Five Seasons Women’s Wellness: Health and Wellness Blog

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An Italian study recently published in Evidence-based Complimentary and Alternative Medicine demonstrated that acupuncture has a significant beneficial effect for patients suffering from painful periods (dysmenorrhea) resistant to conventional medical treatment.

The participants, who suffered moderate to severe dysmenorrhea, were given 8 weekly acupuncture treatments over a period of 2 months, with needles inserted in applicable point locations for 30 minutes.

13 of the 15 participants in the study experienced substantial pain reduction and reduced use of NSAIDs following the acupuncture treatments.  7 of the 15 participants ceased NSAID use completely and remained asymptomatic when questioned 6 months after treatments ended.

Acupuncture Treatment of Dysmenorrhea Resistant to Conventional Medical Treatment

Researchers from the Oriental Hospital at Kyung Hee University Medical Center in South Korea found that acupuncture may be more effective than drugs or herbal medicines for the treatment of menstrual pain.

The results, which were published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, came from analyzing 27 studies that involved nearly 3,000 women.

“Compared with pharmacological treatment or herbal medicine, acupuncture was associated with a significant reduction in pain,” they reported.

“There is convincing evidence on the effectiveness of using acupuncture to treat pain as it stimulates the production of endorphins and serotonin in the central nervous system,” they added.

They stressed there were methodological flaws in some of the studies reviewed; but nevertheless, there was “promising evidence” of acupuncture’s effectiveness for treating menstrual cramps.

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting in Chicago, researchers found that acupuncture may be an effective treatment for depression during pregnancy.

“Depression during pregnancy is an issue of concern because it has negative effects on both the mother and the baby as well as the rest of the family,” says Dr. Schnyer, one of the study’s authors.

The evaluator-blinded randomized trial divided 150 pregnant women diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder into three treatment groups: a depression specific acupuncture group, a control acupuncture group and a massage group. Twelve treatments were given over a period of eight weeks.

The results showed that the women who received depression specific acupuncture experienced a significantly greater decrease in depression severity compared to the control and massage groups.

Schnyer says “The results of our study show that the acupuncture protocol we tested could be a viable treatment option for depression during pregnancy.”

A new Australian study suggests that babies that are breastfed for longer than six months could be at lower risk for mental health problems later in life.

Researchers found that children who were breastfed for less than six months had a 52% increased risk of a mental health problem at 2 years of age, a 55% increased risk at age 6, a 61% increased risk at age 8, and a 37% increased risk at age 10.

The findings are based on data from 2,366 Australian children over the past 16 years.

“Breastfeeding for a longer duration appears to have significant benefits for the onward mental health of the child into adolescence,” reported Dr. Wendy H. Oddy of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

“Even when we adjust the results to take into account other factors such as the parents’ socio-economic situation, their education, their happiness and family functioning, we see that children that were breastfed for at least six months are at lower risk of mental health problems,” Dr. Oddy said.

Dr. Oddy said that children that were breastfed had particularly lower rates of delinquent, aggressive and anti-social behaviour, and overall were less depressed, anxious or withdrawn.

“These results are powerful evidence for more support to be given to mothers to help them breastfeed for longer,” she said.

A Yale School of Medicine study recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that acupuncture can be used successfully to treat lower back and pelvic pain in women who are pregnant.

According to the study, pregnant women who received 1-week continuous auricular acupuncture treatment reported significantly less pain compared with those who received sham acupuncture or no treatment.

The study concluded that, “For a majority of participants receiving therapeutic acupuncture, pain relief was substantial and led to improvement of functional status. Hence, this study supports that use of acupuncture at specific auricular points is a safe and effective nonpharmacologic treatment of an important clinical entity for which there are currently few, if any, effective treatments.”

Newly unveiled court documents show that pharmaceutical giant Wyeth paid ghostwrites to publish more than 26 scientific papers backing the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

The articles, published in medical journals between 1998 and 2005, emphasized the benefits and downplayed the risks, including increased risk of invasive breast cancer, endometrial cancer, heart attack, stroke and dementia, of HRT.

Physicians rely on medical literature, so the concern about ghostwriting is that doctors might change their prescribing habits after reading certain articles, unaware they were commissioned by a drug company.

Wyeth faces about 8,400 lawsuits from women who claim that Premarin and Prempro, the company’s HRT drugs, caused them to develop illnesses.

Holistic Alternatives to HRT

Acupuncture and herbal medicine can reduce menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, changes in mood and headaches without the negative side effects associated with HRT.

A 2008 study found acupuncture to be more effective than drugs in treating hot flashes, night sweats and other menopause-like symptoms in patients with breast cancer.  Acupuncture Beats Drug in Alleviating Hot Flashes, Night Sweats and other Symptoms Associated with Breast Cancer Treatment

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The rate of Caesarean section (c-section) has has increased from 4% in 1965 to about 33% today despite the rising concerns about increased complications for mother and baby.

Medscape Today spoke with expert Pamela K. Spry BSN, MS, PhD about the risks for birth by scalpel.

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Acupuncture can offer a great deal of relief to women who suffer from endometriosis.  It can be used in conjunction with Western medical intervention or on its own.

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