Folio Bound VIEWS - Chinese Medicine

Pre-Menstrual Tension: Kidney-Yang Deficiency-Female, Age 33

A 33-year-old woman had been suffering from pre-menstrual tension for 4 years. Before the
period she was depressed and anxious. The period itself was painful, the menstrual blood had
some small dark clots and she felt very cold during it. Other symptoms included a general cold
feeling, backache, achy knees, dizziness, tinnitus, urgent and slightly dribbling urination, poor
memory, numbness of the limbs, restless sleep and tiredness. Her tongue was Pale but had
slightly Red sides. The root of the tongue had no spirit. Her pulse was generally Weak,
particularly on the Rear positions.

Diagnosis This patient has clear symptoms of Kidney-Yang deficiency: backache,
cold feeling, achy knees, dizziness, tinnitus, poor memory, dribbling
urination, Pale tongue and pulse Weak on the Kidney positions. There is
also some deficiency of Blood evidenced by the numbness of limbs and
restless sleep. The deficiency of the Kidneys leads to Liver deficiency
and stagnation of Liver-Qi which causes the pre-menstrual tension.

Treatment principle The treatment principle adopted was to tonify and warm Kidney-Yang,
nourish and pacify the Liver, eliminate stagnation, calm the Mind and
settle the Ethereal Soul. As she had been referred by a fellow
acupuncturist for herbal treatment, I treated her only with herbs.

Herbal treatment I started by using a variation of the decoction You Gui Wan Restoring
the Right [Kidney] Pill:

Fu Zi Radix Aconiti carmichaeli praeparata 3 g

Rou Gui Cortex Cinnamomi cassiae 2 g

Du Zhong Cortex Eucommiae ulmoidis 6 g

Shan Zhu Yu Fructus Corni officinalis 4.5 g

Tu Si Zi Semen Cuscutae 6 g

Lu Jiao Jiao Colla Cornu Cervi 6 g

Shu Di Huang Radix Rehmanniae glutinosae praeparata 12 g

Shan Yao Radix Dioscoreae oppositae 6 g

Gou Qi Zi Fructus Lycii chinensis 6 g

Dang Gui Radix Angelicae sinensis 6 g

Xiang Fu Rhizoma Cyperi rotundi 6 g

Bai Shao Radix Paeoniae albae 6 g

Explanation All the herbs, except for the last two, make up the You Gui Wan which
tonifies Kidney-Yang and nourishes Liver-Blood.

Xiang Fu was added to move Liver-Qi and eliminate stagnation.

Bai Shao nourishes and pacifies the Liver and calms the Mind.

After taking this prescription for 3 weeks, she said that, although she