Period Pain Blog

A Chinese Medicine look into Blood deficiency and how to help with period pain

I do a lot of different things with my acupuncture, but the one thing I seem to be doing more and more in the clinic when working with periods and the menstrual cycle is building Blood.

What is blood?

Blood (xue) is one of the material substances of the body and is a very dense form of Qi. The main function of Blood is to nourish the body. As well as nourishing the body, Blood also has a moisturising affect, making sure tendons, skin, muscles, organs, eyes, nails, hair and sinews are soft and supple, helping to stop them from drying out.

Blood is also important as it provides a foundation for your Chinese Mind (Shen). Your Mind is one of 5 parts that make up your overall spirit, which is also confusingly called your Shen. But let’s focus on the Mind for now. The Mind sits in your Heart - yep not your head where we would think (pun intended) it would be - and is the part that connects us to our body and emotions.

The functions of the Mind include, consciousness, thinking, memory, insight, cognition, sleep, intelligence, wisdom, ideas, affections, and feelings.

Having a good amount of Blood is important for how you feel and for how you think!

The one issue I am helping the most when building Blood, is getting people’s periods back after a long time without having one. This is generally seen in people who are still getting their periods, not those who are menopausal. The periods might be missing due to coming off contraception, breastfeeding, poly-cystic ovaries, PCOS, stress, eating disorders, or sometimes due to nothing obviously in a Western view.

What can cause Blood deficiency?

Generally, those of us who bleed menstrual blood are more likely to be Blood deficient over time. We need to learn how to replenish and conserve our energy in this crazy non-stop world of ours!

Physically overworking - slamming yourself with HIIT all the time is not great. It is not uncommon for people who are training in sports to have irregular cycles or have their periods stop until they stop training.

Physical blood loss - through heavy periods, childbirth, an accident, or donating of blood too often are all ways Blood can escape from our body.

Not eating enough - it is very common for people who have restrictive eating disorders to lose their periods. You don’t need to have an eating disorder to not be getting the right amount of food daily. Lots of people under eat by accident, usually due to being so busy they forget or don’t feel hungry. Blood is build from food. You need food for Blood.

What are the signs and symptoms of Blood deficiency?

Are you now wondering if you have any signs of Blood deficiency? Do you suffer from the following?

Palpitations or fluttering in the chest
Dizziness
Sleeping difficulties - can’t fall asleep and/or stay asleep
Poor memory
Anxiety
Dull complexion
Numbness or tingling in arms and legs
Chapped lips
Dry skin on face and/or body
Muscle cramps
Getting hot and sweaty while sleeping
Brittle nails
Dry hair
Feelings of aimlessness (oooo I hear some people say!)
Fatigue

And what about the menstrual cycle?

Heavy, deep period cramps - think twisting and ripping
Scanty periods - not bleeding much
No periods

How to build up Blood energy

Diet:
As mentioned before, food is very important to help building Blood. You need to eat enough and you must eat often. No fasting - that will be a whole other blog when I get around to it one day, but restricting food and when you eat goes against the natural flow of Qi throughout the body.

Foods that are great for Blood building include

Grains – barley, oats, rice, corn
Vegetables – beetroot, turnip, dark leafy greens, mushrooms, cabbage, seaweed, celery, watercress - (all veg should be steamed slightly)
Fruit – Apple, apricot, cherry, goji berry, dates, fig, longan, avocado, blackberry, mulberry - (all fruits should be stewed)
Beans – adzuki, black soy, kidney
Nuts and seeds – Almonds, black sesame
Meat – all red meat (beef, lamb, pork, rabbit), bone marrow, liver and other organ meats, bone broth
Fish – tuna, sardine, mussel, octopus, oyster
Dairy / eggs – Egg (chicken, quail)
Herbs / spices – Nettle, parsley
Condiments – molasses, collagen / protein powders
Beverages – soy milk (warm)

Here are some examples to use in your diet to help build Blood:
• Rice porridges with soy milk, apricots and almonds
• Dark leafy green salads with avocado and grated beetroot (make them warm!)
• Scrambled Eggs with parsley
• Snacks of dried apricots and almonds
• Kidney bean and mushroom lasagne with a spinach
• Any red meat dish
(Thank you Debra Betts for these ideas!)

REMEMBER to always eat warm and drink warm. Cold isn’t great at building Blood.

Exercise:
Movement is always good, but if you are Blood deficiency you must monitor your exercise. Rather than smashing yourself with HIIT try weight training instead. Rather than exercising 6-7 times a week, try 3-4 times instead. Movement doesn’t need to gym or sports based either. It can be yoga, stretching, dancing, walking, whatever gets you feeling good without tiring yourself out.

How Acupuncture and Chinese herbs help

Since Blood comes from our food, I work a lot on strengthening and supporting the Earth energy, the Stomach and the Spleen, in receiving and then transforming the food. When the Spleen is at it’s strongest, it distills the food into the purest form and essence and sends this essence up towards the Lungs (the remaining impure food travels south to the Large Intestines for elimination). As the pure essence rising it begins to turn into Blood and as it reaches the Lungs and is combined with the Qi from the air we breath, we have Blood in it’s full form ready to nourish the rest of the body. The Blood moves to the Heart and from there is circulated with Qi around the body. The Heart ‘rules the Blood’, so I work a bit on harmonising the Heart. The Liver also plays a role, as it ‘stores the Blood’, especially period blood. Keeping Liver Qi smooth and Liver Blood abundant, I work on building up how much Blood the Liver can store. The more Blood, the more periods and less pain.

Blood is the Yin to what Qi is the Yang. The fundamentals of Blood is so deeply set in Chinese Medicine philosophy that it is one of the first topics we learn as Chinese Medicine practitioners. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are designed to help build and regulate Blood.

If you feel like you need help with building Blood, please get in touch.
And remember - period pain is common, but not normal!

x Stay warm
Dr Alice

Written by a human