“I was hanging by a thread, and then I fell.” —A real live patient describing her last postpartum experience
“I didn’t even realize I was depressed until 5 months went by and I looked back. I remember sitting in the dark, alone, scared to move because I didn’t want my baby to wake up and start crying again.” —Another real life postpartum experience described to me by a loved one.
In our contemporary American culture, so much effort is put into getting the egg to meet the sperm. Yet precious little energy goes into surrounding the new parents and their little as they navigate formidable new territory. Indigenous medicines all around the world are rich with wisdom on how to transition mothers through the portal and to the other side, how to nurse their wounds and refill their empty belly that no longer contains the warmth of another life. I am lucky to practice one of these ancient medicines. My skill set comes from the traditional medicine of ancient China and it’s contemporary diaspora. It is my passion to treat as many people as I can during this rite of passage.
Families are stronger when supported with proper postpartum care. EAM practitioners know what to look for to minimize the common postpartum symptoms of depression, anxiety (just as common as depression, by the way), insomnia, and feeding difficulties. We can also help you recover from the amazing physical, emotional, and spiritual feat that is birthing a child.
Through careful questioning, palpation, and a peek at your tongue, we know what to do to help your body feel better. In a typical postpartum visit, I make sure to assess the state of the person’s blood. It will be relatively weak compared to before giving birth, but is it also stagnant, or especially deficient, and do body fluids also need to be replenished?
Weak blood can make it hard to sleep at night even when you are off duty. Insufficient blood or fluids can also cause low milk supply as well as tingling in the extremities, a surprisingly common postpartum symptom. I remember one mother who felt tingling in the stomach channel of her leg whenever her baby latched further up the stomach channel on the breast, a clear manifestation of how emptying the channel left room for wind to get in and cause tingling.
Stagnant blood can cause pain in the lower abdomen. Even a stagnation that goes unnoticed by the patient can keep the body from making new blood, causing feeding difficulties and mood changes. One of my obstetrics teachers says that she has found blood stagnation to be the most common cause of postpartum depression, and I have to agree. I would add that postpartum blood deficiency is the most common cause of postpartum anxiety, an adrenalized sensation of being on hyper-alert, unable to drift into sleep and easily rattled by the new child’s cries and communications.
The best news is that these way too common ailments are treatable, even avoidable, and the treatment is soothing and nourishing. As you consider carefully the support networks you want after your baby has arrived, please look in your area to find a qualified obstetrics and gynecological East Asian medical physician to be on your team. If you are in Los Angeles and want to see how I can help you, whether it is months before your baby arrives or years after, please reach out or schedule below.