Based on an exhaustive review of dozens of premodern and contemporary Chinese gynecological texts and hundreds of articles appearing in Chinese medical journals as well as the author’s more than 17 years experience specializing in Chinese medical gynecology, this new book is unparalleled in its scope and depth. If a practitioner wants to understand how to diagnose and treat women’s complaints in Chinese medicine, this book is an absolute necessity. Filled with easy-to-reference charts and diagrams, this book also includes acupuncture and moxibustion, and individually prescribed standardized desiccated extract Chinese herbal treatments.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Book One: Introductory Theory
1 The Physiological Characteristics of Females
2 The Causes, Mechanisms & Prevention of Menstrual Disease
3 TCM Methodology
4 The Logic of the TCM Discussion of Menstrual Diseases
5 Western Disease Diagnosis & TCM Menstrual Diseases
6 Key Points in the TCM Diagnosis of Menstrual Disease
7 Key Patterns in Menstrual Diseases
8 Treatment Principles & Chinese Medicinals
9 Treatment Strategies & Expectations
Book Two: The Diagnosis & Treatment of Menstrual Diseases
1 Menstruation Ahead of Schedule
2 Menstruation Behind Schedule
3 Sometimes Early, Sometimes Late, No Fixed Schedule Menstruation
4 Profuse Menstruation
5 Scanty Menstruation
6 Flooding & Leaking
7 Blocked Menstruation
8 Painful Menstruation
9 Menstrual Movement Diseases
Breast Distention & Pain
Diarrhea &/or Vomiting
Body Pain
Headache
Fever
Vertigo & Dizziness
Edema
Oral Gan
Loss of Sleep
Acne
Raving & Confused Vision
Dull-wittedness & Stupidity
Hives
Flowing Drool
Oral Thirst
Hoarse Voice
Eye Pain
Lumbar Pain
Suspended Vagina Pain
Nosebleed
Coughing Blood
Bloody Stool
Bloody Urine
10 Perimenopausal Syndrome
Appendix 1: Acupuncture & Moxibustion Formulas
Appendix 2: Powdered Extract Formulas
Appendix 3: Abnormalities in the Color & Consistency of the Menstrual Water
Appendix 4: Li Dong-yuan’s Gynecology
Bibliography
Formula Index
General Index. .
EXCERPT: Appendix 1:
Acupuncture & Moxibustion Formulas for Menstrual Diseases
The formulas given below correspond to the main patterns under the menstrual diseases discussed in the body of the text. Their composition is based on the contemporary tcm approach to Chinese acupuncture. Because most patients in clinical practice present with multifaceted patterns, practitioners should regard these formulas as only the basic building blocks for designing a tcm acupuncture protocol for any given Western gynecological patient. The theory behind the formulation of tcm acupuncture protocols is relatively straight-forward. After doing a pattern discrimination, one states the appropriate treatment principles for remedying that pattern. Then one chooses points whose functions and properties correspond to those principles. In general, one should choose several major transport points on the arms and legs corresponding to the major treatment principles. These are then combined with local points on the channels traversing the lower abdomen and lumbosacral region as well as extra-channel a shi points.
In my experience, the key issues in formulating and administering effective tcm acupuncture treatments for menstrual diseases primarily reside in
1) doing a correct pattern discrimination,
2) then stating the correct treatment principles, and
3) choosing the best and most effective time for administering treatment.
Personally, I believe tcm acupuncture is most effective when several treatments are grouped together fairly closely. In China, the standard of care is usually every other day, three days per week for a course of treatment of 10-15 treatments. In the West, such repeated, intensive treatments are not always possible due to time and monetary constraints. However, when doing acupuncture for menstrual diseases, one does not necessarily need to treat throughout the entire cycle.
In other words, if the patient were willing to receive one treatment per week four times per month, it is my experience when treating menstrual diseases, she would be better served and her money would be spent in a more cost effective manner if she received three or four treatments spaced every other day in the correct phase of her cycle. This means that, for premenstrual complaints, it is more cost and therapeutically effective to give a treatment every other or every third day from the onset of the premenstrual signs and symptoms than it is to give one treatment per week throughout the entire cycle. Likewise, for painful menstruation, as long as this is not accompanied by midcycle, ovulatory pain, I believe that acupuncture and moxibustion really only needs to be begun several days before the onset of menstruation and then continued through the time when the pain is normally experienced. During that time, it may mean that the patient receives one treatment every day or even more than one treatment per day.
Such intensive acupuncture is all the more appropriate when the practitioner is also treating the patient with some Chinese medicinals internally. These may be either bulk-dispensed, individually designed, water-based decoctions or they may be ready-made or so-called patent pills or powders. In that case, most of the cycle, the patient can be treated in the comfort of her own home by taking cyclically appropriate Chinese medicinals internally. Then, in addition to these, during certain phases of her monthly cycle, she may receive acupuncture daily, every other day, or every third day. If, for whatever reason, such cyclically phased intensive acupuncture is not possible, I nevertheless recommend designing acupuncture protocols keeping in mind what day of the patient’s menstrual cycle it is and altering the protocol in order to work within and with this cycle.
Guiding acupuncture points for the treatment of menstrual disease
The formulas below are only meant as guides to treatment. They are not intended to be used without modification. Readers should consider the tcm rationale for each point in each formula. Since most cases area combination of two or more patterns occurring simultaneously, in clinical practice, one should choose one, two, or several points from each formula for each pattern present, thus crafting an individual treatment corresponding to the individual patient.
Menstruation Ahead of Schedule
1. Blood heat
Replete heat/damp heat: Xue Hai (Sp 10), San Yin Jiao (Sp 6), He Gu (LI 4), Qu Chi (LI 11), Zhong Ji (CV 3), Yang Ling Quan (GB 34) for replete heat, Yin Ling Quan (Sp 9) for damp heat
Depressive heat: Xing Jian (Liv 2) through to Tai Chong (Liv 3), San Yin Jiao (Sp 6), Xue Hai (Sp 10), He Gu (LI 4), Qu Chi (LI 11), Qi Hai (CV 6)
Vacuity heat: Tai Xi (Ki 3), Yin Gu (Ki 10), San Yin Jiao (Sp 6), Xue Hai (Sp 10), Guan Yuan (CV 4), Shen Shu (Bl 23)
Phlegm heat: Tai Chong (Liv 3), He Gu (LI 4), Qu Chi (LI 11), Feng Long (St 40), San Yin Jiao (Sp 6), Xue Hai (Sp 10), Pi Shu (Bl 20)
