I have always been plagued with rather painful menstrual cycles. There I’ve said it, and you all now know. And you thought we just were getting to know one another!

These painful periods are part of the reason I have become so focused on health. Often migraine headaches, severe cramping and light sensitivity accompany my periods. To make a long story short, sometimes I am a total and complete mess. As a result of these painful periods, I have been willing to try quite a few things in hope of having an easier time.

In general, I try to avoid chemicals and I eat mostly organic foods. So when it’s that time of the month I really hate to take medicine, but sometimes there is no other choice. Chinese medicine has been using acupuncture to treat irregular periods, menstrual related problems and even infertility for quite some time. There is increasing evidence that acupuncture works for pain and, for the most part, this is completely true.

Respected medical institutions such as John Hopkins have recently thrown their weight behind the fact that acupuncture does help people. Most of the time doctors simply prescribe painkillers for menstrual cramping and pain, and as a result I have always been on the lookout for any alternative. Acupuncture uses needles to stimulate the nerve endings of the body, which in turn has a pain relieving effect. Western medicine is only now beginning to understand how it works, but trust me, it does.

I have seen acupuncture work with several people and many people I know simply swear by it. One recent study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that roughly two-thirds of women reported some level of pain relief as a result of using acupuncture. Obviously, for some women, acupuncture worked very well, which is enough of a reason to at least give it a try.

I know needles are a bit scary, but there are a few things you can do to help overcome your fear of the needle. One way is to start out slowly. Don’t go in trying to prove that you can be a human pincushion. Don’t try and prove that you can handle five hundred needles from head to toe. That is the kind of thing a guy would do. Is that too harsh? Um, no it is the kind of thing a guy would do. Don’t we all know at least one guy that would take as many pins as possible just so he would look tough? How many women do you know like that? Probably not too many. You get my point.

Start slowly and see how it is working for you. Another way to deal with the fear of acupuncture is to keep firmly fixed in your mind the vast numbers of people that have used acupuncture over the last few thousand, yes thousand years. If you ever plan on having a child or you already have had a child, than you can handle a tiny little needle. A third way to overcome the fear of the needle is just to meditate or practice biofeedback techniques if you know them. Truth is you should probably have some ability to do both of these time honored stress reducers and pain relieving techniques. Don’t be afraid to give acupuncture a chance. There is a lot of mounting evidence that it helps people with all sorts of pain. Why shouldn’t you be one of the people acupuncture helps?