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Shingles and Chinese Medicine 

Shingles is a disease caused by the same virus (herpes zoster) that causes chickenpox. In the United States, 9 out of 10 adults have had chickenpox. If you’ve had chickenpox, the virus can live, but remain inactive, in your body for many years. If it becomes active again — usually later in life — the chickenpox virus can cause you Shingles. So, if you've had chickenpox, you can get Shingles at any time. It is estimated that 1 million cases of Shingles occur in the United States every year. Almost half of those cases occur in adults 60 years of age or older and one out of 2 people living to age 85 will have Shingles. An outbreak of Shingles often follows a time of emotional stress.

Signs and Symptoms
Shingles usually affect only a small section of one side of your body such as the face, head, eye, scalp, shoulder, along ribs, abdomen, groin or thigh. The process can take 3 to 4 weeks. These signs and symptoms may include:

• Pain, burning, numbness or tingling
• A red rash that begins a few days after the pain
• Fluid-filled blisters that break open and crust over
• Itching
• Some people also experience:
• Fever and chills
• General achiness
• Headache
• Fatigue

Potential Complications
Shingles are extremely contagious. If a person hasn’t had chickenpox, he will get them instead of Shingles, once exposed to an infected person.

For most people, the pain from Shingles lessens as the rash heals. But for some people, Shingles can lead to more serious health problems — also known as complications. Here is a list of the potential complications that can be caused by Shingles:

• Scarring
• Bacterial skin infections
• Decrease or loss of vision (Shingles near eye)
• Decrease or loss of hearing (Shingles near the ear)
• Paralysis on one side of the face
• Muscle weakness
• Allodynia
• Long-term nerve pain called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN)

Conventional treatment
Anti-viral drugs, most effective within the first few days of the disease, can help shorten the outbreak of the virus, thus diminishing the possibility of developing PHN. Vitamin C and bioflavonoids may be helpful as they are thought to have anti-viral activity. Steroid can help to clear the Shingles in a short amount of time (but not for the patient who has compromised or weakened immune system). For pain related to an acute case of Shingles, pain medications either anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen or aspirin, or opioids are often used. If the patient does develop PHN, narcotics, anti-depressants, or epilepsy drugs are sometimes used.

Chinese medicine
In China, acupuncture is recognized as the most effective of all therapies for treating Shingles. Some clinic studies show that acupuncture is effective in facilitating pain relief and crust formation and some studies show that the effect of acupuncture is superior to conventional medication. Especially for those that are not responding to or for those who do not wish to take medications, acupuncture is an excellent and effective alternative for treating Shingles.

In Chinese Medicine, Shingles is considered caused by pathogenic damp, heat and wind in the body.

• If damp is predominant, the lesions are more likely to be in the lower part of the body with more fluid discharge from the blisters.
• If heat predominates, blisters show more heat and redness, and the pain is more severe.
• If wind predominates, the lesions are more likely to be in the upper part of the body with greater itching sensation.

Shingles are categorized into three patterns of disharmony:

• Liver and gallbladder fire manifests as red lesions and skin with burning pain and heat, dry mouth with a bitter taste, constipation, yellow urine, irritability, red tongue with a yellow coat and a wiry, rapid pulse.
• Spleen and stomach damp heat presents with blisters containing thick and yellowish fluid that are easily broken, poor appetite, abdominal distention, pale tongue body with a sticky white or yellow coating, and a slippery rapid pulse.
• qi and blood stagnation is usually the pattern with post herpetic pain and presents with a purple tongue, dark color at the former site of the herpes lesions, poor sleep and a wiry, thready pulse. 

Location of the lesions indicates the meridians affected. Lesions on the flanks and intercostal areas involve the liver and gallbladder meridians. Lesions on the head and face involve the yangming and shaoyang meridians. Acupoints will be selected to address both the pathogenic factor and the meridian involved. Lesions may be involved in multiple meridians. Auricular acupuncture or acupressure via the application of vaccaria seeds can be used as a supplement for the body acupuncture. Once the blisters have healed, if pain persists, a technique called plum blossom needling can be used over the painful area. Another modality may be used is moxibustion.

