Infertility and Acupuncture

The key to a successful pregnancy is reproductive health: a healthy egg and a healthy sperm merge to become a healthy embryo. For implantation to take place, a healthy blood supply is needed within the women's reproductive system, especially to the uterus (womb). This is the case whether conception occurs naturally or with the help of assisted fertility treatment.

Assisted conception is a magnificent tool for overcoming many infertility conditions; the advancements made over the years have transformed the chances of a woman conceiving. However, no assisted fertility treatment can improve the quality of the egg or sperm; medical doctors can only select the healthiest from what the man and woman are able to produce. That is why we believe that the initial focus should be on improving the normal function of the reproductive system, to ensure that the body is functioning well enough to be able to conceive and maintain a pregnancy before subjecting the bod to the rigours of assisted fertility treatment, such as Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI), In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) or Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). Through the use of Acupuncture and Herbal medicine, both women and men can improve reproductive health and their chances of conceiving, whether naturally or when using assisted conception.

Benefits of Acupuncture

Many modern researchers have confirmed the benefits of acupuncture in the following areas:

● Regulates the menstrual cycle (and its hormones) to produce a larger number of follicles

● Improving blood circulation to the pelvic organs, including the ovaries and uterus

● Helping to support ovulation dysfunction in some women

● Improves the function of the ovaries to produce better quality eggs.

● Relaxes the patient and reduces stress

Acupuncture works by helping women stay more relaxed through stressful fertility treatments when it is used as a complementary therapy to modern fertility treatment. Studies have shown that high stress levels decrease the likelihood of conceiving.

In particular, acupuncture increases the rate of pregnancy in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and minimizes undesired side effects and accumulated toxicity from invasive procedures and drug therapies, known and unknown.

When is Acupuncture recommended?

● Three menstrual cycles before starting IVF. When combined with modern fertility treatment, patients are commonly treated for three to four months before an insemination, in vitro fertilization (IVF), or donor-egg transfer. This period of treatment seems to have a therapeutic effect. For Women, there are specific hormonal adjustments that can be made at each week of the cycle. Missing a week of treatment may lose an important opportunity to heal a particular segment of the four phase menstrual cycle. It takes a minimum of three consecutive cycles to do the foundation work of regulation regardless of biological age. Most women can benefit from this type of concentrated foundational treatment every two years, even if they aren't trying to conceive.

● Day before and after embryo transfer

● Day 7 and day 10 after the transfer

At St Neots Chinese Medical Centre, we use a combination of Chinese herbs, acupuncture and healthy lifestyle advice to help our patients. We monitor progress closely in order to fully understand the body of each individual and to give them the treatments they need to achieve optimum fertility and reproductive health.