Ep. 30 Traditional Chinese Medicine & Women's Health

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So I think a lot of women are walking around with things that they just assume like all women suffer through and it's just part of being a woman. And in Chinese medicine it's beautiful because those are imbalances, those are your body giving you red flags and they can easily be treated.

Hello friends. You are listening to the All Things Good 4U podcast. I'm your host, Brian Bowen, founder of.

Integrative Health Inc. And I'm Amy Christiansen, your co host and creator of Amy Christiansen Health and Wellness Coaching.

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Hey Brian.

Hello. Hello. Good. Oh good late morning. I don't know, we're kind of between. So good, good late morning. Good early afternoon.

Yes, yes. It's nice. Nice morning.

Did you have a lovely weekend?

Well, it's kind of my weekend still since I'm off on Sundays and Mondays. This is my weekend.

Yay. Yeah, it's my flex day. I like flex days. I can.

This is where you stand in front of the mirror and do bicep curls and stuff.

I'm going to after this podcast actually.

Flex day.

Flex day. Sorry, my voice, it might come in and out a little bit. I actually taught a class all day Saturday and Sunday so I have a little of the strain voice syndrome going on.

What class did you teach?

I taught my Dow needle certification course for the foundation.

So, so cool.

Super fun, super great people and always.

Always a fun adventure and dowel needling. Did we do a, did we do a podcast on down needling?

You know we should do one in the future in general over pain because I feel like, you know my philosophy and yours and we've talked about is to the least invasive therapies and try to avoid surgeries and all that stuff. But I feel like we should do One on pain, where we talk about all the different tools available for. For pain, whether it's acute or chronic, and then also maybe help, like, if you're having this type of pain. These are some available things out there that are amazing if you have this type of pain. I think people are so lost with that, and there's so many people have pain. So if we. If we've done that already, maybe we.

Talked about different modalities and things and approaches, but I don't know that we. If we did, we did one so long ago. It's a good time to revisit. But I think you should tell people, because down needling is kind of your baby, right?

It is my baby, and I love it so much. And you can't get me started to talk about it because I will talk forever. And I want to talk. I want to talk to you and everybody forever. But I love. I love the person we're bringing on. We have a guest today, and I love our guest days. Guest days are awesome days. And I just want to say, the guest we're bringing on today, I love her to death. She is definitely one of my faves. I love her energy, I love her personality. And most importantly, all of her clients adore and love her, too. She's such a gift, and she loves her profession. Profession, I should say. She's an acupuncturist and herbalist. So she's going to be talking today about traditional Chinese medicine and women's health, and she thrives in that category. And it's just amazing.

You guys have been working together for a long time.

Yes, and we work very well together. And again, it's all because of her amazing personality, flexibility. Her knowledge is just amazing. She's just easy to connect with. And I see her and her patients having fun all day long. So whether you're talking to her on the phone or whether you're talking to her in person or being greeted, you're in good hands with Tess Yamada.

Now. Okay, how do you spell her last name?

You're gonna have to ask her because I don't want to actually butcher it on air. But it's phonically spelled.

Yamada.

Yamada. Yeah. And it's a great last name. So she needs to launch her own herbal company utilizing that last name, which we.

It is a great name. Okay. I feel bad. We kind of work together, too, but I have to say, I've never really been in a situation where I had to use her last name. Sorry, Tess. That's a lovely Name?

You might. All right, well, to introduce Tess. Tess is on the line with us now, and we, again, are going to be talking about traditional Chinese medicine and women's health. So, Tess, welcome, welcome, welcome.

Hi, there. Thanks for having me. Hey, Tess. Hi. How are you? It's going great, thank you.

Well, I know you are in between treating people right now and have taken time out to talk to us about this today, so I greatly appreciate it. And so you just let us know when you have to get off here. We'll try to get as much information out there again. But if you could just tell everybody who's listening a little bit more about your background and how you got into treating women's health stuff with traditional Chinese medicine. We'll start from. Start from there.

Sure. So, yeah, so as Brian said, I'm an acupuncturist and herbalist. I've been doing this a little over 10 years now. I went to school here in Denver, actually at the same place Brian went to. So I've always been in Denver. I got into Chinese medicine for a very personal reason. I myself was struggling with some issues when I was younger, when I was, like, probably in my early 20s, 18, 19, early 20s. And I found Western medicine is amazing, but I found that it wasn't serving my needs. It wasn't providing the relief that I needed for what I was dealing with. And I ended up at an acupuncturist who just changed my life and kind of opened me up to this world that I just fell in love with. And I knew that this is what I wanted to do, and I wanted to share the knowledge that this doctor had given to me and, you know, be able to give that to other people as well. So I would say, you know, one of the things I definitely am passionate about is women's health, amongst other things. I love pain relief. And gut health is another issue I can geek out on. But women's health is definitely something I'm super passionate about. And thank you for having me so I can talk a little bit more about it.