In term of acupuncture treatment, timing is critical. The sooner the patients come for acupuncture as they have Shingles, the quicker they can recover and better results they can get. Regularly, the patients recover from Shingles after 10 to 12-times of treatment. Some patients may recover quicker and some may take longer time to recover.

Emotions and Chinese medicine

Emotional problems or mental illness can strike anyone! It knows no age limits, economic status, race, creed or color. With people working longer hours and dealing with the economic and social pressures of today, many are finding it hard to cope. During the course of a year, more than 54 million Americans are affected by one or more emotional or mental disorders. The researches show that more and more people are turning to acupuncture or Chinese medicine to alleviate symptoms caused by the emotional strains of everyday life.

Aetiology of mental-emotional problems
Emotional problems can be cause by extraordinarily stressful events that make you feel helpless and vulnerable, or any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and alone. They can be caused by single-blow, one-time events, such as a horrible accident, a natural disaster, or a violent attack. It can also stem from ongoing, relentless stress, such as living in a crime-ridden neighborhood or struggling with cancer. They can also be from falls or sports injuries, surgery, the sudden death of someone close, an auto accident, breakup of a significant relationship, a humiliating or deeply disappointing experience, the discovery of a life-threatening illness or disabling condition. There are some other factors such as constitution, diet, excessive sexual activity, overworking or drug, which can also cause emotional problems.

In Chinese medicine, there are seven emotions: joy, anger, worry, pensiveness, grief, fear and fright. Under normal conditions, the emotions are the physiological responses of the human body to environmental stimuli. Therefore, they are not pathogenic factors. In optimal health, our emotions flow freely, are acknowledged, responded appropriately and then we move on to the next “feeling”. However, if the emotional stimuli are too sudden, too strong, last a long time, or when we become “stuck” in our emotions, when we have excess emotional activity, or when we try to ignore or suppress them, yin-yang balance is disturbed, aberrations in the flow of blood and qi blockages or stagnation in the meridians would occur.

Emotions and physical health are intimately connected. On the one hand, an imbalance of qi, blood or yin-yang affects the individual's emotional state. On the other hand, emotion can also affect the balance of qi, blood, and yin-yang, eventually resulting in impairment of vital organ functions. In Chinese Medicine, each emotion is linked to a specific organ. 

Seven emotions
Joy Joy is linked to the heart. Joy is a cheerful, positive concept. Positive side of joy is beneficial.

However, excessive joy (over-excitement, over-stimulation, over-agitation, or rowdy over-exuberance), is harmful to the heart. First, heart energy produces joy. Excessive joy consumes heart energy, which leads to deficiency of heart energy so heart qi slows down, which leads to lack of enthusiasm and vitality, depression and despair. Second, excessive joy slackens the heart, which leads to heart qi scattered. Since the heart is a nest of the mind and spirit, so people are not able to concentrate or have confused behaviors or mental restlessness. A person with extreme disturbances of heart qi might be seen chattering happily to him or herself with outbursts of laughter. Heart imbalances are often associated with palpitations, anxiety, insomnia, irregular heart beat, excessive dreaming, poor long-term memory, or psychological disorders. Conversely, a person with heart imbalance may also exhibit emotional symptoms.

Anger Anger covers the full range of associated emotions such as resentment, irritability, explosive rage and frustration. Anger is linked to the liver. Anger is a normal emotion. We feel angry when we have been hurt physically or emotionally, or when we feel really frustrated.

However, excessive, inappropriate or uncontrolled anger causes liver imbalance such as the stagnation of liver qi or liver-blood, and the rising of liver yang or liver fire. These will cause symptoms in the head and neck such as headaches, tinnitus, dizziness or red blotches in the front of the neck, flushed face, chest congestion or a bitter taste in the mouth. In the women, there are breast distension, menstrual pain and irritability during menses. In the long run it can result in high blood pressure. Anger can also affect the stomach and spleen, causing indigestion and other problems.

