Anne, a 29-year-old educational consultant, was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) three years ago. She had irregular menstrual cycle, which was between 2-8 weeks. Her periods would start with black and clotty bleeding then became very heavy with bright red colour, always accompanied with abdominal pain especially on the right side. The PCOS also caused high blood sugar level, for which she had to take medication. What worried her more was that the hormone imbalance in PCOS would make natural pregnancy impossible, and the doctors said even IVF would be unlikely to succeed and might make her condition more complicated and dangerous. The doctors even talked about the possibility of removing her ovaries. She felt so hopeless and it was her mother who encouraged her to see me. Anne had cold and numb limbs, achy neck and tummy, bad sleep, low appetite and fatigue. Her tongue was red, pulse deep and thin. The syndrome differentiation in terms of Chinese medicine was deficiency of Spleen Qi and Kidney Yang, with blood stasis. After four weekly sessions of acupuncture, Anne's tummy ache between periods stopped and she felt more energetic. Five months later, her periods went back to a regular 4 weeks' cycle and with only mild pain. A year later, as her period pain could still be bad sometimes despite her menstrual cycle was regular, the doctor referred her to have further examination, which showed endometriosis. A key-hole surgery was then carried out by the specialists to remove endometriosis tissue. Two months after the operation, Anne found herself was 4 weeks pregnant. Scan and various blood tests showed everything was fine. Since she was having back ache, restless sleep, hot flushes and sweats, and also in order to protect the foetus, we decided to carry on with the acupuncture. In February 2011, when Anne was 5 months pregnant, her father died from cancer and she experienced deep grief. Five months later, she successfully gave birth to a healthy little girl.
