Infertility & Fibroids
Blood Stasis, Liver Qi Stagnation, Kidney Yang deficiency Cold, Heart Blood deficiency, Spleen Qi deficiency (slight).
The Kidney Yang Cold and the Liver Qi stagnation has caused the blood to congeal resulting in fibroids, painful heavy clotted periods. The liver Qi stagnation is also generating some heat causing red itchy eyes, warming the Stomach causing bad breath, and agitating the Heart causing sleep disturbance, and emotional issues. The Liver Qi Stag is also disturbing the Spleen resulting in alternating bowels and easy bruising. The deficiency in the Kidneys is also resulting in urinary symptoms, poor long term memory, and low back pain. The asthma and allergies show a deficiency in the lungs, and since it is chronic points towards Lung/Kidney difficult to grasp Qi, and the sadness that was reported.
Overall plan; in approx. 3 months there will be surgery to remove fibroid. The fibroid in question seems to be the only issue with conception, as all other western signs & symptoms seem to check out. Until post surgery, do not try to conceive, take a break, relax and enjoy summer. There is still a number of fertile years, so, heal from this surgery and try again naturally for at least 1 year before considering IVF alternatives. With moderate changes in lifestyle, taking Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and supplements, the chances of a fibroid recurring will be minimized. There are a number of signs and symptoms described below in additional notes that according to Chinese medicine are displaying patterns of disharmony and imbalance. When these are reduced or for the most part disappear, and the body, mind, spirit come back into a optimized state of health, both recovery from surgery and fertility will be the result.
Chinese herbal medicine; concentrated powdered teas (Bema), 12 gm/day. Zhe Chong Yin with Rou Gui, Fu Zi, Lu Jiao Jiao, Shu Di, Chai Hu, & Xiang Fu. 30 day supply given. Follow up consultation in 1 month to review conditions and refill herbal formula. Herbs should be taken for the next 6 months, stopping for 1 week on either side of the surgery as to not interact with medications given during procedure.
Acupuncture; need to have a consultation with local physiotherapist to help guide weekly treatments. Basically lower abdomen, lower back, & sinus points will be administered for 3- 6 months.
Diet; first, avoid dietary sources of estrogen that feed fibroid growth such as water from plastic bottles & soy. The Mediclear dietary cleanse handbook will be sent with welcome package. Please read carefully and try to incorporate its principles into daily habits. The cleanse is basically an anti-inflammatory diet which may help calm an over-active immune system causing allergies, and possibly difficulty with implantation. The diet eliminates foods that people are most commonly sensitive to then slowly reintegrates them so that it can be determined which foods may be causing difficulty with both digestion and immune responses. Basically her diet is good, but looking deeper will help.
Exercise; biking and walking are staples so far. As well, after having read Tao of Fertility by Daoshing Ni, she has started Qigong. I also would encourage yoga 1-2 times per week. All these activities together will strengthen body (heart lungs and muscles, as well as mind).
Supplements; CoQ10 - 120mg/day in a base of flax/vitamin E oil from Sisu, Prenatal multivitamin, folic acid 1mg/day, vitamin D 400iu/day, Fish oils EPA from Nordic Naturals 3000mg/day.
Joy; take time to do the things in life that bring joy, i.e. beautiful light on a landscape vista, the laughter of small children, a job well done, a clean kitchen, playing 'hookey' on a sunny day, being in warm water, spending time with friends, and other things that you are most grateful for.
Medications; when once again trying to conceive, it is recommended to consult her doctor on the risks benefits of the steroid use.
TBA. Treatment has just started.
If the plan presented is followed, my prognosis for natural conception within the next year is good.
C. Wong is a shaoyang/taiyin woman who has been pregnant 2 times and had 2 abortions, the last being 12 years ago. Her and her husband have been trying to get pregnant for the last 2.5 years with no success. She works at an archaeology consulting firm and seems to enjoy both her work and her life. Her main passion seems to be her art. It would seem that her relationship is quite strong and her husband has no sperm issues. 2 years ago she had a large fibroid removed from her uterus, and in the recent past has found another that measures 2.5cm in diameter. She has heavy painful clotted periods which started when she was 12, bleeds for 5 days, and is 28 days in duration. She experiences some PMS. Her fallopian tubes are patent and all her hormone profiles come back normal. In the past she has been diagnosed with Chlamydia and HPV. She seems to ovulate on her own, displaying cervical mucous and breast sensitivity around ovulation. She experiences extremely cold low back with fixed pain. She currently is taking symbicort periodically and Salbutomol to control her allergies (asthma, itchy red eyes, breathlessness, stuffy/runny nose). She reports feeling 'uncentered'. Her bowels are 1/day regular, but alternate loose/constipated. Urinary habits display slight frequency and urgency. Wakes easily at night then has trouble falling back to sleep. Easily irritated and sometimes sad. Other S&S include; unfulfilled desires, vivid dreams, lack of joy, feeling of cold, cold hands/feet, poor long term memory, bruise easily, and bad breath. Exercise involves some biking and walking. She says that if she can't get pregnant at least she would like to balance her systems (body, mind, spirit, and would like to feel calmer and more centered. She expressed an interest in creating a 3-6 month plan for taking care of herself and to prepare herself to bring life into the world. She expressed the need for positive energy and support, solution based thinking, a plan of action, a support structure for periodic check in and evaluation of progress, references to resources, an open ear, patience, safety, and love, as well as challenges to to help provoke change.
Comments
Perplexed
I am perplexed by your treatment of acupuncture in this case. There is much a full assessment of this case from a classical acupuncture perspective could offer. Why are you referring to a physiotherapist for acupuncture in a gyn case like this - that is not appropriate. This patient would benefit greatly from seeing a well trained, classically oriented acupuncturist who would not just use local points in the lower abdomen and lower back as you suggest, but would use the full weight of the entire meridian system to the benefit of this patient. What a classical acupuncturist would contribute here that you are not going to get from a physiotherapist include distal points on meridians that are relevant to this case, appropriate use of extraordinary vessels, moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, network vessel pricking, etc etc.
Daniel Schulman
Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
Daniel Schulman
Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
let me un-perplex you....
she lives in remote northern British Columbia. Physio is all she has access to.
Webdoktor `a patient is healed when the body is set right or the story is heard to the end`
clarity
oh
that sucks
Daniel Schulman
Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
Daniel Schulman
Charlottetown, PEI, Canada