Ancient texts in Chinese Medicine state that treating 1 woman is equivalent to treating 6 men. We truly are the more complicated and intricate species.
Whether it is menstrual symptoms, hormonal fluctuations, pregnancy or menopause, women are constantly adjusting and adapting to hormonal changes. Whatever the ailment, Chinese Medicine has 6,000 years of treatment protocols to support the body and to alleviate the symptoms. 

Common Reasons Why Women Seek Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine 

  • Painful Periods

  • Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)

  • Irregular Menstrual Cycles

  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

  • Endometriosis

  • Thyroid Imbalance

  • Fibroids

  • Amenorrhea

  • Menopause- hot flashes, night sweats, dryness

  • Stress and Anxiety

  • Decreased libido

There are wonderful ways that acupuncture, herbs, supplements, diet and lifestyle can:

  • decrease cortisol levels (your chronic stress hormone)

  • regulate and balance estrogen levels

  • support progesterone levels

  • maintain healthy thyroid function

Menstrual Symptoms

Most women experience painful menstrual cramps at some point in their lives. For some, these cramps are mild and the discomfort is annoying. For others, an estimated 20% of menstruating women, they experience cramps severe enough to interfere with everyday activities for a few days every month.

Acupuncture and herbs can be incredibly effective at alleviating menstrual symptoms like bloating, premenstrual headaches, irritability, menstrual cramps and low back pain.
A study from 2017 revealed that the intensity and duration of period pain can be reduced by up to 50 percent by consistent acupuncture treatments. Depending on your presenting symptoms, we create a treatment plan to best addresses what your symptoms are. In addition, we include herbal and dietary options to supplement the treatment plan.

Menopause

The Women’s Health Initiative in 2002 drastically altered the prescription, recommendation and use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This study highlighted previously unknown and unproven risks associated with using HRT, particularly heart disease and certain cancers . By 2003 the guidelines had changed and significantly fewer women were prescribed and/or taking HRT’s. Since then, more research has contradicted and validated some of these concerns and worries. It is incredibly confusing and challenging to know how best to proceed.

As always, we want to follow best practice and care for you. This is individualised care, and it is one of the aspects of alternative medicine that is exceptional. For some women, the benefit from HRT’s outweigh the risks. Either/any/all way, the ideal is to have women make the best, most educated and informed, health choices.

Acupuncture, by itself, has been proven to decrease the frequency and intensity of hot flashes and night sweats by up to 50%.

A Danish study, Efficacy of a standardised acupuncture approach for women with bothersome menopausal symptoms: a pragmatic randomised study in primary care women with moderate-to-severe menopausal symptoms, treated 70 women who identified as having moderate to severe menopausal symptoms. 36 participants received acupuncture and 34 participants were in the control group. The acupuncture intervention significantly decreased hot flushes, both in the day and in the night. Additionally, the decrease in hot flushes, emotional symptoms, and skin and hair symptoms was already apparent 3 weeks into the study.


In addition, Chinese Medicine can:
alleviate bloating
address hormonal weight gain
relieve hormonal headaches
decrease insomnia (especially in the 1am-4am window)
reduce irritability
treat vaginal dryness
improve decreased libido

Want to know a fabulous way to decrease cortisol levels? It involves chocolate :)

Researchers in a Swiss study in The Journal of Proteome Research that eating the equivalent of one average-sized dark chocolate candy bar (1.4 ounces) each day for two weeks reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the “fight-or-flight” hormones known as catecholamines in highly stressed people.

So, next time you are feeling stressed, reach for some chocolate (the darker, the better. and in moderation, of course)

 

Consultation Rates

Initial Consultation (1.5 hours) $140
Follow-up Treatments (1 hour) $90