Discover how to cultivate and improve your fertility with cycle regulation, nourishment and stress reduction in the most holistic and sustainable ways, so you can get pregnant faster and grow the family of your dreams.
Improve Fertility With Acupuncture
Whether you are preparing to conceive, are working with IVF or other fertility treatments or need to address health issues affecting your fertility like PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, polyps, cysts or immunity issues, acupuncture and Oriental medicine can be a huge help to you in strengthening the systems of your body, reducing inflammation and regulating hormone to help you get and stay pregnant.
Oriental medicine has been treating fertility for millenia using the therapies of acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutritional therapy and lifestyle choices. Whether you are trying to conceive on your own or with the assistance of modern technology, I would love to be a part of your team.
I love working with people to help them grow their family. Not only offering therapeutic treatments, but emotional support as well. I’ve been so lucky to work with people over the years, who find it challenging trying to conceive and have issues with infertility. I can help you in a way that minimizes stress, facilitates healing and helps you to feel empowered to make the best choice for you.
In addition to helping many women conceive naturally, we have worked with many patients going through IUI, IVF, and other ART treatments, so we are very familiar with these medical protocols and how we can safely and effectively optimize your chances of success.
Acupuncture and Oriental medicine help:
- Improve egg quality
- Regulate the menstrual cycle
- Treat endometriosis and fibroids
- Increase circulation to the ovaries and uterus
- Regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis
- Improve sperm count and motility
- Improve success rates for IVF patients
- Regulate hormones
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Improve Immunity
Preparing to Conceive
Are you preparing to conceive?
Did you know it takes four and a half months from the time a follicle in your ovary starts developing, until the egg it contains is mature enough for ovulation? There’s a lot you can and should do during this time, to influence the development of the egg and prepare for a healthier pregnancy and healthy baby.
Why is nutrition and digestion important for trying to get pregnant?
You’ll be totally relieved to hear that we in Chinese medicine encourage a rational approach to diet and nutrition. Eating a wide variety of fresh and tasty foods is advised, hopefully in good company! Enjoyment of food is considered an important aid to digestion. Good absorption of nutrients is essential, so ensuring optimal digestion should be a part of any pre-conception plan.
Good nutrition helps to provide an optimal environment for the eggs during the critical maturation process. It also contributes to an optimal environment in the uterus for implantation of the embryo and development of a healthy baby.
Research has shown that our diets directly affect the environment of the pre-implantation uterus. The most comprehensive study to date looking at diet and fertility is the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study which followed over 18,000 women in a long-term research project looking at the effects of diet and other factors on the development of chronic disease.
This study also examined the relationship between diet and fertility. It found a six fold increase in fertility in women who ate fewer simple carbs and more complex carbs, mostly whole foods, lots of veggies, full fat dairy and good amounts of a variety healthy meats, as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle, like moderate exercise.
Why is an ideal weight important to get pregnant?
If you’re overweight or underweight can affect your fertility. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine approaches the body and weight in a very different and refreshing way.
If you are carrying extra weight, little bit of weight loss can go a long way to improving your fertility. Losing 10lbs is a manageable target for most and you can start now. Boosting your metabolism a bit, can stimulate ovarian activity, improve egg and sperm quality and increase fertility.
Being underweight affects ovary function, just as much as being overweight. Acupuncture can help regulate your sympathetic nervous system to improve your appetite. Together with lifestyle and dietary changes, this can help put on a little weight that will be a big help trying to get pregnant.
How does being overweight affect my chances of getting pregnant?
I know talking about body weight can be really uncomfortable for a lot of people. My intention working with you is simply to provide a ton of support and offer another perspective in understanding why the body may be holding on to extra weight.
Yes, what we eat, how much we eat and how much we exercise are important, but it’s more complex than that. Chinese medicine has an understanding of the body to know that if the systems of the body are weakened, hormones are out of whack or we have a ton of stress, our bodies will hold on to extra weight as a way of protecting itself.
Using acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition recommendations and other therapies of Oriental medicine, the focus is to strengthen the systems of your body, decrease inflammation, balance hormones and reduce stress so that your body is strong, working as it should, and able to let go of the extra weight it’s been holding onto.
