Highlights of this issue

◎  More and more people are experiencing the advantages of “clearing stasis” to treat gynecological problems such as dysmenorrhea

◎  What are the important things to pay attention to while “clearing stasis treatment”

Combining practice and theory, modern Chinese medicine has discovered that “stasis is the root cause of dysmenorrhea.”

Dysmenorrhea can be divided into two types: primary and secondary. Primary dysmenorrhea is mainly caused by excessive secretion of prostaglandins due to stasis, which leads to abnormal contraction of the uterus.[1] As for secondary dysmenorrhea, it is mainly due to stasis leading to metabolic abnormalities, invasion of endometrial glands and stroma into the myometrium, causing endometriosis and adenomyosis, and causing menstrual pain. The specific processes are different, but the key pathogenesis of both dysmenorrhea lies in “stasis”. If stasis occurs in the uterus or ovaries, it can also lead to menstrual problems such as irregular menstruation, abnormal menstrual flow, premature menstruation, infertility, premature ovarian failure, spots and acne, etc.[2]

Therefore, if you want to solve various gynecological problems caused by dysmenorrhea and congestion, the key is to “clear the stagnation”. Many women have cleared stagnation [3] solves all the troubles mentioned above, and the continuous removal of stagnation can also help continuously improve the health level of the uterus, ovaries and even the entire body.

However, while focusing on the core of “clearing stagnation”, it is also very important to take into account dispersing nodules, replenishing the body, adhering to good living habits, and ensuring the standardization of stagnation removal treatment (quantitative, regular). Only by combining these factors can a systematic program for clearing stagnation be formed to help women fundamentally solve various gynecological problems that plague them.

During the “stasis removal treatment” period for gynecological problems such as dysmenorrhea

Important Notes

As mentioned above, the root cause of gynecological problems such as dysmenorrhea is “stasis”. Stasis occurs continuously in normal metabolism and aging, and unhealthy lifestyles such as spicy diet and staying up late will further aggravate the occurrence of stasis.

Therefore, in addition to clearing and preventing stasis through stasis-clearing treatment, dysmenorrhea patients should also strictly follow the following precautions to reduce stasis caused by daily habits and irregular treatment. After all, if stasis is cleared while new stasis is caused, the treatment effect will definitely be greatly affected or even stagnant.

1、Be careful to avoid cold

Traditional Chinese medicine says: “Cold leads to dampness, dampness leads to coagulation, coagulation leads to stasis, stasis leads to blockage…” When the human body is exposed to cold, the blood flow rate slows down and the body’s metabolic activities are blocked to a certain extent, which aggravates the blockage and affects the therapeutic effect of clearing stasis.

The following habits are likely to make the body cold and aggravate stasis, so patients need to avoid them:

① Not paying attention to adding clothes to keep warm when the temperature drops, wearing navel-exposing or low-waisted clothing;

② Not drying your body and hair promptly after bathing;

③ Likes to eat raw and cold foods (such as cold drinks, salads, sashimi, etc.) and foods with cold properties (such as crabs, bitter gourd, persimmons, duck meat, etc.).

In addition to avoiding the cold, women can also keep their bodies, especially their lower abdomen, warm to improve circulation and relieve stagnation by:

① Drink only warm water;

② Soak your feet frequently;

③ Appropriate hot compress, moxibustion, etc.

2、Be careful to avoid compression

The following habits or operations will cause pressure on the perineum and lower abdomen, hinder local circulation and metabolism, and aggravate congestion, and should be avoided:

① Sitting for a long time;

② Cycling frequently;

③ Wearing tight clothes;

④ Massaging the abdomen with excessive force, etc.

3、Be careful to avoid inflammatory stimulation

◎ Microbial infection

First of all, patients need to maintain good personal hygiene by washing private parts with clean water every day, changing underwear frequently, and avoiding unclean sexual life, so as to avoid bacterial infection as much as possible. Repeated infection will continuously damage the function and immunity of tissues and organs, aggravate congestion, and also bring more uncomfortable symptoms such as burning urine and fever to patients.

