Sick & Good Podcast
Dustin Mesick, RDN and Colin Goodwin, PsyD are cancer survivors inspired by their personal experiences and incorporated this into their individual career paths in nutritional services and clinical psychology, respectively. The original concept to offer a support group that focused on body and mind was shifted with the emergence of the pandemic and evolved into the virtual platform of a podcast. In choosing the name of the podcast, Sick & Good Podcast was chosen as a double entendre, incorporating the last names of the co-hosts and promoting the possibility of a dialectical nature in physical illness (sick) and overall wellness (good). The mission statement for the Sick & Good Podcast states the purpose is to have conversations with medical and other healthcare professionals related to the cancer field on broad topics ranging from diagnosis to treatment and the recovery process with the hope to provide education and levity to cancer patients, survivors and other interested listeners.
Sick & Good Podcast
Cancer and Acupuncture with Dr. David Lee, PhD
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In this episode of the Sick & Good Podcast, we sit down with Dr. David Lee, President of the Korean Acupuncture and Asian Medicine Association in Los Angeles, who has spent over 26 years helping patients through an integrative approach that combines acupuncture, traditional Eastern medicine, and personalized care.
Together, we explore how acupuncture is being incorporated into supportive oncology care and discuss what current research and decades of clinical experience, can teach us about improving quality of life during cancer treatment.
Topics include:
-Can acupuncture play a meaningful role alongside modern cancer treatment?
-Why acupuncture may improve multiple symptoms simultaneously, including pain, sleep, stress, fatigue, and overall wellbeing.
How Eastern medicine approaches the whole person rather than focusing solely on disease.
-Acupuncture alongside chemotherapy and supportive cancer care.
-Clinical observations of changes in blood cell counts and how these should be interpreted alongside conventional oncology treatment.
-The philosophy behind treating patients without relying exclusively on disease-based diagnoses.
-The role and limitations of nutrition, herbs, and constitutional medicine in cancer care.
-How acupuncture has evolved from a symptom-focused therapy into an increasingly recognized component of integrative oncology.
-We also discuss the growing body of evidence supporting acupuncture for selected cancer-related symptoms. Organizations including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) now include acupuncture in clinical guidelines for certain supportive care indications, including cancer-related pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea, aromatase inhibitor-related joint pain, and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.
-This conversation is intended for educational purposes only. Acupuncture should be viewed as a complementary therapy, not a replacement for evidence-based cancer treatment. Patients should always consult their oncology team before beginning any integrative therapy.
-If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share to help us continue bringing evidence-informed conversations on nutrition, integrative medicine, and whole-person health.