birth of her third child. The periods started with a flood, lasted up to 10 days and the blood was
bright-red. There was no pain and the cycle was regular. She felt always very tired and she often
sweated at night, especially during her periods. She felt easily thirsty. She also had a lower
backache and occasionally tinnitus.
Her tongue was slightly Red, cracked and without coating on the root. Her pulse was Rapid and
Overflowing but Empty.
Diagnosis This is a complex condition. The excessive menstrual bleeding is caused
by three factors: deficient Spleen-Qi and Kidney-Yin failing to hold
Blood, and Empty-Heat agitating Blood. The Spleen-Qi deficiency is
evidenced by the tiredness and by the bleeding in a sudden flood
(bleeding from Kidney-Yin deficiency only would be a trickle at the end
of the period). The Kidney-Yin deficiency is evident from the backache,
tinnitus, thirst and night-sweating. The Empty-Heat is evident from the
Red colour of the tongue without coating and the Rapid and
Overflowing-Empty pulse.
Treatment principle The treatment principle adopted was to tonify Spleen-Qi, nourish
Kidney-Yin, clear Empty-Heat and stop bleeding. This patient was
treated only with acupuncture.
Acupuncture The points used (with reinforcing method except for those to clear
Empty-Heat which were needled with even method) were selected from
the following:
LU-7 Lieque and KI-6 Zhaohai to regulate the Directing Vessel and
tonify the uterus.Ren-6 Qihai, Ren-12 Zhongwan, ST-36 Zusanli and SP-6 Sanyinjiao to
tonify Spleen-Qi.DU-20 Baihui to raise Qi in order to hold Blood.KI-3 Taixi to nourish Kidney-Yin.KI-2 Rangu to clear Empty-Heat.SP-8 Diji, Accumulation point, to stop uterine bleeding.BL-20 Pishu and BL-23 Shenshu to tonify Spleen and Kidneys.This patient was treated once a week for the 2 weeks after her period
and twice a week for the two weeks before her period. The period
started to decrease in amount after two months and after 6 months it
went back to normal.