Chemotherapy and hair loss: What to expect during treatment

Chemotherapy and hair loss: What to expect during           
treatment

Find out what to expect when it comes to chemotherapy and hair loss. Plan to use your energy staying healthy rather than worrying about how you look.

By Mayo Clinic Staff

You might not think about how important your hair is until you face losing it. And if you have cancer and are about to undergo chemotherapy, the chance of hair loss is very real. Both men and women report hair loss as one of the side effects they fear most after being diagnosed with cancer.

Whether you have hair loss from your chemotherapy depends mostly on the type and dose of medication you receive. But whether you can maintain a healthy body image after hair loss depends a lot on your attitude and the support of your friends and family.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: Why does it occur?

Chemotherapy drugs are powerful medications that attack rapidly growing cancer cells. Unfortunately, these drugs also attack other rapidly growing cells in your body — including those in your hair roots.

Chemotherapy may cause hair loss all over your body — not just on your scalp. Sometimes your eyelash, eyebrow, armpit, pubic and other body hair also falls out. Some chemotherapy drugs are more likely than others to cause hair loss, and different doses can cause anything from a mere thinning to complete baldness.

Talk to your doctor or nurse about the medication you'll be taking. Your doctor or nurse can tell you what to expect.

Fortunately, most of the time hair loss from chemotherapy is temporary. You can expect to regrow your hair three to six months after your treatment ends, though your hair may temporarily be a different shade or texture.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: What should you expect?

Hair usually begins falling out two to four weeks after you start treatment.

It could fall out very quickly in clumps or gradually. You'll likely notice accumulations of loose hair on your pillow, in your hairbrush or comb, or in your sink or shower drain. Your scalp may feel tender.

Your hair loss will continue throughout your treatment and up to a few weeks afterward. Whether your hair thins or you become completely bald will depend on your treatment.

People with cancer report hair loss as a distressing side effect of treatment. Each time you catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror, your changed appearance is a reminder of your illness and everything you've experienced since your diagnosis.

It may take several weeks after treatment for your hair to recover and begin growing again. When your hair starts to grow back, it will probably be slightly different from the hair you lost. But the difference is usually temporary. Your new hair might have a different texture or color. It might be curlier than it was before, or it could be gray until the cells that control the pigment in your hair begin functioning again.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: Can hair loss be prevented?

No treatment exists that can guarantee your hair won't fall out during or after chemotherapy. The best way for you to deal with impending hair loss is to plan ahead and focus on making yourself comfortable with your appearance before, during and after your cancer treatment.

Several treatments have been investigated as possible ways to prevent hair loss, but none has been absolutely effective, including:

• Scalp hypothermia (cryotherapy). During your chemotherapy infusions, ice packs or similar devices are placed on your head to slow blood flow to your scalp. This way, chemotherapy drugs are less likely to have an effect on your hair.
  Studies of scalp hypothermia have found it works somewhat in the majority of people who have tried it. However, the procedure also causes a small risk of cancer recurring in your scalp, as this area doesn't receive the same dose of chemotherapy as the rest of your body. People undergoing scalp hypothermia report feeling uncomfortably cold and having headaches.
• Minoxidil (Rogaine). Applying minoxidil — a drug approved for hair loss in men and women — to your scalp before and during chemotherapy isn't likely to prevent your hair loss, although some research shows it may speed up your hair regrowth. More research is needed to understand whether minoxidil is effective in regrowing hair after cancer treatment.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: How to make the best of it

Your hair loss generally can't be prevented or controlled, but it can be managed. Take the following steps throughout your treatment to minimize the frustration and anxiety associated with hair loss.

Before treatment

• Be gentle to your hair. Get in the habit of being kind to your hair. Don't bleach, color or perm your hair — this can weaken it. Air-dry your hair as much as possible and avoid heating devices such as curling irons and hot rollers. Strengthening your hair now might make it more likely to stay in your head a little longer during treatment.
• Consider cutting your hair. Short hair tends to look fuller than long hair. So as your hair falls out, it won't be as noticeable if you have short hair. Also, if you have long hair, going short might help you make a better transition to total hair loss.
• Plan for a head covering. Now is the time to start thinking about wigs, scarves or other head coverings. Whether you choose to wear a head covering to conceal your hair loss is up to you. But it's easier to plan for it now rather than later. Ask your doctor to write a prescription for a wig, the cost of which may be covered by your health insurance.

