Can Acupuncture help with Menopause?
If you are reading this post, you probably know of someone suffering with menopausal symptoms or perhaps you may be going through menopausal symptoms yourself.
Menopause does not have to be a terrible and awful time of your life. It does not have to include constant hot flashes, night sweats, and inconsistent hormonal mood swings.
What is Menopause?
Menopause is a transitional period which marks the end of ovulation for women. This change can last months to years and symptoms range from mild to severe due to decreasing estrogen. Menopausal symptoms include hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, fatigue, mood swings, memory loss, vaginal dryness, headaches, joint pain, and weight gain.
Menopause
How do I treat Menopause?
Recently, there is much debate on the benefits of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). HRT usually starts when the first symptoms of menopause appear. While HRT may help to get rid of hot flashes and prevent bone loss (osteoporosis), they have been associated with increasing the risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancer. HRT isn’t the only answer to menopause. Many women are exploring alternative options such as acupuncture. Herbal Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (such as Acupuncture) have been used for women’s health can be found in early medical literature dating back to 3AD.
How Acupuncture work for Menopause?
The basic foundation for Acupuncture is that there is a energy flowing through the body, which is termed Qi (pronounced chee). This specific energy flows through the body on channels known as meridians that connect all of our major organs. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, illness/disease/negative changes in the body such as menopause arises when the flow of Qi in the meridians becomes unbalanced or disturbed.
Acupuncture may help to reduce menopausal symptoms. It may help to reduce stress, hot flashes, mood swings and irritability.
How does Acupuncture work?
Acupuncture stimulates specific points located on or below the surface of the skin. These specific points have the ability to alter various biomechanical and physiological conditions in order to achieve the desired effect. During the acupuncture treatment, very thin needles (no medication in the needle) are placed in specific spots located on your arms, back, legs and feet. The number of needles utilized, length of treatment, number of treatments and frequency of treatments will vary case to case. Typical, an acupuncture treatment lasts at least 30 minutes. Patients are recommended to attend treatments at least 2-3 times per week.
More