Women's Issues Archives - Acupuncture in the Park

Natural Help for Night Sweats

Night sweats can be very frustrating because they’re uncomfortable, can interrupt your sleep, and may occur several times during the course of a night. They’re described as profuse sweating while you’re sleeping or hot flashes that occur at night and that happen repeatedly. Night sweats can leave you, your nightclothes, and sheets soaking wet, and can be a major contributor to loss of sleep. A single occurrence doesn’t qualify as night sweats, nor does a room that’s too hot or sleeping with too many blankets that cause you to wake up hot.

If you’re experiencing night sweats, there are a number of reasons why this may be happening. One of the most common causes is hormonal changes that occur with the onset of menopause. However there are other conditions that can cause night sweats, and they can occur in men as well. Night sweats can also be caused by infection, illness, and the side effects of some medications. If you’re experiencing night sweats accompanied by other symptoms, such as fevers, weight loss, heart palpitations, or overwhelming fatigue, it’s time to get checked out by your doctor.

Chinese Medicine on Night Sweats

In Chinese medicine, there are also a number of reasons behind night sweats, but the most common is an imbalance between your body’s Yin and Yang. Like the Chinese character for the sunny side of the hill, Yang is warm, bright, energizing, and transformative. In your body it acts a little like a pilot light that keeps you warm and fuels metabolism, digestion, and other transformative processes. In contrast, Yin is represented by the character of the shady side of the hill. Yin is cooling, calming, moistening, and nourishing. While Yang is warming and transforming, the actual substance of all your organs, tissues, and fluids are considered to be Yin. Yin acts like a nutritious coolant in your body that balances warm and active Yang.

When Yin becomes depleted, it’s like being low on the coolant that keeps Yang’s warmth in check. As a result, Yang burns freely and can cause symptoms of heat—most notably in the form of night sweats. In addition, the heat from depleted Yin/excess of Yang occurs during the backdrop of night, which is the most cool, restorative, Yin time of day. Depleted Yin is also associated with a certain amount of dryness, and may also cause you to wake up with a dry and sore throat, have dry skin or hair, or feel thirsty.

While depleted Yin is the most frequent cause of night sweats in Chinese medicine, there are other patterns that may also cause them to occur. Blood depletion, which is a little like anemia in which the nourishing quality of your blood is low can also cause night sweats. Also, excess heat triggered by blockages can also be an underlying reason for sweating at night.

Many women experience night sweats and the resulting loss of sleep during menopause. That’s because many of the hormones that are decreasing during menopause are Yin in nature—they’re nourishing and moistening. The drop in these hormones are considered to be a drop in Yin substances, which causes the imbalance between Yin and Yang. Other factors that can cause depleted Yin include your diet, body constitution, stress, working too hard, or becoming run down.

For many people, Chinese medicine can be an effective way to treat night sweats. If you should choose to go that route, your practitioner will likely use acupuncture, but may also supplement your treatment with Chinese herbs. There are a number of formulas that contain specific herbs to nourish Yin, cool heat, and calm your spirit to ensure a better night’s sleep. Food therapy may also be a helpful strategy if you’re experiencing night sweats due to depleted Yin. Your practitioner can help you choose foods that are nourishing, moistening, and cooling in order to supplement Yin. The bottom line is that while night sweats can be uncomfortable and mess with your sleep, they can occur for a variety of reasons, and Chinese medicine can be an effective and natural way to get them under control.

Heat, Hormones, and Chinese Medicine

Dear Acupuncture in the Park, why is it that some women have hot flashes into their seventies and even eighties? My poor mother still has what appears to be hot flashes several times a day, and she’s 76. She thinks she was just unlucky in the menopause lottery. What’s going on?

Answer: It’s not uncommon to see women who still struggle with hot flashes or night sweats many years after they have gone through menopause. Are their hormones to blame? Maybe, but it’s likely that there’s more going on than hormones run amok.

Within the framework of Chinese medicine, menopausal hot flashes have a lot to do with Yin and Yang. In your body, Yang acts like a warming pilot light. It maintains body warmth, transforms your food into nutrients, and keeps things moving. In contrast, Yin is more like a nourishing coolant that keeps the heat of Yang in check.

Menopause is all about hormones. There are some hormones that are more Yang in nature, like thyroid hormones. In contrast, sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone are considered to be more Yin, and they are cooling, calming, and moist. When you go through menopause, Yin in the form of estrogen and progesterone drops, which is a bit like being down a quart of coolant. Yang flares up, and the result is heat, in the form of hot flashes and night sweats.

