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Acupuncture
Chinese Herbs Treatment for Menopause
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| Menopause is a term to describe the physical change of women
around the age of 50. The menstrual cycle gradually becomes
less regular and stops altogether finally. Most women will suffer
more or less some symptoms such as hot flushes, restless, night
sweating, insomnia, headache and dizziness, constipation, weak
low back and knees, etc. This is due to the weakness of ovary
function and hormones production. |
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TCM diagnosis of menopause
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| Chinese medicine believes menopause is mainly caused by deficiency
in Kidney which will disturb the functions of many other organs
such as Liver. Heart, Spleen and Stomach, etc. and result in
the imbalance of Yin and Yang elements in the body, In terms
of TCM, Kidney is also associated with hormones reproduction,
menstruation and strength of the bone, which can help to explain
why all the symptoms occur during the menopause. |
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TCM treatment of the menopause
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In the West, Hormone Replacement therapy is commonly used
for menopause, yet some women experience some side effects when
taking HRT, e.g. nausea, weight gain and even risk to develop
breast cancer.
But in China, millions of women rely on Chinese medicine to
cope with the problem because of the awareness of the side effects
of HRT. When treating menopause, Chinese medicine naturally
strengthen the Kidney to balance the Yin and Yang of the body.
It also helps to treat osteoporosis because Kidney can strengthen
the bone. Other treatment may need depend on differentiation
of the diagnosis. Generally, for mild cases, acupuncture and
herbal tablets are sufficient to treat the problem. For severe
cases, dry herbs will be used to alleviate the symptoms and
address the root cause as well. The treatment for different
patterns are as follows: |
| 1. Deficiency of Kidney Yin |
| Patients with this pattern normally suffer from hot flushes,
irregular periods or short cycle with heavy bleeding, night
sweating, dry mouth, constipation, scanty and yellow urine,
a red tongue without coating and a thin and rapid pulse. Treatment
is focused on nourishing Kidney and liver Yin and anchoring
the rising Yang. It also helps to harmonise the Heart and kidney(fire
and water) to calm the mind. The are a lot of traditional herbal
formulas to treat specially this pattern of menopause. |
| 2. Deficiency of Kidney Yang |
| Patients with this pattern have the symptoms of a longer cycle
with scanty flow, tiredness, restless, loose stools, bloating,
frequent urination, oedema, a pale tongue with thin white coating
and a deep, thin and weak pulse. Treatment helps to warm kidney
Yang, strengthen the Spleen and improve urination and digestion. |
| 3. Mixed patterns |
| Sometimes patients may have a mixed pattern of both Yin and
Yang deficiency, or other complications such as Heart blood
deficiency, Spleen deficiency or damp and phlegm obstruction.
Then the treatment will be more complex to deal with all the
conditions. |
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Case History
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| We have treated many menopause cases with satisfactory results. |
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| Case 1 A lady from West End suffered from typical menopause
symptoms. TCM diagnosis showed that her underlying condition
is Kidney Yin deficiency. We gave her some patent herbal tablets
and within two weeks she felt much better. Then the case went
up and down a little bit because of the stress from her job.
We adjusted the treatment principle accordingly to treat her
stress and insomnia as well. After one and a half month all
the symptoms were almost totally gone and she started to enjoy
her normal life again. |
| Case 2. A lady from Botley area with menopause suffered from
all main symptoms plus severe migraine , insomnia, osteoporosis
and oedema. HRT could not help her. Her has a mixed pattern
of both Yin and Yang deficiency. We treated her with acupuncture
and herbs. She was amazed because just after the first treatment
her migraine and sleep were much better. In the next a few weeks
her other symptoms such as hot flushes, periods, PMT, oedema
were all much improved. She then had fortnight treatment for
a short period of time to top up, until she felt happy to stop.
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| I have only been coming to the clinic for a few weeks and
the improvement has been amazing. With a wide variety of problems
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| That have been with me for a number of years it is so good
to be getting back into how I used to be. I hope to be able
to return to work before too long. The main reason I gave up
work (over 1 year ago) was due to persistent migraines, some
lasting three days, since my first treatment, I sleep better
and my energy is gradually returning. I had no idea this would
be so successful and I am so grateful. HRT did not suit me and
I was living on painkillers. I have hope again and do not fell
so low. I hate going to western doctors but actually look forward
to these visit, knowing how much I am benefiting from them. |
Menopausal
I have only been coming to the clinic for a few weeks and the
improvement has been amazing. With a wide variety of problems
That have been with me for a number of years it is so good
to be getting back into how I used to be. I hope to be able
to return to work before too long. The main reason I gave
up work (over 1 year ago) was due to persistent migraines,
some lasting three days, since my first treatment, I sleep
better and my energy is gradually returning. I had no idea
this would be so successful and I am so grateful. HRT did
not suit me and I was living on painkillers. I have hope again
and do not fell so low. I hate going to western doctors but
actually look forward to these visit, knowing how much I am
benefiting from them
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