Birth Control

Before I start talking about how birth control affects women from a Chinese medical perspective, I want to say this:

I'm not anti-birth control for those who need it to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. It is FAR more detrimental to EVERYONE involved to carry, birth and care for through the age of 18, a child who isn't planned or wanted. What a horrible existence, knowing that you weren't wanted (and yes, children can sense this, whether you say it out loud or not, there's no fooling them).

The birth control use that I'm going to be talking about is for those women who are prescribed birth control for non-birth control reasons. There are probably millions of you out there. Some common reasons are : acne, irregular periods, PMS, mood stabilization, severe cramping or heavy bleeding during your menstrual cycle and many more.

So, let's start.

Throughout a woman's month, the Spleen, Kidney and Liver each play their own part in controlling her menstrual cycle. The Liver plays it's biggest role between ovulation and menstruation. During this time, the Liver's energy will start to surge in preparation for helping the woman's body to release the uterine lining, if she has not become pregnant.

This is often why women will experience Premenstrual Symptoms. The Liver, when it is not functioning properly, can create symptoms such as breast tenderness, cravings, bloating, and the dreaded mood changes.

So let's take a moment now to look at hormonal birth control from a Chinese Medical perspective. In my clinical experience, hormonal birth control is like adding a boost of Liver energy to a woman's system. In a woman who is already struggling with a Liver that isn't moving her energy properly, this will only aggravate her health problems. It's no wonder side effects associated with hormonal birth control consist of weight gain, mood changes, headaches, digestive complaints, etc. All of these complaints relate to an improperly functioning Liver!

Now what about those few women out there who are actually helped by hormonal birth control, you may ask? I've treated some of these women as well, and what I have found is that these women, at the point they start taking hormonal birth control, are deficient in Liver energy (this is SUPER uncommon, as the Liver almost always exists in excess, but there are those out there who don't have enough!). So their symptoms get better for a while. However, what I've seen, is that this symptom relief is temporary, or they develop new symptoms. Yep, they've been supplementing with Liver energy, and all of a sudden they have too much, and like many other women, start suffering from the standard PMS symptoms, as well as a host of other health complaints.

So, if you're a woman who suffers from PMS, headaches, migraines, digestive complaints, insomnia, etc. - Think back to when you started taking birth control. Did these symptoms exist prior to taking birth control? Did they start after starting birth control?

Everyone has to make the right decision for themselves regarding birth control, their health and the necessity to not have children. But we also all need to be aware of the side effects of hormonal birth control that biomedicine usually dismisses as "normal." These symptoms are not normal, they are a sign of imbalance, and can be alleviated by acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

Green in Chinese Medicine

I apologize for not writing anything in about a week. My computer caught a virus (or something) and has been feeling under the weather. But we're back up and running and ready to talk shop some more!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all you Irish and Today-I'm-Irish out there! :)

In Chinese medicine, each organ is associated with an element, and each element with a color. Since today is St. Patrick's Day, I thought it would be nice to talk about the color green. Plus, I'm a little partial with it being my favorite color and all!

Green is associated with the Liver. Yep, here we are, talking about the Liver again. It's probably because it's spring time - the season of the Liver. I promise, I'll talk about the other organs at some point! (I'll probably feel compelled to write about them as their seasons roll around.)

If you are experiencing Liver symptoms (PMS, stress, many menstrual complaints or eye problems just to list a few), consider wearing the color green. Eat green vegetables. Take a walk in a green forested area. When you surround yourself with the color associated with an organ, it's reminding that organ to be its healthiest.

Can stress make you gain weight?

We've all seen the news articles out there telling us how our chronically stressful lives are making us heavier as a nation. We're too busy to exercise. We're too busy to eat right. Stress increases cortisol, a hormone associated with our fight or flight responses. When we're stressed out we crave salty, fatty and sugary foods. All of these things are a part of the picture.

According to Chinese medicine, weight gain leads back to the Spleen. The Spleen is in charge of metabolizing our food and water intake. When our Spleen is weakened, it is easily overwhelmed by all the food and water coming in and isn't able to use it properly. To bring the stress into the picture - there is a special relationship between the Liver and the Spleen. Think of the Liver as the big brother, and the Spleen as the little brother. If the Liver gets riled up because of stress, he'll take it out on the Spleen - damaging the Spleen. When the Spleen is damaged, he's unable to properly metabolize our food and water, and so it gets stored in the form of fat deposits.