Worry Worry means dwelling too much on a particular problem, concerning too much and too long on a particular topic or excessive mental work. This emotion also includes too much studying, obsessive thinking or continually working something over in your mind.

Worry is linked to the spleen. Worry is normal emotion but too much worry consumes spleen energy, which leads to the deficiency of spleen qi. Also it causes the stagnation of spleen qi. A person with this condition may exhibit digestive disturbances such as poor appetite, abdominal bloating and distension or poor digestion, loose stools or diarrhea. A weakened spleen cannot efficiently turn food into qi, eventually resulting in chronic fatigue, lethargy, inability to concentrate, depression, anxiety, weakened limbs or menstrual irregularities in women.

Pensiveness Pensiveness connotes a wistfulness, dreaminess or sad quality, which is considered to be the result of thinking too much, obsessing about a topic, or excessive mental and intellectual stimulation. Any activity that involves a lot of mental effort will run the risk of causing disharmony.

Pensiveness is linked to spleen and heart. The ancient Chinese medicine considers that "thought" starts from the spleen and ripens in the heart; so, Pensiveness not only impairs the spleen qi, but also affects the heart qi. Pensiveness makes qi stagnated or obstructed. The obstruction or stagnation of spleen qi can decrease spleen function of transporting and transforming, leading to abnormal food digestion and absorption. Common symptoms are poor appetite, abdominal distension, diarrhea or constipation. A weakened spleen cannot efficiently turn food into qi, eventually resulting in chronic fatigue, lethargy, inability to concentrate, depression, anxiety, weakened limbs or menstrual irregularities in women. Spleen qi deficiency eventually affects the heart because the heart qi can not be nourished, thus producing the symptoms such as palpitation, amnesia, insomnia or dreaminess.

Grief Grief includes sorrow, regret, sadness, and senses of loss or remorse. Grief is linked to the lung.

Grief is normal emotion. People normally cry to release their grief or sadness, which is natural behavior. However, an excess of grief, or grief that remains unresolved and becomes chronic can create disharmony in the lungs. Grief consumes lung qi and makes lung qi weakening, leading to respiratory problems such as bronchitis, asthma or shortness of breath. Grief also impacts lung's function of circulating qi around the body and makes qi stagnated, leading to fatigue or depression. When grief reaches its extreme, it can affect the whole body and causes symptoms that we would call 'shock', which include pallor, difficulty breathing, a feeling of suffocation in the chest, but also other symptoms such as loss of appetite, constipation and urinary problems.

Fear Fear is linked to the kidney.

Fear is a normal and adaptive human emotion. But when it becomes too intensive or it persists too long, fear leads to disharmony of kidney. Fear consumes kidney qi, which causes deficiency of kidney qi. Instead of moving upwards, kidney qi descends, which makes the loss of control of urination. This situation can readily be seen when extreme fear causes a person to urinate uncontrollably. The descending of kidney qi can also lead to listlessness, lower back pains, other urinary problems and a desire for solitude. In women, fear can also cause irregular menstruation. Fear can be the emotion responsible in children who suffer from bedwetting and also the related symptoms of shyness and timidity. Long-term anxiety due to worrying too much can deplete yin or yang or qi of kidneys eventually leading to chronic weakness.

Fright Fright, in western medicine, may be called “shock” or “panic attacks”, is an emotion that is considered an imbalance of heart and kidney. 

Fright is a state of panic aroused by a sudden external event. It is distinguished from fear by its sudden, unexpected nature. Fright primarily affects the heart, especially in the initial stages, but if it persists for long time, it becomes conscious fear and moves to the kidneys. Fright affects the heart qi and it causes it scattering, wandering around or adhering to nothing. The clinical manifestations of this emotion include a tendency to be easily startled, cold sweats, sudden palpitations or persistent palpitations, and mental restlessness. Severe fright can have a long-term effect on the heart, as is evident in victims of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Chronic stress from fright can cause a general dysfunction of qi, debilitating the entire system, leading to a wide range of problems such as anxiety, insomnia or weakness. 