During treatment

• Baby your remaining hair. Continue your gentle hair strategies throughout your chemotherapy treatment. Use a soft brush. Wash your hair only as often as necessary. Consider using a gentle shampoo.
• Consider shaving your head. Some people report that their scalps feel itchy, sensitive and irritated during their treatments and while their hair is falling out. Shaving your head can reduce the irritation and save the embarrassment of shedding. Some men shave their heads because they feel it looks better than the patchy hair loss they might be experiencing.
• Protect your scalp. If your head is going to be exposed to the sun or to cold air, protect it with sunscreen or a head covering. Your scalp may be sensitive as you go through treatment, so extreme cold or sunshine can easily irritate it. Having no hair or having less hair can make you feel cold, so a head covering may make you more comfortable.

After treatment

• Continue gentle hair care. Your new hair growth will be especially fragile and vulnerable to the damage caused by styling products and heating devices. Hold off on coloring or bleaching your new hair until it grows stronger. Processing could damage your new hair and irritate your sensitive scalp.
• Be patient. It's likely that your hair will come back slowly and that it might not look normal right away. But growth takes time, and it also takes time to repair the damage caused by your cancer treatment.

Chemotherapy and hair loss: Cover your head

Covering your head as your hair falls out is a purely personal decision. For many women hair is associated with femininity and health, so they choose to maintain that look by wearing a wig. Others choose hats and scarves. Still others choose not to cover their heads at all.

Ask your doctor or a hospital social worker about resources in your area to help you find the best head covering for you. Look Good Feel Better is a free program that provides hair and beauty makeovers and tips to women with cancer. These classes are offered throughout the United States and in several other countries. Many classes are offered through local chapters of the American Cancer Society. Look Good Feel Better also offers classes for teens with cancer, as well as a website with information for men with cancer.

Radiation therapy also can cause hair loss

Radiation therapy also attacks quickly growing cells in your body, but unlike chemotherapy, it affects only the specific area where treatment is concentrated. If you have radiation to your head, you'll likely lose the hair on your head.

Your hair usually begins growing back after your treatments end. But whether it grows back to its original thickness and fullness depends on your treatment. Different types of radiation and different doses will have different effects on your hair. Higher doses of radiation can cause permanent hair loss. Talk to your doctor about what dose you'll be receiving so that you'll know what to expect.

Radiation therapy also affects your skin. The treatment area is likely to be red and may look sunburned or tanned. If your radiation treatment is to your head, it's a good idea to cover your head with a protective hat or scarf because your skin will be sensitive to cold and sunlight. Wigs and other hairpieces might irritate your scalp.

Reasons Why You Bruise Easily

Reasons Why You Bruise Easily  

Any type of traumatic injury, such as a fall, can cause capillaries (small blood vessels) near your skin's surface to break and leak red blood cells. This causes the reddish-purple or "black and blue" appearance of bruises on your skin.

Technically known as contusions, bruises may result from virtually any injury to blood vessels in your skin. As your body begins to heal, and metabolizes the blood cells, the bruise will typically fade to a green, yellow, or brown color before disappearing entirely.

It's virtually inevitable that you'll get a bruise once in awhile, but if you have bruises appearing often and can't figure out why, there could be an underlying reason. You may have simply bumped your arm or leg and forgotten, or it could be something else entirely.

9 Reasons You May Bruise Easily

1. Your Age

As you get older, your skin loses some of the protective fatty layer that provides cushioning against bumps and falls. Your skin also becomes thinner while the production of collagen slows. This means that it generally takes much less force to cause a bruise than it did when you were younger.

2. Purpuric Dermatosis

This vascular condition, which is more common in the elderly, causes thousands of tiny bruises, often on your shins, which may have the appearance of cayenne pepper from afar.1 The bruises are the result of blood leaking out of small capillaries.

3. Blood Disorders

Blood disorders such as hemophilia and leukemia can cause unexplained bruising, often because your blood fails to clot properly. If you have severe and frequent unexplained bruising, it's a good idea to see a physician to rule out such disorders, especially if it seemed to come on suddenly.

4. Diabetes

People with diabetes may develop dark skin discolorations, often in areas where skin touches other skin frequently. These discolorations may be mistaken for bruises, but they are actually due to underlying insulin resistance.

5. Excessive Straining During Exercise

Putting your muscles under excessive strain, such as may occur during heavy weight lifting, can cause blood vessels to burst and lead to bruising. Microscopic tears in your muscle fiber caused by exercise can also cause bruises. In addition, if you engage in sports or vigorous exercise, you may be exposed to bumps and small traumas that cause bruises but not remember the actual impacts.

