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Treatment of Secondary Amenorrhea With Chinese Herbs

Secondary amenorrhea is the condition when a woman, who has already started menstruation and who is not pregnant, breast-feeding or in menopause, has a cessation of menstruation for longer than six months. There are various treatments for amenorrhea, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) offers treatments that work by stimulating the body to regulate its naturally occurring hormones.

  1. Classifying the Deficiency

    • TCM addresses maladies that arise from the body's "excessive functions" or "deficiency functions." Secondary amenorrhea, according to TCM, is a deficiency function that can arise from irregularities in either the blood or the chi (or ch'i, pronounced chee). The specific organs that regulate blood and chi are the liver, spleen and kidneys. The liver maintains the smooth and even flow of blood, chi and emotions. The spleen produces blood and chi. When the spleen is overly weak, something called phlegm-dampness can obstruct the uterus. The kidneys' primary role is conception and reproduction. The common deficiency patterns are kidney liver deficiency and chi blood deficiency.

    Kidney Liver Deficiency

    • Malnourishment of the kidney and liver or an inconsistent sex life contributes to this deficiency. You can identify this problem by noting the symptoms of loss of menstruation, thin body, palpitations, insomnia, back and knee soreness, dizziness, dream-disturbed sleep, chest congestion, anxiety, hot flashes, excessive sweating, absence of tongue coating, cracks on the tongue and a weak pulse. To combat secondary amenorrhea, you can obtain Rehmannia (Shu Di Huang), discorea root (Shan Yao), and angelica (Dang Gui) to heal your kidney and liver blood. A product called Restoring Kidney Formula (Gui Shen Wan) is used often in TCM.

    Chi Blood Deficiency

    • When menstruation periods become more sporadic, leading to secondary amenorrhea, and you begin to notice the symptoms of a pale complexion, dizziness, palpitations, weak limbs, loose stool, pale thin tongue and a weak pulse, your body may have a chi blood deficiency. A common TCM treatment is ginseng (Dang Shen) the best tonic herb for chi. Angelica (Dang Gui) is a tonic herb for blood. Use Blood Tonic (Ba Zhen Tang) for a chi blood deficiency.

    Chi Stagnation and Blood Stasis

    • Symptoms include depression, anxiety, a feeling of fullness under the chest, swelling or fullness of the abdomen, no appetite, thirst, constipation, purple sides of the tongue, tongue with a yellow/white sticky coating and a weak intermittent pulse. TCM provides Buplerum (Chai Hu), angelica (Dang Gui), and white peony (Bai Shoa) for treatment. Try Liver Spleen Harmonizer (Xia Yao San) as a curative tonic.

    Phlegm-Dampness Retention

    • This may apply to a person who is overweight or is spleen deficient. Consuming cold, raw or greasy foods can contribute to the deficiency. This can lead to secondary amenorrhea and additional symptoms: chest congestion, nausea, mucosal vagina discharge, sticky phlegm in the mouth, yellow/white sticky tongue coating and a thin-slippery pulse. Lancea tuber (Cang Zhu), cyperus tuber (Xiang Fu) and tangerine peel (Chen Pi) are herbs used in treatment. The Phlegm Cleansing (CAng Fu Dao Tan Tang) is an herbal formula widely used for this deficiency.

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