Q I heard postpartum wind treatment has stages. What is done in the first stage?
A The first stage is the blood-invigorating (hwalhyeol) stage to fully discharge the lochia. If lochia remains, blood stasis builds up and worsens pain and cold sensations, so we first aid lochia discharge before moving on to the qi-and-blood replenishment stage.
Detailed Answer
The first stage of postpartum wind treatment is to fully complete the discharge of lochia (ollo). Lochia is the bloody discharge expelled from the uterus after delivery, which usually decreases over 4 to 6 weeks. If lochia is not fully discharged, blood stasis remains in the uterus and becomes a cause of pain and cold sensations, so blood-invigorating (hwalhyeol) prescriptions are used to aid lochia discharge before proceeding to the next stage.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
At a Korean medicine clinic, using qi-and-blood-tonifying (bo-gihyeol) postpartum tonic herbs before the lochia has completely ended is considered to risk stagnating blood stasis instead. Therefore, in the first stage, blood-invigorating and stasis-removing (gueohyeol) prescriptions are used to cleanse the uterus, and after confirming the point at which the lochia ends, treatment shifts to the next stage of qi-and-blood replenishment.
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