Acupuncture for PCOS

How Chinese medicine understands PCOS

PCOS is a medical diagnosis, and Chinese medicine does not replace it. What Chinese medicine adds is a second look at the same person: what your cycle, digestion, energy, skin and mood show about the pattern behind the diagnosis. If your periods are irregular for a reason other than PCOS, see missing or irregular periods.

Two people with PCOS can have quite different patterns. The ones most often described are:

• Phlegm-Damp. The pattern most often linked with PCOS in Chinese medicine texts. Long cycles, a heavy, sluggish feeling, weight gain around the middle, poor digestion and sometimes a lot of discharge.
• Kidney deficiency. The Kidneys are seen as the root of reproductive health. Late or absent periods with low back ache, tiredness, and feeling cold, or sometimes hot at night.
• Liver Qi stagnation. Stress plays a large part. Irritability, breast tenderness before a late period, and a cycle that shifts in stressful months.
• Damp-heat or heat. Acne, oily skin, extra hair growth and a feeling of heat, often with thirst or constipation.
• Blood stasis. Periods that stop and start, with dark clots and fixed pain.

These often overlap, especially Phlegm-Damp with Kidney deficiency. In Chinese medicine, treatment aims to clear what is blocking and build what is lacking, in the proportions your pattern calls for.

What treatment involves

Your first visit includes a lot of questions: your cycle over the last 6 to 12 months, your skin, hair, weight, digestion, sleep and energy, and what your doctor has found and prescribed. I look at your tongue and take your pulse. The first visit at the Keswick clinic is 75 minutes, including the diagnosis and the first treatment.

Acupuncture commonly uses points on the belly, legs, arms and back, chosen for your pattern. In Chinese medicine terms, the aim is to support a steadier cycle and to ease the symptoms that come with PCOS, such as bloating, low energy and the stress of living with a long-term condition.

Chinese herbal medicine is often the larger part of the plan for PCOS: a formula written for your pattern, dispensed at the clinic and adjusted as your cycle and symptoms change. Herbs are extra to the treatment fee. Where cold is part of the picture, moxibustion may be added.

PCOS is long-term, and the cycle only shows change once a month. Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress, and keep tracking your cycle throughout. Treatment works alongside your family doctor, not instead of them.

Between visits

• Track your cycle: the first day of bleeding, how long it lasts, the flow, and any spotting.
• Move every day. Regular activity, including walking and strength training, helps the body use insulin.
• Build meals around protein, vegetables and whole grains, and cut back on sugary drinks and refined snacks.
• Keep a regular sleep schedule. Short or irregular sleep can make blood sugar harder to manage.
• Keep up with your checkups. PCOS raises the risk of diabetes and high cholesterol, so regular bloodwork matters.

When to see your doctor first

See your family doctor if:

• You have not been diagnosed, but have irregular periods with acne, extra hair growth or weight gain.
• You have gone three months or more without a period, or your period is late and you could be pregnant. Take a test first.
• You are very thirsty, urinating often, or unusually tired. These can be signs of diabetes.
• Your periods are very heavy or last longer than usual after a long gap.
• You develop a deepening voice, rapid hair growth or other signs that come on quickly.
• You are trying to conceive. Ask your doctor about a referral to a fertility specialist.
• Your mood is low or you feel anxious much of the time. PCOS is linked with both, and your doctor can help.