[Clinical trials of treatment of woman menopause insomnia due to disharmony between heart and kidney by body and auricular acupuncture].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the therapeutic effect of body acupuncture combined with auricular acupuncture in the treatment of woman menopause insomnia induced by disharmony between the heart and kidney. METHODS: A total of 111 outpatients with menopausal insomnia were randomly divided into treatment group (n＝55, body acupoints plus auricular points) and control group (n＝56, body acupoints). For control group, Shenmen (HT7), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Anmian, Zhaohai (KI6), Shenmai (BL62), Sishencong (EX-HN1), Xinshu (BL15) and Shenshu (BL21) were needled with filiform needles, and HT7, SP6, Anmian, BL15 and BL21 were also stimulated with electroacupuncture (EA) for 30 min, once every other day, 3 times a week for 3 weeks. For the treatment group, auricular points as Kidney, Shenmen, Sympathetic and Endocrine around the ear canal and the ear cavity were punctured with filiform needles in combination with the same intervention methods mentioned above in the control group. The quality and efficiency of sleep were assessed by using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scale before and after the treatment. The symptom scores of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the therapeutic effect were determined according to the "Guide Principles for Clinical Research of New Drugs of TCM" (formulated by Chinese Ministry of Health, 1997). RESULTS: After the treatment, the scores of sleep quantity and effective rate of PSQI scale, and those of insomnia and dreaminess, dysphoria with feverish sensation in chest, palms and soles, paplpitation and irritability, fatigue and forgetfulness of TCM were reduced significantly in both groups compared with their own pre-treatment (P<0.05). Of the 56 and 55 cases in the control and treatment groups, 18 (32.1%) and 30 (54.5%) experienced a marked improvement in their symptoms, 28 (50.0%) and 22 (40.0%) were effective, and 10 (17.9%) and 3 (5.5%) failed, with the effective rate being 82.1% and 94.5%, respectively. The therapeutic effect of stimulation of the body acupoints plus auricular acupoints was significantly superior to that of stimulation of simple body acupoints in lowering scores of PSQI scale, insomnia and dreaminess, dysphoria with feverish sensation in chest, palms and soles, dizziness and tinninus, paplpitation and irritability, and tital fever and night sweating of TCM, as well as the effective rate (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Both body acupuncture and body acupuncture combined with auricular acupuncture are effective in the treatment of woman menopause insomnia due to disharmony between the heart and kidney, and the two combined treatment was evidently better.

[Application of kidney deficiency and blood stasis and disharmony between heart and kidney theories in patients with sleep disorders in perimenopause].

Perimenopausal syndrome refers to a series of physical and mental symptoms, caused by the fluctuation of the sex hormones in the menopause, which is one of the common diseases in gynecology. The incidence of sleep disorders in perimenopausal women is increasing significantly. Both Chinese medicine and Western medicine are trying to exploring its pathologic mechanism to find the safe and effective methods of treatment. Menopausal sleeping disorder is the same as the perimenopause syndrome and insomnia category in traditional Chinese medicine. Kidney deficiency is the basic characteristic of perimenopause, whether kidney essence, kidney Qi, kidney Yin or kidney Yang can lead to blood stasis. It is believed that this disease results from kidney deficiency in the root and blood stasis in the tip, and on this basis women affected by many factors will result in disharmony between heart and kidney. In clinical practice, The method of tonifying kidney and activating blood applied to treat perimenopause syndrome with insomnia was testified to be effective. Therefore the author thought that kidney deficiency and blood stasis and disharmony between heart and kidney were the key factors of patients with insomnia in perimenopause.