Acupuncture and Menopausal Symptoms

This study was cited in the most recent issue of Acupuncture Today. It compares acupuncture with sham acupuncture with symptoms, estrogen levels and FSH levels as outcome measures. I was not aware of it, and as a study it is pretty small, but I put it up for discussion's sake. Sara Calabro, LAc, reviewed the study. She also notes that in the U.K. there was a large study of over one million postmenopausal women looking at the risks of HRT (hormone replacement therapy.) Their findings show that women who took HRT in the early stages of menopause were at higher risk of developing breast cancer than those tho took it five or more years after menopause began. Of course, HRT has also been shown to increase heart problems, stroke and blood clots. So, we can hope that one day, acupuncture will be a first line recommendation for the symptoms of menopause, it's safe and many studies confirm that it is effective. Previous posts related to menopause are here and here. (For more information about my practice, please click here.)

Acupunct Med. 2011 Mar;29(1):27-31.

The effect of acupuncture on postmenopausal symptoms and reproductive hormones: a sham controlled clinical trial.
Sunay D, Ozdiken M, Arslan H, Seven A, Aral Y. Source Department of Family Medicine, Ministry of Health, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Kiz kulesi sokak 3/5 Gaziosmanpasa Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey. didemsunay@gmail.c

Acupuncture is commonly used to treat menopausal symptoms and other gynaecological conditions. In this study, the authors aimed to investigate whether acupuncture has an effect on menopausal symptoms and to explore whether this effect is related to changes in hormone levels. Materials and methods A total of 53 postmenopausal women were alternately assigned into two treatment groups: acupuncture (n=27) and sham acupuncture (n=26). Menopausal symptoms were assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). The serum oestradiol, follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH) levels were measured at baseline and again after the first and last sessions. The Student t test was used for normally distributed data and the Wilcoxon signed rank test for not normally distributed data. The group differences in MRS scores were assessed using non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS:

After treatment, total MRS, and the somatic and psychological subscale scores were significantly lower in the acupuncture group than the sham group (all p=0.001). The severity of hot flushes was found to be significantly decreased after treatment in acupuncture group (p=0.001). In the acupuncture group LH levels were lower and oestradiol levels were significantly higher than sham group (p=0.046 and p=0.045, respectively) after treatment, but there was no difference in FSH levels.

CONCLUSION:

Acupuncture was effective in reducing menopausal complaints when compared to sham acupuncture and can be considered as an alternative therapy in the treatment of menopausal symptoms.

Estrogen Therapy, Now Recommended Again

This is a good column by Gail Collins on the confusing, conflicting medical studies that are reported by the press and how difficult it is to know what to do when it comes to your own health. My own motto might be described as "less is more." I'll excerpt a few passages that I think are particularly apt. In this article she is referring to the recent study released this week that showed in women with hysterectomies, the women who received estrogen alone (without progesterone) showed a decreased rate of breast cancer. I think the jury's out on this one and would need to see more data. Dr. Sidney Wolfe author of "Worst Pills, Best Pills" is quoted in this article. I keep a copy of his excellent book on my shelf as a reference and he recommends that you never take any medication unless it has been out at least 7 years. And that's what I advise my patients also.
(For more information about my practice click here.)

April 6, 2011
Medicine on the Move
By GAIL COLLINS

Sometimes you really do want to tell the medical profession to just make up its mind.

We got word this week that estrogen therapy, which was bad, is good again. Possibly. In some cases.
This was not quite as confusing as the news last year that calcium supplements, which used to be very good, are now possibly bad. Although maybe not...
Back in the day, estrogen was prescribed only for women who were experiencing serious problems with menopause. Then a 1966 book called “Feminine Forever” argued that estrogen therapy was good for almost every middle-aged female on the planet who wanted to avoid morphing into a crone. The idea grew in popularity even after evidence mounted that the author had been paid by an estrogen manufacturer...
Now comes a new study — from the very same Women’s Health Initiative — that appears to show that for some women, estrogen alone may actually reduce the risk of breast cancer and heart attack. As long as you take it when you’re in your 50s...
Americans should know by now that you can’t put a pill in your mouth without risk. Television is full of commercials for wonder drugs that will perk up your spirits, soothe your allergies or lower your cholesterol, improving life altogether except in the cases where they lead to vivid dreams, suicidal thoughts, hair loss, stabbing pains or sudden death.
But it still feels as if we need to be on guard against medical overoptimism. “Doctors are far more knowledgeable about the benefits of drugs than the risks,” said Dr. Wolfe. There isn’t always much talk about the possible downside of drugs on which all the evidence is yet to come in, like many fertility treatments.

Dr. Wolfe believes that most doctors prefer writing prescriptions to having lengthy discussions with their patients about things like long-term behavior modification therapy. My own theory is that they just tend to want to satisfy their patients. Let’s face it, few of us go to the doctor with hopes of getting advice on behavior modification. They’re medical practitioners, and their instinct is to solve your problems with medicine...