So far so good. But how do you explain hot flashes occurring decades after menopause? Well, for most women, this menopausal heat-producing imbalance between Yin and Yang regulates itself. Most women will balance out within a year or two (often less) of the onset of the heat. However, women who are Yin depleted in nature may not be able to balance out so quickly, if at all.

How can you tell if your Yin is depleted? It may take the help of your acupuncturist to figure it out. That said, there are a few clues. Remember that Yin and nourishing, moistening, and cooling, so if you are not those things, chances are that your Yin could be out of balance. Specifically, if you have dry skin, wake up with a dry and sore throat, tend to run hot in general, struggle with insomnia, have hot hands and feet, struggle with constipation or dry stools, or tend to feel agitated, irritated, or restless, you might be dealing with a Yin deficiency.

But back to your 76-year-old mother who is still flashing. There may be other reasons beyond a Yin depletion that’s making her hot. For example, stress has the ability to heat you up, regardless of the status of Yin and Yang. In your body, stress has a way of making things “seize up” which creates heat that can feel very much like hot flashes.

Other conditions that can create heat in your body include inflammation and infection. While the problem may be localized, the heat associated with these conditions can cause hot flash-like flushing. In addition, there are people who are just constitutionally hot. They never need a sweater, are warm to the touch, and their partners describe them as furnaces.

So, the answer to your question is that it’s possible to have what feels like hot flashes well into old age. They may have started during menopause, and just stuck around because Yin never came back into balance. It’s also possible that something else is going on that’s making her hot. My suggestion is to have your practitioner of Chinese medicine do a thorough diagnosis. It’s my belief that in most cases, acupuncture, dietary tweaks, and in some cases Chinese herbs, can help things cool down.

Five Truths About Cosmetic Acupuncture

We live in a time and place that values youth and beauty, sometimes above all else. Billions of dollars are spent annually by both women and men attempting to hold onto that elusive glowing, wrinkle-free look of their youth, which becomes increasingly difficult to do as we age.

Chinese medicine offers up a solution in the form of cosmetic acupuncture, which consists of a series of acupuncture treatments dedicated to improving skin tone and reverse some of the signs of aging. Each treatment involves the insertion of tiny needles into your face, along with a few points on the rest of your body for overall health. A lot has been written about cosmetic acupuncture, sometimes with great exaggeration and misleading information, so here are a few points that should make things clearer.

-Cosmetic acupuncture is not the same thing as a facelift. The results of cosmetic acupuncture have been compared to a facelift, Botox, and fillers, which is just not true. Acupuncture in general is a kinder, gentler form of healing, and the results from cosmetic acupuncture reflects that as well. People who have had a full series of cosmetic acupuncture treatments will notice that their skin tone looks brighter and more even. They may also find their face less puffy, fine wrinkles may be reduced, and deeper wrinkles may look softer. In addition, some patients may notice slight lifting around their jowls and eyes. However, those changes will be subtle; like you’ve had a little something done—not like you’ve had surgery.

-Cosmetic acupuncture is not just about your face. Each treatment combines facial points to stimulate circulation and collagen with acupuncture points on your body, selected to treat your specific health needs. As a result, many patients who have had cosmetic acupuncture have noticed improvements in their overall health, too. Patients have described sleeping better, improved digestion, and fewer hot flashes—just from undergoing cosmetic acupuncture. This is a good thing, as your good health is reflected in your skin.

-Cosmetic acupuncture is more than just an anti-aging treatment. Many patients have seen skin conditions such as acne, rosacea, and eczema improve after undergoing cosmetic acupuncture treatments.

-You don’t need to choose between cosmetic acupuncture and aesthetic services—if fact you will get better results if you combine services such as facials, light therapy, and peels with cosmetic acupuncture. Your acupuncturist and aesthetician are on the same page, which is to give you the best results possible!

-You don’t need to suffer to beautiful. The bottom line is that while placing needles in your face may pinch a bit, it’s not considered by most patients to be painful. Instead, they will tell you that a cosmetic acupuncture session is actually incredibly relaxing, as acupuncture increases the production of endorphins and other feel-good chemicals in your brain. The result is that from the time you’re on the table, for hours, and sometimes several days after your treatment you will feel mellow, rested, and less stressed. And it will show on your face.

