by Jon Hanlon
Is your period normal? You may strive to be exceptional in other parts of your life, but when it comes to your period, it is best to be the mother of convention.
When I ask a patient about her menses, I commonly get the response that they are ‘normal.’ In Chinese medicine, there is a very narrowly defined range that is considered normal. Your cycle should be regular, coming every 28 to 29 days. Bleeding should last four to five days. Your period should be a moderate flow (30 to 40 milliliters) of rich red blood without clots and is typically heavier in the first two days, tapering off gradually. To calculate a moderate flow, consider how many pads or tampons you need: regular sizes hold about 5 milliliters and super/maxis hold around 10 milliliters. Aside from mild lower abdominal cramping, you should not be in pain. Your mood and energy levels should not vary significantly from other times of the month. You should not get headaches, acne, constipation or diarrhea associated with your period.
However, your body is not an exact copy of other women’s bodies, so some variation from this optimal experience is to be expected. Having said that, you should have treatment if you are in severe pain, your menstrual problems are impacting on your quality of life or you are having trouble conceiving.
The most common menstrual problems that I see in my clinic are painful periods, irregular periods and heavy periods. Treatment aims to regulate the circulation of energy and blood through the uterus and to balance the functions of the organs responsible for normal menstruation. In Chinese medicine, this is primarily the liver and kidneys, and secondarily the spleen and heart. The goal of treatment is to give a woman a normal cycle that is regular, fertile and comfortable. A patient recently said to me that her periods are so heavy and painful that she has wanted to have a hysterectomy since she was 15. We’ve only just started treatment, but I hope to be able to bring her periods into the normal range.
// Jon Hanlon is a Chinese medical practitioner, raised in the US, trained in Australia, now healing the sick in Guangzhou. You can contact him for a booking on 185 0202 5594
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