At Liu Clinic in Belgravia, London, Dr Liu treats heavy periods (menorrhagia) using acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine together, working from the underlying TCM pattern rather than the symptom alone. Cases seen at the clinic most often centre on one of three patterns: blood heat, where bleeding tends to be heavy and bright red, qi deficiency, where bleeding is heavy but paler and often comes with fatigue, or blood stasis, where bleeding is heavy with dark colour and clots, often alongside cramping.
This page explains how acupuncture and herbal medicine are used for heavy periods at this clinic, what a consultation costs and involves, and what to expect if you book.
Most women who book an appointment about heavy periods have already spent two or three years deciding the problem was normal.
That is the part worth challenging first. The reason so many heavy periods go untreated is not that women fail to notice them. It is that a heavy period is almost impossible to compare. Nobody sees anybody else’s cycle. So the flooding, the double protection, the night you plan around, and the day you cancel all get filed under ordinary, because there is no reference point to say otherwise.
The clinical definition removes the guesswork. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence defines heavy menstrual bleeding as menstrual blood loss that interferes with a woman’s physical, social, emotional, or material quality of life. That is the whole test. Not a millilitre count. If your period is dictating what you wear, where you go, or how you plan your week, it qualifies, and it is worth investigating regardless of what a measuring device would say.
What Most Women in London Get Wrong About Heavy Periods
Three assumptions come up in almost every consultation, and each one delays treatment.
The first is that heaviness alone is the problem. It rarely is. Heaviness is a symptom of something upstream. Two women with identical flow can have completely different underlying causes, which is exactly why a treatment that transforms one woman’s cycle does nothing for another.
The second is that a normal scan means nothing is wrong. A clear ultrasound rules out fibroids, polyps, and structural causes. That is valuable information and it should always come first. What it does not do is explain why the bleeding is heavy. A large proportion of heavy menstrual bleeding has no structural cause at all, and this is precisely the group Chinese medicine is best placed to help.
The third is that iron is somebody else’s problem. It is not. NICE guidance recommends a full blood count for every woman presenting with heavy menstrual bleeding, because iron deficiency develops quietly and is frequently the reason a woman feels far worse than her bleeding alone would explain. If you have never had your ferritin checked, that is a conversation to have with your GP before anything else.
How Traditional Chinese Medicine Reads a Heavy Period
Traditional Chinese Medicine does not diagnose menorrhagia. It diagnoses the pattern producing it. Five patterns account for the majority of cases seen in clinic, and they are distinguished by the colour and consistency of the blood, the pain behaviour, the timing of the cycle, and the tongue and pulse.
| TCM pattern | Blood and flow | Other signs | Tongue and pulse | Classical formula family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qi deficiency | Pale, thin, continuous soak rather than flood | Marked fatigue, worse after the period than during it, easy bruising, unreliable digestion | Pale tongue with a thin white coat, weak pulse | Gui Pi Tang |
| Blood heat | Bright red or crimson, fast, often with early onset | Night heat, premenstrual irritability, thirst, mouth ulcers or breakouts before bleeding | Red tongue with a yellow coat, rapid pulse | Qing Re Gu Jing Tang |
| Blood stagnation | Dark, thick, with clots that are sometimes stringy | Pain worse before and at the start, easing noticeably once a large clot passes | Purplish tongue or purple spots, wiry or choppy pulse | Formulas that invigorate blood, selected to the case |
| Chong and Ren depletion | Heavy, prolonged, or erratic | Follows childbirth, illness, significant blood loss, or the perimenopausal transition | Pale tongue, fine or weak pulse | Jiao Ai Tang |
| Kidney Qi and Yang deficiency | Heavy and prolonged, often with a delayed or lengthening cycle | Lower back ache, cold hands and feet, night waking to pass urine, common from the mid-forties onward | Pale, swollen tongue, deep weak pulse | Formulas that warm and consolidate the Kidney, selected to the case |
Two points about that table matter more than the names in it.
The first is that the patterns are not interchangeable, and treating the wrong one is not neutral. Blood stagnation improves when blood is encouraged to move. Qi deficiency improves when blood is contained and supported. These are opposite strategies, and applying the wrong one can make a cycle worse rather than leaving it unchanged. This is the single most common reason self-prescribed herbal supplements bought online fail or backfire.
The second is that patterns combine. A woman in her late forties with a history of childbirth frequently presents with elements of both Kidney deficiency and blood stagnation, and the formula has to reflect the proportions in front of you rather than a textbook heading.
The formulas above are listed for professional reference and to show how the reasoning works. They are not intended for self-medication. Chinese herbs must be prescribed to a diagnosed pattern by a practitioner who has taken your full history and knows what else you are taking.
What Heavy Periods Look Like in TCM
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, heavy periods are not treated as a single condition with a single fix. Dr Liu identifies the pattern behind the bleeding through a full assessment, including a tongue diagnosis (colour, shape, moisture, and coating) and a facial diagnosis, before recommending a treatment plan.
- Blood heat: bleeding tends to be heavy, bright red, and may come earlier than expected in the cycle.
- Qi deficiency: bleeding is heavy but paler, often with fatigue and a feeling of heaviness.