Infertility: Five Common Patterns of Imbalance in Chinese Medicine

When I began the practice of acupuncture over a decade ago, I never thought that I would treat women with infertility issues. It felt complicated and out of my league. But one day a young woman came to me who had been trying to conceive for years, and from a Chinese medical standpoint, her problem was obvious. We worked together for a few months, and she got pregnant. She told her friends, more women came to acupuncture for infertility issues, and more became pregnant. Over many years of treating women who are trying to become pregnant (while not 100 percent), the effectiveness of Chinese medicine is apparent.

When it comes to infertility, not all women are created equal. There are a number of patterns of imbalance in Chinese medicine that can be the underlying cause of an inability to become pregnant. Among them:

1) Kidney organ system depletion. Your Chinese Kidney is considered to be the deepest and most essential of the organ systems. It is the home to many of your body’s vital substance such as Yin and Yang and Essence. The Kidney system is responsible for your body constitution, which determines your overall health as well as how you will develop, mature, and age. It is also directly related to fertility. For most women seeking help from Chinese medicine for infertility issues, strengthening the Kidney system is often the primary focus of treatment.

Some signs that your Kidney system could be depleted include a weak and achy lower back or knees, waking hot at night or feeling cold to the core (or both), deep fatigue, metabolic issues, and frequent illnesses.

2) Depletion of Qi or Blood. Qi is the energy necessary for your body to perform its functions—from digestion to moving your muscles. And in Chinese medicine, your Blood is considered to be only as strong as its nourishing function. Poor diet, eating disorders, blood loss, lack of adequate sleep, and overworking all have the ability to deplete your Qi or Blood, and in many cases, both.

Your body needs adequate Qi and Blood to become pregnant and maintain a healthy pregnancy. Some signs that your Qi is depleted include feeling tired, easy bruising, poor digestion, feeling cold, and catching frequent colds. Blood depletion may show up as looking pale, dry skin, brittle nails, dizziness or feeling light-headed, and scanty menstrual periods.

3) Liver Qi Stagnation. This is stress and strong emotions causing your body to “seize up”. Your Chinese Liver system is responsible for the smooth flow of everything in your body, from your digestion and menstrual cycle, to your emotions and feelings of well-being. When you become very stressed out, emotional, or frustrated (what woman struggling with infertility isn’t?), your Liver Qi becomes bound up and causes a cascade of symptoms. Stress, irritability, a racing mind (especially as you try to sleep), feeling hot, and even pain under your ribs are signs that your emotions are getting the better of you.

4) Stagnation of Qi and Blood. This is similar to the pattern above, in that things aren’t moving very well in your body. However, while Liver Qi stagnation is more emotional in nature, stagnation of Qi and Blood is more physical. Symptoms of this pattern of imbalance include endometriosis, pelvic infections, and pelvic pain and cramping. Any kind of structural blockages of your reproductive system would fall under this pattern.

5) Phlegm and dampness. Wait…what? How can phlegm even be remotely associated with infertility? Let’s start with dampness, which is your body’s inability to properly metabolize fluids. Poor digestion, a slow metabolism, weight gain, and a funky diet all are contributors to this pattern. Dampness in your body may show up as…damp stuff, such as yeast infections, athlete’s foot, water retention, bladder infections, and swelling. When dampness sits around in your body for long enough, it congeals and becomes phlegm. It may show up as actual phlegm, such as sinus problems or congested lungs, but phlegm is also the culprit behind accumulations such as cysts, fibroids, and polycystic ovaries.

If you choose acupuncture and Chinese medicine for infertility issues, the first order of business for your practitioner is to determine what pattern is at the source of the problem. And because everything affects everything else in your body, more than one pattern may be at play here. Your practitioner will then use a variety of tools to set things right, including acupuncture, food therapy, Chinese herbs, heat therapy, stress relief, and other lifestyle changes.

Baby Maybe? Acupuncture for Infertility

Over the past several years, we have seen more women than ever before seeking our acupuncture services for help in getting pregnant. Surprisingly, fertility issues affect about 15 percent of couples in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and there seems to be a a number of reasons that this is happening. Many couples are waiting until their 30’s and 40’s to become pregnant, which can create fertility issues. In addition, the prevalence of plastics and other hormone disrupting chemicals found in everything from our cleaning products to cosmetics has increased dramatically over the past several decades. Food additives, pesticides, and GMO ingredients in our food may also play a role in impairing fertility.

