Acupuncture for Periods
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Confession – I love helping people who are struggling with period symptoms.
Why you might ask?
I love giving women the space to talk about their periods in detail.
If you are someone who menstruates, it’s likely you will understand how much of an impact your period can have on your feelings of health, energy and wellbeing.
But how often are you given the time and space to discuss your experience of menstruation? And have you ever been offered anything other then hormonal contraception to manage your period symptoms?
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Menstruation, a natural biological process experienced by half of the world's population, has a rich and varied history of cultural attitudes and perceptions. From ancient civilizations to modern societies, menstruation has been surrounded by taboos, myths, and rituals.
How can we treat issues with periods if we are not talking about them?
In clinic I regularly see women who have been taught that periods are just something they must just suffer through, with the language around periods laden with taboo and shame with phrases such as “the curse” “women’s problems” and “girl flu” commonly used to maintain a screen around menstruation.
How did we get here? From ancient civilisations to modern day attitudes.
In many ancient societies, menstruation was often associated with mystery, power, and even divinity. In ancient Egyptian and Greek culture menstruating women were revered for their connection to fertility and the cycles of nature. However during the medieval period in Europe, menstruation was often viewed through a lens of fear and superstition. Menstruation was often linked to accusations of witchcraft or demonic possession with menstrual blood believed to have dangerous powers resulting in women often being isolated or persecuted during their periods.
Although we have seen significant shifts in attitudes towards menstruation, these negative connotations became deeply entrenched in many cultures, shaping societal attitudes for centuries to come.
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What is a normal period?
It is perhaps no surprise that in clinic I have found that patients are often unclear of what to expect from a “normal” period.
Of course every woman will have a unique experience of menstruation, however Traditional Chinese Medicine characterises a “normal” period as having:
Minimal pain
a regular cycle
a cycle length between 23-31 days
3-5 days of bleeding (on average)
A medium flow (no spotting and no flooding)
Minimal PMS (mood/emotional fluctuations)
Does this sound like your experience of menstruation? If not then Acupuncture could be an excellent support for you.
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Can Acupuncture help with period pain?
YES!
In Chinese medicine we do not regard period pain as normal and something you just have to cope with.
We differentiate period pain by looking at the following:
When do you get pain? Is it before your period, during or after?
What relieves the pain? Does a hot water bottle help or aggravate it?
Where specifically is the pain? Is it both sides of body, lower abdomen, lower back, legs?
What type of pain is it? Dull, bearing down sensation or cramping, stabbing?
It is by looking at all these factors that we can effectively diagnose the type of pain you have and therefore how to treat it.
But why? What’s the Chinese medicine theory?
The stagnation of Qi and Blood is the most important factor in causing painful periods. And therefore often treatments are geared towards relieving stagnation by moving Qi and Blood.
Can acupuncture help with PMS?
YES!
Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) is often used as shorthand to describe emotional and physical symptoms that occur before your period. I find in clinic it is most often used to describe emotional changes.
Do you feel like a dragon the week before your period, irritable and snapping at others or are you more weepy and tender and fragile?
One of the fantastic things about Chinese medicine is that the treatment of emotional disharmony is treated alongside the treatment of physical disharmony. We do not consider these 2 separate conditions.
But why, what’s the Chinese medicine theory?
In Chinese medicine The Liver is responsible for the smooth flow of emotions and it stores blood for menstruation therefore is often involved in of PMS.
Can acupuncture help regulate my cycle?
YES!
Are you having issues with flooding or perhaps the opposite very light bleeds? Are your cycles irregular in length? One month 21 days the next 32 days? Or perhaps you have very long periods, are you bleeding for over 7 days?
As an acupuncturist each one of these features tells me that something is out of balance in your body. Often the solution in western medicine is hormonal contraception. However acupuncture works to target the symptoms as well as the root of the imbalance resolving the issue rather than using hormonal contraception to mask the symptoms.
But why, what’s the theory?
Primarily, regulating periods involves regulating yin and yang in the body with a specific focus on qi and blood.
If you would like to find out more or ask how acupuncture could help you with your menstruation then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
I can’t wait to treat you!
