Case Histories - Menopausal Syndrome (5)
A 53-year-old woman complained of menopausal problems for the previous
3 years, after her periods stopped. Her main problems were severe
hot flushes, night-sweating, depression, anxiety, mood swings, a
tingling feeling all over and insomnia. She also complained of severely
cold feet and frequent urination. Her tongue was Red with a slightly
rootless, yellow and dry coating and her pulse Rapid, Overflowing
on both Front positions and Weak and Deep on both Rear positions.
Although most of these symptoms started after her periods stopped,
she had a history of severe stress in the years leading up to the
menopause (husband's redundancy, father's death and daughter's breakdown)
and this obviously accounted for the severity of the menopausal
symptoms. As explained in the chapter on Aetiology (ch. 4), the
kind of menopause a woman experiences depends on her lifestyle in
the years preceding it.
Diagnosis
Most of this patient's symptoms are due to deficiency of Kidney-Yin
with Empty Heat affecting the Heart and harassing the Mind. The
symptoms of Kidney-Yin deficiency are hot flushes, night-sweating,
Red tongue with a slightly rootless coating and a Weak and Deep
pulse on both Rear positions. The symptoms of Empty Heat affecting
the Heart and harassing the Mind are depression, anxiety, mood swings,
insomnia and a pulse that is Rapid and Overflowing on both Front
positions. As in the previous case history, in this case too there
is an overlapping of Kidney-Yin and Kidney-Yang deficiency; although
the primary condition is one of Kidney-Yin deficiency, there is
also some Kidney-Yang deficiency as evidenced by the cold feet and
frequent urination.
Treatment principle
The treatment principle adopted was to nourish Kidney- and Heart-Yin,
clear Heart Empty Heat, and calm the Mind; a secondary aim was to
tonify Kidney Yang. She was treated with acupuncture and patent
remedies.
Acupuncture
The points used were selected from the following:-
LU-7 Lieque and KI-6
Zhaohai to regulate the Directing Vessel, strengthen the Uterus
and nourish Kidney-Yin.-
Ren-15 Jiuwei to calm the Mind and
clear the Heart.-
Ren-4 Guanyuan to nourish the Kidneys
and calm the Mind.-
Du-24 Shenting and G.B.-13
Benshen to calm the Mind.-
Du-20 Baihui to lift depression.-
HE-6 Yinxi and KI-7
Fuliu to stop night-sweating and clear Heart Empty Heat.-
SP-6 Sanyinjiao to nourish Yin,
calm the Mind and promote sleep.
Herbal treatment
Initially, I treated this patient only with acupuncture for 2 years
(at infrequent intervals, see below); after that I prescribed the
Women's Treasure's remedies Ease the Journey
- Yin to nourish Kidney-Yin combined with Ease
the Journey - Yang: I prescribed 3 tablets of the former
to be taken in the evening and only half of the latter to be taken
in the morning.
This patient came quite infrequently as she found that one acupuncture
treatment controlled her menopausal symptoms for up to 4 months.
After 2 years, I prescribed the above remedies to consolidate results:
using these remedies, she found that she no longer needed to have
acupuncture. |
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