The women who seek out acupuncture do so for a variety of reasons. Many want to explore acupuncture as a solution before they turn to Western fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or intrauterine insemination (IUI). Many women choose acupuncture first because they want to avoid the hormonal manipulation of the Western treatments, find acupuncture to be a less time-consuming and less expensive solution, or simply want to become naturally. Others have used acupuncture to support their Western fertility treatments.

Traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture can offer a number of benefits for women trying to become pregnant. Research on the physiological effects of Chinese medicine has documented that acupuncture alters brain chemistry in a way that reduces stress, (a huge factor for couples who are struggling with fertility issues). In addition, acupuncture has been found to regulate hormones, increase the circulation of blood to the reproductive organs, and Chinese herbs have been found to be helpful in regulating the menstrual cycle.

Practitioners of Chinese medicine have a variety of tools in which to help women trying to become pregnant, including acupuncture, Chinese herbs, dietary modifications, and lifestyle changes. In addition, if you are trying to get pregnant, there are a number of things that you can do on your own to help increase your chances. Some steps to take include:

-If you are a coffee drinker, decrease the amount you drink or cut it out altogether. New research indicates that coffee may slightly increase your risk for fertility issues.

-Eat organic foods when possible. This will help decrease the additives, genetically modified foods, and potentially hormone disrupting pesticides that you ingest.

-What you put on your skin makes a difference, too. Check out the Environmental Working Group‘s website for hormone disrupting chemicals in your cosmetics and skin care products.

-Get the chemicals out of your home by using natural cleaning products, glass containers (rather than plastic) when possible, and avoid BPA (bisphenol A) products in your food containers and packaging.

-Aim for a Mediterranean-type diet, with lots of plant-based foods, healthy fats from olive oil, nuts, and seeds, fish, and limited sweets and heavy meats.

-Maintain a healthy weight. Being dramatically underweight or overweight can affect fertility.

-Your body heals and rejuvenates while you sleep–make sure you’re getting enough.

-Struggling with fertility issues is stressful, and that stress impacts your health negatively in a number of ways. Do whatever it takes to deal with the stress, whether it’s getting a massage, acupuncture, meditation, or quiet time in the woods.

IVF, Twins, and the Role of Acupuncture

At Acupuncture in the Park, we have worked with a number of women seeking acupuncture for infertility issues. We have found that most couples going through fertility treatments will do almost anything to increase their chances of conceiving and delivering a healthy baby. For many, that has meant IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), in which fertilized embryos are placed directly into the womb.

To increase a couple’s chances of success, many fertility doctors transfer more than one embryo at a time, resulting in a higher incidence of multiple births. Since the “Octomom” case in which a woman delivered eight babies through the IVF process, doctors have dialed back, decreasing the number of big multiple births. The number of births involving twins, however, has stayed the same.

While many couples are happy having two babies for their efforts, the reality is that having twins increases the risk of premature births and subsequent health and developmental problems. According to the Center for Disease Control, 46% of babies born as the result of IVF are multiples and 37% of those births are premature. In contrast, only 3% of babies born without fertility help are multiples, and of those only 12% are born prematurely.

As a result, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine are recommending fertility treatment using single embryo transfers. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean a decrease in a couple’s chances of success. Current techniques available include better screening of embryos, maturing embryos a few days longer to increase viability, and the ability to sample chromosomes of more mature embryos. These techniques coupled with better timing of transfer into the womb makes the odds of success between a single-embryo and a multiple-embryo transfer about the same.

How does acupuncture and Chinese medicine fit into this story? Anyone who has gone through IVF can tell you that it is a financial, physical, and emotional drain. Most couples will do whatever they can to increase their chances of a successful pregnancy in as few rounds of IVF as possible, and this is where acupuncture comes in. Several studies have been conducted on the role of acupuncture in IVF, and that research indicates that acupuncture can positively affect success rates. In one study, receiving acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly increased pregnancy rates (39% acupuncture vs 26% without acupuncture). In another study, acupuncture was shown to be a factor in decreasing ectopic pregnancies among IVF recipients. From the research, it appears that acupuncture doesn’t affect the quality of the embryo, but rather it affects the health of the mother through hormone regulation. For a good summary of the research, go here.

While it may seem that in the numbers game of IVF that the odds have gone down with the recommendation of single-embryo transfers. But that isn’t necessarily the case. By combining more current techniques at the IVF clinic with Chinese medicine at the acupuncture clinic, your odds of success may be better than ever.

