Acupuncture for Gynaecology

There are so many complaints relating to the period and actually we can tell a lot from a Chinese Medicine sense from these. One of my beliefs is that no period should ever be painful!  

Man performing a leg massage on a patient in a clinic setting.

Acupuncture for Periods

There are multiple complaints that ladies have come to the clinic with relating to the menstrual cycle:

  1. Painful periods, otherwise known as dysmenorrhea, which is experienced by millions of women worldwide. The pain can range from a mild discomfort to a lot more of a severe/debilitating pain.

  2. An absence of periods, Amenorrhoea, which can be particularly hard to cope with.

  3. Other period-specific complaints such as heavy bleeding, upsetting clotting, irregular periods, the colour of blood being particularly dark, and more.

The period, or lack thereof, is not the be all and end all of a treatment. At your first acupuncture section, I will take a detailed case history to understand how your health is both physically and mentally. With periods, and any other hormonal variations, other things can occur such as:

  • Bloating and digestive irregularities

  • Fluctuating mood swings

  • Headaches and migraines

  • Particular food cravings (often very intensely focused on craving sugar)

As holistic practitioners, our focus is on understanding your overall wellbeing and tailoring our treatments based on your unique requirements. That's why it is better to have a number of sessions as it takes time to build rapport, understand how your body responds to acupuncture, and to give the modality the best chance of success (this is particularly useful when the condition has been going on for a long time).

A period shouldn't be something that becomes dreaded. There is some really good evidence to show how acupuncture can be incredibly effective for reducing the intensity of period pains and also in reducing the amount of time the pain is experienced for. It has an amazing ability to reduce the effect of period pain, and for future cycles, unlike painkillers which just mask the pain.

A Closer Look at PCOS and Endometriosis

Firstly a fun fact; gynaecology stems from a Latin word meaning the "science of women". I love this!

The two main conditions (but not the exhaustive list) that we seem to treat in gynae are:

  1. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

  2. Endometriosis

This is not an exhaustive list though as we treat everything from fibroids, cysts all over the body (e.g. in the fallopian tubes), pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease, urinary tract infections, and more.

Let's explore the two main complaints in more detail.

  • Endometriosis

    Endometriosis is a common condition, affecting nearly 1 in 10 women in the UK, which is nearly the same amount as diabetes. Despite this, it's often diagnosed after many years (the average wait time is 7 and a half years) of suffering and costs the UK economy £8.2B a year. Yes that is B for billion!

    It can show up in different ways which includes:

    1. Pain in the lower abs or back which can be a lot worse during your cycle

    2. Intense period pain that doesn't allow you to do many 'normal' activities

    3. 75% of women with endometriosis complain of pain during or after sexual intercourse

    4. Feeling pain when going to the loo during your period (number ones, sometimes with blood in your pee too, and number twos)

    5. Feeling sick and either (or sometimes alternating) constipation or diarrhoea when you have a period

    6. Very heavy periods with flooding

    Other symptoms include fatigue, depression and difficulty getting pregnant.

    Acupuncture has been proven to be a useful option to try as opposed to the conventional methods. The conventional methods include things like surgery but it is not a cure as it can still return in the future (and eventually you might be suggested a hysterectomy). Some studies have shown that acupuncture may help reduce the pain of endometriosis but also in reducing the recurrence rate which shows how acupuncture works at treating the root cause of the pain.

  • One of the most common hormonal conditions in the UK is PCOS with an estimated 1 in 3 women suffering from it. It is characterised by irregular menstrual cycles, often showing when women come off the contraceptive pill after many years, and is diagnosed when there are 20 or more follicles seen on an ovarian scan. This causes the menstrual cycle to become long, typically but it can make it shorter, and it has a dramatic effect on disrupting fertility.

    Polycystic ovarian syndrome  is normally connected to an excess of androgens (male hormones) in the blood stream. Any issues with an insulin balance are often common and these can lead to a range of symptoms including skin conditions (like acne), excess hair and unexplained weight gain.

    Everyone might experience PCOS slightly different. That's where the initial interview becomes so important as it helps us to understand how the conditions manifests for you as an individual. In a Western sense, the condition is focused on the ovaries but actually the mechanisms of PCOS are quite complex and much more systemic. It manifests from a disruption between the brain, in particular between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, and the ovaries. It really is dependent on the person as sometimes the thyroid glad to be affected and for people to suffer from blood sugar changes. That's why we try to understand the system as a whole, as no single part of the body can be understood unless the whole is considered, to ensure that we treat both the root and the symptoms.

    Acupuncture can be a very safe treatment for PCOS. Simply put; acupuncture can have an impact on your general wellbeing, reduce any symptoms, and improve pregnancy rates. Some studies have gone deeper to show how acupuncture can help increase the blood flow to ovaries, reduce the number of ovarian cysts, improve the metabolic function of patients with obesity-type PCOS, and more.