What to do if you have menstrual cramps during the school year? Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has the right remedy

“The beginning of the school year coincides with the menstrual period, have always had menstrual cramps “old problem”, the symptoms seriously affect the daily life of learning, there is a way to alleviate it?” Experts, in Chinese medicine believe that the cause of dysmenorrhea is mainly divided into “not honor is pain” deficiency and “not pass is pain” real evidence. Although dysmenorrhea is difficult to eradicate, internal medicine, acupuncture, massage, and other Chinese medicine methods, can effectively relieve discomfort.

A Myth: Dysmenorrhea is Unsolvable

What is dysmenorrhea? Associate Professor Yi Weimin said that dysmenorrhea refers to the lower abdominal swelling and pain that occurs during or around the time of menstruation, accompanied by lower back pain and other discomforts, and the severe pain may also lead to cold sweats, vomiting, and pallor, which seriously affects the patient’s daily life and physical and mental health. Dysmenorrhea is categorized into primary and secondary dysmenorrhea, the former refers to dysmenorrhea without organic lesions in the reproductive organs, while the latter is due to dysmenorrhea caused by pelvic organic diseases.

Qiu Ziyi, TCM technical assistant of Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, introduced that dysmenorrhea may accompany women for up to half of their lives, and many women choose to suffer in silence in the face of chronic physiological pain, believing that dysmenorrhea is unsolvable, which is a misunderstanding of dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea is only a physiological phenomenon in some women, when endocrine disorders, dysfunction will occur in the process of menstrual pain.

Do women have to put up with dysmenorrhea? No! Although dysmenorrhea is difficult to eradicate, in Chinese medicine can still take appropriate methods to relieve it.

Two Causes: “If you don’t honor it, it hurts” or “If you don’t pass it, it hurts”

Associate Professor Yi Weimin pointed out that, according to Chinese medicine, dysmenorrhea occurs due to two main reasons, one is false evidence, that is, “does not honor is painful”, is due to the weakness of qi and blood or liver, and kidney deficiencies caused by this situation should pay attention to the tonic, tonifying qi, and blood or nourishing the liver and kidney. The second is the solid evidence, i.e., “if it doesn’t pass, it hurts”, which is caused by stagnation of blood stasis and poor operation of qi and blood due to liver depression and stagnation of qi and qi, cold and evil stagnation, and dampness-heat stagnation, etc. It is advisable to remove blood stasis and relieve pain.

Dysmenorrhea is characterized by cyclic abdominal pain accompanying menstruation. According to the time, location, and nature of the pain, and whether it likes to be pressed or refuses to be pressed, it can be categorized into five types: stagnation of qi and blood, stagnation of cold and dampness, stagnation of dampness and heat, weakness of qi and blood, and deficiencies of the liver and kidneys.

Three treatments: medication, acupuncture, and tuina are all options

There are many ways to treat dysmenorrhea in Chinese medicine, and they are effective. Internal medications include Chinese herbal prescriptions, proprietary Chinese medicines, and self-prescribed formulas, while external treatments include acupuncture, moxibustion, tuina, auricular acupuncture points, and buried wires. According to individual differences, choose the most appropriate therapy, more conducive to the improvement of dysmenorrhea.

First, internal drug treatment: Chinese medicine to prevent and control dysmenorrhea, needs to adhere to the principle of regulation, combined with the symptoms of dysmenorrhea, the use of warm menstruation dispersal of cold, blood circulation, blood stasis, blood circulation, regulating and tonifying the blood and liver and kidneys, clearing heat and removing dampness and other methods of treatment. According to the characteristics of dysmenorrhea, the best time to use the medication is one to seven days before and after the menstrual period. Internal medication can be categorized into three main types: first, prescription-based treatment, with commonly used prescriptions including Xiang Fu Si Wu Tang, Shaogang Yi Yu Tang, and Sheng Gui Tang. Doctors use prescriptions to treat primary dysmenorrhea according to the time, location, nature, and degree of pain, as well as the amount, color, and accompanying symptoms of menstruation. For example, in the application of Shaohui Tang to treat primary dysmenorrhea, Wu Zhu and Ai Ye would be added in the case of patients with partial cold condensation; and Codonopsis and Agaricus would be added in the case of those with weak qi and blood. The Chinese medicines used to recognize the symptoms such as ripened dihuang, angelica sinensis, chuanxiong rhizoma, fried white peony, astragalus, red ginseng, yanhuisuo, and chickweed are also added and subtracted from the Shengjie Tang.

Second, proprietary Chinese medicine treatment. Proprietary Chinese medicines are characterized by comparable efficacy and portability, which is the development trend of Chinese medicine in treating primary dysmenorrhea in recent years. Clinical treatment of primary dysmenorrhea with proprietary Chinese medicines should also be differentiated and rationally selected to better utilize the effects of proprietary Chinese medicines.

Thirdly, prescription treatment. Experienced doctors will be in a profound interpretation of the analysis of Chinese medicine prescription based on the combination of many years of clinical work experience, summarizing the self-proposed formula for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea also has a good effect.

Acupuncture and moxibustion treatment: Acupuncture and moxibustion are two aspects. Acupuncture method that is through acupuncture corresponding points, regulating the body’s qi and blood operation, warming the role of the meridian, acupuncture treatment is a major feature of Chinese medicine treatment of primary dysmenorrhea advantage, favored by the majority of patients. Acupuncture and moxibustion have the effect of supporting the positive and eliminating the evil, warming the meridians and dispersing the cold, resolving the stasis and relieving pain, and it is targeted at patients with cold and blood stasis type dysmenorrhea. Clinical use of warm acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, the first acupuncture uterus, Guanyuan