Diagnosis
A diagnosis in Chinese medicine is highly individualized and is always done from a holistic point of view such as observing, auscultation and olfaction, questioning and pulse taking. However, there are some special diagnostic signs in mental-emotional problems such as:

• Complexion : anger-greenish; excess joy-red color; worry-grayish; pensiveness-sallow; fear and shock- bright-white, crabbing-reddish, built-dark-ruddy. 
• Eyes: sadness, grief and shock-dull and without glitter; Joy-uncontrolled and slightly too watery; fear- bulge and shift frequently; guilt –shifty and eyelids flap.
• Pulse: anger-wiry; grief-choppy or short and without wave; excessive joy-slow and slightly hollow or overflowing-empty on hear position; fear and fright-rapid; and guilt-rapid, shaking.
• Tongue: anger-red on one side, both sides or tip of tongue, sticky, rough, brush-like yellow coating.

Treatment principle

The treatment for emotional disorders or emotion-induced disorders often combine acupuncture with other Chinese medicine modalities such as herbal formula, cupping, moxibustion, TuiNa, gwasha and so on, specifically Chinese herbal medicine. Here I would like to emphasize is that herbal medicine is the fundamental of Chinese medicine. In some complex cases, acupuncture should be combined with herbal medicine in order to get maximal results. As mentioned in some other articles, Chinese medicine is a personalized medicine. Each person has different cause, different symptoms, different course and different stage. And the treatment is different from a person to person. Each visit, patient may present different symptoms from last time, as a qualified practitioner, you should adjust your treatment plan according to patient’s response to your treatment and the symptoms the patient currently presents.

Acupuncture treatment often takes twice a week and four weeks as a course. Some people may recover quicker than others, which depends on individual patient’s situation.  

Fibromyalgia and Chinese Medicine 

Fibromyalgia (FM) or fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain and stiffness, as well as fatigue, poor sleep and the presence of localized tender points. This syndrome affects roughly four to six million Americans, 75% of whom are women between the ages of approximately 35 to 55.

Symptoms
Fibromyalgia can vary, depending on weather; stress; physical activity; or just the time of day. Common signs and symptoms include:

• Widespread pain
• Fatigue
• Sleep disturbances
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Chronic headaches and facial pain
• Heightened sensitivity
• Numbness or tingling sensations in the hands and feet
• Difficulty concentrating and mood changes
• Chest or pelvic pain
• Irritable bladder
• Dry eyes and mouth
• Sensation of swollen hands and feet 

Possible causes
The causes of fibromyalgia are unknown. Some hypothetic causes are: genetic predisposition, stress, central dopamine dysfunction, abnormal serotonin metabolism, deficient human growth hormone secretion, psychological factors, or an aberrant immune response.

Conventional treatment
As with many other medically unexplained syndromes, there is no known cure or universally accepted treatment for fibromyalgia. The treatment is typically aimed at symptom management, improving the quality of sleep and reducing pain, anti-depression. While some patients respond well to these drugs, improvement varies from person to person. In addition, most medications have side effects.

• Cognitive behavioral therapy and related psychological/behavioral therapies could help to reduce the symptoms along with exercise when the cause of fibromyalgia is psychological.
• Pharmaceutical: Some medications have reduced symptoms in some patients. But side effects make the patient dull, lethargic, potential nephro-toxicity or weight gain, which limits their use.

• Antidepressants
• Anti-seizure medication
• Dopamine agonists
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• Narcotic pain relievers or cortisone derivatives 

Chinese Medicine
Acupuncture or Chinese Medicine has been gaining popularity as an alternative treatment for fibromyalgia, thanks to its effectiveness and less or no side effects. Approximately 20 percent of people who suffer from fibromyalgia undergo acupuncture therapy within two years of diagnosis. 

