Catherine Brown Acupuncture

18/11/2025

Been doing this a while, I love all of the amazing women who have trusted me while on their journey to motherhood x

18/11/2025

A TCM perspective of how the PILL affects your hormonal health.

The truth is the Pill changes the way your body naturally functions.

In Chinese Medicine, this is seen as a disruption to the body’s rhythm and the connection between the brain, ovaries and the flow of Qi and Blood.

When this function stunted and switched off, it will present up as fatigue, digestive issues, mood changes & often difficulty returning to a natural cycle after stopping.

Acupuncture and herbal medicine can support your hormones, nourish your system and help your body reconnect with its natural rhythm.

Your hormones are powerful messengers. Learning how to work with them, not against them, is where true health begins.

The OCP works by overriding your natural hormonal cascade and flow — and in TCM flow is everything. When your cycle is suppressed, Qi and Blood can’t move in their usual monthly flow causing stagnation of blood and depletion of blood.

You will experience this as:

Blood Stagnation (heavy, painful, clotty periods)
• Liver Qi stagnation (depression, irritability, mood shifts & breast tenderness)
• Blood deficiency (fatigue, dizziness, brittle hair/nails and very light bleeds)
• Damp-Heat (acne, headaches, digestive changes)

TCM helps restore flow, nourish and build Blood, regulate and restore hormonal health and reconnect you with your natural cycle.

17/11/2025

14/11/2025

14/11/2025

I’m Here For You

14/11/2025

12/11/2025

The power of being a woman is biological and intuitive, our hormones, our cycles are intelligent systems guiding you back to balance.

11/11/2025

Rest isn’t a luxury — it’s a hormonal reset.

Your hormones thrive when you slow down, sleep well, nourish deeply & create space to exhale.
Small acts of rest are powerful medicine for women’s health.

Simple ways to rest your hormones:
– Prioritise consistent sleep
– Eat regular, balanced meals with lots of protein good fats
– Take mindful breaks
– Move gently, not constantly

Rest looks everyone — it might be stillness, slower mornings, or saying no more often.
Listen to what your body’s asking for.
That’s where hormonal healing begins.

x Catherine

06/11/2025

This part of your cycle is what I call “when the veil is thin”, your threshold for bu****it is non existent.

Your body often aches with the weight of all you carry, relationship red flags be flagging both in personal and professional areas of your life, your tolerance for labor both emotional and physical that is not yours becomes blinding in neon flashing lights.

Society had gaslight us from adolescence that this “PMS” is simply par for the course.

The moodiness, teariness, anger, rage is irrational, we are simply just overly sensitive b*tches.

During consultation I ask if patients experience any “PMS” symptoms, they often that giggle & refer to their poor partners during this stage of their cycles.

They describe teariness, anger, heart palpations, headaches/migraines, exhaustion, breast tenderness and sleep disturbance leading up to their period.

It’s at this point I explain its during this discomfort they should “lean into” what is “triggering” her, making her rage, exhausted, overstimulated, fatigued.

I ask her to assess where her boundaries are not being respected, or voiced, is she being supported at home, where is her labor both physical and emotional unbalanced, at work, at home, with partners and family of heritage.

When prompting her, Im not looking for her to disclose, Im simply asking her to take pause, to lean into where she feels most vulnerable, unheard, stretched and unsupported in her life.

I ask her to no longer dismiss these needs that become more apparent during the lead up to her monthly period as just “PMS”, but to embrace this time of when the “veil is thin” to mother herself, rest, reassess and use her voice, to put herself at the top of her todo list, honour herself and her needs.

Supporting your body through the luteal phase is crucial for your overall health and wellbeing. We aren’t designed to endure and suffer through this time in our cycle, look deeper and honestly ask yourself what do I need, and act accordingly.

x Catherine

05/11/2025

That’s a wrap on October

This month was all about supporting your hormones through the seasons — from balancing energy in the luteal phase to nurturing emotional wellbeing through fertility and beyond.

Here’s to slowing down, listening in, and moving gently into November.

Thank you for being here, learning, and caring for yourself along the way.

05/11/2025

Gentle reminder: your body responds to how you feel.

Fertility is more than hormones and cycles it incorporates mind and body.

Your body listens closely to your inner world.

When stress is high or you’re feeling overwhelmed, your body shifts into protection mode — not creation mode.

Supporting fertility means caring for both your physical and emotional landscape. Rest. Nourish. Breathe. Make space for calm — your body will feel it, and respond in kind.

03/11/2025

If your period is lasting more than 7 days and you’re bleeding through tampons in less than 2 hours, that is NOT normal. ⁠Heavy, flooding periods with large clots (over 10c piece) are not normal, this needs your attention.

Doubling up on menstrual products eg. using both a tampon and pad isn’t normal. ⁠
Leaking through your clothes isn’t normal.

Causes of HEAVY BLEEDING:
Hormonal imbalance:
A hormonal imbalance can cause the uterine lining to grow excessively, leading to a heavier period when it sheds. Estrogen issues- Estrogen dominance, relative estrogen dominance to progesterone deficiency & poor estrogen detoxification lead to extra estrogen circulating throughout the body contribute to heavier periods.
Disruptions in estrogen and progesterone levels, often during puberty, perimenopause, or after stopping birth control, can lead to heavy bleeding.
Polycystic o***y syndrome (PCOS):
Often causes irregular periods, but can sometimes result in heavy bleeding. 
Perimenopause:
Very common for women to experioence heavy, painful and flooding periods can be accompanied by irregular and heavy bleeding due to hormonal changes with estrogen and progesterone ratios fluctating
Thyroid problems:
An underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) can lead to heavier menstrual bleeding. 
Side effects of contrceptions including to OCP & IUD
Low iron can create heavy periodsStructural Changes in the uterus 
Fibroids: Noncancerous growths in the uterine muscle that can cause heavy, painful periods.
Polyps: Benign growths on the uterine lining (endometrium) that can cause heavy bleeding.
Adenomyosis: A condition where the tissue that lines the uterus grows into the muscular wall of the uterus.
Endometriosis: Tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus.
Endometrial hyperplasia: A thickening of the uterine lining that can be a precancerous condition. 

Stress- In a nutshell, your body will always prioritize survival over fertility.
So if it perceives any kind of stress (emotional, environmental, or internal), it will always prioritize the production of cortisol instead of progesterone production, which may even shut off ovulation!