Blood stasis delayed menstruation

Delayed menstruation (late periods) due to blood stasis arising when qì stagnation or congealing cold obstruct the thoroughfare (chōng) and controlling (rèn) vessels and prevent the timely arrival of blood to the uterus.

Patterns

Qì stagnation (气滞 qì zhì) gives rise to blood stasis delayed menstruation associated with scant inhibited flow, smaller abdominal distension and pain exacerbated by pressure and relieved by passing of clots.

Medicinal therapy: Move qì, quicken the blood, and transform stasis using Overdue Beverage (过期饮 guò qī yǐn).

Congealing cold (寒凝 hán níng) causes blood stasis delayed menstruation attended by lesser abdominal cold pain exacerbated by pressure.

Medicinal therapy: Warm the channels, quicken the blood, and transform stasis using Lesser Abdomen Stasis-Expelling Decoction (少腹逐瘀汤 shào fù zhú yū tāng).

Acumoxatherapy: Base treatment on the CV and the three yīn channels of the foot. Main points: CV-6 (Sea of Qì, 气海 qì hǎi), KI-13 (Qì Point, 气穴 qì xué), SP-6 (Three Yīn Intersection, 三阴交 sān yīn jiāo), CV-3 (Central Pole, 中极 zhōng jí), and SP-8 (Earth’s Crux, 地机 dì jī). Needle with even supplementation and drainage.

• For qì stagnation, needle with drainage at LR-3 (Supreme Surge, 太冲 tài chōng) and LR-5 (Woodworm Canal, 蠡沟 lǐ gōu).
• For congealing cold, needle with drainage and moxa at ST-29 (Return, 归来 guī lái) and ST-25 (Celestial Pivot, 天枢 tiān shū), and moxa CV-4 (Pass Head, 关元 guān yuán) for smaller abdominal cold pain.