Menstruation Disorders - Dysmenorrhea - Symptoms of Imbalance of Liver in TCM Perspective

All women experience menstrual disorder sometimes during their child bearing years before menopause. While Western medication has never viewed that menstruation disorder is a problem of women reproductive system, traditional Chinese medicine looks at this problem seriously, if untreated, it will disharmonize the women's ecosystem, leading to nervous tension and other health problems, including infertility.

Liver is important for blood formation and in regulating the spleen in food absorption and transforming them to energy to support our body daily activity. Imbalance of liver can be caused by stress, anger, resentment and repressed frustrations, leading to the following symptoms in dysmenorrhrea.

1. Pain in the lower abdomen preceding or during menstruation
In the western medicine point of view, pain in lower abdomen preceding or during menstruation may be caused by the inability of liver in essential fatty metabolism, leading to over production of certain hormones in the prostaglandins family that cause contraction of uterus muscles. In TCM point of view, liver is a main organ in blood storing and formation, imbalance of liver causes qi stagnation, leading to blood stagnation in some some organs, thus causing pain in the lower abdomen before and during menstruation as qi tries to push the stagnated blood through vagina.

2. Difficult menstruation
Difficult menstruation is common symptoms for women with dysmenorrhrea because of imbalance liver. As qi is stagnated, it does not have enough strength to regulate the blood flow, making menstruation difficulty.

3. Scanty menstrual discharge
In some case, qi may be able to regulate the blood flow in the reproductive organs, but blood formation of liver is damaged, it leaves only a small amount blood for menstruation, causing scanty menstrual discharge.

4. Period with dark purple color containing blood clots
It is a result of blood stagnation in the reproductive organ and excessive liver heat, (caused by extreme yin or yang) leading to dark purple color and clots.

5. Breast tenderness
Imbalance of liver causes qi stagnation that interferes with kidney function in regulating the flow of fluids in the body, effecting the reproductive organs, leading to breast tenderness.