21/06/2015
Carol's Story // 29 years old // Suffering from Period Pains
*taken from J. Smith's Book, 'Principles of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine *
She described the pains as 'horrendous' and the worst thing she had ever experienced. Her cycle was irregular - from 23 to 34 days. The pains were stabbing, went right through her and made her incapable for three days a month. Although she had some form of pain ever since her first period, they were generally worse when she was stressed. The pains started two days before the period and continued for two days into the period. She had tried a variety of pain killers, but none had helped significantly. Carol had a mixture of both Qi (energy) and Blood Stagnation in the Uterus and suffered from 8 days of pre-menstrual tension characterised by a great deal of edginess and explosive outbursts of anger.
'They are not ladylike and I need to keep them under control' - Carol
The treatment for Carol was herbs to 'smooth' the liver and specifically to move 'Qi' and blood in the uterus. Carol started taking herbs for a full month and by this time her period was bearable, she says 'a few stabbing pains the day before, but generally much, much better.' It was 5 months before Carol was virtually free of both premenstrual tension and the pain before and during her period. A year later her anger was well under control, she was successful in her new job and coming every three months for check ups.
Once we know the underlying principles of Chinese medicine we come to recognise that carols mind quite rightly focused on the pain which caused the edginess and 'explosive outbursts of anger'. The herbs have an impact, not just on the symptoms, but on the whole person...
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