Weight loss for a lot of women is a constant struggle and the pounds just seem to stay no matter how hard they try. After endless hours in the gym and dieting, they end up hungry, tired and frustrated, with seemingly lack of progress. For those of you with this problem, it may not be your fault at all. You may be suffering from a condition known as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS, for short, which makes losing weight almost impossible to achieve. PCOS can lead to a number of symptoms but they can be treated with a number of western and eastern types of modalities. Eastern therapies include Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture and western treatments with hormone therapies.

PCOS sufferers have ovaries that are affected by cysts, thus the reason for its name. Besides weight gain, its other signs and symptoms include irregular menses, obesity, acne, thinning scalp and excessive facial hair growth. No matter how much exercise you do, if you suffer from PCOS, the weight in your stomach may never seem to decrease. When their period arrives, sufferers of PCOS will have late menses or might even have no period at all; if it does come, the menstruation is often very painful. This abnormal menstrual cycle makes it hard for affected women to become pregnant. PCOS is actually one of the leading causes of female infertility and most of those affected don’t even know they have the condition. The symptoms related to PCOS may be due to elevated amounts of testosterone in the woman’s body. In order to restore the body’s hormonal balance Chinese Medicine can be used to normalize the natural cycle of the woman and bring back ovulation.

In contrast to Western medicine’s linear approach to treating conditions such as PCOS, Eastern Medicine uses a holistic strategy. This means that a certain sickness may not always mean the same type treatment for people with the same condition. Eastern medical practitioners address the underlying cause of the problem besides its symptoms. PCOS, according to Traditional Chinese medicine, may be due to three distinct diagnoses. It’s possible that a patient may have one, two or three patterns of symptoms for this condition. Actually, the most common diagnosis is the manifestation of all three syndromes (patterns). The diagnoses are Blood and/or Qi Stagnation, deficiency of Kidney Yang, and Excess Damp and/or Phlegm in the body. If all three conditions are seen in a person, all these three ought to be addressed. Used as treatment for this is acupuncture along with Chinese herbal remedies to help tonify Kidney Yang, move Blood and Qi and clear damp and phlegm.

PCOS sufferers need to take their condition seriously since other than its overt physical manifestations, one can end up with even more severe illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, obesity, and diabetes. A plan of treatment using Chinese herbs and acupuncture in Bellingham as well as regular exercise can help stabilize your hormone levels and this can help you avoid undergoing hormone therapy.