Yes, absolutely.

Okay, so you. You may have just said this, but I'm like, absorbing everything. I'm coming into this. As most people on the podcast have heard, I don't really know a whole lot about the Chinese medicine. I know very little enough to ask silly questions, but. So your official title is what?

My license is in traditional Chinese medicine. So what that encompasses is acupuncture, herbology. So I'm an herbalist. Everything from cupping to lifestyle changes. So it's truly just kind of using a variety of skills to balance and put the body back in harmony.

And what does school look like for that? What's your education? Not for people who don't know anything about Chinese medicine or what that looks like. You guys have pretty extensive education process.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's changed a little bit in the time that I've done it because school was 15 years ago. But the degree in the program that I went to was a master's program and it encompasses acupuncture as well as herbs. And I believe at the time it was a four year program. It may have changed a little bit, but that, that is the education that I believe myself and Brian both did.

Yeah, I think I recently said something tell something that yeah, there's a longer process, but yeah, for the combination of what you work with mostly and we'll go to talking about the needles and stuff like that, but the acupuncture, herbs like you had mentioned cupping, which is a little different process than what I do for cupping. And what did I miss something?

I mean, I think lifestyle changes. Right. Some things, you know, there's, there's food you can look at, there's activities. So there's definitely some lifestyle components that are also part of traditional Chinese medicine.

Okay, cool. So jump in, Brian, because I know you have way more knowledge about how.

To lead these questions and. Well, one thing I would, you know, one thing I was talking to about earlier is, you know, all things good for you is really also helping to inspire people to be open minded to trying other things, to listen to their body, all the little signals to know when something's wrong. And I was just talking to her also about how many people think that some things are normal and they're, they're not. So there's little details that mean a lot more than what I think most people think about. And what does that mean as far as prevention or when something more is going on in the body? And so to jump into women's health, you know, whether it's menstrual cycle, fertility stuff, menopause, you know, those are things that I think are some big ones. But I would love to hear tests from you. Some of the common things that are being treated with acupuncture and herbology, some of the things for women to understand what's normal and what's not as it relates to menstrual cycle, as it relates to menopause. And then obviously when you talk about lifestyle, we know that there's certain things that avoid that to add to fuel to the fire versus, you know, putting that fire out. So if you could just jump in and tell us all the things you love to treat about women's health and give us some clues about what to look for if something's out of balance and help give some direction, that'd be awesome.

Sure. I think that's great what you said, Brian. I feel like sometimes with women's health, unless it's a big issue, a lot of times it goes untreated. Right. So I think a lot of women are walking around with things that they just assume like all women suffer through and it's just part of being a woman. And in Chinese medicine, it's beautiful because those are imbalances, those are your body giving you red flags and they can easily be treated. So I mean, one that I think every woman suffers with and is just expected to just live with is pms. Right. Like every month it comes, it's just something you deal with. And in Chinese medicine that's an imbalance and it can be treated and there's a lot of relief that can be provided with that. So that was just one example. And we can go through many, but we can jump right into, you know, menstruation and kind of some period issues. And I think PMS is a pretty big one. Most women suffer with that. And those symptoms can be anything from headache to irritability to sleep issues. Maybe you have some insomnia around or before your period. Sometimes women have digestive issues that come with it as well. That's something that there is a lot of relief with acupuncture and there's also some amazing Chinese herbs and some lifestyle changes that can help with that. Some of the suggestions that come into that would be, you know, some things to avoid, of course, are going to be, you know, fatty foods, things that are hard to digest. Unfortunately, alcohol sometimes can be a little tricky around that time. But exercise is a great way to help with pms. You can go ahead and do some exercising, sour foods. And then there's an amazing Chinese formula which, you know, Brian knows every acupuncture knows. It's. It's probably one of the most well known free and easy wanderer, Xiaoyu San, which is just amazing for pms. So there is some relief with that as well.

Hey Tess, could I rewind you for a minute? I'm curious if you could kind of give us like a picture perfect period because I know that there's different things. So for instance, with clots, if you could tell us A little bit more about what that means because, you know, when you have some of those things, like, what does that mean? And then if I don't treat it, what are some other bigger picture items that can, if gone unchecked, could develop?

