Acupuncture and Hot Flashes

Until you experience one for yourself, it’s hard to accurately describe. Intense heat sensation and sweatiness followed by an equally unsettling chill—across the entire body. It can last a few minutes or more, and then once you think it’s all over, the pattern starts up again. That’s right, we’re talking about hot flashes. And despite what you may have heard, women can experience this unfortunate phenomenon before they experience menopause. If you can bear to imagine it, the combination of cramps and hot flashes is a possibility for many women.

That’s what happened to Lisa Montrose, who started getting hot flashes at the age of 47. She tried supplements that claimed to help with the symptoms, but none worked. That’s when Lisa decided to give acupuncture a shot. Why? As Montrose mentions, Western medicine often addresses symptoms while Eastern techniques address root causes by balancing the energy flowing through the body.

Describing her first treatment, Montrose says, “A few minutes and 18 needles later, Phyllis was done. She told me to breathe steadily and that she'd be back soon to check on me. At first I lay there stiff and unmoving, despite the dim lighting and spa music. Then my body started to release and my mind calmed; I was no longer on a treatment table but instead drifting on a quiet sea.”

Then, the kicker: “And here's the thing: The hot flashes stopped that day. That day. I didn't understand how it worked, but my around-the-clock heat waves were gone.”

Montrose continued her acupuncture treatment consistently, about every two weeks. She says that after six months or so her hot flashes returned, but they were much milder than they used to be and occurred less frequently.

While it’s important to note that extensive studies haven’t been done on acupuncture as a treatment for the symptoms of hot flashes, we do know that balancing the energy in our bodies leads to incredible things.

How Acupuncture Can Help Prevent the Flu This Season

It’s the time of year that’s come to be known as “flu season”, but this year the illness is particularly rampant. Currently across the world, more and more people are being contracted with the virus and the effects have been stronger than usual. Making matters more difficult is that this year’s flu vaccine has proven to be less effective against the current strains of the illness than usual.

While getting a flu shot is still a crucial part of prevention, there are other ways for people to stay healthy this season and beyond. Many more folks are tuning additionally to holistic treatments, with great success. One particular treatment, of course—acupuncture.

"There's some really good acupuncture in different areas of the body that help boost your immune system," Texas-based Acupuncturist Adrienne Ortega said. In the goal of preventing the flu, acupuncture needles are placed on the head, ears and stomach area.

However, for those who have already been infected, prevention tactics are too little too late. Thankfully, acupuncture is not only a flu prevention tool, but is proving to be a successful technique for treating and clearing up some of the flu’s most disruptive and painful symptoms.

"Acupuncture can really clear up the lungs, stop a cough, reduce phlegm, clear up the sinuses and improve nausea," says Dr. April Schulte, Clinic Director for Healing Horizons Integrated Health Solutions in Grand Junction, CO.  

Perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to avoid getting the flu this season. But there’s no vaccine yet for the common cold (we can all hope!), and according to the CDC Americans have a combined one billion colds a year. Acupuncture is also helpful against both preventing and treating the common cold.

“It can drop a fever really fast with the acupuncture and it helps when you have that cough that’s causing pain,” says Bon Linde of Acupuncture and Herbal Therapies of St. Petersburg, FL.

So if you find yourself with some sniffles, or worse, or want to stay free and clear, acupuncture treatment may be the way to go.