Menstrual Cycle Problems

Menstruation and Your Cycle: A Chinese Medicine Perspective

Your cycle is a good general indicator of a woman’s health.
A regular cycle is one with adequate blood flow and no pain. or discomfort. – indicating that blood production and blood flow are healthy and normal.

Poor and unsuitable eating habits, lack of physical activity, and a stressful and emotionally turbulent lifestyle may encourage blood deficiency and blockage of the flow of blood and Qi (life energy). This can lead to irregular periods, pain, mood changes, headaches, or fatigue.

Acupuncture and warming treatments, as well as lifestyle and dietary changes, can relieve the weaknesses and blockages described above, as well as help address and prevent gynecological problems such as endometriosis, fibroids and cysts.

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Irregular Periods:

If your monthly period is accompanied by a feeling of cold, depression, low libido (sexual desire), and fatigue – especially after your period – you may have a condition of “internal cold” and/or a deficiency of Qi and blood.
Poor eating and dietary habits (usually of a “cold” nature – cold drinks, cold vegetables straight from the fridge and uncooked), lack of physical activity, and anxiety/depression are often contributing factors.
We use acupuncture and moxibustion (a warming effect) to warm and encourage the flow of blood and Qi in the lower abdomen.
Warming, strengthening herbal prescriptions are used to build blood and Qi.

Period Pain

If your monthly period is associated with irritability, breast tenderness, mild pain, abdominal bloating, migraines and/or an excessive craving for sugar that appears a few days before your period begins – and all of this eases once your period starts – you probably have premenstrual syndrome (PMS). This is a condition of stagnation of Qi and/or blood in Chinese medicine, and an energetic disharmony in the Liver and Spleen systems.
Contributing factors can include day-to-day frustration combined with anger and/or anxiety. Sometimes lack of physical activity and poor nutrition also play a role.
In Western medical terms, PMS is a hormonal imbalance in the endocrine system.

Chinese acupuncture addresses and treats this hormonal imbalance. To restore harmony and bring about a smooth flow of Qi and blood, come in for acupuncture treatment with Shai!

If your monthly period is accompanied by painful, difficult periods, with more severe cramping in the abdomen
and you have endometriosis and fibroids, you most likely have, according to the Chinese diagnosis, a greater stagnation of Qi and blood in the pelvic area. Go get treated for it!

Acupuncture is an excellent treatment to help clear blockages in the affected meridians. Go get acupuncture!

Herbal formulas prevent and improve blood flow in the pelvic area. To disperse blood and stagnation and help break down pelvic masses — get an herbal prescription!

Studies have found that more than 50 percent of women suffer, and sometimes suffer seriously, from the symptoms above, making daily life and normal functioning difficult.

Treatment for this issue spans 3-4 full cycles, with 1-4 treatments per cycle. In addition, after a detailed intake and precise diagnosis, an individual herbal formula (sometimes even two) is prescribed, to be taken on a daily basis.

Shai Davids