Optimizing Fertility, Acupuncture and Fertility, Acupuncture for Infertility

It is essential that couples planning a pregnancy optimize their health and well being for the best possible fertility outcome. Preconception health care is more important than ever in view of the prevalence of fertility issues today and it lays the foundation for preparing the body, mind and spirit of both parents for a vital pregnancy and birth.

Thinking forward to the health of a baby yet to be born should be emphasized, encouraging parents to think beyond the urgency of just getting pregnant to focusing on creating the healthiest child possible.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has a long tradition in preparing men and women for conception with the understanding that the health or "pre-natal Qi" of the parents is passed on to a child. Cultivating reproductive energies through nutrition, lifestyle practices, acupuncture and herbal medicine were strongly held cultural practices that are relevant to this day.

Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine therapies are effective in addressing the following factors related to fertility:

Stress and Fertility

Stress impacts infertility and infertility impacts stress; this is the cycle commonly seen among infertility patients. Whether reacting to major events or continual day to day life stressors the nervous system is stimulated into a fight or flight response. Nerve fibers connect the brain directly to both the fallopian tubes and the uterus through the autonomic nervous system. Prolonged stress responses lead to elevated levels of cortisol and adrenaline, stress hormones which inhibit the body's response to progesterone and interrupt ovulation. Stress hormones can also cause spasms to occur in both the fallopian tubes and the uterus which disrupt implantation while shunting circulation away from the uterus and ovaries depriving them of necessary blood and nutrients.

A recent study published by The American Society of Reproductive Medicine stated that women who had acupuncture showed beneficial changes in serum levels of stress hormones compared to the control group of women who did not have acupuncture. Read the abstract of the study here.

Acupuncture is an effective way to reduce stress. Specific acupuncture techniques are employed to decrease excessive sympathetic activation and enhance the parasympathetic system to correct imbalances in the autonomic nervous system and in turn the endocrine system. Acupuncture releases endorphins and serotonin which have a strong calming effect on the body by reducing heart rate, lowering blood pressure and relaxing the muscles. Acupuncture also improves blood circulation throughout the body oxygenating tissues and specifically blood flow to the reproductive organs.

Nutritional Medicine

In building a foundation of health for pregnancy, dietary and nutritional factors cannot be underestimated. Reproductive health is highly dependent on balanced blood sugar, highly functioning elimination and detoxification pathways, and balanced nutrition. Nutritional status is best assessed using blood panels that can be interpreted to determine the patient's imbalances and nutritional deficiencies. Accurate nutritional supplementation along with the appropriate dietary modifications for each patient, ensure that their body chemistry is balanced and their nutritional status is optimal.

Treatment

The recommended course of treatment to achieve pregnancy is minimally three to six months. Some patients may take less time to achieve pregnancy, and some take longer. Success varies and depends on the underlying fertility issue, and health status of each person and their commitment to their treatment, including dietary and self care.

It is best to start treatment before trying to conceive as it takes about 90 days to influence changes in a woman's menstrual cycle, to improve ovulation and uterine lining, regulate hormones and address conditions such as PCOS or endometriosis. It also takes about 150 days for an egg to grow from a follicle in its resting state to a mature egg ready to be released and the influences of treatment on those follicles to manifest. Lastly it will often take as much time to truly integrate lifestyle and dietary changes that will be a large part of healing and progress.

Appropriate diagnostic testing will be determined for each patient including blood chemistry panels, saliva hormone testing and metabolic health assessments as well as fertility charting. An individualized program of nutritional supplementation, herbal medicine, acupuncture, and self care practices will be prescribed dependent on each person's needs and goals.

How can acupuncture correct hormonal imbalances?

Many hormonal problems are due to glitches in the delicate signaling of the endocrine system, which may alter a pathway by which the body produces hormones. A slight aberration can throw the entire system off so it no longer functions smoothly. Research has shown that acupuncture has a regulating influence on these hormonal pathways, and assists our own internal energies to restore endocrine harmony. Acupuncture can assist in correcting and fine tuning the complex interplay of hormonal signals of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, crucial to creating a healthy hormonal environment to sustain implantation and a healthy pregnancy.

Acupuncture and Assisted Reproductive Technologies/IUI & IVF

By pairing the high tech advances of modern assisted reproductive technologies with the complementary therapeutics of Chinese Medicine, ART patients can benefit from the best of both worlds. Studies have shown that the combination of Eastern and Western medicine results in higher pregnancy rates. Chinese Medicine views infertility as both a pathogenesis and weakened state of the body. Infertility therefore is a condition of systemic imbalance and aging. While Western medicine is capable of regulating reproductive physiology, Chinese medicine's intent is to rebalance and improve the overall function of the body's systems, returning the body to its homeostatic state in preparation for implantation and a healthy pregnancy.

Increases follicular development with some patients in ART cycles with the combination of TCM and fertility drugs especially in patients labeled as “poor responders”. This can be seen in either an increased production of eggs or increased fertilization rates in IVF.
Increases uterine blood flow to improve thickness of the endometrial lining improving conditions for implantation
Strengthens and regulates the immune system
Regulates the endocrine system and ovulation, especially for women with polycystic ovarian syndrome
Promotes relaxation and reduces the release of stress hormones that negatively impact fertility
Decreases uterine contractility to calm the uterine tissue and facilitate implantation
Lessens the side effects of drugs used during IVF
Decreases the chance of certain types of miscarriage
Male factor infertility: improves sperm count, motility and morphology

Treatment:

For the best possible results acupuncture combined with herbal, dietary and lifestyle counseling can be used before, during and after ART. Chinese medicine helps prepare both partners for ART by working to improve ovarian function and the immune system as well as reducing stress and improving the quality and quantity of sperm and seminal fluid. For the female partner specific acupuncture and herbal medicine protocols are used to promote ovulation and address any cycle irregularities including endometriosis, fibroids, PCOS, heavy bleeding and amenorrhea. Specific Chinese medical protocols for the male partner are employed to treat low sperm count, poor motility, abnormal morphology and problems with seminal liquefaction.

Ideally it is best to start treatment prior to undergoing IUI or IVF. Depending on the causative factors and status of a patient's reproductive health, ideally a course of treatment consists of acupuncture, herbal and nutritional therapy weekly for three months or more in preparation for a procedure as it takes about 90 days to begin to affect changes in a woman's menstrual cycle. Many women may not be aware of the benefits of Chinese Medicine for fertility until they have already started trying to conceive or have started Western fertility treatments. In these cases, it's best to start treatment as soon as possible. It's never too late to start using TCM to improve your fertility.

Once a woman's imbalances are addressed and her reproductive health is stabilized the next phase of care begins as she approaches her IUI or IVF cycle. Specific protocols are employed throughout each phase of the ART cycle. Specific points are used to stimulate the ovaries, others to increase uterine blood flow and other protocols are chosen prior to and following embryo transfer. Treatment is individualized to fit each patient's needs and medical patterns according to Chinese Medicine.

After a successful implantation has taken place Chinese medicine can also be helpful in preventing miscarriage not related to chromosomal abnormalities. For this purpose it may be used either preventively when the woman is asymptomatic or even after symptoms of threatened miscarriage have appeared.

Optimizing Fertility