Menstrual pain is an ailment that afflicts a lot of women; Western medicine has really no effective treatment for it. For some women, birth control pills can help relieve the ailments, but for those trying to conceive, they are not an option. Alleve, Ibuprofen, and other similar drugs can be harmful to kidney function and for women with severe dysmenorrhea they are often insufficient for the relief of their pain.
Acupuncture is an effective and safe non-pharmaceutical remedy for dysmenorrhea minus the harmful side effects. Studies show acupuncture’s efficacy in lessening menstrual pain: the pain can be dramatically decreased within the first month of treatment and with regular acupuncture sessions that’s combined with Chinese herbal remedies over a period of several months, the pain can be completely resolved. Addressing the reason for a woman’s menstrual pain will increase her fertility by improving the function of her reproductive system and in boosting her overall health.
In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) menstrual pain is caused by stagnation of blood and chi. Chi stagnation and blood stasis cause pain and can also inhibit implantation for women striving to conceive. In this pattern of disharmony, the liver meridian is always involved although the stomach, kidney and conception meridians can also play a part in the condition. Other underlying conditions may also be present. These can include blood deficiency, spleen chi deficiency, or yin deficiency that contributes to the stagnation of the blood and chi leading to menstrual pain. A TCM practitioner can address the symptom of pain by helping stagnant blood and chi move through acupuncture. The practitioner can also repair the underlying reason for the pain using Chinese herbs, which can be a combination of the factors mentioned above. An acupuncturist who has experience in treating gynecological problems can explain to you your diagnosis and tell you what type of acupuncture to be used. If you’ve been suffering from menstrual pain for a long time, then you need to receive acupuncture for several months in order to get the best results.
Menstrual pain can be accompanied by adjunct symptoms. These symptoms can also be addressed with acupuncture treatment. They may include mood swings, irritability, unexplained infertility, fatigue, low back pain, sugar cravings, bloating, breast pain, menstrual-migraines, and PMS. If the patient is willing to undergo treatment for many months, acupuncture in combination with Chinese herbs can treat endometriosis without the need for surgery.
Herbal medicine, in gynecology, is deemed to be very important and your acupuncturist will almost always include an herbal prescription along with acupuncture for the best results. Herbal formulas commonly used for menstrual pain include Shao Fu Shu Yu Wan or Hsiao Yao Wan.
According to TCM, the imbalances in a woman’s constitution that causes her to suffer from menstrual pain also makes her highly susceptible to fertility problems when she is of childbearing age and menopause-associated issues when she is older. When a woman changes her constitution and is free from the cause of her menstrual pain from herbal and acupuncture treatment in Bellmore, she is also helping herself avoid frequent urination, irritability, night sweats, and menopausal hot flashes. It also helps her preserve her fertility should she consider bearing children later in life.