You know, sure. So, yeah, so there are definitely some period irregularities. And again, I think a lot of times we're just told that these are okay, so you can have an irregular period, you can have a late period, you can have an earlier period. And then. Brian, you're absolutely right. Like, painful crampy periods. So those are definitely, you know, signs of an imbalance.

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To answer your question, you know, a perfect period would be. Well, I don't think there is an exact perfect period, but, you know, you're definitely looking for, you know, pretty regular. So that regularity would be anywhere from 25 to, I think, like even 30, 35 days can be okay, depending on the woman. But really trying to keep it closer to that. 28, 30 would be ideal. And you'd be looking at having, you know, five days approximately of menstrual bleeding. And there would be minimal to no cramping and clots. And again, pms. PMS is a sign of imbalance as well. So there would be minimal pms, irritability and insomn. So those would be things to look for if you're having any irregularities with that, whether it's pms, any big shifts in the, you know, too early, too late. And of course that the pain, the masses, the clotting, any type of cramping would be a sign of irregularity.

You guys address PCOS is a big focus of acupuncture. Did you guys have really good results with that for women?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So I see a lot of that with working with fertility. And we can touch on fertility a little bit later as well if you want to. But, you know, I definitely see women coming in with that for period irregularities. I see that pretty common. But also for fertility. That can be something that you really want to address moving forward.

Now, some women, and I'm joking, but some women would say, no period is a perfect period, but clearly that's not a good idea too, you know, unless you're past the menopausal phase. But, you know, when you talk about blood clot or, you know, when you talk about the clotting, you know, the reason it's important is because there's stagnation, and that stagnation is blood and cheese stagnation, then gone unchecked, that can lead to other bigger stagnation problem. And when we're talking about the female reproductive system and things like that, what are some other, like, blood stagnation stuff as far as women's health that could show up if, you know, if you don't pay attention to those early signs?

Yeah. So, you know, having those painful cramps. So like Brian said, it could be a couple of things. It's definitely blood stagnation. It could also be a blood deficiency. Right. Like, maybe you don't have enough blood. It's hard to have blood circulating if there's not enough blood to move it. Right. So it can be a deficiency. It also can be a cold. You know, some women find that if they put a heating pad on their abdomen, they get relief. So it can be kind of this hold in the abdomen. So from a Chinese medicine standpoint, there's a lot of different reasons or etiologies or, you know, ways to go about treating it. So one of the things we do as practitioners is figure out exactly what's going on and then try and find the appropriate treatment for it. But left unchecked, Absolutely. These could be things that could lead to, you know, endometriosis and scar tissue issues. It could also do fibroids, things later on in life where you have a lot of blood stagnation. I mean, a fibroid is just the progression of that blood stagnation to where it gets bigger and bigger. Talking about fertility, one of the things that you have to have is a really nice uterine lining. And when you aren't fully shedding your lining, because when you're cramping and clotting, that's a sign of not shedding your lining, then that can make it difficult to get pregnant. So you want to make sure that you're really clearing out your uterine lining every month and that it's not having that clotting factor, because left unchecked, it can lead to fertility issues, it can lead to fibroids or just a variety. Those would be kind two biggest issues we'd see later in line, later in life if those weren't corrected.

Super cool, though, that. And it's super cool that you have women have this cycle that is, it makes it kind of a measurable thing. Right. Like, if something's out of whack, there's these signs that are very there. Right. And so as a. If you know how to listen to it, if you have this. A scanty period or heavy flow, or if there's clots, or if the cycle's short, or if they're spotting, all these little things mean something. And then you have this measurable thing. So it's like, okay, you know, you were getting treated, and then this next month, it was so much better. The PMS wasn't as bad, the clots were less. And then the next month. And so you have this, like, metric that you can look at to see signs of improvement. I think that's pretty awesome.

It is. It's beautiful. And I think that it provides a lot of relief. Acupuncture and herbs. So again, I think we're just kind of taught. We can just deal with these. But there is a lot of relief. Hey, Ted.

So if somebody was looking at doing acupuncture to help with regulating their cycles, or even we can talk about pre and post menopause, too, and just how that. Is there a general. I know everybody's different, everybody's system is different on how they balance things out, depending on where they are. But for people who've never had acupuncture or looked at it, at treating these things, can you give somebody kind of what it would look like? What do they expect coming in? What does it look like coming in for the first time for an acupuncture visit? And then what is a treatment usually? How does that usually go? And how many treatments do you think, typically, in general, would somebody kind of start to see results?

