Uterine adenomyoma from the perspective of Chinese medicine

  Adenomyoma is a common gynecological condition characterized by heavy menstrual flow, prolonged periods and progressive menstrual pain. It occurs mostly in women over 40 years of age who have already given birth. Modern medicine believes that it is the result of the inner layer of the uterine wall (endometrium) proliferating and occupying the inner layer of the uterine wall (myometrium), resulting in a nodular enlargement of the uterus as a whole or in the uterus locally, i.e. adenomyoma. The cause of the disease is not clear, but most scholars believe that it is caused by viral infection, damage caused by excessive scraping, cesarean section, abortion, and endocrine disorders such as excessive estrogen secretion. There are no effective drugs or treatments for this disease, but most of them are symptomatic treatment or surgery if necessary.  According to the unique theories of Chinese medicine, such as the diagnosis and treatment of adenomyoma, it is believed that adenomyoma belongs to the category of “excessive menstruation, prolonged menstruation, dysmenorrhea” and is mainly caused by a combination of factors such as Qi deficiency, dampness and heat, cold clotting, blood stasis and deficiency heat. From the main symptoms and life history of the patients, the high incidence of the disease is mainly due to the decrease of the immunity of the human body as a whole and the uterus locally caused by excessive medical abortion, abortion, and curettage, i.e., “where the evil couples, its qi must be deficient”. Qi in Chinese medicine has a wide range of contents and meanings. In terms of pathogenesis, there are differences in the degree of qi deficiency. In cases of severe qi deficiency, bleeding and excessive discharge may occur after abortion or curettage. Mild qi deficiency may follow the body’s self-coordination and not produce pathology, but it may easily induce pathology. For example, if you wear less clothes, you will have cold stagnation, which affects the blood flow of the uterus; if you live uncleanly, you will have damp-heat stagnation, which can also be converted into stubborn phlegm (super sticky waste water in the uterus), which affects the blood flow of the uterus; if you are in a bad mood, you will have liver depression and qi stagnation, which affects the blood flow of the body, etc.  In short, the occurrence of the disease is always due to the loss of life, leaving the bane of “qi deficiency” in the human body and the uterus locally, that is, qi deficiency (immune decline) is the basis for the occurrence of the disease, and then in the cold, damp-heat, qi stagnation and other factors, resulting in the human body, especially the uterus local phlegm clotting blood stasis (blood stasis does not run well or stay locally not running ), phlegm clotting and blood stasis aggravate “qi deficiency”, thus appearing “long illnesses with more stagnation”, “long illnesses with more deficiency”, “long illnesses with more deficiency”, “long illnesses with more phlegm”, as concluded by our ancestors with practical experience. The classical clinical experience such as “long illnesses with more phlegm”. In other words, Qi deficiency is the basis of the pathogenesis of uterine adenomyoma, and phlegm clotting and blood stasis is the result of uterine adenomyoma. It is completely consistent with modern medicine that “the glands and mesenchyme of the endometrium proliferate and invade the myometrium to form diffuse or limited lesions”, because if the phlegm and stagnation in the uterus are more and more, if they cannot be discharged smoothly, they will naturally infiltrate into the muscle layer of the uterus, in addition to staying in the endometrium.  The consequences of more phlegm and silt in women’s uterus are: excessive menstruation (the organism and uterus that can eliminate the waste still want to come in and discharge), dysmenorrhea (elimination of waste requires the participation of uterine muscle tissue, and now the muscle tissue is occupied by phlegm, silt and other waste, so it must take a lot of effort to eliminate the waste, and the uterine muscle, which itself is injured, will of course be painful), infertility and other female distress The uncomfortable situation that seriously affects life.