Case Histories - Menorrhagia (1)
A 35-year-old woman had been suffering from painful periods from
the age of 14 which were now getting worse. The pain was central
in the lower abdomen and occurred mostly on the first day: severe
and cramping, it was relieved by the application of a hot-water
bottle. When she had the pain, she liked to curl up and she felt
cold and turned pale. The menstrual cycle was 30 days long, the
period lasted 5 days and the blood was dark with small clots.
Her complexion was pale, her tongue was slightly Pale with a white
coating and her pulse was very slightly Tight on the left and Weak
on both rear positions.
Diagnosis
This is a clear example of painful periods from Empty Cold. The
Cold is evident from the severe, cramping nature of the pain, its
alleviation with heat, the cold feeling and pale complexion during
the period, the small-dark clots, and the Tight pulse. That the
Cold is of a deficient nature is evident from the desire to curl
up, from the Weak pulse on both Rear positions and from the fact
that the pulse is only very slightly Tight on the left. Apart from
the Empty Cold, there is a deficiency of Kidney-Yang as shown by
the Weak pulse on both Kidney positions.
As for the cause of this problem, as a schoolgirl in Yorkshire (a
county in the North of England with a cold and damp climate) she
played lots of sports and did cross-country running. This had obviously
led to the invasion of external cold in the Uterus; the genital
system in young girls is particularly vulnerable and prone to invasion
of external cold.
Treatment
This patient was treated only with herbs as she lived quite a long
way away. I selected Warm the Menses a
variation of Wen Jing Tang-Warming the Menses Decoction.
The results in this case exceeded every expectation as, after only
one-month treatment her following period was totally pain-free and,
at the time of writing (4 months later), her periods are still so. |
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