Sure. You know, and I think everybody's body is a little bit different, but I'll just kind of give you like a generalized. So when people come in, the first treatment was usually a very detailed. We talk about everything. So even if it's talking about menstrual cycle or this or that, the beauty of Chinese medicine is it's all interconnected. So a really good intake is really important. And we talk about everything from the issue that they're having to their digestion and their sleep to really kind of paint this full picture. And then after that, I usually do some diagnostics through the body. You know, in Chinese medicine, this has been around for four or five thousand years. So there was no labs or, you know, you know, X rays or anything like that. So it's truly just. What is the body Telling you so looking at the patient's symptoms, but also what the body's telling you. And a great way to do that is to check the pulse and the tongue and also just kind of the demeanor of the person, their face, their pallor, different things like that. So after diagnosis, there's usually a treatment involved, and that would be an acupuncture treatment. And then I typically, in something like this, where we're working with period. I love that internal medicine component. So typically, people are going to get an herbal formula to really supplement the acupuncture when I'm not there and to speed up the healing process for periods. For a menstrual cycle, if it's irregular, if they're having a lot of cramping, I typically expect about three months total to have relief of that. I know that seems like a long time, but you have to get through a couple cycles to really push through everything. Three months is generally when. And it could be faster. It really can be. But just to kind of set the expectation, I think sometimes three months, to really, really regulate a cycle or to get rid of a lot of stagnation. That cramping that we were talking about is normal.

And so a first consult or visit with a normal doctor or acupuncture, Chinese medicine, it's about. Is it 90 minutes? I know is what ours is, right? What you guys do here at Integrative Health, is that what everybody would expect with the acupuncturist? Is it that unique to us, you guys?

You know, I'm not sure. I mean, I feel like the first treatment, that would be kind of standard just to give enough time to get to know each other. So I feel like that might be standard across the board. But, Brian, you might know better.

Yeah. Now, that's standard. An hour with the practitioner, and then you usually have the needles retained by yourself for half an hour. So you're a nice, chill, relaxed room, listen to some music, get a little break from the world, a little time, little mommy timeout, if you will. And that's pretty standard, for sure. And.

For people who've never had acupuncture, you know, a lot of people are afraid of needles. Can you. I know. I've had it done. And so it's not like you're getting a shot. You're not really even. A lot of times you're not even feeling other than like a tiny little pressure or a little, tiny little pinch. You're not usually feeling that the needles is that. Am I right in that?

I mean, I would Agree with that. I think occasionally you get one that you feel, but the majority of them are very comfortable. It's a very relaxing process. I think the anticipation for most people is more of the anxiety producing thing than anything else. I think once that first needle goes in, everybody's like, oh, that's it. And then it's just usually smooth sailing from there. So I find that most people are very relaxed and calm during the treatment. Like Brian said, most people fall asleep, typically either fall asleep or get to a very meditative state. So it's a very relaxed and comfortable process.

So if you put in the acupuncture needle, you're doing specific acupuncture. Are you doing points or entire meridian lines? Does it just depend on what their issues are and where you're placed in the needles out? Is it pretty standard meridian lines that affect women's health or expand?

Yeah, there definitely are channels and I think so when you're coming to women's health, I think the three channels, organs, systems that usually show imbalance are going to be liver, spleen and kidney. I think those, I think Brian would agree, those are kind of the big hitters for women's health. If I had to pick one, I would say liver. You know, liver and women's health, I'd say that's usually the channel that becomes the most disharmony or has the most disharmony with it. So but the points are going to be along those channels and very specific and unique to the person. So it would vary and change. So not everybody would have the same. But those would be the three channels that are going to be most dominant.

Yeah, sorry, just for clarification on when we say liver, spleen, kidney, the reason they're named that. Now in Chinese medicine, the names are very different, but it's. The meridian is a pathway that flows through the body. That pathway happens to go through that organ system. And so if you say there's like liver stagnation, it doesn't mean necessarily that something is wrong with the Western organ itself. So just to be clear, so people don't freak out about that, but it is a pathway that flows through. And so the liver channel flows through a lot of the reproductive system, and that's why it has such a big influence. And then, you know, Tess can expand on some of the other ones if you choose to.

Tess, as far as the other meridians.

Yeah, the kidney kind of how, if you want, if we should talk about a little bit why it's a foundation. I do want to make sure though, I'm so. I cannot get out of my head one big thing that's a huge issue in today's world. I don't mean to hop around, but definitely I just want to come back to it, is insomnia and sleeping issues. And there's so much around women's health and menopause and menstrual stuff and things like that. So I think we're leaking so much chi and we got to stop it. So I'd love to hear about that.