◎ Systemic chronic inflammation

Systemic chronic inflammation（SCI）Refers to a low-level non-infectious (i.e. “sterile”) state. If this state is maintained for a long time, tissues and organs will be repeatedly stimulated by inflammatory factors, resulting in decreased immunity and impaired functions, making congestion more likely to occur. Long-term systemic chronic inflammation will also increase the risk of various autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

The following items are likely to cause systemic chronic inflammation:

① Stimulation of tissues and organs caused by repeated acute infections;

② Mechanical injuries such as impact and compression;

③ Long-term stimulation of high and low temperatures;

④ Long-term consumption of irritating foods such as high-fat, high-sugar, and high-salt foods;

⑤ Frequent staying up late and overwork;

⑥ Negative emotions;

⑦ Aging.

Therefore, patients should develop an “anti-inflammatory lifestyle” targeting the triggers of systemic chronic inflammation, including:

① On the premise of a balanced diet, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, eat a moderate amount of high-protein foods, and supplement foods containing EPA and DHA (such as marine fish, nuts and olive oil, etc.), especially avoid foods containing trans fatty acids (such as puffed foods, fried foods);

② Exercise more;

③ Avoid staying up late, overwork, and ensure regular and adequate sleep;

④ Avoid negative emotions and emotional ups and downs.

4、Pay attention to moderate exercise

Exercise can accelerate the body’s metabolism and relieve congestion, especially for congestion in the myometrium/endometrium and ovaries. Exercise habits have a very obvious effect on relieving it.

It should be noted that patients, including all women, need to avoid high-intensity activities during menstruation (especially within the first 1-2 days of menstruation); if you exercise, choose light activities such as walking and brisk walking as much as possible.

5、Pay attention to standardized treatment

◎ Treatment must be adequate

If the treatment intensity is not reached to a certain level, the strength of removing stasis is not enough, and it is difficult to clear the blocked parts in the early stage of treatment. Therefore, the effect of treatment will be weakened or even difficult to be effective if the dosage is reduced without authorization.

◎ Treatment must be regular

Stagnation is also continuously produced during normal metabolism and aging. Regular treatment can ensure that “clearing stasis > occurrence of stasis”, so that the treatment effects are continuously accumulated. Intermittent treatment will only lead to the continuous “waste of previous efforts and comeback” of the therapeutic effect.

◎ Treatment must continue

The treatment of chronic diseases requires a process, and dredging treatment generally has three stages:

【Phase 1】

Eliminate most of the main symptoms

The effect of clearing stagnation in this stage is mainly reflected in clearing out metabolites, sediments, secretions and other toxins that are blocked in organ tissues, improving microcirculation/microenvironment, thereby relieving stimulation and compression on nerves and tissues, and eliminating most symptoms caused by stagnation, such as lower abdominal distension, low back pain, abnormal menstrual flow, etc.

【Phase 2】

Improve functions and stabilize symptoms

The effect of clearing stasis in this stage is mainly reflected in further optimizing the internal environment, improving the body’s self-healing ability, and restoring the body’s functions, thereby stabilizing and eliminating a small number of residual mild symptoms and improving systemic chronic inflammation. It makes the menstrual cycle more stable and the menstrual volume more normal (no more, no less, generally 20~80ml).

【Phase 3】

Prevent stagnation and keep your body smooth and healthy

The effect of clearing stagnation in this stage is mainly reflected in preventing the occurrence of stagnation, improving the body’s circulation and metabolic capacity, and strengthening the immune system, thereby preventing the occurrence of disease and keeping the body in an unobstructed, energetic and healthy state.

The main aspects of improvement in each stage are different. Especially after the second stage, the improvement of the body by removing stasis is often difficult for patients to notice, but it is still very important. Because only by removing stasis and continuously improving the body’s functions and immunity can the effect of “no recurrence and keeping the body healthy and energetic” be achieved. Therefore, patients should not stop treatment as soon as the symptoms disappear.

