Guest guest Posted February 16, 2001 Report Share Posted February 16, 2001 Okay - let's start in stages or these mails will be very long. Menopause is something that happens if you are lucky - that means you are alive to get there. There are lots of factors in getting through it comfortably. Many women are going through menopause earlier than in the past. Why? Many women are smoking more, drinking, working stressful jobs and taking care of a family all alone. Stress depletes the energy, the blood and the yin. In addition - our food is different than our grandmother's. Even if you cut red meat out in fear of Vaca loca (mad cow disease) the chicken in the US is pumped full of hormones to plump up their breasts - tell us it isn't affecting us too. Side note - quick story that demonstrates this. I have a friend that came here from Israel in his mid thirties. After being here for awhile he grew an inch taller and another shoe size. Very concerned he went in for tests - you are not supposed to grow in your thirties and this could be a serious pituitary gland problem. Well - you guessed it - it was all the hamburgers and chicken he was eating that he never had before - where he came from the chickens and cows weren't hammered with hormones. It threw his endocrine system off. I have lots of stories like that for later. So back to cycles and blood. Blood in asian medicine is more than the stuff that is in your veins, it is that and more - it's a type of energy for lack of getting too technical. What is necessary with menopause and all else is freeing up the circulation, balancing the energy and tonifying blood and chi. This is the basis of good health for everyone including men. Blood - it wants to flow, it wants to move but sometimes it gets stuck. When something pushes and pushes and is stopped a friction builds up and with friction comes heat. AKA Hot Flashes, irritability, etc. I have had more women in early stages of menopause come to me for other issues and as my job is to balance, unstick and tonify - well many get pissed off because their periods start again and they certainly didn't miss them. Sorry. I was treated last month for stuck blood (in japanese it is called oketsu). I had not needed that treatment in a very very long time but my trip to peru and then to jamaica - food - climate - inoculations - malaria prophylactics - well it took it's toll on the body. I was moody too - snappy - sure enough after the treatment I ended up with my period again - two in one month - but I sure felt better. Okay so in this email I will talk about stuck blood and have to hit on the other things another time. I clear oketsu in all clients that manifest it as the very first part of the treatment. You get the blood flowing and everything else is easier - you don't want to be like a salmon swimming upstream. There is a palpatory reflex area on the abdomen - a few inches out from the navel, down about an inch or two on the left side. If you are versed in acu-points it is around the area of ST 25. While lying down press in deeply - if it hurts then oketsu is present. Sypmtomatic signs would be irritabiliy, over heating, a purple cast to the tongue (look at your tongue - it's a great barometer - if it is purple you have stagnation, if it is very red you have heat - we won't talk of food in this email but you have to watch out for spicy foods when it is those colors or you are adding too much heat and you might fry - burn up your yin) As women go through cycles each month these are also symptoms of PMS - stuck blood. My husband has wised up - when I would get a little " short " he used to use the " B " word - now he just asks me if my tongue is purple. I get the message and give myself a treatment. Ways to unstick the blood - the treatment points are LIV 4 and LU5 one thumb width down - left side only. Use pressure - I often do that for awhile and recheck the reflex point - if still not clear I graduate to a moxa treatment on those points. Other points to use would be LIV3 and LI4 both sides of the body. The Chinese Patent Herbal Remedy for blood stagnation is Relaxed Wanderer AKA Free and Easy Wanderer or the pin is Xiao Yau Wan. Careful of taking individual herbs as it is hard to get it right - the patent formulas are well balanced. This formula is for constrained liver chi - very closley related to the " blood " Do you see why I may have wanted to take this off list - it is like a foreign language. And Jaaaa - I actually do try to type this stuff up in Spanish for my Peruvie friends. It's maddening. I'll address heat and foods another time as I have to get back to work but I think this is important: I always like to try acu-point therapy to start - you can't go too wrong with it as you can by introducing new herbs and foods. We were trained that way in consumption in this society - we keep looking for what we can add into ourselves to balance. Often it is what we need to delete more than add. babble babble babble ***Any New England nurses out there? I am working with a group setting up a program for ceu's on integrative pain management - most pain clinics just push meds. I you are interested in attending a seminar in the spring just shoot me an email and I will put you on the mailing list. Patricia Gilmore, C.M.Ht. Pan American Whole Health Alliance http://www.PAWHA.org http://www.BeBest.com Be the Best That You Can Be Patricia Gilmore, C.M.Ht. Pan American Whole Health Alliance http://www.PAWHA.org http://www.BeBest.com Be the Best That You Can Be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 16, 2001 Report Share Posted February 16, 2001 Thank you, Pat! This is incredibly useful and interesting information. I'm sure that many of us will be printing it out and keeping it for reference. Appreciate your taking the time to help. F " In the province of the mind what one believes to be true is true or becomes true. There are no limits " . ---John Lilly, M.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 17, 2001 Report Share Posted February 17, 2001 Thank you for your thoroughly educated response. Please keep the language and knowledge at this high level. I am in mid-life and studying Wholistic Nutrition as a second career. I am well versed in herbology ( self-taught ) and am familiar with Oriental Medicine, as well as many forms of healing. It is very educational and quite refreshing to read responses of this level. Please do not remove your knowledge off-list... Appreciatively. Geoff HUnkin. Get personalized email addresses from Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 19, 2001 Report Share Posted February 19, 2001 Patricia - I'm with Geoff all the way! Love - Susette >Message: 12 Fri, 16 Feb 2001 17:32:57 -0800 (PST) Geoff Hunkin <geoffhu_2000 Re: menopause/oketsu Thank you for your thoroughly educated response. Please keep the language and knowledge at this high level. I am in mid-life and studying Wholistic Nutrition as a second career. I am well versed in herbology ( self-taught ) and am familiar with Oriental Medicine, as well as many forms of healing. It is very educational and quite refreshing to read responses of this level. Please do not remove your knowledge off-list... Appreciatively. Geoff HUnkin. Get personalized email addresses from Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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