Well, I mean, I think we can lead into that with your next question about the channel and kidney channel. So I think we're all kind of born with a certain amount of kidney constitution. Right. The kidney is the main organ for kind of reproductive health. And as that kidney qi starts to fade, that's where we start to have more of those perimenopause menopausal symptoms. So if you want to, we can kind of lead right into that. Yeah. And I think this is a great area. I feel like there's a lot at least now there's definitely more you can do for menopause and perimenopause with, like, hormone replacement and things along those lines. However, there still are a lot of women who just don't want to go down that path. And so kind of suffering alone on that can just be miserable. The grade thing is Chinese medicine, I think, works so well for this. I love treating this with my patients because the relief that they get is just immense. And it's just one of those things where it's really nice to see somebody feel better. So when you're dealing with the perimenopause menopausal symptoms, it has a lot to do with that kidney that we were talking about. That kidney almost yin, which yin in Chinese medicine is just fluid. So it's kind of that drying up of fluid. So the menopause is really more of an imbalance of heat and fluids. Right. So you have like this heat that burns up the fluids, and then you don't have the fluids to cool the heat. And it's this, you know, terribly looking.

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Uncomfortable feeling for women. And it can come out as hot flashes, night sweats, dryness Whether that's skin or vaginal hair thinning, insomnia, mood imbalances. So it can make a variety of very unpleasant symptoms. But fortunately, like I said, Chinese medicine, acupuncture and herbs work really well for it.

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There is, absolutely. And I think sleep, like there's so many ways you can break down sleep too. Right. Like I feel like there is hard to fall asleep, there's waking up frequently, there's that stress sleep. There is kind of like post surgery, postpartum where you're over exercising or maybe you're run down, having trouble sleeping, there's waking too early. So there's a lot of different components of sleep too. And I think it's not a cookie cutter treatment. It's not just like this works for sleep. I think the beauty of Chinese medicine is it's really like what is your sleep pattern, what is your imbalance and how, how do you treat that specifically, if that makes sense.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So we, we touched on like the initial evaluation time and Brian, you'd mentioned like your actual needle time is like 20 minutes. So if, if somebody comes in and sees you as a client, they, they do the initial, that's an hour and a half. Then the normal follow up treatments are how long do you think? What's the normal session like?

It's 60 minutes.

Okay, so an hour. And then how often do you think is there a general time frame that's the best window for people to expect to have treatment times? Like are they once a week, is it once a month or does it just depend?

You know, I think that initially once a week is a good idea just to kind of jumpstart the healing process. And then typically I let people's bodies tell us when. So after a little while they come in and they're feeling good and then it's time to challenge the body. So we push it out to two weeks and then they're coming in at two weeks and they're feeling good and we push it out to three weeks. And so really there's not an exact answer to that because it's really about their body and how quickly it's moving. But typically once a week for a little while and then pushing it out to a maintenance once they're feeling good. And that maintenance anywhere from two to six weeks depending on the person and what they're dealing with.

Right? Yeah. So just bio, it's biofeedback on how they're doing.

Yeah, their body tells us what to do.

There are some unique circumstances, I mean, still tying into their body, but that I think, tests, it'd be great to explain. And sometimes, you know, some of the acupuncture treatments have a lot more strategy around it in relationship to where they're at in the cycle. But then certainly when you get into fertility, that becomes a little bit of game changer with some of the acupuncture and how it's scheduled. So if you could kind of let us know what that looks like and I think. And then lead into the fertility piece, because that's a huge thing. And now every fertility clinic recommends or has acupuncturists to support even that process, which is pretty awesome. So I'd love to. To hear about the strategy of scheduling those and when and where and how and thought process.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think you're right. So fertility is one of the one areas where it is a little more specific, and it's because the fertility cycle is so specific and there's so many unique things you can do. So going back to the period, Right. So week one is all about, you know, clearing that uterine lining. That's when you're having your period. You want to fully shed your uterine lining. You don't want cramps, you don't want clotting. Week two is all about heading into ovulation. So at that point you're building estrogen, or we like to call it yin, kidney yin. So at that point, you're building a bunch of kidney yin and a bunch of fluids. And then the third week is all about movement. Right. So hopefully at this point, sperm and egg have met and you're heading towards implantation. So, you know, there's a lot of blood movement as you're going through fallopian tubes and trying to get to implantation. And then week four, hopefully you have had implantation and you're actually working on progesterone, retaining that pregnancy. And that's kind of kidney yang from our perspective. So with fertility, I think it's very specific to be almost once a week for a little while, because there's so many unique individual things we can do each week. And it's really, really beautiful to kind of support it at each level, if that makes sense.

