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Suffering With Hot Flashes? Try Acupuncture!

Posted Monday, March 28th, 2016 by

hot flashes, menopause, acupuncture

Hot flashes can be a common condition among women who are going through menopause. The typical hot flash usually includes redness along the face or neck, blotches that can appear on the arms, chest and back as well as the inclusion of cold shivers and heavy sweating. There are also many other health conditions that can cause hot flashes, but they are usually reserved for hormonal changes. The problem with treating hormonal changes is that adjusting your body chemistry can often increase your risk for some conditions like cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Rather than having to rely on medication or a specific medical treatment to resolve the ailment, you could be dealing with hot flashes using acupuncture.

How many women are affected?

Hot flashes can be one of the most common symptoms of menopause and at least 75 to 85% of postmenopausal women experience hot flashes. If you are experiencing hot flashes for the first time, they can definitely lead to some anxiety, but as you grow more knowledge of your hot flashes, you can begin to expect them. The frequency, severity, and duration of a hot flash will vary between different women. As far as the symptoms dissipating, they usually start around 1 to 2 years before a woman experiences menopause and then they can continue to last from six months to 15 years after menopause.

Reducing the frequency and severity of hot flashes with acupuncture:

In a current research study performed by Dr. Margery Gass, the executive director of the North American Menopause Society, acupuncture was analyzed from 104 different studies. By zeroing in on 869 women between the ages of 40 to 62 were going through menopause the researchers were able to determine that acupuncture therapy was actually helping to reduce the severity of their hot flashes.

Research participants were actually able to see a lowered frequency and severity of their hot flashes for three months after acupuncture treatment. Even more surprising was that patients discovered that their hot flashes were reduced regardless of the number of acupuncture sessions that they received or the duration of the treatment that they received in the procedure. These findings would suggest that acupuncture could have benefits for almost any person that is experiencing hot flashes and wants to find some type of relief. Just a few sessions could be all you need to reduce drastically the amount of hot flashes that you get and the symptoms of these hot flashes.

Menopausal hot flash relief with acupuncture:

In a pilot study performed for menopause Journal 2008, a series of doctors conducted a trial that involved 56 women ages 44 to 55 who experienced at least hot flashes per day. By using several different acupuncture treatments twice weekly, over eight weeks and tracking the frequency of hot flashes in a journal, the follow-up procedures suggested that there was a decrease in hot flashes across the entire group. With certain acupuncture treatments, however, it was possible to reduce drastically the frequency of hot flashes with the help of regular acupuncture treatment.

The average person may not need to keep a schedule of two appointments over eight weeks to experience a result, but it just goes to show how effective acupuncture treatment can be when used with a particular treatment schedule.

How can acupuncture reduce and improve the symptoms of hot flashes?

Most medical doctors treat hot flashes by removing the imbalance of estrogen and progesterone in the body. The problem with adjusting hormonal balances is that it can lead to some side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine through acupuncture is about restoring harmony to the body, and this includes chemicals like hormones as well. Rather than adjusting body chemistry with pharmaceuticals, it is possible for acupuncture to stimulate the production of estrogen or progesterone in a much more risk-free format. This means that the body chemistry will naturally adjust as the trigger spots are activated through acupuncture therapy. Rather than instantly changing body chemistry, all of the organs and bodily systems will have time to adapt to the changes and offset negative side effects of the hormonal adjustment. Depending on the lifestyle and diet of the patient, changes can be made and the body will eventually begin to alleviate some of the hot flash symptoms of menopause.

Women who experience severe hot flashes for example of 10+ a day have found that through regular acupuncture treatment, they can reduce the frequency of their systems to around 2 to 3 per day. Women who experience average hot flashes 2-4 times per day may be able to reduce their symptoms to just one or none each day.

As we can see, acupuncture can have an overwhelming effect on reducing the symptoms of hot flashes. If you are interested in finding relief from your menopause symptoms without risking your health, consider acupuncture today.

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