms fade over time. But for others, the nerve damage can last for months or even years. That's where acupuncture can help. At Nova Chiropractic and Acupuncture, we use a research-based approach to acupuncture to help stimulate the nervous system, decrease the pain, and speed up the healing process. Acupuncture helps relieve the inflammation, stimulating the nerve function, and relieving the nerve pain. Many patients report a decrease in tingling, improved sensation, better balance, and mobility. Meet Renee, a breast cancer survivor who suffered from severe CIPN after chemotherapy. Here's her story of hope, healing, and how acupuncture healed her peripheral neuropathy. So in May of 2024, I went in for my annual mammogram, and lo and behold, they found a mass. And within a few weeks, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am triple positive, meaning that I am estrogen and progesterone positive, as well as HER2 positive. So for me, that meant my first line of treatment was chemotherapy. After discussing everything with the oncologist and breast surgeon, it was determined that I would need to do six rounds of TCHP chemotherapy, and after that, we would do surgery. When I found out I was going to have chemo, of course, I'm wondering what all the side effects are, and there are a ton. And one of the main side effects that I was most concerned about was neuropathy. My oncologist told me that for most people, it's not a, if you'll have neuropathy, it's a, how bad will the neuropathy be? And so one of the ways that I was able to battle the neuropathy from the chemo is by getting acupuncture. I would come in for weekly appointments with Dr. Sullivan. It was a very simple and comfortable process. I would lay on a nice, warm, heated table, and he would put needles in that I didn't really even feel, other than the tap of them going in. Oftentimes, I would just relax and listen to music. I could feel that they were doing something, in the sense that I would get a little tingly in my head, nothing uncomfortable, but just sort of a tingly feeling on my scalp. And I really believe that this has made a big difference. The neuropathy that I have had after going through those six rounds of chemo has been very minimal. I've had a little bit of numbness in one of my big toes. During the winter, when things were very cold, I could feel sort of like buzzing in my fingers if I was outside in the cold. But other than that, my neuropathy was really not much at all. And I really think that a lot of it had to do with the acupuncture. It was also really nice to just have that 15 or 20 minutes laying on the acupuncture table to just sort of relax and decompress. And I think if you're able to do that, it probably helps the acupuncture to work even more. If you're suffering from the lasting effects of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, you're not alone, and you don't have to live with the pain and numbness. At Novacar Practicum Acupuncture, we specialize in helping patients just like you find relief. Visit Novacar Wellness to schedule your appointment online, or leave a comment below if you have any questions.