Chinese Medicine has been treating women’s health problems (Gynaecology) for centuries.
Whether it be a slight or major departing from normal functioning, Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture treatments are designed to correct the course of normal function.
Common symptoms and conditions that can be treated include:
Period pain (dysmenorrhoea), endometriosis, abnormal uterine bleeding, menopausal discomforts and symptoms, PMS, various hormonal problems.
Pregnancy, and infertility cases can also be treated with Chinese medicine more about those can be found under PREGNANCY – 1st TRIMESTER, 2nd TRIMESTER, 3rd Trimester and Fertility blogs.
Chinese medicine is all about restoring normal function of our body – the ultimate balance. When we have harmony and normal function there shouldn’t be any abnormal symptoms.
Just because something is common or you have experienced the symptoms for a long time dosen’t make it normal.
Let’s look at Menopause
Normal cycle changes can take place with ageing, but menopausal transition shouldn’t take over your life. If symptoms like hot flushes, dryness, low libido or emotions like feeling irritable, annoyed, angry, frustrated, sad, low mood, depressed are a problem for you then Chinese herbal medicine can help.
It’s normal for a woman’s body to change every 7 years (and for men every 8 years). That can explain why weight loss can get harder, energy and sleep patterns may change with these changes. Chinese herbs can help ease the transitions of life to limit the impact on our body and lifestyle.
Herbs are prescribed individually, according to the diagnosis – this is mostly determined by the pulse diagnosis, special to Chinese medicine.
Another example, PMS
PMS or Pre-menstrual syndrome is the name given by Western medicine to the time before a period when a woman experiences symptoms relating to change in hormones at that time. In Chineese medicine, we see the cycle as having four parts. The week before the cycle, the pre-menstrual week, the body needs the flowing liver-qi (energy) to push and move smoothly to ensure the movement of blood in the period-bleeding phase that comes next.
If you already have stagnation of the liver energy (can also be seen in a five element perspective as WOOD element being out of balance), then those stagnation symptoms will be more pronounced in the pre-menstrual time.
Liver qi gets stuck or blocked by sitting too much, sleeping too much, overthinking with no movement or outlet for creativity. Frustration and anger can damage the liver energy causing it to get blocked. Blocked liver energy can also lead to feeling more angry and frustrated more easily. For more about liver Qi stagnation, listen to Marie’s video.
The best time to be treated with acupuncture for PMS is the second and third week of the cycle, regularly around day 21 is a good time to use acupuncture to help smooth the flow of liver qi. Chinese herbs can be prescribed for any time of the cycle according to where your body is at at that moment.