Acupuncture for Hot Flashes and Night Sweats

Not long ago, I sent my sister a care package. It wasn’t packed with brownies and cookies and other goodies to eat. Her care package had only one thing; a Chinese herbal formula to treat the night sweats that are waking her several times every night.

How you experience menopause is different from every other woman. Your family history, physical and psychological makeup and overall health all play a role in whether or not you will have menopause symptoms or sail right through unaffected. Your views of aging and menopause, and those of the people around you, may also shape your experience. Over the past 50 years, with the availability of hormone replacement therapies, women have had the option of treating the discomforts associated with menopause medically. The upshot of this practice is that menopause if viewed by some as a disease or hormone deficiency, with hormone supplementation required to reestablish a healthy balance.

Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine offer another paradigm in which to consider the experience of menopause. They understand that signs and symptoms associated with menopause are indications of some kind of imbalance deep within the body. In general, imbalances are years in the making, and physiological events, such as adolescence, childbirth, or menopause, magnify the imbalance and result in symptoms. With menopause, underlying imbalances can certainly affect your symptoms.

So what’s out of balance if you’re struggling with hot flashes and/or night sweats? Well, it could be a couple of things. First, your Essence could be depleted. Essence is one of the most important substances in your body and provides you with the energy you need to power all the functions of life. As you age, Essence slowly becomes depleted. This depletion causes many of the common signs of aging, such as gray hair, thinning bones, weakness in your back and knees, memory loss, and fatigue.

Depleted Essence can also cause menopause symtoms, too; here’s how: Essence is similar to estrogen, in that Essence is responsible for puberty, fertility, libido, and menopause. During menopause, Essence drops dramatically, and this loss can create an imbalance that is associated with a wide variety of symptoms. A common problem is that when Essence is depleted, it may lose the ability to keep Yang in check. Yang is the active and warming energy in your body, and when it flares unchecked, you may feel that warmth in the form of hot flashes or night sweats.

Another common scenario for women who are struggling with menopausal heat is an imbalance between Yin and Yang. If Yang is hot and active, Yin is the opposite; cooling and rejuvenating. In many ways, Yin is similar to Essence in that it is restorative and nourishing. During menopause, Yin also tends to drop, causing Yang to flare up and make you feel hot. The heat associated with this drop in Yin is frequently felt at night, which is the cool, restorative, and quite time of day–just like Yin. Against the backdrop of night, the active heat of Yang is more pronounced, resulting in night sweats.

It’s important to mention that stress can aggravate your heat symptoms. That’s because strong emotions, especially stress, have the ability to make your energy stagnate. Similar to a car engine seizing up without oil, your stress, anger, or frustration creates heat.

An untreated depletion of Essence or an imbalance between Yin and Yang will ultimately cause symptoms. So what can you do? First, you can protect your Essence through good diet, sleep, and balancing your work with rest. An over-the-top lifestyle, such as working long hours, late nights, and too much sex, drugs, and rock and roll will, in time, deplete your Essence.

You can also address depleted Essence or a Yin/Yang imbalance through acupuncture and Chinese medicine. After a complete evaluation, you acupuncturist will develop a treatment plan to address your specific imbalance(s). She can incorporate the use of acupuncture with herbs, diet, stress relief, and lifestyle changes to balance your body and alleviate your symptoms to help you sail through menopause in a natural and drug-free way.

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine for Urinary Tract Infections

Urinary tract infections (UTI’s) are miserable things. If you’ve ever had one, you’re no stranger to the lightening bolt of pain you feel every time you go to the bathroom. You don’t know what to do because it will hurt if you go, but holding it hurts, too. One thing you do know is that you want it to stop hurting.

While what’s going on may seem like a simple bladder infection, in Chinese medicine they’re anything but simple. Like headaches, colds, or back pain, bladder infections (or UTI’s) have a distinct personality. Symptoms can run the gamut from urinary urgency, frequency, difficulty, dribbling, sharp urethral pain, spasms in the lower abdomen, and pain radiating to your lower back.

In Chinese medicine, UTI’s generally fall into a pattern of excess or depletion. Excess patterns are due to an accumulation or too much of something. Bladder infections that are excess tend to be a combination of dampness (an accumulation of fluids) and heat. The most notable symptom of this kind of pattern is a burning pain during urination. A damp heat UTI can be the result of too much alcohol, hot spicy food, sweets, or poor hygiene.