Absolutely. And have you seen. I just want to throw this out to you to have you answer this as well, but have you seen a fair amount of women that have come in with fertility issues get pregnant with just. Or acupuncture help facilitate them getting pregnant?

Absolutely. I mean, I feel like I hear this quite often that women come back, they come into me, and they're like, they went to go see their Western doctor, and there's not a whole lot of information other than like, okay, we'll stop using birth control and have fun. And to be honest with you, there's just so much going on and there's so much, you know, going back to the menstrual cycle, that's going to be your biggest indicator that there's potentially imbalances. But there's a lot of other signs, too, that I don't think as women, we're really taught to read and kind of know about our own fertility. So I love sitting down with people because usually by the end of their first treatment, they're kind of blown away by the amount of information that I give them about their bodies and what to look for and what to expect expect and like, just kind of little tricks, right, little things you can do to increase and enhance your potential for achieving pregnancy on each cycle. So I love working with women on that.

Awesome. And yeah, so, like, fertility clinics, if they go down that path, I mean, that's a minimum of like 20 grand. So it seems like it would be the best thing to do, would be start down this path and then even if you're still not pregnant, there's still going to be a lot of benefit moving in the. The fertility as far as supporting the success rates and prepping the body and things like that. Is that a correct statement?

Absolutely. I mean, we know that eggs, like a woman's eggs, are approximately three months behind. So, you know, if you want to start to work on fertility, I think prepping the body and gearing up for that ahead of time is amazing. Like, a lot of times even a fertility clinic won't even see you until you've been trying for a year. And I feel like, what a wasted year. Like, come. Even if you did end up going the fertility route, if you're starting with acupuncture, you know, you're building wonderful quality eggs so that whether you do need Western intervention, and most of the time you don't, but if you did, you already are going in with such, you know, a stronger body, stronger eggs, and just really going in with, you know, your. Your full potential and also talking about, you know, fertility clinics. I work a ton with fertility clinics, so I don't think the acupuncture stops necessarily if you did go down that path. I think acupuncture, Chinese medicine worked beautifully even with the Western medicine. IVF process and I work there's a very specific uterine blood flow treatment and I'm sure Brian's done it a thousand times too. And it's amazing. It has so much research, so much studies on it and it's really, really effective at enhancing the IVF outcome.

Yeah, I think too, the stress component of it, even working with people on, you know, keeping their nervous system regulated and balanced, because how many people have you seen tests that, you know, they're so, I mean, they're monitoring everything so to the minute detail and you know, they, they're so stressed out about the process and nervous and you know, the timing of everything and then, you know, it doesn't happen and then finally they stop trying and then, you know, a couple months later they get pregnant. So, you know, managing that stress component around it and as part of that lifestyle. Right. It's extremely helpful to deal with.

There is, there's no doubt about it that like making a baby, like trying to get pregnant is a really, really stressful process. It can be very. Just the emotional of being excited and hopeful and then being disappointed. And it's a roller coaster for sure. And acupuncture, even from just that stress relieving component is hugely beneficial.

I know we're kind of focused on women's health, but as far as hormones and things, do you also find acupuncture works well with men?

It does, actually. I don't see as many men for it, but actually it does. And there's an herbal formula out there that's pretty remarkable. That is kind of like a precursor. And I would have to, off the top of my head, I don't know exactly what's all in it, but it's kind of, it has some precursors to testosterone. And I've actually had some success with a couple of men who have wanted to work on hormones and again didn't want to go down the full hormone replacement. So yeah, there's still some great things too. And again, that's the herbal component. But from that Chinese medicine standpoint, it would be again, that reproductive, that kidney yang that I was talking about. As you start to age, your kidney in and your kidney yang and kidney qi in general start to fade. And there are very few things you can do to increase it, but acupuncture and herbs is one of them.

I'm going to tell you that formula might, might or might not be in front of me. I'm not making any disclaimers, but it has, it has yin yang ho, bait, gtian, jia Souther Shooty Huang, Xiaoyang Dongwei Dong Zhao Gucciza Renshen, Sean Yao Shanzu Futzer and Rogue.

So it's pretty remarkable because I've never had like I've given it to and I've had men report they feel better. But I actually had a gentleman, a patient of mine who took it for six months and had blood work before and blood work after and his doctor was pretty shocked that his numbers went up on testosterone specifically without doing any hormone replacement. So it does work.

So Tess, real quick tying into that because again with women's hormone looking to.

