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Endometriosis, Uterine fibroids, Ovarian cysts, Ovarian Endometrioma, Polycystic Ovary Syndromes, what do these diseases all have in common? These are diseases with abnormal tissue growth in the female reproductive system.
Why does it happen?
Most of these abnormal growth could be asymptomatic and develop slowly over many years, or they could also cause mild to severe symptoms like pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, pain during bowel movements, bloating, bleeding, etc.
The causes of endometriosis and uterine fibroids remain unclear even after decades of extensive scientific study. What we do know is that there is a variety of contributing pathological factors such as hormonal imbalance, retrograde flow of menstruation, allergic reaction, autoimmune reaction, reaction to environmental chemicals and toxins,etc.
I am not going to get into much detail of each disease because this information can be easily obtained from the internet and you would get a throughout diagnosis from your gynecologist, so I would just focus on the discussion on the approach from Traditional Chinese medicine. [Read more: 5 Things You Need To Know About Chinese Medicine]
Factory and factory workers
People usually come to me after repeated or unsuccessful conventional treatment. Patients with these diseases often need to choose between hormonal medication or surgical procedure. Some surgeries are relatively minor but it might also be something more extensive like a uterus or ovary removal or both. I understand that some conditions could be critical so a life-saving surgery is necessary. But every part of our body is somewhat useful, cutting off a bad part could just damage the good part as well.
Another problem to consider is, the abnormal growth is only the end result of the whole abnormal mechanism so removing the abnormal tissue is not enough. Let me explain in this way: your factory workers are making defective products which upset your customers. Of course you need to dispose those defected end products. However, as long as the factory is still there, more defective products will be created. Ok, you may demolish the whole factory (surgery) but you will kill the factory workers who work for you. So after that you may feel weak because your body fails to produce other necessary products. These situation could happen in surgical menopause which might associated with increased risk for bone loss and cardiovascular disease.
TCM approach
Traditional Chinese medicine understands the body in a different way from conventional medicine. While conventional medicine looks more at structural and biochemical defects, TCM tries to look into the relations and interactions in terms of their functional nature among different systems. So let me use the metaphor of the disease factory again. Conventional medicine focuses on checking the end product, but TCM focuses on how the raw material is supplied, if the workers are well trained, if the communications between departments are smooth and so on. In the case of endometriosis and uterine fibroids, both tissues are actually benign, just at the wrong location. In this way, TCM looks at the circulation issue to see why the energy is not located at the right place. We also check why the production line is being overactive therefore producing more than necessary amount of tissues.
Your body needs your support
The logic of TCM is always simple but it does not mean that the treatment could be easy. Imagine a new CEO taking up a defected and malfunctioning factory and try to put it back on track. This cannot get done overnight. A complete makeover requires the support of the factory owner (the patient itself) and many different stages of targetive fixation. What I always say to patients coming with menstruation irregularities is that we need to observe at least 3 menstrual cycles. And for the treatment of abnormal tissues growth, especially Uterine fibroids, the first stage of goal is to slow down or stop the growth. If a person do not get the mindset right, they are surely looking for an answer for a wrong question at a wrong place, despite the fact that my answer would be valuable to you.
If you are interested in more detailed TCM pathologies of these diseases, please check out website Women's Health regularly because I will slowly compose articles of each topic.
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