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Acupuncture for Cramps
Menstrual Cramp Relief
Menstrual cramp relief strategies and methods depend on the severity and underlying cause of your pain. If PID or sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are causing your pain, your doctor will prescribe antibiotics to clear the infection.
Listed below are the most common remedies used for dysmenorrhea treatment:
Medications for menstrual cramp relief.
Listed below are medications that are ideal for Dysmenorrhea treatment
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). You can find these drugs over the counter or get prescription-strength NSAIDs from your doctor.
- Antidepressants are sometimes prescribed to help lessen some of the mood swings associated with dysmenorrhea.
What is Dysmenorrhea?
Dysmenorrhea or menstrual cramps occur when the uterus contracts strongly during menstruation. The contraction of the uterus aids to expel its lining (endometrium) and clots out through the vaginal opening.
Why acupuncture for cramps became the so popular choice of treatment in women’s world? According to a study in the Journal of Pain Research, 84.1% of women suffer from menstrual pain (cramps) to varying degrees and, at least, one in four women experience distressing pain that requires medication and disrupts their daily activities.
Cramps… Just that word makes women shudder. This is the reason most of them got acquainted with Tylenol, Midol, and whatever else painkiller was in the medicine cabinet.
Dysmenorrhea refers to the pain and cramps that women experience during menstruation. More than half of the women experience some pain for 1-2 days during their menses. However, for some women, the pain is so severe that it interferes with their normal activities for several days a month. There are two types of dysmenorrhea:
Primary dysmenorrhea:
- This occurs during your menarche (first start of your period) and continues throughout your life. It may cause severe and frequent menstrual pain due to abnormal or severe uterine contractions.
Secondary dysmenorrhea:
- It starts later in life and is caused due to any underlying medical conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disease or endometriosis.
Causes of dysmenorrhea
It’s not always possible to identify the cause of painful menstrual periods. Some people are just at a higher risk of having painful periods.
These risks include:
- Having a family history of painful periods
- Smoking
- Having heavy bleeding with periods
- Having irregular periods
A hormone called prostaglandin triggers muscle contractions in your uterus that expel the lining. These contractions can cause pain and inflammation. The level of prostaglandin rises right before menstruation begins.
The causes of dysmenorrhea include
- Premenstrual syndrome (PMS). PMS is a common condition that’s caused by hormonal changes in the body occurring 1 to 2 weeks before menstruation begins. Symptoms typically go away after bleeding begins.
- This is a painful medical condition in which cells from the lining of the uterus grow in other parts of the body, usually on the fallopian tubes, ovaries, or tissue lining the pelvis.
- Fibroids in the uterus. Fibroids are noncancerous tumors that can put pressure on the uterus or cause abnormal menstruation and pain, though they often don’t cause symptoms.
- Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID is an infection of the uterus, fallopian tubes, or ovaries often caused by sexually transmitted bacteria that cause inflammation of the reproductive organs and pain.
Symptoms of dysmenorrhea or menstrual cramps?
Listed below are some of the symptoms of dysmenorrhea
- Aching pain in the abdomen (pain may be severe at times).
- Feeling of pressure in the abdomen.
- Pain in the hips, lower back, and inner thighs.
Natural menstrual cramp relief.
Natural treatment for dysmenorrhea is another Dysmenorrhea treatment that is effective in the treatment of menstrual cramps without causing any side effects. Listed below is a natural treatment for dysmenorrhea.
Acupuncture – traditional Chines medicine for menstrual cramp relief
Acupuncture for dysmenorrhea is a natural treatment for dysmenorrhea that can help relieve menstrual cramps. This ancient Asian healing method is thought to relax the nervous system, allow more blood to flow to internal organs, and quell inflammation.
Herbal teas – natural and safe menstrual cramp relief
Certain herbal teas may help relieve menstrual cramps. Herbal teas are natural remedies for dysmenorrhea that have been used by menstruating women in numerous cultures for centuries. Chamomile and peppermint teas are often recommended for menstrual pain because they are calming to the body. Other teas associated with dysmenorrhea are those made from cramp bark, ginger, or fennel.
Homeopathic remedies for dysmenorrhea – #1 dysmenorrhea treatment
Homeopathic remedies for dysmenorrhea address the underlying cause of dysmenorrhea and individual susceptibility. As far as therapeutic medication is concerned, several remedies are available to treat dysmenorrhea that can be selected on the basis of cause, sensations, and modalities of the complaints. For individualized remedy selection and treatment, the patient should consult a qualified homeopathic doctor in person.