- Blood stasis: bleeding is heavy with dark colour and clots, often with cramping pain.
These are the three patterns seen most often at the clinic, but they are not the only possibilities, and the right approach depends on the individual. This is why a herbal formula or an acupuncture protocol chosen for one person’s heavy periods will not necessarily suit another’s, even if the bleeding looks similar on the surface.
How Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine Are Used Together
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are usually offered together for heavy periods at this clinic, rather than as separate, competing options. Acupuncture is used to support the underlying pattern identified in the assessment, while a herbal prescription, individually formulated and dispensed as powder, capsules, or tea, is used to address it more directly over the course of a cycle.
Herbal prescriptions are made from Sun Ten extracts from Taiwan, which are MHRA-compliant for use in the UK, and GMP- and ISO-certified, and are shipped across the UK, with online consultations available UK-wide for anyone who cannot attend in person. Dr Liu, who holds a medical degree from Capital Medical University in China and a postgraduate Master’s diploma in Traditional Chinese Medicine from the UK College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, is the practitioner who assesses every patient and formulates every herbal prescription issued by the clinic; herbal prescribing is not delegated to general clinic staff. Full detail on her qualification and on Chinese herbal medicine generally is covered on the Chinese Herbal Medicine for Women’s Health page.
What a Consultation Costs and Involves
A consultation and acupuncture appointment for heavy periods costs £150. Consultations are available by video or in person at the clinic (9 Eccleston St, London SW1W 9LX, Belgravia), each lasting fifteen to thirty minutes. After the assessment, patients receive a personalised clinical report covering the health assessment, TCM diagnosis, treatment strategy, lifestyle recommendations, and follow-up plan, along with a clear treatment roadmap for what to expect next.
Heavy periods are not usually resolved in a single appointment. A menstrual cycle gives a natural point to reassess how the pattern is shifting, so most treatment plans, whether acupuncture, herbal medicine, or both together, are reviewed and adjusted cycle by cycle rather than left unchanged for weeks at a time.
Related Patterns Worth Knowing
Heavy periods do not always occur on their own. Some patients notice heavier bleeding as they approach perimenopause, when cycles and flow can both change, while others experience heavy bleeding alongside irregular periods. If your main concern is pain rather than volume, painful periods is addressed on its own page, since the TCM pattern behind period pain is not always the same as the one behind heavy bleeding.
How Does Acupuncture Reduce Heavy Periods?
Acupuncture is used to regulate the menstrual cycle rather than to interrupt a bleed already in progress. Points are selected according to the pattern, and treatment is timed to specific phases of the cycle. For most women, when the sessions fall in the cycle matters more than how many there are in total.
There is a practical consequence of that. Because a menstrual cycle reports back only once a month, the cycle itself is the measurement instrument, and two to three cycles is the honest review window. Anyone promising you a transformed period within a fortnight is selling rather than treating.
Herbal medicine carries a significant share of the work for heavy bleeding, because a formula can be adjusted precisely to the pattern and taken daily across the whole cycle rather than at weekly intervals. At Liu’s Chinese Medicine Clinic, herbal formulas are personalised rather than taken from a shelf, and they are prepared as powder, capsules, or tea depending on what a patient will realistically take consistently. The current fixed price is £80 per week, designed for a minimum course of two weeks, with complimentary UK delivery.
One detail worth asking any herbal practitioner about, because it separates a serious clinic from a casual one: where the herbs come from. This clinic dispenses Sun Ten herbal extracts from Taiwan, which are tested for heavy metals and hold GMP, ISO, and TGA certification, and it works only within MHRA-compliant herbal medicine. Unregulated herbs bought online carry no such guarantee, and contamination is a documented problem in that market. If you are going to take something daily for three months, ask where it was made and what it was tested for.
For most women the two are used together. Acupuncture addresses the cycle and the pain, and the formula addresses the volume.
What Heavy Periods With Clots Actually Indicate
Clots form when flow outpaces the body’s natural anticoagulants. Occasional small clots, roughly the size of a five pence piece or smaller, are unremarkable during the heaviest hours of a period.
Clots become clinically meaningful in two situations:
- Size. Clots consistently larger than a ten pence piece, particularly if they are frequent, indicate flow that is genuinely excessive and warrant medical assessment.
- Pattern. Dark, thick clots accompanied by cramping that eases once they pass point towards blood stagnation, which is a treatable pattern rather than something to be endured.
The distinction matters because, as above, stagnation and deficiency require opposite approaches. It is also the reason a practitioner should ask you what your clots look like and when in the bleed they appear, rather than simply noting that they exist.
When to See Your GP First
Book a GP appointment before, or alongside, starting any Chinese medicine treatment if you have any of the following:
- Bleeding that soaks through a pad or tampon every hour for several consecutive hours
- Bleeding between periods, after sex, or after menopause
- Periods that have become suddenly and markedly heavier without explanation
- Symptoms of anaemia, including breathlessness on stairs, persistent fatigue, dizziness, or unusual cravings such as chewing ice
- Heavy bleeding alongside a suspected or confirmed bleeding disorder, or while taking anticoagulant medication
Chinese medicine works best when structural and haematological causes have been excluded or identified. A practitioner who tells you not to see your GP is a practitioner to leave.