Basic and clinical research Studies show that µ-opioid receptor (MOR) which is related to pain and mood, is decreased in fibromyalgia patients, while several studies have shown that acupuncture increases MOR binding sites or MOR binding potential in multiple pain and sensory processing regions of brain, helping alleviate pain and improving mood. Acupuncture raises your pain threshold -- which is low in people with fibromyalgia therefore gives you long-term pain relief. Acupuncture can deactivate part of your brain's pain matrix. Acupuncture increases microcirculation and reduces inflammation in fibromyalgia condition. Multiple clinical trials show that acupuncture is more effective for relieving pain, improving depression, reducing the morning stiffness, improving global ratings in the patients with fibromyalgia. World Health Organization (WHO) recognize the efficacy of acupuncture treating sleep disorder, stress, anxiety, depression and general fatigue, which are strongly connected to the underlying complex of fibromyalgia syndrome. 

The reasons for fails in clinic trials Some clinical trials did not see the significant benefits from acupuncture. The reasons could be: First, Chinese medicine is a personalized or individualized medicine. No one patient has exact same cause, same symptom, same tongue appearance, same pulse, or same diagnosis. Some times even thought they have same symptom, the cause may be different. Also each individual has one’s own constitution or own lifestyle. The treatment is different from person to person. As a qualified practitioner, you have to choose different acupoints accordingly. However, in most clinical trials, the acupoints are standardized and every patient receives exact same points. Second, fibromyalgia is very complex disorder: chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain and stiffness, fatigue and poor sleep. Acupuncture alone might not reach maximal benefit and it must combine some other Chinese medicine modalities, especially herbal medicine. However, in clinical trial, acupuncture is only modality the patients get. Third, after acupuncture treatment, the patient’s situation has been changed, as Chinese medicine doctor, you have to evaluate the patients each time when patients visit you and adjust your treatment plan accordingly, while in clinical trial, the patients are stick to one regimen for whole period of trial and acupoints are not adjusted accordingly. 

Benefits from acupuncture and herbal medicine

• Less pain
• Less morning stiffness
• Less fatigue
• Less stress or anxiety
• Better sleep
• More relaxation
• Possible immune system boost
• Better overall health 

Side effects: Acupuncture can be much safer than other therapies, especially if you're combining several different treatments.

• No negative interactions with other treatments, including drugs
• Extremely mild side effects
• Low risk 

Mechanisms and treatment
Chinese medicine views fibromyalgia as a stagnation of qi and blood, deficiency of qi and blood, or imbalance of yin-yang, leading to dysfunction of the varied organs of the body. It often affects liver, spleen, heart, kidney, or multiple organs. The immediate cause is environmental such as Wind, Cold, and Dampness, which penetrate the body's defenses and lodge in the muscles, tendons and joints, creating obstruction and causing pain, stiffness and other symptoms. The disharmonies of several internal organs in the qi and the blood can predispose a person to fibromyalgia symptoms.

• People under stress often suffer from obstructed flow of qi and blood in the body because stress affects the liver, which is responsible for the smooth flow of qi. Obstruction creates an environment in which pathogens can invade and lodge.
• Insufficient blood and qi can make the body's energetic pathways incompletely filled, allowing pathogens to invade.
• Genetic predisposition, poor diet, overwork, or insufficient exercise can weaken the internal organs, such as the kidney or spleen - responsible for supplying the kinds of qi that maintain overall resistance - allowing pathogenic Influences to invade as well. 

There are four common patterns for fibromyalgia. However, one person may present more than one pattern.
1. Liver qi stagnation - anxiety, anger, irritability, headaches, muscle stiffness in neck and shoulders, insomnia, waking frequently, having difficulty falling back to sleep, or irritable bowel syndrome. All symptoms may be triggered by emotional stress.

