Acupuncture and Menopause

In Chinese Medicine, the time around menopause is considered a transition into a new phase of life for women referred to as a "second spring". This time represents a time of renewal of energies and opportunities, when the energy that a woman's body has devoted to menstruation and reproduction can now be channelled into other creative areas of her life. In the West however, menopause has now too often become synonymous with an array of symptoms, from hot flushes to night sweats, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, mood swings, insomnia, depression, forgetfulness, weight gain, vaginal dryness among others. Western medicine focuses mostly on hormone replacement therapy, to replace the hormones (oestrogen and progesterone) no longer being produced by the ovaries. Classical Chinese medicine however offers a more holistic approach. It considers that in a state of health and balance a woman should go through menopause with no sign and symptom and any adverse symptom is a sign of imbalance that can be rectified through treatments like acupuncture. In addition, Classical acupuncture allows for individualised treatment, as all women do not suffer the same menopausal symptoms and therefore do not need the same treatment. Classical Chinese medicine also recognises that the physical state of the person is dependent on their mental and emotional state and the more stressed one is under the worse one feels.

These days many women are concerned about the risk factors associated with HRT (hormone replacement therapy) such as increased risk of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and blood clots and Chinese medicine, with its long history of treating women's hormonal conditions, offers a natural and safe alternative for relief of symptoms such as sleep disturbance, weight gain and hot flushes. Acupuncture can help encourage the body to adapt to the changes it is going through at the time of menopause so this phase of life needn´t be synonymous of illness but rather of renewal and "second spring" as the Chinese so poetically describe it.