UTI’s that are caused by depletion are usually the result of being run down from aging, not sleeping well, poor diet, and…um, too much sex. Living life a little too fully can wear down your Chinese Kidney and/or Spleen to the point that you’re unable to metabolize water or control the mechanism of the bladder very well. The end result can be incontinence or dribbling, dull and achy pain, and a sore lower back.

To further complicate the diagnosis, in Chinese medicine, bladder infections are grouped into six different types:

Heat. This is the typical bladder infection, with sharp, burning pain. You may also run a fever; have constipation, thirst, or a bitter taste in your mouth.

Stony. This one really hurts with the kind of pain that can bring you to your knees. This is essentially kidney stones, and the symptoms include severe low back or abdominal pain, cramping, difficulty urinating, urinating blood, and passing stones in the urine.

Qi. This is all about your energy, or Qi, and can be either excess or deficient. An excess pattern means that your energy is stagnating and causing symptoms, which include difficult urination, a feeling of fullness or pain in your lower abdomen, and possibly chest tightness or rib pain. A depleted Qi pattern is caused by not having enough energy for your bladder to metabolize water. Symptoms in this case may include a feeling of heaviness in your lower abdomen, dripping or incontinence, possibly a pale complexion, feeling tired, shortness of breath, and an achy lower back.

Bloody. This pattern can also be from either an excess or depletion, but either way, there will be blood in your urine. An excess pattern is essentially heat causing you to bleed, with symptoms such as urinary frequency, urgency, sharp burning pain, and of course, blood in your urine–usually a fair amount. Being depleted can also cause blood in your urine, but there typically won’t be as much blood, or the bleeding will occur over a long period of time. Also, if this pattern is from being depleted, it won’t generally be as sharply painful, but you may feel tired and you may have a weak, achy low back and/or knees.

Cloudy. Like the bloody pattern, this one can come from either an excess or a depletion. The common denominator however, is cloudy or milky looking urine. If caused by an excess, this type will have very cloudy urine with urethral pain and burning. If from a depletion, your symptoms may include dribbling of cloudy looking urine, mild urethral pain, dizziness, ringing ears, and again, a weak or achy lower back and knees. This pattern tends to affect people who have a thin, weak, or depleted body type.

Taxation. This is a total depletion pattern, and comes from overdoing it or being totally wiped out. The symptoms include periodic dribbling of urine, stress incontinence (leaking after jumping or sneezing), fatigue, and an achy, weak low back or knees.

Each type of UTI has a specific method of treatment in Chinese medicine. However, in general, an excess pattern will involve clearing heat and resolving the dampness. This may be done through a combination of acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and food therapy. A common herbal formula for bladder infections is Ba Zheng San, (also called Eight Herb Powder for Rectification). This particular formula works to clear heat and drain out dampness, and in some cases can be used for UTI’s where there is some blood in the urine.

For UTI’s that are caused by being depleted, the first line of treatment may involve Chinese herbs to supplement Spleen or Kidney Qi (energy). Acupuncture and foods chosen to build up your strength may also become part of your treatment. It’s important to remember that it usually takes longer to treat a depletion pattern than an excess pattern. That’s because when you’re depleted, the treatment involves nourishing or rebuilding your body, and this can take time. However, with the proper treatment and time, you can rebuild your body and prevent your symptoms from recurring.

Eating Disorders and Chinese Medicine

From time to time we’re asked whether acupuncture can help someone with an eating disorder, such as anorexia, bulimia, or obsessive overeating. As with any condition, there is no one size fits all—everyone is different and heals at their own pace and in their own way. That said, at Acupuncture in the Park, we have worked with a number of patients who have suffered with eating disorders and who have been helped—sometimes dramatically so—from acupuncture.

Each person with an eating disorder comes with a unique set of circumstances, and can have one (or more) of a variety of imbalances in Chinese medicine. However, whether the condition is anorexia, bulimia, overeating, pathological food restriction, or night eating, in Chinese medicine the following organs are affected by eating disorders:

Heart. While you tend to think of your Heart as something that primarily pumps blood and is prone to heart attacks as you get older, the Heart organ system in Chinese medicine houses something called the Shen. The Shen is the home to your mind, memory, consciousness, and spirit. While these functions are attributed to the brain in Western medicine, we tend to intuitively know that the Heart is also an organ of feeling. (Think valentines, having a “broken heart” or heartfelt thanks.)

