Menstrual Irregularities-Trickling After The Period
When a period doesn’t have a definitive ending and continues to drip or trickle, this is classed as pathology.
In an ideal cycle the period will start quite quickly and end without continued drips.
Trickling is separate to heavy periods and to flooding.
What Affects the Cycle?
Emotions
Emotions affect the Heart and the Liver energy creating Qi stagnation which can lead to Liver and Heart Fire. This internally generated Fire, heats the blood, which fails to remain in the proper place and can burst out of vessels, resulting in abnormal bleeding.
Liver Qi stagnation can also create blood stasis, this blockage of blood in the uterus can prevent new blood from entering and results in leaking blood.
Blood stasis would normally present with excessive bleeding throughout the period with pain and clots with the focus on excess bleeding rather than trickling afterwards.
Over work
When we push ourselves mentally and physical for long periods of time, and don’t have enough rest and relaxation time, we deplete our Liver and Kidney Yin. This lack of cooling, moistening energy leads to Empty Heat which in turn heats the blood leading to reckless bleeding.
Over thinking can also weaken the spleen energy, which disturbs the digestive process. As one of the Spleen jobs is to hold the blood in place, and control it’s movement, whist raising Qi, this can result in blood leaking out abnormally from the vessels.
Diet
Alcohol and spicy heating foods, consumed over a long period of time, can create internal heat which can heat the blood causing reckless bleeding, including a trickling end to the cycle.
Trickling in Chinese Medicine is the result of the above aetiology’s and can manifest with the following patterns of disharmony:
Blood Heat
Heat in the blood presents with flooding at the start of the cycle and trickling at the end, with either bright or dark blood.
Blood Empty Heat
Empty heat in the blood manifests with prolonged spotting of bright red blood after the period.
Qi deficiency
Spleen Qi deficiency will present with post period spotting with pale blood.
Kidney Deficiency
Kidney deficiency results in trickling due to the improper stability of the Chong meridian which supply’s and supports the uterus and the cycle.
