Clara,
I'm sorry it has taken me almost 3 weeks to reply to you.
You asked about acupuncture. I've seen it work for my wife during and well beyond chemo, and for my Dad who never underwent chemo.
I was speaking to the nurse in a chemo unit recently and she said she has had a number of patients who have benefited from acupuncture.
The first key is finding a good acupuncturist If you happen to live near Boston, then I would highly recommend my wife's acupuncturist, Stas Gavronsky at tel#(617) 630-8508 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If you don't live near Boston, then my suggestion is to ask friends and doctors (some MD's recognize the benefits of acupuncture and others ignore it) for recommendations. You're looking for an acupuncturist that has done remarkable things for patients. We were referred to Stas by my dentist whose wife was seeing him during a multi-year battle with breast cancer and through multiple chemo treatments. My dentist said "we wouldn't have survived (the chemo treatments) without Stas".
While waiting during my wife's appointments at Stas' office, I've met people who had a variety of medical conditions that were successfully addressed by Stas. The benefits of acupunture aren't limited to just helping with nausea or pain. I am not (nor does Stas) that someone should replace "Western" medicine entirely with acupuncture, but I have seen it be effective where traditional medicine wasn't.
Please let me know if I can be of any help.
Harry