Painful Menstruation and what to do about it.

Unfortunately, painful periods affect many women and for some can be extremely debilitating. This condition, known medically as dysmenorrhea, causes pain in the lower back and abdomen. While a little discomfort is normal, extreme pain is not and warrants further examination as conditions like endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, ovarian cysts, or even IBS could be the cause of this pain.

Primary dysmenorrhea starts at the onset of the menstrual cycle of a young woman, while secondary dysmenorrhea develops later in life. Typical Western treatments include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, or birth control pills. Both can temporarily reduce the severity of symptoms but don’t address the root cause of the issue (especially if the pain is stemming from another condition).  Menstrual pain can be caused due to poor flow of qi thru the abdomen, poor circulation of blood thru the uterus, or it can be hormonal.

Acupuncture addresses the underlying issues causing the painful periods, and addresses them one by one.

At Summit Healing Arts, you are looked at as the whole person that you are and everything from habits and life style propensities to family  history is taken into consideration and a treatment plan devised that will address the root cause of your menstrual pain.  Then with weekly treatments, you should start to notice improvements from the very first treatment.  After a series of weekly treatments, the sessions are scheduled further apart such as once every two to four weeks and that is maintained until the symptoms have fully resolved and your periods are pain free and doesn’t cause a depletion of energy.  Once this is achieved, maintenance treatments is all that is required.  So whether your periods are painful, short and scanty, or too long and depletes you of your energy, there is one treatment that is above all else in terms of effectiveness and safety and that is acupuncture and herbal medicine.