• Treatment principle: smooth liver, move qi and blood.
• Treatment plan: acupuncture is combined with Chinese herbals, as well as TuiNa or Gwasha or cupping according to individual condition.

2. qi and blood deficiency - specifically spleen qi deficiency and heart blood/liver blood deficiency, with such symptoms as chronic fatigue, exhaustion, dull headache, muscle weakness and numbness, insomnia, dream-disturbed sleep and waking up with tiredness, palpitations and depression.

• Treatment principle: tonify qi and blood, calm the spirit
• Treatment plan: acupuncture is combined with Chinese herbals, as well as moxibustion, TuiNa, gwasha or cupping according to individual condition.

3. qi stagnation and blood stasis - aches and pains in the whole body, burning or gnawing pain with tingling sensations in extremities, headaches.

• Treatment principle: move the qi and blood, alleviate pain
• Treatment plan: acupuncture is combined with Chinese herbals, as well as moxibustion, TuiNa, gwasha or cupping according to individual condition.

4. Kidney deficiency (either yin, yang, qi or essence deficiency) - there will be impotence or lack of libido for males and infertility issues for both males and females. Other symptoms: sore lower back with restless leg syndrome, irritable bladder, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome, hot flashes and night sweats.

• Treatment principle: tonify qi, tonify essence and yang, and nourish yin
• Treatment plan: acupuncture is combined with Chinese herbals, as well as moxibustion, TuiNa, gwasha or cupping according to individual condition.
  

Painful menstruation and Chinese Medicine  

What is painful menstruation?
Painful menstruation is also called dysmenorrhea or dysmenorrhoea and is a medical condition characterized by severe uterine pain during menstruation. While most women experience minor pain during menstruation, dysmenorrhea is diagnosed when the pain is so severe as to limit normal activities, or require medication. 

Dysmenorrhea can feature different kinds of pain, including sharp, throbbing, dull, burning, or shooting pain. Dysmenorrhea may precede menstruation by several days or may accompany it, and it usually subsides as menstruation tapers off. Dysmenorrhea may coexist with excessively heavy blood loss, known as menorrhagia. 

Primary dysmenorrhea frequently affects women in their teens and early 20s and secondary dysmenorrhea is diagnosed when symptoms are attributable to an underlying disease, disorder, or structural abnormality either within or outside the uterus such as endometriosis, fibroids or pelvic inflammatory disease.

Common symptoms

• Bloating
• Dull or sharp pain in lower abdomen or lower back
• Headache or migraine
• Heavy menstrual flow
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Nausea, vomiting, or not feeling hungry
• Frequent urination
• Fatigue
• Anxiety, irritability or depression

Risk factors

• Age <20 years
• Being under stress
• Depression or anxiety
• Drinking alcohol
• Smoking, or being around tobacco smoke
• Trying to lose weight
• Nulliparity
• Overweight

Conventional treatment
For primary dysmenorrhea, painkillers such as ibuprofen, ketoprofen or naproxen are often recommended by your doctors. These medicines work well for mild or moderate pain. Your doctor might want you to try using birth control medicine.

In cases of secondary dysmenorrhea, once the reason for your secondary dysmenorrhea has been found, your doctor will be able to discuss an appropriate treatment with you. For temporarily symptom relief, you are also advised to painkillers and birth-control pills.

Dysmenorrhea and Chinese medicine
Chinese medicine has been treating dysmenorrhea for centuries and offers very real solutions for many women and has become popular in western countries in recent years. Acupuncture is well tolerated and free of relevant side effects and has been approved by FDA. Its use for the treatment of dysmenorrhea has been recommended by the National Institute of Health and World Health Origination.

