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Best Care for Women

TCM-traditional Chinese medicine (acupuncture is one of its branches) has its increased acceptance among Canadian women. Acupuncture & Chinese medicine is soft, gentle and feminine in nature and is suitable in taking care of women’s delicate health needs. The strength of bio-medicine lies in its diagnostic technology and in its ability in dealing with critical conditions when tough chemicals, strong hormones and heroic surgeries are necessary. In China, women seek help from TCM physicians for most of chronic disorders. They find themselves in an MD’s office only if they really need surgery or tough drugs.

TCM and modern bio-medicine approach their female clients very differently. A physician of bio-medicine tends to view his patient as a pathological subject with histological/anatomical changes and hormonal disorders, whereas a physician of TCM always sees his client as a whole living individual, with certain patterns of imbalance and disharmony in her system. A Western physician labels her patient with a name of disease and attacks the lesion fiercely. But the surrounding area and the whole person are often attacked as well. A TCM physician aims at adjusting the person’s whole system and building up her inner healing to overcome the problems. The best thing about acupuncture & Chinese medicine, of course, is its ability to improve the chronic conditions which conventional medicine has neither valid explanations nor effective treatments.

The following are typical female disorders we treat successfully. [top]

Fertility and Pregnancy

We treat, in our terms, female and male functional infertility. Helping women to become pregnant is one of the strengths of acupuncture and TCM.  Over the years, we have accumulated good experiences in this area.  For a woman, if there are eggs produced and no surgical corrections needed to her reproduction system, the infertility might be solved with TCM.  Some became pregnant even reproductive technology failed them.  

This system of healing also improves the outcome for those who are using the reproductive technology such as IVF, etc.  You should start TCM treatments the earlier the better to improve the chance of IVF.  The idea is to prepare your body holistically and your reproductive system in particular for the process.  We apply TCM theories to each individual client and consult recent published studies.  Some studies showed that acupuncture treatment could improve the IVF chance close to 50%.  In each session, we use integrated TCM techniques including acupuncture and moxibustion, etc.  Ideally you should have about 12 sessions, 6 sessions minimal.  If insurance coverage is an important concern, you might still like to have these three most important sessions, one before your egg retrieval, one before the fertilized egg transfer and one after the transfer. 

TCM has also accumulated rich experiences in helping those who are subject to repeated natural miscarriages, morning sickness in early pregnancy and lower back pain in later pregnancy.  We also help women to have easier labour by improving the contractions, reducing the pain and relaxing the whole body.  In cases of overdue pregnancy, some women like to try our service before considering medical intervention.  This also applies to some women who have to deliver a couple of weeks before the calculated due date for health reasons. If you baby in a wrong position, you might have difficulty in delivery or you might have to go through a Cesarean section.   In about half of the cases, our moxibustion technique and acupuncture can help the baby to reposition.  Major studies were published in the Journal of American Medical Association about correcting breech presentation with moxibustion treatment.  It is safe and effective.

If you are pregnant, do not have intercourse please, especially during the first three months.  In fact, you should not do anything that is too vigorous or dramatic.  Except for the time you are pregnant, you should enjoy intimacy as much as you can.  The integration of  Yin (female) and Yang (male) energy is essential for your general wellbeing and overall happiness, which is life is all about.  Therefore you must be active and satisfied, playing an equal role as your man in your bedchamber exercises.  The lack of desire and the absence of orgasm could be part of a bigger disorder.  TCM treatment can help you to cultivate sexual energy and reproductive ability. [top]

The symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are many and varied, such as anxiety, irritability, decreased motivation and efficiency, indecision, paranoia and even suicidal thoughts, low in libido, food cravings and lethargy, breast tenderness, headache, lower abdominal pain, lower back pain, joint and muscle pain, diarrhea, nausea, palpitations, clumsiness, dizziness, tremors, acne, dry hair, bloating, edema, weight gain, etc. You may only have some of these symptoms. They should disappear shortly after the start of menstrual flow. Painful menstrual cramps are referred as Dysmenorrhea.

In TCM, PMS and painful period are not in themselves pathological entities. The group of symptoms and signs are highly individualized, therefore their suffers are treated differently. The patterns of these disorders are differentiated as: qi and blood stagnancy; cold coagulation and blood stasis as well as qi and blood deficiency. Acupuncture treatments (stimulating selected acu-points with special technique) and herbal formulae are used. [top]

The problems concerning the duration of cycle, or the amount, color or quality of blood, such as: advanced, retarded or the abnormal absence of menstruation and uterine bleeding, are classified into this category.  TCM emphasizes the importance of regulating menstruation in treating women’s diseases, which is also the first step to solve the problem of functional infertility.  TCM offers effective approaches to Leukorrhea, the different forms of abnormal discharges from the vagina.

"Early detection and early removal" is the best strategy to many female cancers such as breast cancer (men get it too), ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and cervical cancer, etc. Sometimes, surgery cannot solve the problem completely or surgery is not at all the option. Then, chemotherapy and radiation therapy must be used. Surgery, by which surrounding normal tissues are removed together with the cancer cells, in itself is an injury to the body. Chemical and radiation therapies have their terrible side-effects because they kill more than just cancer cells alone.

As a supportive therapy, acupuncture & Chinese medicine can play a crucial role in the treatment of cancers. TCM mobilizes the body’s defence system to fight cancer. With TCM, a cancer sufferer could survive much longer and live healthier. TCM repairs the immune mechanism damaged by conventional therapies, so such therapies could be continued if necessary. TCM can resolve the blood stagnancy and improve the micro-circulation, therefore the anti-cancer agents (such as the white blood cells and chemical drugs) could reach the real lesion. TCM enhances the quality of life, because it eases cancer associated symptoms such as pain, fatigue, anxiety, and so on.

Research shows that TCM herbal formulae (we have them in various forms) can actually attack the cancer cells without side-effects. In our practice, we use a combination of therapies available in the TCM armoury. [top]

Five out of six sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis are women. This chronic condition starts with the smaller joints of the hands and feet and then it could further affect larger joints of the extremities. At early stages, a patient could experience painful, stiff and swollen joints and later on she could have severe muscle-wasting with deformity of joints and loss of movement. This disease belongs to the category of ‘Bi’ syndrome in TCM.

According to different symptoms and signs of each patient, ‘Bi’ can be classified into seven patterns. Each pattern has its particular treatment strategy and methods. Acupuncture, tuina and TCM herbal pills can well manage the pain, increase the flexibility and greatly improve the general condition. The therapies may slow down and even stop the worsening process. [top]

We have accumulated some experience in treating chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. The key is to strengthen internal qi and energy centers.  It is a well-known fact that acupuncture can successfully manage migraines. They may or may not linked to you menstrual cycle.  Over the years, we have developed an effective treatment plan for psoriasis suffers. Many of our early clients still retain their smooth skin without the recurrence of psoriasis. We also use acupuncture and TCM to deal with obesity. [top]