Being overweight has a negative influence on fertility and getting pregnant:
- Ovulation disturbances
- Lowers sperm count by up to 50%
- Increases fragmentation in the DNA of sperm
Modest weight loss increases chances of conception significantly:
- One third of couples will conceive naturally by losing 5-10% of their body weight
- Improves your chances of success with IVF, if that’s your route
- Chance of miscarriage drops significantly
Plus, your pregnancy will be easier and your baby will be healthier.
How does the right amount of exercise help improve fertility and getting pregnant?
When I say the right amount, I mean a moderate amount. Just like not exercising can negatively affect fertility, so can exercising too much. If you are not exercising at all, get your butt moving. And if you are one of those insane working out types, chill out already.
You are looking to grow another human being inside your body! That takes a ton of energy. If you are working out like crazy, you are taking away much needed energy for the baby to grow.
Moderate exercise of all the activities you have been doing or love to do, whether it’s jogging, crossfit, yoga, spin class, zumba, walking, hiking, etc., is fantastic for you. Exercise improves digestion, circulation, sleep, hormonal balance and stress.
How does stress affect my fertility and chances of getting pregnant?
Stress and anxiety are awful and can have a negative effect on fertility. Stress and anxiety can:
- Reduce fertility
- Have lower embryo implantation rates because of stress hormones
- Affect sperm quality
- Can increase chance of miscarriage
- Reduce the number of eggs retrieved for IVF
- Weaken the immune system, which reduces fertility and implantation
Acupuncture is a fantastic therapy to help reduce stress and anxiety to help improve fertility, getting pregnant and staying pregnant. Acupuncture also helps to boost immunity and reduce inflammation in the body.
Acupuncture helps reduce stress and improve fertility and pregnancy by:
- Raising endorphins
- Reducing adrenaline and cortisol
- Improve ovarian function
- Improve sperm quality
- Improved functioning of the placenta
After acupuncture, patients are always commenting on how incredibly relaxed they are.
Why is sleep so important when trying to get pregnant?
The connection between sleep and fertility might not be obvious, but getting to bed early does mean you might have more time and energy to have great sex. The experts recommend 8-9 hours of sleep a night.
You might be thinking it’s it’ll be hard to get that much sleep, but look at this list and it’ll help you prioritize great sleep for yourself, fertility and pregnancy.
Good sleeping habits help:
- fertility
- menstrual regularity
- sex hormones
- sperm production
- weight loss
- metabolism
- immune factors
- stamina
- emotional stability
- stress levels
- full term pregnancy
Getting enough sleep is one of the best things you can do for yourself if you’re trying to get pregnant. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine have a long history, and the science to back it up, of helping people sleep a whole lot better.
Health issues affecting fertility: immunity, PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, polyps and cysts
What are health issues that can affect your fertility?
Health issues like endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids, polyps, cysts or menstrual disorders can affect your ability to get pregnant.
All of these medical conditions are common causes of infertility. Some interfere with ovulation, or cause metabolic problems which cause a problem with fertility, as well as causing hormonal imbalances or disrupting implantation, and menstrual discomfort.
Can acupuncture and Oriental medicine treat endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids, cysts, polyps and immunity problems?
Yes, acupuncture and Oriental medicine have a long history of successfully treating health problems like endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids, polyps, cysts or menstrual irregularity and immunity issues.
Acupuncture and Oriental medicine help to reduce PCOS, endometriosis, polyps & cysts, as well as reduce pain and inflammation, balance hormones and regulate the menstrual cycle to improve the health and function of the body, therefore improving fertility and a successful pregnancy.
Can acupuncture help increase the success of IVF (or IUI or ovulation induction)?
Yes, acupuncture can help in a number of ways. Acupuncture can help strengthen the uterus and systems of the body before the embryo transfer. Acupuncture treatments the day of the transfer can help minimize uterine contractions to help insure a successful implantation.
The treatment series is based on protocols used in clinical trials that demonstrate increased blood supply to the uterus and ovaries, and a beneficial regulation of hormones which may be important to follicle development and implantation.
Can acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help improve sperm quantity and quality?
Yes. Male infertility, either low sperm quantity or quality, is one of the most common reasons for couples to seek out fertility treatments. More than 10 clinical trials in numerous countries have shown significant improvement in sperm quantity and quality after a 5-10 week course of treatments of acupuncture and herbal medicine.