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Together let's drive and going back to the menopause and so many women suffer from hot flashes. I mean I have not had it, but I've seen people right in front of me had happened too. And it does not look I always say if reincarnation exists and I'm coming back, I love you ladies and I love everything your bodies can do, but I'm coming back as a guy, I'm just putting it in there.

Right?

But if you want just for talking about herbal formulas, there's some, there's some popular herbal formulas out there for women maybe.

Yeah. So for. I mean there are so many. Again, it's so specific and unique. So there's not like a cookie cutter formula. But if I had to pick a star menopause formula, it's called Tianwan Bujintan and it is. I mean it's phenomenal. It's going to help with sleep, sleep, it's going to help with night sweats, it's going to help with hair loss, hair thinning, it helps with dryness. I mean it's just honestly, it's a remarkable formula and I could talk about it and I prescribe it and I don't even think we can keep it in the clinic because it goes out the door so quickly. So it's a really amazing formula. So that would be kind of my number one choice for any type of kind of perimenopause menopausal issues. If hot flashes are a big deal during the day, then there's another formula you can add to that called Jerbai Di Huang Wan, which is just phenomenal. Again, it goes back to that fluid and heat imbalance. So you just have to clear the heat and promote the fluids. You can also do that with some foods too, right? You can think of, like right now is great yin foods. You're looking at melons. So anything that's juicy and refreshing is going to help replenish that yin as well. So you can think of foods of that as well. There's also a hair formula that's pretty phenomenal that I've had luck with women as well. He Shou Wu. It's renowned in China for hair loss, and it works really well to kind of stimulate hair growth for women who are starting to lose some of their hair due to, you know, aging.

So since you're bringing up the herbology part just in today's world of, you know, safety and efficacy and contamination and stuff like that, I think it's important to note to the listeners and if you want to build on this that do not just grab something randomly off the shelf, do your due diligence on where those herbs come from, what process they go through, from the companies I know the companies that Tesh uses are companies that actually do their own lab testing for the chemical components in those herbs as well as any contamination. So it's very, very rigorous to make sure that you're getting a good quality product. So just keep that in mind. And reach out to Tess for more questions about that, for sure. And then also, Tess, if you want to, if you have anything to say about that. And then also for people who are concerned with some drug interactions or anything, is there anything to note on that?

Yeah, I mean, I think you're absolutely right. I feel like we think like supplements and herbs, it comes from the ground, it can't be that bad for you. But I think specifically Chinese medicines, they're very detailed and very specific. And if you're taking the wrong formula, it could. It could, you know, not make you feel good for sure. So I would definitely, like I said before, like, it's very unique, unique and specific to the person. So I kind of just threw out a generalized formula. But at the end of the day, you know, getting your specific diagnosis and formula is always going to treat you the best. So I agree. You know, I definitely use quality herbs. They're tested for toxicity. So all good formulas there, herbs, as far as medications, there definitely are some no no's and some things that you have to be aware of. And again, as an herbalist, I would always make sure to check those. But for the most part, they're going to Be generally safe and not interact. But there definitely are some ones you want to check out for.

Yeah. And the food thing you talked about, I think is amazing that people just don't like even have that knowledge about which we should. We can do a whole podcast on. This is the energetics of food. We think of food as like, what's in it nutritionally, but I think especially as we talk about, you know, kind of the yin and yang and maybe as it relates to menopause, hot flashes, insomnia, maybe. Tell us, give us some ideas on energetics and what that means. I know. Even like the color food, right?

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, they're definitely. So I think I touched a little bit on it earlier, like pms, that's. We talked about the liver, and so you want to do things that soothe the liver. So foods that are sour or pungent, you know, even just putting a little bit of water, lemon in your water is a great way to soothe that liver. So that's a great thing for going to like the periods when we're talking about masses and things like that. So if someone has a little bit of anemia or blood deficiency, like we like to call it in Chinese medicine, then you'd be looking for blood rich foods, which are obviously going to be meats and things like that. But also you hit it right. So beets, cherries, things that are bright red are really good at tonifying blood. The menopause, you'd be looking at those, those yin, those really juicy fruits that you're talking about, or like water crescents or things that retain water, even maybe celery. So there's definitely energetic qualities to foods, if you, excuse me, are more deficient or having difficulty digesting, you'd want warmer foods that are easier to break down. So like you said, you could probably sit down and do a whole podcast just on food. But there's definitely an energetic quality. And I believe there's food recommendations for all of these conditions we're talking about today.

