WOMEN'S HEALTH & PREGNANCY ACUPUNCTURE IN BONDI JUNCTION SYDNEY

First, let’s have a look at the hormonal cycle. The menstrual cycle occurs through the complex orchestration of various hormones and physiological signalling within the body. When part of this orchestra is playing out of tune or time, it can quickly throw things out of balance and get trapped in a disharmonious cycle. Here are some of the ways it may manifest itself:

 

• Dysmenorrhea (period pain)

• Amenorrhea (no period)

• Oligomenorrhea (irregular periods)

• Menorrhagia (excessive bleeding)

• Metrorrhagia (spotting or bleeding between periods)

• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

• Endometriosis

• Premenstrual tension (PMT)

• Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

• Infertility or difficulties with fertility

• Menopausal hot flashes

 

Just to name a few.

 

Whatever the imbalance, it can really impact your quality of life when you’re expecting negative symptoms every month or more. Sometimes period issues begin with the onset of menstruation. For others, these develop over time or after certain events like pregnancy or coming off contraception. Treatments vary depending on the condition and the woman’s goals, but can involve:

 

• Surgery

• Contraceptive options to control unwanted period-related symptoms

• Invitro fertilisation (IVF) or other assisted reproductive technologies (ART)

• Hormonal replacement therapy (HRT)

 

While these can be important and useful treatments for some, there will still be women who find these options do not completely address the issue or would prefer to explore more natural alternatives.

 

Then there’s pregnancy. Which can be an exciting and joyful period for many women, but can also come with it’s own difficulties, such as:

 

• Morning sickness - pregnancy nausea and vomiting

• Pain

• Fatigue

• Swelling

• Insomnia

• Anxiety

• High blood pressure

• Miscarriage

• Breech positioning

• Difficulties with labour

• Postpartum depression

• Lactation difficulties

 

Obviously the body is undergoing a lot of changes and there will be certain challenges to overcome during pregnancy, with labour and then afterwards and so it is important to have the right support to help ease you through these phases as smoothly as possible.

 

How do we use acupuncture for women’s health & pregnancy?

 

Obviously this is a huge category with a wide range of conditions, so the first part is always getting to know you and your particular situation. You need to be treated as a whole person, not just an “X” diagnosis or condition. In Chinese medicine, taking care of women’s health holds a high importance as they observed that families and communities were much better off when their women were happy and healthy.

 

At Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction Sydney, we use acupuncture for women’s health and pregnancy tailored specifically to you. Hormonal and cycle related issues can take time to work with and so we like to have three months of treatment to see how your symptoms are responding. We’ll still be looking for positive signs within the first few treatments, but just the nature of being based around monthly cycles means that we need a few cycles to see if things are changing in the right way. Menopause will also require some time to work with but we may see positive signs earlier, considering symptoms like hot flashes are usually daily. Once we know how you’re responding to the acupuncture, we’ll then work out a treatment plan for you. The ultimate goal would be to get you to a place where you don’t need acupuncture anymore, or it’s just something you do for maintenance.

 

For pregnancy related challenges, it really depends on where you are in your pregnancy and what you’re coming in for. If it’s for something that you’re experiencing daily like nausea, pain or insomnia, we’ll typically get a good idea of how you’re responding within the first 4-6 treatments. That doesn’t mean that it will be completely better in that time, sometimes these things will require management through phases of the pregnancy, but you should feel some early signs of relief or improvement from the acupuncture if it’s going to help. If it’s for helping with labour induction or attempting to turn a breech positioning, we have certain protocols around those. The earlier you can get in touch, the better chance we have of helping out as acupuncture has an accumulative effect and so we need multiple treatments to give us the best chance of heling out.

 

Chinese herbal medicine can also be a very useful adjunct when working with hormonal and cycle related women’s health concerns. This allows us to keep the treatment going daily which can be important for regulating hormonal cycles. It’s the same idea as acupuncture, we use it for a period to help address certain imbalances, but as you improve, we aim to get to a point where it’s no longer necessary. If it’s something that we feel will help you along, we’ll discuss it as part of the treatment plan. 

 

If you would like to try acupuncture for women’s health or pregnancy with Acupuncture Grove in Sydney’s Bondi Junction, please book online here or contact us with any questions.