Decreased Cortisol and Pain in Breast Cancer: Biofield Therapy Potential

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death among women of all races. Pain is a common symptom associated with cancer; 75-90% of cancer patients experience pain during their illness and up to 50% of that pain is undertreated. Unrelieved pain leads to increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of bioenergy on fecal cortisol levels for mice injected with murine mammary carcinoma 4T1 in two separate pilot studies. Using a multiple experimental group design, six to eight week old female BALB/c mice were injected with tumor and randomly assigned, in groups of 10, to daily treatment, every other day treatment, and no treatment groups. Five days after tumor cell injection, bioenergy interventions were begun for a period of ten consecutive days. Fecal samples were collected for each study and ELISA analysis was conducted at the end of both studies. For both studies, cortisol levels were decreased in the every other day treatment groups but remained high in the no treatment groups. Future studies utilizing bioenergy therapies on cortisol levels in a murine breast cancer model can begin to describe pain outcomes and therapeutic dose.

Figure 1

Consort Flow Diagram.

Figure 2

Practitioner setup for bioenergy intervention.

Figure 3

Fecal cortisol levels measured by ELISA. (a) Study 1 levels for untreated group (n = 2), every other day treatment group (n = 2), and daily treatment group (n = 2). (b) Study 2 levels for untreated group (n = 9), every other day treatment group (n = 10), and daily treatment group (n = 10). The data are expressed as mean +/− SEM. Statistical significance was measured by two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni posttest. ^∗ P < 0.05, ^∗∗ P < 0.01.