Robert Shmerling, M.D., is associate physician and clinical chief of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an associate professor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an active teacher in the Internal Medicine Residency Program, serving as the Robinson Firm Chief. He is also a teacher in the Rheumatology Fellowship Program and has been a practicing rheumatologist for over 25 years.

Question:

I had breast cancer and am taking Arimidex. I recently heard about using acupuncture for hot flashes. Could acupuncture help me? I do not want to take the anti-depressants suggested for this.

Answer

Hot flashes are a common and annoying symptom of menopause. They can disrupt sleep and make you miserable. Arimidex can make hot flashes worse, by blocking the production of estrogen from androgen hormones made in the adrenal gland.

Because women with breast cancer can't be treated with hormone replacement therapy (estrogen) for severe hot flashes, other treatments are often tried. A small study in 2006 found that acupuncture treatments reduced the severity of hot flashes. Twenty-nine women with bothersome hot flashes were studied. Half the women got "sham" acupuncture treatments, while the other half got "real" treatments. Sham treatments used needles that felt real, but did not break the skin. Also, the sham needles were not used in traditional acupuncture points on the skin. The women didn't know who was getting real treatments and who was getting the sham acupuncture.

The women who got real acupuncture treatments reported milder hot flashes, although both groups had the same number of flashes each night.

More studies are needed to confirm these findings. However, since acupuncture is quite safe it might be worth trying. I would suggest you check with your oncologist about the possibility of trying acupuncture treatments.