I was recently talking with a female patient of mine about her menstrual cycle. Like many women she experiences a lot of unpleasant symptoms before and during her period: nausea, headaches, loose stools, irritability, painful cramping, heavy bleeding and clotting. Because many of these symptoms are common for women I think we get the idea that they are just part of a normal healthy menstrual cycle. But they are not.
I explained to my patient that the cycle, when things are functioning as they should, should simply start easily and painlessly, go for a number of days without being like a waterfall and then stop. When I said this she looked at me in total disbelief and said, “no one has ever in my whole life said anything like that to me.” At that moment I realized how distorted our view of the menstrual cycle can be. Because the pain and other symptoms are so common we figure that’s just how it is. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Helping women to achieve comfort and symptom free periods is an every day occurrence in an acupuncture clinic. The patterns of imbalance which lead to all those unpleasant symptoms are easily discernible and eminently treatable. If you or any woman you know struggles with these issues help spread the word and tell her about acupuncture! You and she will be glad that you did.