Women's Health Series: How Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture treat Endometriosis

Endometriosis is an increasingly common women’s health condition in which the tissue that forms the uterus lining which is known as the endometrial lining and is responsible for the monthly menstrual cycles for some reasons grows into the other areas of the pelvis and even outside the pelvis.

The most common site for endometriosis to occur is in the pelvic organs, especially behind the uterus, but it can also occur on the pelvic side walls and even on the bowels. Read more about Hormone Imbalance in Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine here.

Diagnosis of Endometriosis


Endometriosis of the pelvic cavity can be diagnosed definitively only by laparoscopy. In a few rare cases, it can be seen during a pelvic examination if it happens that the endometrial lesions are present on the cervix, vagina or vulva.

However, unfortunately studies have shown that the average women with endometriosis are not properly diagnosed as there are many other medical conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome that resemble and mimic endometriosis. Even among those who have been properly diagnosed, many are given treatments that do not work.

This is something noteworthy for doctors and women to be mindful and aware.

Symptoms of Endometriosis

Endometriosis which is present in about 10 percent of women shows up as

-        Pelvic pain

-        Abnormal menstrual cycle

-        Infertility

-        Asymptomatic

Endometriosis can be asymptomatic as the women can never had any symptoms at all and do not even know that they have the disease until their doctor diagnoses it.

 

The most common area for endometriosis to occur is behind the uterus in the zone between the uterus and the rectum. If endometriosis occurs in this area, it can cause painful intercourse, rectal pressure and pain with bowel movements especially before the start of the menstrual period.

Energetic Perspective of Endometriosis

In the perspective of energetics, endometriosis is known as ‘an illness of competition’. This is because it comes about when a woman’s emotional needs are competing with her functioning and role in the outside world.

In other words, when a woman feels that her innermost emotional needs are in direct conflict with what the world asks of her, endometriosis is one of the ways in which her body tries to catch her attention to the misalignment and discord between internal needs and external reality.

Women today are now mostly involved in the male world of competition and business. Many do not get emotional support in their homes or personal lives. And many more have even discarded the notion that they even have emotional needs to be addressed.

Also known as the ‘career woman’s disease’, the behaviors of women with endometriosis are often seen as relentlessly driving themselves in the outer world, rarely resting and rarely tuning in to their innermost needs and deepest desires. As such the existence of endometriosis is a way our bodies are trying not to let us forget our feminine nature, our inherent need for self nurturance and our connection with other woman and nature.  


Conventional Treatment of Endometriosis


Hormone Pills

The most common treatment for endometriosis is hormonal therapy in the form of birth control pills which act on the pituitary gland to make a woman temporarily menopausal. This is to allow the endometriosis to regress by stopping the cyclic hormonal stimulation that is said to be one of the reasons for the formation and development of endometriosis. When the hormone levels are decreased, the symptoms for endometriosis disappear and the disease itself becomes inactive.

However such approaches do not cure the condition but only to shut down the hormonal stimulation that leads to its formation and progression temporarily. Furthermore there are significant side effects from such hormonal therapy such as masculinizing presentations of increased hair growth and voice deepening, weight gain, hot flushes, osteoporosis.

Surgery


Many women with severe endometriosis and have tried hormone therapy and pain medicines often turn to surgery, also known as complete hysterectomies involving the removal of the ovaries as well. It should be noted that this is the last resort and not the ultimate solution as even with such surgery, the endometriosis lesions can still be left behind and not all the pain can be eliminated.

Holistic Treatment of Endometriosis

acupuncture

Acupuncture can modulate and regulate multi-systems in the body such as the endocrine, vascular, nervous systems which can help in managing the symptoms of endometriosis but also eliminate it. Some of the potential mechanisms of acupuncture for treating endometriosis include decreasing prostaglandin levels and nerve growth factor, increasing endogenous pain relief factors.

Furthermore acupuncture if done right is known to open the heart and sensitize more to the emotional needs. The intimate interactions between the thoughts, emotions, hormonal, immune and vascular factors in our body hold the key to interpreting the message that endometriosis has for the individual woman. Acupuncture will be able to open up a woman to such messages and intuitively guide her to finding out what they need to change about their lives.

In other words, acupuncture can bring a woman to be more in touch with herself to what she needs for true healing, not just masking the physical symptoms.

Read more on how TCM and Acupuncture treat Infertility, Premenstrual syndrome, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Herbs

Herbal formulas can help to dissolve the masses and unstick and move the blood from the endometriosis. There are herbs as well to invigorate blood circulation and reduce pain.

Final words about the healing journey for endometriosis

 

The healing of endometriosis does not come from using pills to suppress the symptoms or surgery to supposedly eliminate the problem.

The healing of endometriosis starts with the willingness of a woman to listen to her body and getting in touch with the wisdom of the body to heal painful experiences which a woman has not allow herself to heal from.

The healing of endometriosis starts from changing the way a woman sees herself in the world and allowing that perspective shift to heal her at the deepest level.

This can involve having the courage and honesty to examining our beliefs of how we truly feel about being female and affirming our self-worth and goodness to be born as a woman.

This can also involve the willingness to change and return to our femininity by cutting back on our worldly competitiveness and activities and spending more time in realigning the balance between our inner and outer selves.

TCM(Traditional Chin Med), TCM Wellness, TCM and Science, Basics of TCM, TCM SexologyXiang Jun LimDr (TCM) Xiang Juntcm, acupuncture, traditional chinese medicine, western medicine, hormonal imbalance, infertility, science, gene, cells, molecules, women's health, hormones, endometriosis, career woman