Fertility Clinic

How long is the course of treatments?

About Acupuncture and IVF/ IUI treatments

The TCM Approach to fertility

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believes that both individuals in a partnership should be as healthy as possible at the time of conception to assure the best possible pregnancy and future health for the mother and baby. Additionally, TCM helps to improve the overall health of the mother and father-to-be. This is extremely important not only to increase the chances for conception but also to decrease the risk of miscarriage.

How do the treatments work?

TCM approaches fertility through by using of acupuncture and Chinese Herbal medicine. The goal of TCM is to create a fertile environment for conception.

More specifically, the key factor in determining a women's fertility is a complete history of the women's menstrual cycle. A TCM fertility assessment looks for many different factors when evaluating menstrual health, such as:

What was the age of onset of the initial period?
How many days does the women menstruate?
Does the woman have strong PMS symptoms (pain, cramping, bloating)?
How long does the period last?
Color of the menstrual blood? Dark or light colored? Many clots?

Regulating the menstrual cycle and strengthening the woman's constitution are the goals of the treatments. There are many important meridians / energy channels that affect the menstrual cycle of a woman. TCM practitioners determine which meridians may be creating problems with fertility or what internal conditions exist that may threaten the pregnancy with miscarriage. Acupuncture and herbal medicine may be used to regulate the menstrual cycle and to increase the circulation in the reproductive organs.

For a man's optimal fertile health a series of questions will be ask to assess areas in his constitution that need be strengthened in order to increase sperm count and to improve sperm morphology and motility. Acupuncture and herbal medicine may be used together or alone to achieve this end.

How long is the course of treatments?

The length of the course of the treatments depends on many factors. A few factors include: whether you have been pregnant before, your age and constitution, and the amount of stress in your life. A thorough intake needs to be completed by your practitioner to better understand the state of health of the individual. Generally speaking, a women undergoing fertility treatment should expect to undergo treatments from 3-9 months.

About Acupuncture and IVF / IUI treatments

Have you been trying to get pregnant for some time now? Maybe you are considering or you are currently undergoing IUI or IVF treatments?

In any case, Chinese medicine is a natural way of achieving fertility and can be used to compliment IVF or IUI fertility treatments. According to the Fertility and Sterility Survey (see below study number 5), IVF without acupuncture has a 26.3% success rate of conception and IVF with acupuncture has a 42.5% pregnancy rate. If you are undergoing IVF treatments herbal medicine may not be used. This is determined by your doctor and acupuncturist.

If you are considering IUI/IVF treatments, you may consider regular acupuncture / herbal treatments 3-6 months prior to the IUI/IVF treatments to strengthen your constitution.

Studies

For further resources regarding acupuncture trial and studies you may download these articles in PDF format:

Acupuncture Normalizes Dysfunction of Hypothalamic Pituitary Ovarian-Axis by Bo-Ying Chen M.D.
Alternative Medicine: Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Infertility by Mike Berkley, L.Ac.
Clinical Observations on Treating 166 Infertility Cases by Guoping Zheng, PhD; L.Ac
Effects of electro acupuncture on anovulation in women with polycystic ovary-syndrome by Stener-Victorin E, Waldenstrom U, Tagnfors U, Lundeberg T, Lindstedt G, Janson PO.
Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy by Wolfgang E. Paulus, M.D., Mingmin Zhang, M.D., Erwin Strehler, M.D., Imam El-Danasouri, Ph.D., and Karl Sterzik, M.D.
Reduction of blood flow impedance in the uterine arteries of infertile women with electro-acupuncture by Elisabet Stener-Victorin, Urban Waldenström, Sven A. Andersson and Matts Wikland
Role of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility by Raymond Chang, M.D. Pak H. Chung, M.D. and Zev Rosenwaks, M.D.

Websites

ASRM — The American Society for Reproductive Medicine

Resolve — The National Infertility Association

ChildbirthSolutions.com — General website for options for childbirth.

Boston IVF — An IVF site with a unique integrative medicine approach to fertility treatments. The physicians at Boston IVF are affiliated with Harvard University's School of Medicine and The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Epregnancy.com — An award winning online magazine for mothers, covering issues of childbearing and beyond.

Fertility Journey — A general website describing the journey to fertility using IVF treatments.