PS: Since the removal of stasis is based on promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, it is best for patients to slow down or stop removing stasis when the menstrual flow is heavy.

In addition, patients need to understand 2 treatment features. There is no need to feel worried, discouraged or even give up treatment when:

◎ Fluctuating symptoms

During treatment, symptoms may fluctuate occasionally and slightly due to changes in the patient’s lifestyle (such as suddenly eating a large amount of cold and irritating food or catching a cold, especially when these irritations occur before menstruation). At this time, the patient only needs to avoid such habits in the future and continue to adhere to the sludge removal, and the symptoms will not occur easily again.

◎ Improving trend

Due to differences in the patient’s condition, physical constitution, living habits, etc., some patients may experience faster improvement in symptoms while others may experience slower improvement during the treatment process (generally, this difference will not be very obvious), but as long as the dredging is persisted, the related symptoms will disappear with the treatment.

In order to facilitate memory and help patients remind themselves at any time, we have summarized the above precautions into two aspects: 【Daily】 and 【Treatment】. You can long press to save the picture below:

Knowledge Development

[1]“Stagnation” causes an increase in prostaglandins, which leads to excessive uterine contraction and dysmenorrhea

Prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) play an important role in the contraction and relaxation of uterine muscle cells. Prostaglandins are produced in the late menstrual secretion to promote endometrial shedding and bleeding.

In patients with primary dysmenorrhea, due to the generation of stasis in their menstrual blood and endometrium, the endometrium is difficult to shed normally. At this time, in order to help it shed, PGF2α is higher than that of non-dysmenorrhea patients. The increase in the PGF2α/PGE2 ratio can lead to contraction of uterine blood vessels and myometrium, increased uterine activity, excessive contraction, reduced blood flow, and tissue ischemia and hypoxia causing pain.

[2]“The mechanism of “congestion” leading to various gynecological problems such as dysmenorrhea. When microcirculation disorders occur in the endometrium and myometrium or when the ovaries are blocked, the endometrium cannot grow, proliferate, necrotize, or fall off normally. Or part of the endometrium will invade the muscle tissue of the uterine wall or implant outside the uterine cavity. When menstruation occurs, due to the poor shedding of the endometrium, the myometrium will undergo spasmodic contractions accompanied by excessive production of prostaglandins, resulting in dysmenorrhea such as lower abdominal pain and heaviness. At the same time, microcirculation disorders, ovarian blockage, fallopian tube blockage, etc. will also lead to abnormal uterine and ovarian function and the following: ① Menstrual disorders, which can be manifested as abnormal menstrual cycle, menstrual period, and menstrual volume; ② Infertility or ectopic pregnancy; ③ Adenomyosis, endometriosis, low back pain, premature menopause, premature ovarian failure or aggravated menopausal symptoms; ④ The so-called uterine cold, the root cause of which is also congestion; ⑤ Skin problems such as spots and acne.

[3]How to “clear stagnation”

Based on the traditional medical wisdom of more than 2,000 years, and with the help of modern medical perspective, we can summarize several Chinese medicinal raw materials that are particularly outstanding in dispersing stagnation, promoting blood circulation, removing dampness, promoting urination, clearing heat, and replenishing the body:Bee pollen, dandelion, Houttuynia cordata, purslane, poria, platycodon, peach kernel. Among them, bee pollen is known as an “all-round nutritional food”. The last six common plant raw materials are all items that have the same origin as medicine and food and are listed in  Appendix 1 of the 《List of Items that Are Both Food and Medicines》 in the 《Notice on Further Standardizing the Management of Health Food Raw Materials》 published by the Ministry of Health. Suitable for daily use. However, it is best for ordinary people not to make their own medicines. It is difficult for ordinary people to grasp the ratio of medicinal flavors, have no in-depth understanding of pharmacology, and it is difficult to distinguish the quality of medicinal materials. Moreover, the effects of medicinal materials are not purely additive, and it is difficult for ordinary people to know whether the combination of different raw materials will produce certain toxicity. Therefore, the formula and usage still require professional help.