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acupuncture for women's health

Women's Health

"When sleeping women wake, mountains move" (Chinese Proverb)

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a long history of treating and supporting women’s health. One of the earliest Chinese medical texts dedicated to gynaecology dates back to 652 AD, written by legendary physician Sun Simiao. TCM recognises and works with the cycles in a woman's life and aims to support her emotionally, physically, and spiritually throughout each stage and cycle.  These cycles (puberty, monthly menstruation, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause) result in changes in a woman's hormones, energy levels, bodily systems, and functioning. Acupuncture treatment helps to correct imbalances within the body, mind, and emotions, nourish the WHOLE, and remove any blockages (Qi and Blood).

 

Throughout her lifetime, a woman will transition from a peri-puberty to puberty and from perimenopausal to menopausal. Conventional medicine often seeks to medicate these transitions, using hormones and other drugs. For example, the use of the contraceptive pill to ease period pain is quite common in young women.  Acupuncture is a safe, drug-free way to help make these transitions smoother, whilst also providing mental and emotional support.

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Acupuncture for women’s health can support you with:

  • Overall health and wellbeing

  • Menstrual Health including: period pain (Dysmenorrhoea), abnormally heavy or prolonged bleeding (Menorrhagia), and irregular bleeding particularly between menstrual periods (Metrorrhagia) and absent periods.

  • Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

  • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

  • Peri-menopausal symptoms.

  • Menopause related symptoms

  • Polycystic ovaries (PCO) and Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

  • Endometriosis

  • Vulvodynia

  • Emotional imbalances due to hormones

Menstrual Heath

Menstruation isn’t something women should have to endure for 40 years, it can be a time of deep connection to our emotional and spiritual bodies when we learn to nurture our natural rhythms.

Menstrual Health

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Acupuncture has long been used to help regulate and support healthy menstruation. From an Eastern medicine viewpoint, this is achieved by moving stagnant Qi and Blood, nourishing Qi and Blood, replenishing the body’s fluids, and balancing Yin and Yang.

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When supporting your menstrual health, I will take a detailed history of any symptoms specific to your menstrual cycle and come up with a treatment plan. Together we will track improvements, looking for gradual improvements in symptoms as well as your overall health. Ideally, this would take place over 3 cycles and may involve using Basal Body Temperature (BBT) tracking to have a closer look at your hormones, the follicular phase and luteal phase of your menstrual cycle.

 

Research supports the use of acupuncture for menstrual health and dysmenorrhoea.

New research has shown that it can "significantly reduce period pain by at least 50% for up to a year and there is a large body of anecdotal evidence supporting the use of acupuncture to regularise menstruation and the amount of blood flow and in dealing with the symptoms of PMS."

 

I have training in Well Woman Yoga Therapy. I may advise integrating specific yoga postures and practices into your lifestyle which may also benefit your menstrual health and symptoms.

Endo

 

Endometriosis

 

Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women in the UK and can be debilitating. There are many signs and symptoms associated with Endometriosis.  The most common are:

  • Period pain (Dysmenorrhoea)

  • Fatigue

  • Heavy or irregular periods

  • Infertility

  • Scar tissue (adhesions cause pain)

  • Low resistance to infection

  • Lower back pain

 

Traditional treatments for endometriosis include the steroid Danazol, painkillers, analgesia, the contraceptive pill, Mirena coil, or in some cases, an operation. Acupuncture may assist with many of the symptoms associated with endometriosis including pain and regulating menstruation. Research has shown that it can "significantly reduce period pain by at least 50% for up to a year." You can find further information about the research here.

 

From an Eastern medicine perspective, treatment will involve moving any stagnation of Qi or blood, removing damp and phlegm, and nourishing the Kidney and the channels associated with Blood and the Uterus.

PCOS

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

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PCOS is a common condition that affects how a woman’s ovaries work.  The 3 main features of PCOS are irregular periods, excess androgens (high levels of male hormones in your body) and polycystic ovaries (your ovaries become enlarged and contain many fluid-filled sacs (follicles)). Some of the other symptoms are:

  • Irregular periods or no periods

  • Infertility

  • Excessive hair growth

  • Weight gain

  • Thinning hair/hair loss from the head

  • Oily skin or acne

 

From an Eastern medicine viewpoint, PCOS is characterised by an overbalance of Yin and body fluids, against a significant deficiency of Yang. There will also be disharmony in the Chong and Ren channels. Acupuncture is a safe treatment for the symptoms of PCOS, and a study has found that it can help:

  • Increase blood flow to the ovaries

  • Reduce ovarian volume and the number of ovarian cysts

  • Reduce cortisol levels and reduce stress

  • Improve metabolic function of patients with obesity-type PCOS

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You can read further research about the treatment of PCOS with acupuncture here and here.

acupuncture needles
Menpause

 At seven times seven a woman’s heavenly dew wanes;

the pulse of her Conception channel decreases.

The Qi that dwelt in the baby’s palace moves upward into her heart,

and her wisdom is deepened

(The Yellow Emperors Classic, written around 2600 BC)

 

 

 

Chinese medicine understands that women age in cycles of seven years, throughout their lives. During each cycle, key changes occur. Here, the seventh cycle of seven years is referred to, when it is expected that women will go through menopause (between ages 49 and 55).    

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Heavenly dew (menstrual blood) ceases. The energy (Qi) that had been needed in the womb space to grow and nurture a baby (baby palace) moves up to the heart providing deeper wisdom or “second spring." This is why menopause is referred to as the 'Second Spring'

Perimenopause/Menopause

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Menopause can be a time of increased self-awareness and personal power.

 

Rather than approaching menopause as a disease that needs to be ‘fixed,’ acupuncture focuses on regulating the body, nourishing Yin, nourishing the Kidneys, and balancing Yin and Yang.

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Although hormone therapy is still popular, not all women want to take prescription medication. Increasingly women are looking for alternative ways to make the transition through perimenopause and menopause a smooth one. Acupuncture treatment can help. How one woman experiences these transitions can be vastly different from another. Each acupuncture treatment is specific to the woman and considers her presenting symptoms and emotional and mental health.

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Some common symptoms acupuncture can help with are:

  • Hot flushes

  • Dizziness

  • Insomnia

  • Mood changes

  • Forgetfulness

  • Loss of libido

  • Vaginal dryness

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Research has shown that acupuncture can be effective in the treatment of menopausal symptoms. The outcome of a recent study undertaken by the University of Copenhagen concluded that "Acupuncture for menopausal symptoms is a realistic option for women who cannot or do not wish to use [hormone therapy]". 80% of the women who underwent acupuncture treatment said they felt that the treatment had helped reduce their menopause symptoms. This was however a small study.

 

My own clinical experience is that acupuncture and dietary advice can be very effective in treating the symptoms related to perimenopause/menopause. Yoga can also complement this treatment and I would be happy to discuss the use of yoga, as a part of your treatment.

A Second Spring

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