Acupuncture for Fertility
The journey to becoming a parent is not always an easy one. It can be full of confusion, disappointment, and uncertainty. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help support, improve, and optimize fertility if trying to conceive. Generally a combination of acupuncture treatments and herbal medicine can make a huge difference in optimizing fertility in both men and women to help you get the family you have always wanted.
How does Acupuncture Help Fertility?
For those with Ovaries & a Uterus acupuncture can help improve circulation and improve blood supply to the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, for implantation to take place easier. Many times hormonal imbalances show up with either irregular menstruation, endometriosis, elevated FSH, Luteal Phase Defect (LPD), PCOS, Ovarian cysts, etc. Acupuncture and herbs can help regulate the hormone imbalances that are causing menstrual issues. In cases of unexplained infertility, sometimes there can be very slight hormonal imbalances that aren’t detectable in some blood tests. Both acupuncture and herbs help to balance hormonal imbalances that may be taking place that can impede conception.
If you are on the track of doing IVF or IUI, acupuncture and herbs have shown to help increase the efficacy of fertility treatments; especially when done beforehand and immediately after the procedure.
For those that produce Sperm, acupuncture and herbal medicine are shown to help with quality of sperm, increase the amount of sperm and male hormonal imbalances as well.
Whether you are trying to conceive naturally or with IVF, IUI or any other Assisted Fertility Treatments (ART), acupuncture can support your body during this time.
How Long Does it Take to Get Pregnant with Acupuncture?
When using acupuncture for fertility, it takes about 3 months to see major changes in hormonal imbalances. Therefore, we utilize a three month program at minimum to help get your body to a place where it is ready to conceive. During these three months we address lifestyle, mind/body connection, nutrition, herbs, and exercise to help get your body in the best state for holding a baby to term.
One thing I like to mention to young folks is to start thinking about your fertility much further in advance than when you are ready to have children. Fertility treatments and regulating hormone imbalances at a younger age will make it easier to get pregnant in the future. Acupuncture and herbs can do wonders as a reaction to infertility; however, it works extremely well as a prevention method too. Think of it like saving for retirement, you put a bit of money away every month with the idea that by the time you reach a certain age you will be able to live how you would like and retire. Fertility is the same way, if you start thinking about it from teenage years or early twenties, much earlier than even when you have a partner, with the idea that you will want to have children in the future, you are setting your body up for success when that day comes. Through ongoing treatments of acupuncture, nutrition recommendations, herbs if necessary, and lifestyle suggestions these treatments can help prepare your body for that day in the future and help with your overall health in the present.
From a Chinese medicine perspective, your body is not working against you. It is an ally that just needs to be rebalanced in order to conceive.
Please give us a call us if you have any questions about this, we would be more than happy to do a 10 min. free consultation to see if acupuncture and herbal medicine is a good fit for you.
What is Acupuncture?
Many of you may be curious about acupuncture, maybe a friend told you about it, or maybe your doctor mentioned it to you. You have gotten over the hump of just wondering and are starting to do some research about it, you may be thinking “acupuncture looks cool, or interesting, or strange.” Let’s start with the basics-what is acupuncture?