Listed below are homeopathic remedies for menstrual cramp relief
- Chamomilla: This homeopathic remedy for dysmenorrhea is indicated when the person’s mood and nerves are so sensitive that pains seem almost unbearable.
- Cocculus: This remedy is indicated when a woman has cramp or pressing pain in the pelvic or abdominal region, along with weakness or dizziness.
- Caulophyllum thalictroides: This remedy relieves menstrual cramps occurring at the onset of periods, with scanty flow.
- Colocynthis: This remedy relieves abdominal and menstrual cramps improved by bending over, strong pressure, and heat.
Acupuncture for menstrual cramp relief Outside of China
But maybe we Westerners should think outside the box when it comes to beating this type of pain…
What about acupuncture? Many individuals absolutely swear by it and use this ancient Chinese method for ailments such as fibromyalgia, headaches, low back pain, and yes, even menstrual cramps.
There are many symptoms that accompanying a period. Normal menstruation usually has a regular cyclicity, a consistent flow pattern, and a minimal amount if any of clots. Travel, stress, trauma, and dietary changes can alter the menstrual cycle. These alterations should be temporary and any persistent changes should prompt to have a woman’s body evaluated by a specialist. On the other hand, the changes of the character, cyclicity, flow, and length of menstrual bleeding can just manifest the reaction of a woman’s body to stress.
Acupuncture for dysmenorrhea treatment As A Part of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine aka TCM has both treatments: acupuncture for cramps and herbal medicine for menstrual cramps. Menstrual cramps occur due to stagnation of blood flow depriving the pelvic region of adequate oxygen, nutrients, and waste removal, causing ischemia. Acupuncture for cramps, as well as herbal, and dietary treatments, focus on enhancing blood flow through the pelvic area. Acupuncture for cramps treatment protocol will vary from person to person depending on the diagnosis. The impairment of blood flow may occur as a result of cold, heat, dampness, deficiency of blood or qi, or some combination of these. Often people try over-the-counter herbal remedies for this problem and find no relief because they didn’t get one that treats the actual cause of the disorder.
Acupuncture for Menstrual Cramps relief
Acupuncture for cramps may be helpful in alleviating the symptoms such as pain, profuse bleeding, fatigue, which affects up to half of all young women population. An extensive review of past studies has found the high effectiveness of acupuncture for cramps in women of all ages. In February of 2010, Reuters news service reported on findings of a review of 27 studies involving nearly 3000 women with menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea). Simply put, acupuncture “involves the insertion of extremely thin needles in your skin at strategic points,” It is a practice that began thousands of years ago in China. Here in the West, we have adopted this technique with the view of stimulating nerves, muscles, and connective tissue.
For some, acupuncture for cramps seems to help the body decrease pain and heighten blood flow.
- It is painless. Acupuncture needles are very fine and painless even if deeply inserted into the skin. Even patients who are afraid of needles report little discomfort.
- Minimal side effects. Some patients may experience slight bruising or brief lightheadedness.
- A legitimate alternative to drugs. Acupuncture attempts to release natural healing and pain-killing mechanisms in the body so that you can avoid using drugs that may upset the body’s energy.
The World Health Organization considers acupuncture for cramps (dysmenorrhea) to be a safe and effective treatment. We have personal experience and good success in relieving painful periods using both acupuncture for cramps and herbal medicine.
Treatment for menstrual cramp relief in Philadelphia
In the end, does acupuncture for cramps help? Should you try it if you are seeking to get rid of or decrease painful cramps? The answer is, why not? The risks are very low, especially if you don’t have a bleeding disorder or a pacemaker and if the doctor you pick is qualified – ask your family doctor or your OBGYN for a referral. While many have found this practice to be extremely helpful, do keep in mind that it may not be for you or may not give you the results you seek. Ask your acupuncturist and find out if acupuncture for cramps is your best choice for treatment.
At Philadelphia Acupuncture Clinic, Victor Tsan, MD, and the team of licensed professionals – deliver different alternative strategies for this medical disorder. Being an experienced acupuncturist, homeopath, and hypnotherapist at the same time, Doctor Tsan uses a combination of these methods and, as a result, most of the women who get treatment at this facility become cured forever.
“Holistic Medicine does not relieve the pain – it cures the disease. In most cases, dysmenorrhea or menstrual cramps appear as a result of hormonal disbalance in a woman’s body and when we are able to diagnose and pinpoint which particular group of hormones are out of the equation we can fix it and cure it forever”, – Dr. Tsan says.
If you are living in the City of Brotherly Love and suffer from dysmenorrhea, contact our clinic at 267-314-7575 to schedule your appointment for evaluation and treatment
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