Case Histories - Menopausal Syndrome (6)
A 55-year-old woman had started suffering from menopausal symptoms
a year after the stoppage of her periods. Her main problems were
hot flushes, night sweating, a "prickly feeling" over
her skin, depression, tiredness, dry eyes and mouth, headaches,
and irritability. Other symptoms included backache, frequent urination,
constipation and cold feet. Her tongue was Red on the sides and
her pulse was Weak on both Rear positions and slightly Overflowing
on the left Middle and Front positions.
Diagnosis
The main underlying pattern is that of Kidney-Yin deficiency (hot
flushes, constipation, night-sweating, dry eyes and mouth). As often
happens, there is also a concurrent deficiency of Kidney-Yang (tiredness,
frequent urination, backache, cold feet). The depression is due
to the weakening of Will-Power (zhi) consequent to the Kidney deficiency.
In addition to the Kidney deficiency, there is Liver-Yang rising
(from Kidney-Yin deficiency) as evidenced by the headaches, irritability,
Red sides of the tongue and pulse Overflowing on the left Middle
and Front positions.
Treatment principle
The treatment principle adopted was to nourish Kidney-Yin, tonify
Kidney-Yang, subdue Liver-Yang, strengthen Will-Power and calm the
Mind. 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-4 Guanyuan to nourish the Kidneys.-
P-7 Daling to calm the Mind.-
LIV-2 Xingjian to subdue Liver-Yang.-
SP-6 Sanyinjiao to nourish Yin and
calm the Mind.-
BL-23 Shenshu, BL-52
Zhishi and BL-47 Hunmen to tonify
the Kidneys, strengthen Will-Power, pacify the Liver and settle
the Ethereal Soul.
Herbal treatment
I prescribed the Women's Treasure remedy Female
Treasure which nourishes Liver- and Kidney-Yin and subdues
Liver-Yang (see above).
This patient received only four acupuncture treatments, which had
a strong initial impact; after that, she took the above remedy for
several months inducing a remarkable improvement in her symptoms. |
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