As an organ of emotion and spirituality, there is always some level of Shen imbalance in people who are struggling with an eating disorder. We believe that your approach to eating mirrors your approach to life, and if you’re binging, vomiting, not eating, or unhealthily restricting your food intake, your heart and spirit are as out of balance as your physical body. In Chinese medicine, an eating disorder would be considered a Shen disturbance.

Liver. Your Chinese Liver system is also concerned with emotions. The Liver is responsible for the smooth flow of everything in your body, including your emotions. When what you desire is very different from the reality of your life, it can evoke strong feelings of anger, frustration, and low self-worth. When those feelings are constantly suppressed, Liver energy becomes stuck and can show up as irritability, angry outbursts, and yes, pathological eating. In some people, especially those with eating disorders, strong emotions are turned inward and may also become depression and anxiety. In the patients we’ve treated with eating disorders, there is always some element of Liver stagnation.

Spleen. The organ system most damaged by eating disorders is your Chinese Spleen. Paired with the Stomach, your Spleen is responsible for the process of taking in food, digesting it, and converting it into the energy and nutrients your body needs to function on an everyday basis. Your Spleen is also in charge of holding things in and up in your body.

An eating disorder can damage your Spleen in a couple of ways. First, the digestive process can be impaired, even years after an eating disorder, causing symptoms such as stomachaches, gas, heartburn, constipation or loose stools, and even lack of energy or fatigue.

In addition, we have seen in a couple of women in our clinic who have recovered from their eating disorder, but who have damaged the holding function of their Spleen. This has shown up in an ability to become pregnant, but a tendency towards miscarriages (an inability to “hold” the fetus). Another sign of damage to the Spleen is easy bruising, as the blood isn’t being “held” in the vessels very well, and chronic diarrhea as…well, you get the point.

Kidney. Your Chinese Kidney is the home to all the vital substances in your body—Yin and Yang, Qi and Blood, and Essence, which is kind of like your DNA and body constitution all wrapped into one. Your body constitution is a gauge of how healthy you are, and it’s affected by how you live your life. For example, you may be a big, strong and healthy person who damages your health by partying, eating poorly and skimping on sleep—all things that can deplete your body constitution. In contrast, you may be smaller and not be as strong, but if you guard your health by eating well, sleeping, etc. you may live to reach a ripe old age.

My point is this—eating disorders damage your body constitution, and as a result, the health of your Chinese Kidney.

The good news is that if you are suffering from an eating disorder or have a history of an eating disorder, all is not lost. First, you need help from a mental health professional who is skilled in treating people with eating disorders. Then, when you are ready to get your body back into balance and repair the damage, Chinese medicine, through the use of acupuncture and herbs, can help by calming your Shen, soothing your Liver, strengthening your Spleen, and rebuilding and strengthening your Kidney.

Will Acupuncture Get Rid of My PMS

By: Shelley Conn

Yes. In fact, gynecological conditions are some of the most successfully treated problems by acupuncture or Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Premenstrual Syndrome covers a broad spectrum of symptoms before a period. Symptoms may be emotional, such as depression, irritability, sadness, anxiety, or poor concentration. PMS may also involve physical symptoms, such as breast tenderness, a change in bowel habits, acne, or loss of libido. Symptoms can vary widely in terms of severity, and may change from month to month.

Within the framework of modern medicine, problems associated with PMS are treated as any other disease. Its “symptoms” are treated with over-the-counter or prescription drugs or hormones. Severe PMS is considered an indicator that an underlying imbalance exists. Treatment is focused on correcting the imbalance, or the source of the problem, not just treating outward “symptoms”.

Imbalances can arise from a variety of factors, including poor diet, too much work physical or emotional trauma, constitutionally weak Qi (energy) or stress. These imbalances ultimately cause a blockage of Qi or blood in one of the body’s organs or energy pathways. When Qi and blood become blocked, they stagnate and are unable to properly nourish the body. This stagnation frequently manifests in women in the form of PMS.

Your practitioner may use a variety of modalities to treat your PMS. Depending on your specific imbalance, he/she may use Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, dietary therapy, bodywork and lifestyle changes. When performed by a Licensed Acupuncturist, acupuncture is a safe, natural, drug-free, and effective way to treat PMS.

Chinese Medicine on Night Sweats

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