Menopause is the cessation of the menstrual cycle, which usually occurs slowly, as the ovaries gradually lose their ability to produce estrogen. The reduced levels of estrogen in the body reduces fertility, making reproduction more and more difficult until it eventually ceases altogether. Menopause is a natural part of the physiological aging process, but can also be induced surgically, when a woman undergoes a hysterectomy - if the ovaries are removed with the uterus. The average age of onset of menopause is 50.5 years, but can occur much earlier in cases of premature ovarian failure, or slightly later.
Some women can sail through menopause with hardly a symptom. Most women experience something - from mild to severe hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, to irritability. Other possible symptoms can include vaginal dryness, urinary urgency or incontinence, osteoporosis, joint pain, decreased libido, fatigue, depression, memory loss and mood swings. One decade, estrogen replacement therapy is touted to be the best thing since the water faucet, and the next decade it is deadly. Nowadays there are bio-identical hormones available, progesterone creams, and a host of other options. The risks of such treatments are still unknown, especially for women who have had a history of breast cancer.
One of the many options available to women is acupuncture and oriental medicine, sometimes called Chinese medicine. The roots of this medicine go deep. It has been treating women for all the symptoms associated with menopause and perimenopause for around 5,000 years. Does it work? Well, if it didn’t, someone would have noticed by now. But how does it work, and what can you expect from being treated by this ancient form of medicine?
To answer the second question first, you can expect a soothing environment, and a sense of deep relaxation. Some people can actually feel something “shift” inside them during treatments, describing it as a sense of something being released. Some people feel a slight tingling, and some a heavy sensation. Sometimes patients report that they experienced fewer hot flashes, mood swings or night sweats after one treatment. But since Oriental medicine relies on the body’s ability to correct and heal itself, it usually takes more than one treatment for you to get lasting results.
So what is happening here? How does this work? What we say is that before you experience any kind of a symptom, the body’s energy is out of balance. First energy goes out of balance, and then matter follows energy. The principle that underlies the theory of acupuncture is the principle of energy. When the energies of your organs and tissues are in balance, then they function properly. Over time, with different stressful situations, different life events and choices, our energies lose their equilibrium. Factors such as diet, emotional stress, overwork, lack of exercise, etc. affect the bodies energies. It’s like a stream with too many rocks in it – on the upstream side you get a puddle, and on the downstream side you get a trickle. What acupuncture needles do is take the rocks out of the stream.
Starting with perimenopause, women begin to lose what’s called their “yin” energy. Yin relates to quiet, moist, calm, receptive energy. It’s as if you forgot to put enough coolant into the engine of your car, so the engine heats up. It’s not that there’s too much heat, it’s that there isn’t enough coolant. So while acupuncture can balance your bodies energies, you can also expect that your acupuncturist will recommend an herbal formula. Herbs are a way of putting something into the body - in this case, some “coolant”. Chinese herbs are almost never taken singularly. They are meant to be taken in formulas, with specific amounts of each herb, prescribed to match each patient’s specific condition or conditions, body type, etc. When searching for an acupuncturist to treat your menopause or perimenopausal symptoms, you should make sure that he or she is a qualified herbalist, too, as this will make a big difference in the results you can expect. But it is important to understand that many of the herbs which are typically used in treating perimenopause or menopausal symptoms contain phytoestrogens, they are generally contraindicated in treating women who have had a history of breast cancer. Only a qualified herbalist will be able to decide if it is possible to compose a formula without any phytoestrogens, which would effectively treat your symptoms.
Toni Narins, L.Ac. is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in San Diego, CA. She maintains a busy clinical practice in Mission Valley, treating women for menstrual problems, menopausal symptoms and a wide variety of pain. Aside from acupuncture and herbs, she addresses her patient’s diet, exercise, and lifestyle.