Maintaining Optimum Health During
the Childbearing Years

By Dennis W. von Elgg, MSTCM, L.Ac.

Two particular areas where Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has excelled is in obstetrics and gynecology. The two primary reasons for this are 1) Rather than simply focusing on a woman’s presenting symptoms, TCM addresses deeper imbalances to improve overall health, and 2) TCM employs both short and long-range vision to the treatment plan with each phase of womanhood being addressed for short and long-term outcomes.

For example, if a post partum woman complains of weakness and fatigue, these symptoms will be addressed, as will preparing her body for her next child (if she so chooses) and for menopause years later. How completely a woman rebounds from childbirth is believed to affect her wellness in menopause. These objectives are at the forefront of the TCM practitioner’s thinking.

In obstetrics, this would mean that while a practitioner is treating a woman for infertility, one prepares her for pregnancy; while treating for morning sickness, one prepares for delivery.

Treating women using TCM diagnostic techniques employs different skills than those used to diagnose men. The primary reason for this difference is that from puberty through menopause women receive a monthly “report card” on the state of their well-being. The menses, in terms of length of cycle, duration of bleeding and spotting, color of blood, presence of clots, etc. are all entered into the diagnostic equation. Also pre-menstrual, post-menstrual and mid-cycle symptoms are recognized and analyzed. And the mind, body and spirit are always treated as connected entities -- never dismissed as unrelated.

Symptomatically a patient may have one complaint or several. The great majority of cases are diagnosed with underlying imbalances (the root) and the main complaint (the branch). Acupuncturists, working in partnership with the patient, decide how much treatment to each is appropriate for the patient. For example, a woman who is experiencing heavy menstrual bleeding (the branch) would require much more emphasis on addressing that symptom and less immediate emphasis on treating the possibly deficient spleen (the root). But a woman experiencing low-grade pre-menstrual headaches would likely receive more attention to the root of the problem, since the urgency is less.

In this way, Chinese medicine is able to restore and maintain balance -- easing symptoms while addressing the cause.

In my practice I provide pre-natal care, labor assistance (including home visits) and, equally important, post-partum care. Rebuilding a woman’s strength and vitality, particularly if one has had a difficult birth, can be a long process. Through individually tailored acupuncture, Chinese herbs and proper diet a woman can expect a faster and more complete road to health.