Gynaecology and Fertility Acupuncture
If you are looking for a drug-free, natural way to assist with your gynaecological and obstetric conditions, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are a great alternative. In addition, it may assist with improving ovarian function, regulating your menstrual cycle and assist with infertility diagnoses in both males and females.
For most people, at least 1-2 courses of acupuncture treatments are necessary.
In clinic, patients can present with symptoms such as:
- Female infertility
- Male infertility (low sperm function, impotence)
- Erectile dysfunction
- Menstruation irregularities
- Dysmenorrhea (painful periods)
- Amenorrhea (absence of periods)
- Heavy periods
- Irregular periods
- Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
- Uterine bleeding
- Endometriosis
- Uterine fibroids
- Ovarian cysts
- Uterus prolapse
- Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
- Abnormal vaginal discharge or itching
- Hormonal disturbances
- Menopausal syndrome
IVF and Acupuncture
During the past decade, researchers have worked to improve the success rates of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). This has been achieved through improving embryo and egg quality and the uterine environment, as this assists with embryo implantation success.
Several clinical trials have discovered that IVF acupuncture works well alongside ART, increasing the success rates of women who are undergoing IVF treatment. “Although earlier systematic reviews found that evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture used to support IVF or other assisted reproductive technology was “unclear”, a more recent systematic review (Qian. Y, et al 2017) found that “Based on an analysis of the studies, acupuncture improves the CPR [clinical pregnancy rate] among women undergoing IVF.” One study found that women who undergo IVF, and then have pregnancy acupuncture the day of before and after embryo transfer, have a improved pregnancy rates (43%) compared to those who don’t include acupuncture therapy in their treatment plan (26%).
Acupuncture may increase the clinical pregnancy rate and ongoing pregnancy rate and decrease the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in women with PCOS undergoing IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (Jo 2017 – Systematic Review of 4 RCTs & MA)(120).
Other interesting figures about women, age and fertility for chances of getting pregnant are:
- Starting at about age 32, a woman’s chances of conceiving decrease gradually but significantly.
- From age 35, a woman’s fertility decline speeds up.
- By age 40, fertility has fallen by half.
- At age 25, only five per cent of women take more than a year to conceive.
- For women aged 35, this figure rises to 30 per cent.
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