Acupuncture for Hot Flashes
Hot Flashes are the second most reported symptom of perimenopause and are experienced by up to 50% of women. Common approaches to treatment include hormone therapy, herbal supplements and one of my favorites, acupuncture.
While Chinese medicine can be difficult to understand, we can always break it down to yin and yang.
Yin represents the fluids in the body and are responsible for cooling. Yang represents drive and is responsible for energy production and warming. Too much yang and you overheat. Too little yin and you lack the ability to cool down.
When these two are out of balance, you’ll have symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, and many others!
I use acupuncture to regulate yin & yang, improve brain function, and calm the nervous system. The trick is to know the specific points to use with each patient.
Estrogen as Yin
Interestingly, low estrogen in and of itself does not always cause hot flashes. If this was the case, all women would experience hot flashes.
Generally, we can correlate estrogen with yin because it shares many yin properties like moistening, lubricating, nourishing, and calming. Of course, comparing yin to the many and varied properties of the endocrine system would be an oversimplification, but it serves the purpose for our analogy.
The best we can say is that declining estrogen may be associated with yin deficiency. Ultimately, we need a differential diagnosis to determine the correct herbs and acupuncture points to use with a specific patient.
Norepinephrine as Yang. Say What?
Epinephrine and Norepinephrine are commonly known as stress hormones, though they play many roles in the body. These hormones are energizing in the same way yang can be energizing.
The stress response is often a trigger of hot flashes. In fact, anytime you have excess yang relative to yin, you could have a hot flash. Relieving stress and calming the mind is just one of the ways acupuncture can help relieve hot flashes.
How Acupuncture Treats Hot Flashes
Here are a few ways I use acupuncture to relieve hot flashes:
1. Tonify Qi & Blood
I strengthen qi and blood via the digestive system. A healthy system converts food essence into blood. Blood is a subset of yin, so we are strengthening yin. Increasing yin helps cool the body.
2. Regulate the Endocrine System
Via Kidney, Liver and Spleen points, we can regulate the hormonal cycle, support the HPA access and support correct communication between the brain and endocrine system (hypothalamus, thyroid, ovaries, adrenals, etc.).
3. Relieve Stress/Calm the Nervous System
Acupuncture also seeks to restore homeostasis. There are a number of points on the body that relieve stress, calm the fight or flight response, and enhance the ‘rest and digest’ functions of the body.
Bonus
Diet & Lifestyle can make a big difference when it comes to hot flashes. I make many recommendations to my patients around exercise, cooling foods, things to avoid, and ways to manage stress in a healthy and productive way.
For More Information
If you are suffering with hot flashes or any other symptoms related to perimenopause, please contact me for information or call the office for a free 15-minute consultation. I would be delighted to help!