6. Certain Medications

Medications such as aspirin, anticoagulant medications, and anti-platelet agents reduce your blood's clotting ability and make bruising more likely. Medications including aspirin, prednisone, prednisolone, oral contraceptives, and others may also weaken your blood vessels, which increases the likelihood of bruises.2

7. Family History

If you have close family members that tend to bruise easily, there's a chance you will too (although there are usually steps you can take to overcome this potential genetic tendency).

8. Pale Skin

Pale skin doesn't make you more prone to bruising, but it does make any bruises you do get more visible than they would be on someone with darker skin.

9. Sun Damage

While your body needs regular sun exposure to produce vitamin D (and get a host of additional benefits), excessive sun exposure – especially the type that leads to burning – can cause your skin to lose its pliability and resilience. This, in turn, makes bruising easier and more noticeable.

Turning Back Pain and Sciatica Upside Down

Will an Inversion Table Help Your Low Back Pain and Leg Pain?

Written by Lali Sekhon, MD, PhD, FACS, FAANS [1]

[2]Have you heard about inversion therapy? Many people with low back pain and sciatica [3] find that inversion therapy performed on an inversion table provides relief. This type of inversion therapy doesn't require the use of inversion boots or hanging upside down. Although inversion boots and racks are popular, that type of inversion therapy is not for the novice but best reserved for people who are in superb health and athletic condition.
This article is about inversion table therapy—an alternative that doesn't require turning completely upside down!

What's Old Is New 
Inversion therapy is not a new idea! In fact, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, witnessed what is now inversion therapy as early as 400 BC. The goal of inversion therapy is to defeat the effects of gravity; the downward force that pulls everything toward earth's center.

Low Back Pain and Gravity 
People who suffer back pain and sciatica find inversion table therapy turns gravity upside down causing this natural force to decompress the spine. Inversion therapy works a bit like spinal traction. For example, in a standing position, gravity pulls the spine downward compressing the discs, vertebral bodies, nerves, and other structures. Inversion therapy changes the physical dynamics with gravity's assistance to help relieve spinal compression. The result - the spine is temporarily lengthened and pressure on anatomical structures is reduced.

Other Benefits of Inversion Therapy
Many people report that inversion table therapy is a great way to stretch muscles and ligaments, reduce muscle spasms, and improve circulation. Stretching stimulates the lymph glands to increase the flow of lymphatic fluids; part of the body's waste disposal system. Similarly, cellular health depends on good blood circulation to deliver nourishment and remove waste.

Inversion table therapy also helps to relieve motion sickness and stress. In addition, the body becomes more aware of its spatial orientation and balance when the inner ear is stimulated during inversion.

Plus, it is not necessary for the body to be positioned completely upside down to gain benefits from inversion therapy! Unlike antigravity boots used with an inversion rack, an adjustable inversion table offers the flexibility to choose the most comfortable angle.

Dialogue with Your Doctor 
Like anything that can affect your health, talk to your doctor before you start using an inversion table. This is important because certain medications and health conditions may make using an inversion table unsafe. Your doctor may recommend against inversion table therapy if you have obesity, a detached retina, fracture, glaucoma, heart condition (circulatory problem), hernia, implanted device, middle ear or eye infection, osteoporosis, are pregnant, or have a spinal injury. There may be other medical conditions not listed that your doctor may view as a contraindication.

Getting Started with Inversion Therapy 
What is the best way to start your inversion therapy program? Slowly - take it easy and take your time! Even at a 15-degree angle your body will feel a mild muscular stretch and the benefits of increased blood and lymph circulation. Most people do not need to exceed 60-degrees as the spine decompresses at this angle. Don't exceed what your body tells you!

Some of the better quality tables include a sliding backrest and a locking mechanism which allows you to combine gentle stretching and exercise movements during inversion. This might include moving the head from side-to-side, stretching the arms overhead, or performing abdominal sit-ups or crunches. Talk to your doctor or physical therapist about how often you can invert and specific movements to enhance your inversion therapy program.

Acetaminophen may not relieve back pain

Acetaminophen may not relieve back pain

July 24th, 2014

02:07 PM ET

Doctors often suggest taking acetaminophen for low back pain relief. But according to a new study, the popular painkiller isn’t any more effective in alleviating an aching back than letting the pain naturally subside.

