As a female, hormone balance can be as tough as the quest for finding the holy grail.
Hormone imbalances, especially in women, can cause a myriad of symptoms and disorders, including:
- Migraines
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
- PMS
- Insulin resistance
- Acne
- Breast tenderness
- Painful menstrual cycles
- Endometriosis
- Weight gain
- Hair loss
Sounds like a grand ol’ time right?! Managing these symptoms and disorders can often be difficult and exhausting, because many of the symptoms could be a result of something else, and are overlooked by physicians. Women are seeing multiple doctors seeking relief, only to be turned away with a prescription that only bandages the issue.
Hormones are also laborious because they’re non-linear and ever fluctuating; many components, including a person’s diet and lifestyle, can increase or decrease hormone levels on a moment-to-moment basis. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs may be a perfect option for someone who has tried conventional medicine to no avail, or for someone who is seeking a practitioner concerned with finding the root of the problem.
What our hormones do
While hormones provide so many functions in our bodies, for women, the sex hormones are the hormones that specifically cause issues and conditions, so we’ll focus on those.
- Estrogen – This is the primary female hormone that regulates the reproductive system, stimulates fertility and libido, and is crucial in female anatomical development (hips and breasts).
- Progesterone – This hormone helps modulate a woman’s cycle, menstruation, and pregnancy, and helps synthesize other sex and stress hormones. It also improves and regulates the sleep cycle.
- Testosterone – This hormone is the primary male hormone; however, women still produce a small amount. It is responsible for muscle growth, fat gain, body hair production, and libido.
Acupuncture and hormones
Acupuncture is wonderful in treating hormone imbalances because it addresses the root of the issue and focuses on the whole person, and doesn’t focus only on symptom management. Acupuncture aims to restore balance in the body through qi (chi), a person’s life force. Practitioners will place needles at specific points along the interconnecting meridians (channels) of the body that correspond to specific organs — either literal or figurative. If an acupuncturist uses a point, such as a stomach one, it doesn’t necessarily correlate to the physical stomach, it may just run along that channel. Common hormone channels include:
- Kidneys – The “source of life” according to Chinese theory.
- Liver/gallbladder – Yin/yang pair that can aid in balancing gonadotropin-releasing hormones.
- Ren/du channels – These are unrelated to organs in the body, but are wonderful for balancing.
Other methods your practitioner may use are pulses, tongue readings, and herbs. Some common Chinese herbs for female hormone balance include:
- American Ginseng
- Angelica Root
- Astragalus Root
- Black Sesame Seeds
- Goji Berries
- White Peony Root
Depending on whether your practitioner prescribes Chinese herbs, they may be able to create a formula specific to your needs.
Lee Acupuncture
At Lee Acupuncture, we specialize in hormone balancing in women, specifically menopause and perimenopause conditions. So, if you’ve noticed hot flashes, night sweats, and sleep disorders, this could indicate an imbalance.
Book an appointment with us today and get balanced!