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Insomnia is characterized as the inability to initiate or maintain sleep; may also take the form of early morning awakening in which an individual wakes several hours early and is unable to resume sleeping.
Interstitial cystitis, now known as bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS), is chronic pain, pressure or discomfort in your bladder area (suprapubic region). In addition, it causes an increase in urine frequency and urgency with symptoms present for at least 6 weeks without presence of a urinary infection, in women the bladder pain worsens in luteal phase (after ovulation).
IC is more common in women with Endometriosis, Irritable bowel syndrome, Rhematic arthritis (RA), Fibromyalgia, food allergies, and mood disorders.
From the point of view of Chinese Medicine, sleep problems are mostly related to dysfunction of the Heart, Spleen, Stomach, Liver and Kidneys. Blood is made from food essence and controlled by the Spleen to produce essence which will be stored in the kidneys. Poor diet, irregular eating habits, stress and hormonal fluctuations which affects the yin, yang, qi and blood causes insomnia.
Acupuncture can relieve insomnia symptoms; although the mechanism of action is not fully understood, studies have shown patients receiving regular acupuncture have a reduction of symptoms within two months of treatments. Acupuncture can:
According to Chinese Medicine theory acupuncture and Chinese herbs can be prescribed to treat the various syndromes that cause insomnia. Often treatment is aimed to regulate the movement of Qi and restore harmony within the key internal organs (including the Heart) as well as the balance between the cooling and the warming energies (the Yin and Yang) in the body in order to calm the mind and relieve insomnia.