A study published Thursday in The Lancet found patients who took acetaminophen for low back pain had the same recovery time as those who took a placebo, or sugar pill. The study was partially funded by GlaxoSmithKline, a company that manufactures drugs containing acetaminophen.
Researchers in Australia looked at 1,643 patients with acute low back pain. Each was assigned to a different group for the experiment. The first group of 550 patients took six 665-milligram tablets of acetaminophen a day as well as one to two placebo tablets.


A second group of 546 patients took six placebo tablets a day and one to two 500-milligram tablets of acetaminophen as needed. The third group took all placebos.

The study authors found no difference in recovery time across all three groups, suggesting that acetaminophen is an ineffective treatment for low back pain.

According to the National Institutes of Health, low back pain is the most common cause of job-related disability. Currently, the NIH recommends that people experiencing low back pain take over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. The NIH also advises these patients to stop normal physical activity and apply heat or ice to the affected area.

Despite the results of the study, scientists caution that acetaminophen as a low back pain treatment shouldn’t be dismissed until further research is conducted. Since the painkiller is effective for treating toothaches and pain after surgery, the study authors write that further research is needed to understand why acetaminophen wasn’t effective in treating the study participants' pain.

Previous studies comparing ibuprofen and acetaminophen suggest neither is more beneficial in treating low back pain.

Post by: Harmeet Kaur -- Special to CNN Filed under: Back pain • Conditions

Acupuncture Has Been Named Essential Health Benefit in Multple States

Acupuncture Added As Essential Health Benefit in California

      Section 3502 of the PPACA, aka “Obamacare”, states that primary health care practitioners must “provide coordination of the appropriate use of complementary and alternative (CAM) services to those who request such services.”

On Sept. 30, 2012 Gov. Jerry Brown signed measures SB 951 and AB 1453, which included acupuncture to be covered under the federal health reform also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that was signed into law on March 23, 2010.

The two measures included acupuncture as an essential health benefit that the state can begin to offer through federally subsidized plans for individuals and families as well as unsubsidized plans. According to the plan, patients would pay a $30 co-pay for acupuncture services to treat “nausea and chronic pain.”

Essential health benefits were defined in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It is up to individual states to determine the precise details of the essential health benefits that are broadly outlined in the federal law. This new California law defines and enacts provisions for California essential health benefits and includes acupuncture for the treatment of pain and nausea. Other services defined as essential health benefits include ambulatory patient services, hospitalization, maternity care, newborn care, vision screening and tobacco cessation.

This new law and its acupuncture provisions apply to all individual health insurance policies and small group policies including all HMOs and PPOs. Small group policies are all policies written for companies with 50 or less employees. In 2016, the definition of small group policies changes and the new California law will apply to all companies with 100 or less employees.

The new California law does not apply to self-insured plans, grandfathered plans and large employers. Grandfathered plans are those plans officially designated as a grandfathered plan as of March 2010. Any grandfathered plan that has either a change in benefits or cost structure will no longer be considered a grandfathered plan and will no longer be exempt from the new law’s provisions. As a result, the impact of grandfathered plans is expected to be minimal.

The definition of essential health benefits as stated in this new California law was formulated using the Kaiser Permanente Small Group Agreement Plan 1637 Plan 3-N as a basis for determining standard medical provisions for health insurance policies originating in California. Medical treatment limitations can be no greater than those imposed in the Kaiser plan. As a result, no cap on the maximum number of acupuncture office visits per year may be imposed although a physician’s referral may be required by some health insurance plans.

Commencing January 1, 2014, existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that such coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. PPACA requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA defines a qualified health plan as a plan that, among other requirements, provides an essential health benefits package. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (the Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014.

Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399. We are happy to check your benefits and work with billing insurance.  So schedule an appointment now to see how we can help you.

Tylenol, Ibuprofen or Acupuncture ?

Pain Management: Tylenol, Ibuprofen or Acupuncture ?

     Pain is how your body shouts. How it reminds

you to lift from your knees, not your back. How it tells you to get up from your desk job and stretch. Of course, you don't want that shout to echo for hours. 

         Acupuncture works with your body to silence pain messages after they've made their point. It targets pain signals without interfering with the way your body protects your liver, like Tylenol probably would or stomach lining, like Aspirin or even Ibuprofen can. So you can get back on your feet. And feel better. Without all the shouting and any annoying interference.

Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's office at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Menopause

Acupuncture for Menopause

Menopause  describes that time in a woman’s life when her body must give up menstruation and free that energy for more spiritual purposes.  Since it may come with a fair amount of physical discomfort in the form of hot flashes, night sweats and irritability it is often viewed as a medical condition and treated with hormone replacement therapy.  There are many reasons why this natural transition may not be as smooth and comfortable as we would like but there is great news for all women who do experience this discomfort.   Acupuncture can eliminate the hot flashes.  Acupuncture will stop the night sweats.  Acupuncture will greatly reduce the irritability.

Acupuncture will help you to find and sustain the appropriate hormonal balance which nourishes both mind and body.  The physical discomforts of night sweats, mood swings, and hot flashes will be soothed away by using a natural method to treat a natural imbalance.


Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Shingles

Acupuncture for Shingles

Shingles can be a very painful condition which may arise when the varicella-zoster virus becomes active.  Shingles is the same virus which causes chicken-pox.  Varicella-zoster virus, or VZV, is the known pathogenic agent for two diseases: chickenpox (varicella), and shingles (herpes zoster).  This VZV virus does not have to be reintroduced into the body in order to cause shingles.  It is common for it to lie dormant in the spinal nerves for years only to reemerge when the immune system is suppressed. These conditions include the presence of other viruses or pathogens, stress, lack of sleep, improper diet and a whole list of situations known to compromise the immune system.   Acupuncture is an established and extremely effective method for treating shingles.

One of the more problematic complications that can arise from a case of shingles is post herpetic neuralgia, or PHN, a complication in which the pain surrounding the rash persists for months or even years after the rashes have healed.  Managing shingles symptoms (and PHN should it arise) is an area of difficulty for conventional allopathic medicine  because the virus is directed at nerve sensors that are just under the skin and are often unresponsive to pain medication.

Acupuncture treatment for shingles will attack the root source of the problem and provide lasting pain relief.    Acupuncture is already well known for its analgesic ability.  What is not as well known is its capacity to strengthen the immune system so that the body can deal with the shingles and many other pathogens at the same time.  Acupuncture may be said to treat shingles at its’ root cause…an immune system not quite up to the task of clearing the active virus.


Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Sports Injuries

Acupuncture for Sports Injuries

I would like to discuss one of my uncle's favorite games, golf. Golf is not supposed to be a contact sport, nor is it one in which extreme physical exertion is the key to success.  For this reason one might suppose that golf injuries were almost non-existent.  This, however, is far from the case.  Golf injuries do occur and can be particularly baffling.

Within Traditional Chinese Medicine there is the concept of a turning meridian, an energetic pathway which services the torso as it rotates to facilitate the golf swing.  This channel goes from the back through the hip and on to the abdomen.  If in the course of play, a wrong or repetitive movement strains the torso, it may well present as a back or hip problem.  This condition is slow to respond to conventional treatment such as aspirin, heat, or ice but responds dramatically to the appropriate acupuncture technique utilizing the turning meridian.

One or two treatments might have you comfortably back on the golf links feeling great so check it out.


Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's office at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.

Migraine Headaches

Acupuncture for Migraine Headaches

Migraine headaches vary widely by symptoms and severity.  Migraine headaches usually are described as an intense, throbbing or pounding pain that involves one temple. (Sometimes the pain is located in the forehead, around the eye, or at the back of the head).

Often they affect one side more than the other.  Many come with pulsating and nausea.  There may be sensitivity to light, sound and smells.  Some feel it’s helpful to categorize migraines as Basilar, Abdominal, Hormonal, Ophthalmologic, etc.  It is estimated that over 30 million people suffer from these headaches-- many on a regular basis.  Acupuncture is an extremely effective, holistic way to treat migraines.  Acupuncture can often decrease pain on the spot while the frequency and severity of these headaches are reduced over time.   In those cases where the migraine is paired with other problems both may usually be treated at the same time.

One of my patients could always feel the migraine coming, since it was precipitated by pain over the left eye and tightness in the left neck and shoulder.  Acupuncture released the neck and shoulders and stopped the migraine cold.  Another acupuncture patient responded to barometric pressure to the extent that she could identify the imminent arrival of a weather front.  Acupuncture improved her condition greatly.  She could still sense the arrival of a weather front, but the acupuncture eliminated the migraines.

For these reasons, I recommend acupuncture for migraine headaches because acupuncture is one of the safest and most effective ways to get rid of migraines and restore health.


 
Call Acupuncture for America and Beyond's clinic at (562) 888-3399 to schedule an appointment to see how we can help you.