My Blog

The Green Man: Posted on 12 August 2014 11:54 (The date the Blog was first posted).

While going through a patient's progress recently it reminded me of how many cases of menstrual complications I have come across over the years and how many have been resolved using a holistic approach.

The number of such cases is so wide spread in the west that it has become endemic to the point of being accepted as a normal part of life, and of being a woman. It is not! As a practitioner taking a history, I have come across scores of women who experience a very light, short and pain free period each month. These individuals stand as a testimony that menstrual difficulties are not related to being a woman, but to being a woman with a specific imbalance that is expressing itself through the monthly cycle.
There is no one answer to this condition as each individual will have come to that state through a varied combination of factors and developments along their life's unique journey. That is why a individual holistic treatment is best for long term results. 
The condition is often blamed on hormonal imbalances and to remedy this orthodox, and even some schools of herbal, medicine will take you down a path of hormone treatment...be it pharmaceutical or phyto-hormones. For me, a healthy body produces and expels hormones in a balanced way, topping up the difference or blocking the excess is a short sighted approach that does not address the underlying problem.
In these cases, along with the menstrual problems there will be other indicators like skin problems and extreme fluctuations of mood. These can also resolve themselves when the underlying problem is considered and treated. I remember a case of a woman who was having difficult and irregular periods. Near the end of the treatment a condition of her skin that had existed since childhood cleared up. This indicates the interconnection of disease and how our health declines when we do not understand and address these conditions properly.
Toxicity is the most common underlying factor to consider when treating such cases. The cause of this toxicity can be long standing and often has expressed itself in more acute ways earlier in life (tonsillitis, colds, diarrhoea, rashes and other skin problems, etc.) It can have its roots in unresolved emotional conflicts, poor diet, poor lifestyle, or a combination of all of these. 
When the body turns to the menstruation to unload toxins it is already at an advanced state. Men only have four means of toxic expulsion (bowels, kidneys, skin, and lungs). These means are normally sufficient for both men and women to expel these unwanted substances from the body. When a woman's period becomes heavy, long and painful, it is an indication that those means are overloaded and/or not working up to par. This has to be gently addressed before more toxins are coxed into the system for expulsion.
It is frustrating sometimes as a practitioner to know how many people are suffering, who need not be suffering. Hormone treatments are like brushing filth under the carpet, if you keep doing it one day it will bring bigger problems. At some point you will have to deal with it. It is always better to do so while it is more easily resolved.