Remember that episode of "I Love Lucy" where she's working in the chocolate factory and she gets a little more behind with each passing moment? She's not sure what to do with all the candies, but knows she has to do SOMETHING with them, so she and Ethel start stuffing them in their mouths. This is similar to what happens when our Spleen gets overwhelmed and damaged by the Liver. It starts stuffing things anywhere it can.

Chinese medicine can be a great boost to your weight loss plan. I'm sorry, it can't do the work for you. You still need to make the necessary diet and exercise changes, but it can help speed the process along. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas can be used to set things straight between the Liver and Spleen to reduce stress levels and help heal the Spleen so that it can do its job properly.

If you're ready to get serious about losing some weight, or you've plateaued in your weight loss progress, consider talking to your acupuncturist. They can help your body remember how to be thin and healthy!

Anger Management

A friend asked today when anger was useful. This got me to thinking. Every emotion exists for a reason. So what is the purpose of anger?

In Chinese medicine, each organ has an emotion, much like each organ has an element associated with it. For anger, the organ association is with the Liver. I discussed some aspects of the Liver and the element of Wood in I'm a Proud Tree Hugger, so we'll be building on those concepts here. Remember that the Liver is associated with Wood. Wood likes to grow and change. Wood so much likes to grow and change that it will grow THROUGH rocks, breaking them in half. Wood will push up sidewalks. Wood is very persistent. It is very driven.

We have these same desires in ourselves. We always strive to better ourselves. We want to get things done, to get that new car, to buy that new house, to get that promotion. So what happens when our aspirations are blocked? We get angry. According to Chinese medicine, the reason we get angry is because our Wood element is unable to do something. It's frustrated.

Think back on all of the times you were angry. Didn't it all lead back to being frustrated because you were blocked? You couldn't have that toy at the store. You didn't get that promotion, but the "undeserving idiot" did. You got cut off in traffic. Interesting, don't you think?

So back to the question "When is anger useful?" Anger is useful, the same as any other emotion. As long as we don't get stuck in any one emotion - it's a part of a healthy experience. Anger (or frustration) can lead to creativity and problem solving. Think about it - some of the world's greatest inventions probably stemmed from frustrations with the current technologies!

Anger or frustration should also help us to better ourselves. The next time you find yourself cussing someone or something out, ask yourself, "Why does this bother me?" And remember that when Wood can't figure out a way to get THROUGH something, it goes AROUND.


photo courtesy of: http://www.woudenburcht.nl/usa_east/index.htm

I'm a proud tree-hugger! (But not for the reason you might expect!)

I've done a lot of hiking. When I was in acupuncture school, a friend of mine and I used to go hiking in the Columbia River Gorge whenever we had a long enough break between classes. Sure, all of our classmates thought we were slacking off. We let them think that. What they didn't know was that we had found the ultimate way to de-stress and allow our energy to flow smoothly so that we could study more efficiently.

What we found was that there was an interesting exchange taking place between us and the trees. Much like the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) that occurs between animals and plants, we discovered the existence of an energy exchange.

In Chinese medicine, the Liver is the main organ that is involved when we feel "stressed out." Stress causes our energy to clump together so that it doesn't move properly. One of the Liver's jobs is to assist in the smooth flow of Qi. In order to compensate for our energy not moving correctly, our Liver beefs itself up to try to handle the bigger load. What we end up with is too much Liver energy, creating an imbalance. The Liver is associated with the element of wood, and so a stressed-out person may be described as "having too much wood energy."

What we found is that when we went hiking, our stress simply disappeared. The trees, because they ARE wood, were taking all of our extra wood energy and using it to become bigger and stronger trees. They need that wood energy, we need to get rid of any extra wood energy. Pretty neat, huh?

So the next time you're feeling stressed out, go for a walk in a wooded area. And if no one's around, or if you're like me and don't care what other people think, give a tree a hug. You'll both feel better for it!