I am very excited to be announcing that Melanie Csotonyi a new acupuncturist will be joining Comox Valley Acupuncture in October.

Melanie Csotonyi is a qualified Chinese medicine practitioner and Registered Acupuncturist. Melanie graduated from the prestigious Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences in Nelson,B.C. and completed her three month practicum in Kunming China. Whilst in China she had the opportunity to work with some very well known acupuncturists and herbalists and was able to experience the synthesis of Chinese medicine and Western medicine in a hospital setting.

Melanie wrote her thesis on the “Tao of Addiction” and has formal training and experience in helping people understand and overcome their personal addictions.

 Upon graduating Melanie was invited by one of her teachers to join their personal practice in Castelgar where she quickly established a dedicated clientele and thriving practice. Melanie is a passionate and thorough practitioner and we are delighted to have her join the team of professionals at Comox Valley Acupuncture.

POSTED September 24th, 2009 By Michelle Hughes

This is a very interesting question as many women do not discuss their menstrual cycle with anyone else they think that what they experience every month is normal,when often that is far from the truth.

Chinese medicine has been using the menstrual cyle and all its signs and symptoms as a tool for diagnosis for thousands of years.

A normal menstrual bleed should be 3-5 days long. It should start without spotting be heaviest on the first or second day and then start to decrease in flow. The amount of blood loss should not be too heavy- if you are wearing a super tampon and a pad and still leaking this is not normal!

Blood colour should be red, not too bright a red but also not too dark, brownish or purple. The consistency of the blood is also important, it should not be thin like water or too thick like jello but somewhere in between the two. The blood should not contain any large clots or tissue.

 There should not be any  abdominal pain, back pain, leg pain or heaviness in the pelvis with menstruation.

Although there are many variations of this “normal” cycle I think it is important for woman to know what their menstrual cycle could or should be like.

I will continue to talk about different parts of the cycle and how you can improve your cycle in future blogs.

POSTED September 19th, 2009 By Michelle Hughes