Yes, Acupuncture can alleviate Menopausal Symptoms

Menopause and perimenopause symptoms are common conditions that I have successfully treated for over 20 years. Most often, Women will find great relief after one session. For some women, menopause is a welcome transition to the post-reproductive phase of one's life. However, it has gotten a bad rep due to the symptoms many women experience while their bodies adjust to the changes. The body can adapt gracefully to this life phase. A smooth transition is assured with tools of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Chinese Herbs, Essential Oils, and Acupuncture will reduce and often eliminate symptoms such as hot flashes, weight gain, dryness, sleep problems, and mood swings. (Irregular periods, while inconvenient, are not necessarily considered a problem in this view but par for the course of change leading up to menopause).

Menopause is defined as the absence of a period for one year. Until that point, the changes are considered perimenopause, a slowing down of the reproductive faculties of the body. The struggles mentioned above can begin during perimenopause, as early as a woman's 40s, and can last into her late 50s. During this time, the ovaries start making less estrogen and progesterone (the hormones that regulate menstruation). These hormonal changes are the reason for the hot flashes that tend to be the main complaint of women approaching menopause. Hot flashes will disrupt sleep, leading to further imbalances and mood swings. The hormones also affect the metabolism, leading to weight gain. Vaginal dryness is also related to the declining hormones.

In simplistic terms, these hormonal changes can be seen in TCM as a decline in yin, leading to a yin-yang imbalance. Yin refers to the cooling, calming, nourishing, and moisturizing influences of the body, and when deficient, it can lead to heat, dryness, and nervousness or irritability. Acupuncture (and TCM lifestyle guidance) can help to re-calibrate the yin-yang balance to ease this transition. There are many different herbs, essential oils, and specific acupuncture protocols for nourishing our yin. An essential oils blend that is most effective comes from the Meridian Biolgoix brand of Essential Oils called Smooth Transition. Smooth Transitions

A year-long NCCIH-funded study [1]involved 209 perimenopausal & menopausal women aged 45–60 who had at least four hot flashes per day. Researchers found that acupuncture significantly reduced symptoms of hot flashes, anxiety, sleep issues, and memory loss by as much as 36.7 %. The improvements persisted for at least six months after treatment.

Another study[2] compared the menopausal symptoms of 70 women after half of them received six weeks of regular acupuncture. The acupuncture group had clinically significant positive results.

[1] https://www.nccih.nih.gov/research/research-results/acupuncture-as-practiced-in-clinical-settings-may-significantly-improve-menopauserelated-symptoms

[2] https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/1/e023637'

If you or someone you know needs relief from unnecessary symptoms of perimenopause or menopause, Contact Marc Gian in the Flatiron, Manhattan, NYC, and the Crown & Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn.