Fertility 411
Fertility 411
As spring is starting to show itself with flowering trees and budding tulips, I am reminded of new life. So many patients I encounter, men and women, struggle with fertility. They so badly want to welcome new life into their family and home but their dreams aren’t coming to fruition. It is an unspoken and misunderstood journey that so many deal with in private. We are here to say we see you and you are not alone. Your spring is coming and Willow + Elm Wellness can help.
Fertility is intricate and complex. Even western medicine doesn’t have 100% understanding of why some patients can conceive easily and others cannot. Some people may have conditions that doctors can point to and say, this is the reason fertility is an issue, but even then, fertility is 50% science and 50% unknown. Many people with conditions such as endometriosis and PCOS in women, or low sperm count in men, conceive easily and some without any diagnoses or explanation, cannot. Even with huge leaps and bounds in fertility medicine and reproductive endocrinology, creating a family can seem impossible. This is where adding East Asian medicine into a treatment plan can make a monumental difference.
There are countless accredited medical studies that explore the effects of acupuncture on fertility in both men and women. One such article delved into a case study of one couple that were unable to conceive after one year of trying. Both the man and the woman were treated with acupuncture once per week for three months. The man saw an increase in sperm count and improved motility and the woman experienced a complete disappearance of her ovarian cysts. They successfully conceived following just two months of treatment (Zhu, et al.). Having worked closely with a medical doctor that specializes in fertility and reproductive endocrinology, I frequently have these sorts of cases walk into my office seeking treatment. Women above 35 are advised to try to conceive naturally for 6 months before insurance companies will consider covering any extra fertility measures. Women below 35 are told one year. That is a hard time constraint to stomach, but necessary for many as fertility treatments are often cost prohibitive. It is frustrating and heartbreaking to experience this waiting period before help could be sought out. Additionally, fertility treatments like IVF are just over 30% effective. This often leaves patients requiring multiple cycles of fertility treatment, at great cost to them, both monetarily and emotionally. Fortunately, research has shown that fertility treatment success rates double when paired with acupuncture for 12-15 sessions, or 3 months. A 60% success rate is leaps and bounds from 30%. So why do we see such a huge increase in successful conception and subsequent pregnancies when acupuncture is added to the prescription?
Acupuncture is incredibly efficacious for treating many things, but is especially miraculous in regards to fertility. Acupuncture works in several ways. It increases blood flow in the body in general but especially to the sex organs when utilized for fertility. With blood flow comes anti-inflammatory hormones that help the body to more readily heal and repair. Acupuncture also decreases stress. Stress is a huge barrier to fertility. Sex hormones and stress hormones have the same source: cholesterol. If someone is exceedingly stressed, their body will make more stress hormone and the sex hormones can become imbalanced. Put another way, evolutionarily speaking, if you are in a stress state, running from a predator, your body will not funnel energy into creating an optimal environment to conceive. It will prioritize your immediate survival at the expense of your fertility. Finally, acupuncture works with the HPO axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis) which naturally supports the balance of the body’s hormone levels. This increases chances of regular cycles and therefor of conception.
If you are trying to expand your family, you currently experience a disease that has been known to effect fertility such as endometriosis, fibroids, or PCOS, or you simply want to balance your hormones and regulate your cycles, consider utilizing acupuncture and herbal medicine at Willow + Elm Wellness. Let us help you have your spring.
Resources:
Cheong, Ying C, et al. “Acupuncture and Assisted Reproductive Technology.” The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 26 July 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23888428.
Manheimer, Eric, et al. “The Effects of Acupuncture on Rates of Clinical Pregnancy among Women Undergoing in Vitro Fertilization: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Human Reproduction Update, Oxford University Press, 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3796945/.
Rubin, Lee Hullender. “How Acupuncture Impacts IVF Success Rates.” FertilityIQ, 2019, www.fertilityiq.com/topics/acupuncture-for-fertility/how-acupuncture-impacts-ivf-success-rates.
Zhu, Jihe, et al. “Acupuncture Treatment for Fertility.” Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, Republic of Macedonia, 19 Sept. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30337989.