Introduction
Increasingly, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are becoming known as safe, affordable, and very effective forms of women’s medicine. Women of all ages are turning to these tried-and-true modalities for relief of symptoms that in days gone by were referred to as “female trouble.”
Women’s health issues are a specialty of mine. In my sessions with the women I treat, I listen carefully to what’s being said and what’s possibly not being said. At each session I ask how a person is doing emotionally, because in Chinese medicine we see no separation between mind and body. Patients are treated gently, respectfully, and with great care. Because of my many years of experience in massage therapy, I often do hands-on work in addition to acupuncture, if indicated. We explore together whether aspects of daily life such as stress, interpersonal problems, diet, or sleeping habits might be behind symptoms. The sessions are deeply relaxing and restorative, patients usually report significant improvement in symptoms, and changes begin.
While in private acupuncture practice in Portland, Maine for seven years, I had the distinct pleasure of being associated with Women to Women in Yarmouth, Maine, an internationally-known women’s holistic health center made famous by Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom; Your Diet, Your Health; and Wisdom of Menopause and frequent guest on PBS and shows such as “Oprah,” “Today,” and “Good Morning, America.”
Marcelle Pick, a talented family nurse practitioner who founded Women to Women with Dr. Northrup, is a firm believer, like Dr. Northrup, in the benefits of acupuncture and Chinese medicine for a variety of symptoms associated with PMS, perimenopause, and menopause.
Among these symptoms are periods that are early, late, irregular, heavy, scanty, long, or painful; premenstrual cramping, bloating, breast tenderness and irritability; bleeding between periods; headaches, dizziness, or nausea associated with menstruation; urinary tract infections; yeast infections; fatigue; cystic breast lumps; ovarian cysts; uterine fibroids; herpes; hot flashes, nightsweats, mood swings, forgetfulness; gastrointestinal disorders; anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
As a post-menopausal woman who has had several of the above-named symptoms at various times in my life, I can identify with and relate to the women who see me for acupuncture. I’ve given birth to two children (now in their 30s), had numerous urinary tract infections and yeast infections in my 20s and 30s, suffered mild PMS when I was menstruating, and had ovarian cysts. Aside from occasional forgetfulness and the infrequent night of restless sleep, I am now, in my 50s, healthy as a horse. I credit much of my good health to Chinese medicine.
Records of the use of Chinese medicine for gynecological purposes date back to 1500 to 1000 BC in the Shang dynasty. Since the mid-1940s there has been a blending of Western and Chinese medicine for a variety of conditions—for example, ectopic pregnancy has often been treated with acupuncture and Chinese herbs without resorting to surgery; acupuncture has long been used to turn a breech baby; and Chinese herbs have been shown to be effective in the treatment of myomas and cervical cancer.
Women of the 21st century benefit from better medical care, advanced scientific information, more conscientious eating and exercising habits, wider access to educational and work opportunities—and as a result the “golden years” will probably be more comfortable, more healthful, and more fulfilling than those of our mothers or grandmothers. A woman’s health depends on a combination of several factors, most importantly her family history and her lifestyle. The relative importance of each factor is just beginning to be understood. Heredity certainly plays a significant and perhaps a major role in sealing a woman’s future. But even heredity can be overcome.
According to Linda Campanelli, associate director of the Adult Health and Development Program at the University of Maryland, a woman’s genes determine how she will age until she reaches the age of 60 or 65. After that, says Campanelli, she’s on her own. Then the influence of her lifestyle, especially the lifestyle she adopted in youth, becomes far more important.
This is good news because lifestyles can be changed. The health habits that can help stave off old age are simple: exercising, eating a balanced diet, eating enough fiber, drinking plenty of water, flossing daily, not smoking, using sunblock, and so on.
And with more readily available complementary health care modalities such as acupuncture and Chinese medicine, women can keep themselves healthy—mentally, emotionally, and physically—and feel in control of their own well-being.
In this age of managed care and impersonal group practices, we are all looking for a more individualized approach. Allopathic medicine has become depersonalized, and we are seeking alternatives. A century ago, the family doctor was more holistic—he or she knew three generations of a family, and knew that the mother’s diabetes got worse when the teenager acted up. The family doctor of a century ago could see the big picture. That’s something conventional medicine has lost.
Women have found that level of care in the setting of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Treatments are completely individual and designed to treat specific issues, not one treatment for all women. Changes begin, balance returns.
Please go to individual sections on this site to get more information about specific conditions of interest to you under this heading of Women’s Health. These include Infertility, PMS, Pregnancy/Birth/Post-Partum and Menopause.