Dark Blood

Q: Dear Susun,

How are you? Hope all is well.

These two months my menstral periods started with very little, blackish blood for one day, then normal for three days. I wonder if there's any herbal ally for this condition. I have started to take DongQuay for about two months, could this be related? I don't feel so.

I miss the Nettle Patch very much. I hope I will have a chance to visit Woodstock again this April.

Thank you for your time.

Y.

 

A: Hello Y., thank you for writing. Susun is well, just celebrated her 60th birthday! I just spoke with her this morning :) Hope we see you at the Wise Woman Center soon too!

I hear your menstrual cycle is different than it was. Does anything else indicate there is something that needs attending too? Remember Susun's 6 steps of healing. First is do nothing. Next after this is gather information. If you have done do nothing and/or feel you now want to do something, perhaps you can explore what this may be an indicator of. This may help as you search an ally for you. Beyond that though perhaps you simply want an herbal ally for menstrual health. There may be some standards or herbs most often used, but this may be an herb personal too you. For example, when taking a class with Susun on "Talking with Plants" I was asked to sit with a plant and explore it and get a feel for its uses. I got a sense of is as a "sister plant" as I have come to call a few others, like Wild Strawberry. This plant was wild geranium we have growing in our woods out here. The books never mentioned much of its use as a specifically woman's plant, but that was and still is my feeling for it, so for me I would use it for general support to whatever female support I might want. Do you have an attraction to work with a particular plant lately? Keep in mind it does not need to be one you know much about yet, or does not have to be one commonly prepared as tinctures or infusions, etc.; it can even simply be one frequently used in cooking.

I am not very familiar with dong quai, but do not remember hearing about this as an effect. Though there seems to be a time relation between the two for you.

Susun does not have internet to be able to correspond much through email. I did pass your kind words to her.

I do not remember if you have yet joined our forum where people from around the world come to share life experiences and questions. This would be a great place too to explore possible causes of the change in bleeding, connections between the dong quai and the change, and herbal allies for you to explore.

Blessings,
Karen Joy
wisewoman@herbshealing.com
www.wisewomanweb.com

 

Q: Hi Karen,

I am so happy for Susun's birthday! Sixty!

Thank you for your reply. I am familiar with Susun's books. And I found that the black menstral blood is not mentioned in the books. I will join the forum soon to see if any wise women out there can share their experiences with me.

I am dreaming about going to the Workday thing in April. Hope I will make it. I want to thank you again for your warm reply. It's true that there are things, so many things happened in my life right now. I am giving my body some more time to heal. Maybe after pool of tears come blackish moon blood...

Blessings to you as well!

Y.,

 

A: Write any time. I am glad you will make use of the forum. I have found a recent period of deep grief certainly altered my menstrual cycle. I understood it as grieving through my womb. All my best, and maybe I will meet you this year!

Karen Joy

Comments

[nancy]

i am passing very blackish blood this month is this normal, or is it anything to worry about, i am not having any cramps or anything like that, but no normal looking blood, why is this happening, it is really gross and i am scared something is wrong with me.
can someone email me and tell me what is going on, sandnemo@sbcglobal.net, thanks.

[KarenJoy]

How are you doing now? I see you wrote this over a month ago. I understand being scared and concerned. We are all unique and must tune into our own bodies. Was it your only time this happened? Has it happened since? Even if you are now well, it would be helpful to post that here too so others with the same fear can learn whatever you did in it.

Karen Joy