25/03/2021
One of the most commonly experienced symptoms of menopause are vasomotor symptoms (VMS) including hot flushes and night sweats. Although spoken about in conversation, amongst women, and experienced by approximately 70% of women in Western cultures, there still remains somewhat of a taboo. In recent years, there has been a lot more coverage in the media. Rest assured ladies you are not on your own.
There is significant evidence demonstrating the usefulness of acupuncture for reducing the severity and frequency of hot flushes (VAS). Like with most acupuncture treatments, the results are cumulative, meaning the more sessions you have the stronger the effect. You should notice a result at your first treatment. After having, for example, 3 treatments you should see a further reduction in frequency and intensity.
Once you notice a reduction in symptoms, you will also notice further benefits in other areas or your daily life. Sleep quality improves, anxiety levels reduce, better concentration. Partly, because you are not wasting time focusing on all the discomfort your symptoms are causing. A pragmatic randomised control trial by Avis et al. showed 12 months later, improvements were maintained.
The type of study referred to there, simply means, it mimics usual clinical practice. In other words, an acupuncture treatment from a qualified Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)practitioner, who has studied for a minimum of 3 years, and has the skills and experience to do a diagnosis and treatment from a TCM perspective. These studies are critical to inform decision making by patients/clients, clinicians and policy makers. They assess effectiveness of the available medicine. In other words the results for the patients/clients.
In a review by Berezza et al. on acupuncture for sleep disorders, 75% of women reported improvement in sleep following acupuncture treatments.
A review looks are different studies, assessing usefulness of results and choosing relevant studies, in order to assess effectiveness of acupuncture for sleep complaints in this case.
Based on the evidence, acupuncture is a significant consideration, for any woman, experiencing hot flushes either as an add on to HRT or instead of HRT.
In every case lifestyle factors play a huge role, but that is for a whole other blog series!