If you are already taking medication for heavy bleeding, or you have a hormonal coil fitted, bring the details to your consultation. Acupuncture does not interact pharmacologically with medication. Herbal formulas can, which is why a complete list of what you are taking is required before anything is prescribed.
Online Consultation: Treatment Without the Commute
Heavy periods are one of the conditions best suited to remote care, because the intervention that carries the volume is a herbal formula rather than a hands-on treatment.
An online consultation runs 15 to 30 minutes by video and covers the same ground as an in-person appointment: a full medical history review, detailed symptom analysis across the whole cycle, and traditional diagnostic assessment including guided tongue and facial observation, both of which translate well to video. From that, a formula is prescribed and posted with complimentary UK delivery, then adjusted at follow-up as the cycle responds.
Bring two things to that appointment. A list of everything you currently take, prescription and supplement alike, and a rough note of your last three cycles: length, heaviest days, pain, and clots. The consultation opens with case history, and the more accurate that history is, the faster the formula lands.
After the consultation you receive:
- A personalised clinical report as a PDF, covering your health assessment, TCM diagnosis, treatment strategy, lifestyle recommendations, and follow-up plan
- A tailored Chinese herbal prescription formulated to your pattern
- A clear treatment roadmap, so you know what improvement to expect and when
For women outside London, on inflexible working hours, or unwilling to lose half a day to a Belgravia appointment, this is the more practical route. Acupuncture can be added in person later if the pain side of the picture needs it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can acupuncture reduce heavy periods?
Acupuncture is used at this clinic to support the TCM pattern behind heavy periods, most often blood heat, qi deficiency, or blood stasis, usually alongside a herbal prescription rather than on its own. Results vary by pattern and are reviewed at follow-up consultations. Acupuncture and herbal medicine are used here to support the underlying pattern, not to replace a gynaecological investigation, and heavy bleeding that is sudden, unusually severe, or accompanied by other symptoms should always be assessed by a GP first.
What Is the Best Medicine for Heavy Periods?
There is no single best medicine, because heavy periods have several distinct causes. Conventional first-line options in the UK include tranexamic acid, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, and hormonal treatments including the hormonal coil, and these are discussed with your GP. Chinese herbal medicine takes a different route, matching a multi-herb formula to the diagnosed pattern rather than treating the volume directly. The two are not mutually exclusive, but any herbal prescription must take account of what you are already taking.
What Is the Chinese Herb That Stops Bleeding?
No single herb is prescribed alone for heavy periods in classical practice. Chinese herbal medicine uses multi-herb formulas matched to a diagnosed pattern, for example the Gui Pi Tang family where Qi is failing to hold blood, or the Jiao Ai Tang family where the Chong and Ren vessels are depleted. The formula is then adjusted to the individual and revised as the cycle changes.
What Nutrient Deficiency Causes Heavy Periods?
Iron deficiency is usually a consequence of heavy periods rather than a cause of them, and it is the most common reason a woman with heavy bleeding feels exhausted out of proportion to the blood loss. NICE guidance recommends a full blood count for all women presenting with heavy menstrual bleeding. Low ferritin is worth checking specifically, because it can be depleted well before haemoglobin falls.
Does Acupuncture Hurt, and Can I Be Treated During My Period?
Acupuncture needles are extremely fine and most patients describe a dull ache or heaviness rather than sharp pain. Treatment during a period is possible and often useful for pain, and the point selection is adjusted accordingly. If you would prefer not to be treated while bleeding, the appointment is simply scheduled to another phase of the cycle.
How much does acupuncture cost in London?
At Liu Clinic, a consultation and acupuncture appointment costs £150. Pricing varies between London clinics depending on the practitioner and the length of the appointment, so it is worth confirming directly before booking elsewhere.
Can acupressure help with heavy menstrual bleeding?
Acupressure works on the same principle as acupuncture, applying pressure rather than needles to specific points, but it is not a substitute for an individual TCM assessment. A proper diagnosis of the pattern behind the bleeding, whether blood heat, qi deficiency, blood stasis, or something else, is what determines an effective treatment plan, and this is not something acupressure applied at home can replicate.
Is it good to get acupuncture on your period?
Acupuncture can be received during a period, and for some patterns it is specifically timed around the cycle. This is something Dr Liu will confirm as part of the individual assessment rather than a fixed rule for every patient.
What Happens Next
- Book an appointment, either in person in Belgravia or as an online consultation, through the online booking page.
- Complete the consultation, covering full medical history, symptom analysis across the cycle, and traditional diagnostic assessment.
- Receive your personalised clinical report, herbal prescription, and treatment roadmap.
- Review at follow-up, where the formula is adjusted according to how your next cycle responds.
Liu’s Chinese Medicine Clinic is a women’s health clinic at 9 Eccleston St, London SW1W 9LX, inside the Light Centre in Belgravia. Clinic hours are Monday to Friday, 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM, with the last appointment at 1:30 PM. If you would rather ask a question before booking, you can message the clinic on WhatsApp.
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