Dr Maggie Ju Acupuncture London Chelsea, North Kensington, Notting Hill, and Richmond

We all know women have period cycles, which are normally a month (28 days) with ovulation. Women have two ovaries containing about 1 millions eggs at birth. These are the eggs they ever have and there are no more eggs produced after birth. The existing eggs are lost constantly. By the time at puberty, there are only about 400,000 eggs left. Only 400 to 500 eggs are ovulated in life time. Each month, 15-20 eggs develop and normally only one of them becomes mature (the size of a mature egg is ready to ovulate is about 18-28 mm in diameter) and is released. About 14 days after ovulation the woman would get a period if she is not pregnant. If the eggs in ovaries don’t develop and mature properly, there is no ovulation. This will cause problems in women. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is such a condition with ovulation problem. The ovaries in women with PCOS contain many small cysts which are fluid-filled sacs. This is because eggs stop growing and form many cysts; they don’t mature and a...

I am very tired. It is not a rare complaint. Everyone must ever feel tired sometimes, but the tiredness would go away after rest or sleep. If it does not go away, it is a problem. Constant fatigue is the main symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). CFS refers to severe exhaustion during and after daily activities or to a lack of energy which is prolonged for 6 or more months and resting and sleeping cannot make fatigue go. CFS affects about 1 in 300 people in the UK. It is about three times as common in women as in men. Most common age group developing CFS is 20-45 and it occurs more in women than in men. Apart from constant fatigue feeling, there are also other symptoms associated with severe fatigue, such as muscle and joint pain, headache, insomnia and poor short term memory etc. The cause is not clear but there are a few theories including: a viral infection, immune system problems, neuroendocrine dysfunction causing hormones imbalance and psychiatric problems, such as stress ...

Women’s uterus wall has three layers: inner layer is called endometrium; middle layer is smooth muscle; outer layer is myometrium. Endometrium of uterus is special. It undergoes cyclic change and regeneration. During the period cycle, this layer grows thicker and is full of blood vessels and glands. It provides best hospitable environment for implantation of a fertilised egg. If pregnancy does not occur, the inner layer will shed away causing bleeding and the layer will redevelop. Sometimes, if things go wrong, the endometrial tissue can grow outside of uterus. This is a condition called endometriosis. The most common places where this tissue was mislaid are ovaries, fallopian tubes and the pelvic cavity. This misplaced tissue is also responding women’s period cycles, but it could not shed. As a result it will cause inflammation, scar and adhesion. Endometriosis could present chronic pelvic pain including period pain, and intercourse pain, irregular period and associated with infertili...

As we all know, women have menstrual cycles which occurs as a result of cyclic hormonal changes are usually 21-40 days long, with bleeding duration of 3-7 days and an average blood loss of 20-80 ml. Many women experience some kind of menstrual cycle disturbance; this could be minor disorders or a sign of malignant diseases. Malignant endometrial and cervical disorders include endometrial carcinoma, endometrial heperplasia, cervical cancer and cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia which could present abnormal uterine bleeding. If a woman is pregnant, vaginal bleeding is abnormal. This often occurs in early pregnancy and is often associated with miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy is one of the most severe pregnancy related conditions in women with abnormal uterine bleeding. Threatened miscarriage and miscarriage also present abnormal uterine bleeding. Benign endometrial and cervical diseases: Fibroids is benign smooth muscle tumors in uterus which is either asymptomati...

There are many factors that cause anovulation and here are some common causes of anovulation. Hypothalamic-pituitary causes Hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian-axis dysfunction. This is caused by problems of hypothalamus or pituitary gland in the brain. As a result the hormones are not balanced which does not trigger ovulation and leads to infertility. The reasons that affect hormone balance include stress (see below); the other common causes are excessive exercises and/or underweight. As we already known that subtle environmental changes may alter the menstrual cycle and cause anovulation. For example, summer camp menstrual disturbances and exam anovulation. Women in emotional stress could have no ovulation. This is temporary situation. If women get out of the stress environment, menstruation and ovulation could be returned. However if this situation is prolonged, anovulation could be persistent. Finding the causes of stress situation and avoiding the causes are the keys for ovulatio...