Some days the treatment feels harder than the diagnosis — the fatigue that sleep does not touch, the nausea, the tingling in your hands and feet, the nights that will not hold still.
Cancer treatment asks an enormous amount of the body. Even when it is working — especially when it is working — the side effects can wear you down in ways that are hard to explain to anyone who has not been through it. Acupuncture does not treat cancer. What it can do is support you through treatment: easing the side effects, steadying your system, and helping you arrive at each next stage with a little more in reserve.
This is work Dr. Sophia Scheffel holds with particular care. Oncology support calls for gentleness, precise judgment, and close attention to where each person actually is — because no two cancer journeys feel alike, and care has to meet you where you are on any given day. It is offered as a complement to your oncology team's care, never a replacement, and always coordinated with the treatment you are already receiving.
How acupuncture can support you during treatment
Used alongside conventional oncology care, acupuncture has a well-recognized role in managing treatment-related symptoms. Integrative cancer centers increasingly offer it for exactly this reason. The goal is never to push the body, but to support its own capacity to regulate and recover. Common areas of support include:
Fatigue and low energy
Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common and most draining side effects, and one of the hardest to address with conventional means alone. Acupuncture can help support steadier energy and a body that recovers a little more between treatments, rather than running on empty.
Nausea and digestive discomfort
Treatment-related nausea is one of the most studied uses of acupuncture, with a long track record of helping settle the digestive system and ease the queasiness that can follow chemotherapy and other treatments.
Neuropathy and pain
The numbness, tingling, and pain of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy can linger and interfere with daily life. Gentle, individualized acupuncture aims to support circulation and calm the over-sensitized nerves involved, and is often used to help manage these symptoms over a course of treatment.
Sleep, anxiety, and nervous-system strain
The emotional weight of treatment is real, and it lives in the body — in disrupted sleep, in a nervous system that cannot settle, in waves of anxiety and overwhelm. Acupuncture works directly on that physiology, helping the body shift toward a calmer, more regulated state. This part of the work overlaps with how Dr. Scheffel approaches anxiety and emotional health.
Care that coordinates with your treatment
Oncology support is always offered as a complement to your medical care. Dr. Scheffel works gently and conservatively, mindful of where you are in your treatment cycle, your blood counts, and anything that should be approached with extra caution. Treatments are adapted to how you are feeling on the day — lighter when you are depleted, never forcing the body. Any herbal recommendations are made carefully, conservatively, and with your full medical picture in mind.
This focus reflects Dr. Scheffel's doctoral training and her long-standing work supporting people through serious and complex health challenges. Whether you are preparing to begin treatment, in the middle of it, or working to recover and rebuild afterward, the aim is the same: to help your body meet a demanding process with more steadiness and resilience.
What a visit looks like
Your first visit is unhurried and begins with a careful conversation about your diagnosis, your treatment plan, how you have been feeling, and what you most need support with. You are welcome to bring relevant medical information so it can be discussed together. Treatment itself is gentle and deeply restful — many people find the table one of the few places they can fully relax during an exhausting stretch. From there, Dr. Scheffel builds an individualized plan and adjusts it visit to visit as your treatment and your body change.
If you are going through treatment
You do not have to wait until things feel unbearable to seek support, and you are welcome to ask questions first. If you are unsure whether this is right for where you are, please reach out before booking — the first visit is unhurried and begins with understanding exactly what you are facing.
Book an appointment with Dr. Scheffel at Diablo Acupuncture in Walnut Creek, at the Lafayette border, serving Lamorinda and the greater Contra Costa County area.