Basic and clinic studies
Numerous Studies show that acupuncture:

• Increases plasma 6-Keto-PGF1alpha
• Reduces prostaglandin E2
• Regulates neuroendocrine activities and the related receptor expression of hypothalamus-pituitary-ovary axis
• Regulates the plasma beta-endorphin content
• Improves blood circulation
• Enhances nitric oxide production
• Decreases plasma endothelin-1

Benefits from acupuncture, herbal medicine or other Chinese medicine modalities

• Reduces menstrual discomfort
• Relieves abdominal pain
• Improves headache and menstrual migraine
• Reduces anxiety
• Attenuates gastrointestinal symptoms
• Improves overall quality of life

Mechanisms and manifestations
Chinese medicine considers the body is a balance of qi, blood and yin-yang within whole body, as well as within each organ and among the organs. Chinese medicine regulates this balance and promotes the smooth flow of qi and blood throughout the body. Dysmenorrhea is an imbalance or disharmony of qi, blood or yin-yang. Dysmenorrhea is categorized into:

Stagnation of blood and qi

• Pain and tenderness in the lower abdomen before or during menstruation
• Hypochondrium and breast tenderness
• Deep-purple blood with clots
• Ecchymoses on the tongue edges
• Wiry-choppy-strong pulse

Blood deficiency

• Scanty menstruation with reddish and thin blood
• Weakness and lack of strength
• Pale tongue with white and thin fur
• Weak pulse

Dampness

• A feeling of heaviness
• Swelling or water retention
• Abdomen cramps and pain
• Phlegm discharge
• Loose bowels

Damp heat

• Lower abdomen pain
• Joint pain
• Menstrual discharge with dark red with clots
• Slippery rapid pulse
• Red tongue
• Dark urine

Damp wind

• Abdominal cramps and wind, a few days before or during menstruation
• Menstrual flow acanty in acmount
• Period with darK color and clots
• Pale tongue with white and greasy fur
• Deep and tense pulse

Deficiency of qi and blood

• Abdominal pain after menstruation
• Period is thin and volume is small
• Tiredness
• Loose stools
• Pale complexion

Imbalance of kidney yang deficiency

• Cold and pain in the lower abdomen during or after menstruation
• Small amount of dark menstrual discharge
• Weak and aching lower back and legs’
• Deep and weak pulse
• Pale tongue

Imbalance of liver

• Pain in the lower abdomen during menstruation
• Difficult menstruation
• Scanty menstrual discharge
• Period with dark purple color containing blood clots
• Breast tenderness

Deficiency of liver and kidney

• Lower abdominal pain either proceeding and /or following menstruation
• Thin and light color menstruation
• Fatigue and dizziness
• Fever
• Scanty urination
• Lower back pain

Treatment Principle:

• Stagnation of qi and blood: move qi and blood, and eliminate stasis
• Deficiency of qi and blood: tonify qi, nourish blood and move blood
• Stagnation of cold: expel cold, warm the uterus and move blood
• Damp: resolve dampness and eliminate stasis
• Damp heat: clear heat, resolve dampness and eliminate stasis
• Damp wind: expel wind, resolve dampness and eliminate stasis
• Deficiency of Kidney and Liver: tonify Liver and Kidney and move blood

In treating dysmenorrheal, acupuncture or herbal medicine, as well as other Chinese medicine modalities such as moxibustion or TuiNa can be used alone, or combined according to individual patient’s situation. 

Menopause and Chinese Medicine

Menopause is a natural event that normally occurs between the ages of 45 and 55. Menopause is the transition period in both woman's life and men’s life. When woman’s ovaries stop producing eggs, her body produces less estrogen and progesterone, and menstruation becomes less frequent, eventually stopping completely. Men also experience menopause but it differs in cause, age and symptoms from women.

Symptoms
The symptoms of menopause are caused by changes in estrogen and progesterone levels. As the ovaries become less functional, they produce less of these hormones and the body responds accordingly. The specific symptoms you experience and how significant (mild, moderate, or severe) varies from woman to woman. In some women, menstrual flow comes to a sudden halt. During this time, the menstrual periods generally become either more closely or more widely spaced. This irregularity may last for 1 - 3 years before menstruation finally ends completely.