I love it. Well, first of all, there's so much to talk about with this, and I think you've given people so much to think about, which is cool. But it just goes to show you how many little things there are to think about that I think that are super important but taken granted for just totally off the radar that we should be paying attention to just recognizing.

Thank you. Just expanding on an area that I feel like is still very much neglected in our societies. Just the other options that women have for balancing hormones and life desires through Alternative options. It doesn't just have to be, you know, the mass fix or a pill or multiple things, hormone replacements or, you know, just all the things that have happened to women over the years. We're just getting smarter. And it's just nice to have yet another educational process that there are plenty of things out there that women can do for themselves to make their life better. So thanks for educating us a little bit on all of that. And I do want to reiterate that, you know, all the things that you're like you guys had mentioned, you know, don't just run out and try to start taking herbs and supplements or if you happen to have access to the Chinese medicine, herbs don't. You're not recommending going out and just taking something. It's really important to go to a practitioner and get something specific for your personal needs.

Absolutely. You know, it's. Chinese medicine shines when you really get that person's specific diagnosis. And that's what makes it so great, is it's not so generalized. So I really do think that getting your personal formula and diagnosis from a practitioner is going to be your best bet for one safety, but also to really get the relief and benefit that you're looking for.

Yeah, from my experience and seeing, you know, patients and stuff, if you get the right formula, if you nail it on the head or you get that right treatment, it's definitely more noticeable, you know, much quicker. Not that. And if it's off a little bit, they can still get some benefit and they're going to get it, but it's just, it takes a little bit longer. And then if you've been taking something forever and you're just taking it and you're not getting the benefit, well, clearly it's not the right formula. So listen. Listen to your body on that.

Absolutely.

We know that you can obviously look for acupuncturists in everybody's specific area. Is there any clues or something that you would recommend if they can't come see you locally here in Denver? Greenwood Village area? Tess, is there anything specific somebody should look for if they're looking for an acupuncturist? Chinese traditional medicine?

Sure. I mean, I feel like there's some websites like the NCCAOM is always a good reference point. Making sure they're licensed is a good reference point. But at the end of the day, I think any good acupuncturist herbalist will do a free consult. I think that making sure that you mesh well with the person and getting a good feel for them. So I would recommend meeting with a couple and seeing which one, you know, works with you and meshes with your personality.

Yeah, the. The one thing I'll just add into that, like, the nccaom.org is a good website because it's a professional platform where the national boards are, but people who belong to that still have to. It's mandatory for that continuing education process, which I think is awesome. But in today's world now, there has been some splits within the Chinese medicine schooling where they're doing just the acupuncture portion and not required to learn the herbal portion, which does cut back on some of their what we call diagnostics and differentiation skills or diagnosis and differentiation skills. And so when you are moving into, especially working on today's topic with women's health, the internal medicine piece really does become a big part of that treatment. And so making sure that they have gone to a school where they have done both the acupuncture and herbal component is going to be an important thing to look at. Well, Tess, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so, so, so much. If you could just let all of our listeners know how to contact you especially. It doesn't matter where they're at in the world, they can contact you and do a herbal consult and stuff over the phone with you as well. So if you could tell us a little bit about that and how to get ahold of you, that'd be amazing.

Absolutely. So I practice at Integrative Health, which is over in the Denver Tech area for those that are in Colorado. So you can always contact that, which is 303-577-9977. But additionally, I also can be contacted via email or even through that number to do zoom or telehealth or whatever you need to. Like. Brian said I to do herbal consults at any time. So that can be just my email address, which is Tessumata T E S S Y A M A D a mail or the number. Integrative Health can always put you in contact with me as well. Very good.

I did not know you did telehealth, Tess. That's awesome. It's a new good thing to know.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you again, Tess, for taking the time today. As always, a pleasure always talking to you. You're so much fun and you guys are going to love her. So get a hold of her. And Amy, thank you so much as well. I appreciate you and I appreciate all your listeners.

Thanks guys.

It was a wonderful discussion and I hope that everybody found some value. And Ryan, as always, thank you very much for joining on the podcast.

All right, and everybody listening. Send this podcast out to every woman you know in your life, whether they're teen or older. There's benefit to be had, so pass it on and thank you for listening.

Hey friends, thank you for tuning in to the All Things Good for you podcast. Please note any information, experiences, ideas or opinions discussed today are for educational and thought provoking purposes only and not intended as medical advice. If anything piqued your curiosity, please consult with your doctor or personal medical professional professional. And if you're enjoying All Things Good for your podcast, hop on over and leave us a five star review so we can continue delving in and providing great content. Thanks again and we hope you are inspired to stay informed and responsible along your health and wellness journey.

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