Common symptoms of menopause include:

• Heart pounding or racing
• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Skin flushing
• Sleeping problems (insomnia)

Other symptoms of menopause may include:

• Decreased interest in sex, possibly decreased response to sexual stimulation
• Forgetfulness
• Irregular menstrual periods
• Mood swings including irritability, depression and anxiety
• Spotting of blood in between periods
• Urine leakage
• Vaginal dryness and painful sexual intercourse
• Vaginal infections

Conventional treatment
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could relieve menopause-related symptoms such as hot flashes and reduced loss of bone. Until July 2002, hormone therapy had been the standard therapy in the United States for treating menopausal symptoms. However, a large clinical trial showed HRT posed more health risks than benefits for most women, such as causing heart disease, breast cancer, stroke, blood clots or dementia. Therefore, doctors discontinued routine prescription for menopause patients.

Alternative to HRT There are some medications available to help with mood swings, hot flashes and other symptoms. These include low doses of antidepressants or clonidine, which is normally used to control high blood pressure. Gabapentin is also effective for reducing hot flashes. However, most of them have side effects.

Chinese Medicine
Research shows that acupuncture can trigger the release of endorphins, the hormone which is partially responsible for our sense of well-being as well as having a pain-relieving effect. Recent research suggests acupuncture is also responsible for the release serotonin, which helps in menopausal symptoms such as abdominal pain or cramping, and changes in mood and sleep.

Numerous clinical trials indicates that acupuncture is successful at relieving the most common symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, mood swings and insomnia, which lead to an increase in energy, appetite and sense of well-being without side-effects. The World Health Organization has approved acupuncture as a safe treatment for menopause and is helping to fund clinical trials of larger sample sizes currently. Acupuncture can:

• Overcome fatigue and insomnia
• Improve symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression
• Increase your appetite
• Improve your body's circulation and cardio-pulmonary functions
• Regulate menstruation
• Relieve aches and pains

Chinese Medicine considers that menopause is a natural process that alters the balance of yin and yang, which is most caused by kidney deficiency such as qi deficiency, yin deficiency, yang deficiency, or essence deficiency. Some other organs (such as liver, spleen and heart) or some meridians (such as chong and ren) are also involved in menopause.

Treatment principles
Restoring and maintaining yin and yang balance of internal organs are the principles.

• For yin deficiency: nourish yin of kidney, liver and heart
• For yang deficiency: warm the yang of kidney and spleen
• For both yin and yang deficiency: tonify both yin and yang

According to individual patient symptoms, menopause can be treated with acupuncture alone, herbal medicine alone, or acupuncture combined with herbal medicine.

Lifestyle and Dietary Instructions

• Maintain a healthy weight: regular exercise, cut back on your sugar intake and follow a diet with high content of raw foods, fruits and vegetables.

• Restrain some foods that may exacerbate hot flashes or increase mood swings such as caffeine, spicy foods, alcohol and cigarette

• Restrict carbohydrate consumption: excessive carbohydrates lead to excessive levels of insulin which reduces the cell's ability to respond to hormone stimulation. Excessive sweetness will produce dampness and stagnation. This results in feelings of heaviness, lethargy, distension, constipation, diarrhea, muscle soreness and puffiness. Spleen qi stagnation leads to liver qi stagnation, causing irritability, frustration, hypersensitivity, cramps, swollen breasts, mood swings and headaches.

• Reduce milk products: many menopausal women become lactose intolerant and eliminating milk products can dramatically reduce symptoms of indigestion like bloating and gas.

• Eat more foods rich in phyto-estrogens and progesterones: soy flours and beans, red clover sprouts, yams and linseed.

• Eliminate stress, tension and anxiety or learn techniques to cope with stress so that you can diminish the effects that it has on your body and mind.

With support from Chinese Medicine along with small changes in lifestyle and diet, menopause can be a time of a revival of vital energy and an opportunity for personal growth.

And Many More Health Problems!