Acupuncture Helpful in Conjunction with IVF
Preliminary studies show acupuncture is of benefit to women undergoing IVF treatments. In this particular study carried out in South Australia, women identified four main perceptions they felt the acupuncture in relation to their reproductive health:
(a) Awareness of, and perceived benefits of acupuncture;
(b) Perceptions of the body and the impact of acupuncture upon it;
(c) Perceptions of stress and the impact of acupuncture on resilience; and
(d) Perceptions of the intersection of medical treatment and acupuncture.
This preliminary explorative study confirms that acupuncture is indeed perceived by infertile women to have an impact to their health. The authors suggest that further studies of acupuncture as an adjunct toIVF should systematically explore the issues of wellbeing, anxiety,personal and social resilience and women’s identity in relation to sexuality and reproduction.
SOURCE: BMC Complement Altern Med. 2009 Dec 12;9:50. De Lacey S, Smith CA,Paterson C. Building resilience: a preliminary exploration of women’sperceptions of the use of acupuncture as an adjunct to In Vitro Fertilisation.
Acupuncture for IVF (& IUI, ICSI)
We treat many women with acupuncture throughout their IVF process with phenomenal results. Quite often, doctors are shocked by the change in egg and embryo quality from clients who have had many prior IVF cycles with poor results. The idea is to put you in the best possible shape to give your body the best opportunity for releasing quality eggs, developing a lush womb lining and feeling as calm as possible, in order to give your little embryo the best opportunity to embed and rest comfortably within you.
Ideally, we like to work with you and your partner for several months with weekly treatments, until your assisted cycle begins. However, many women only learn of us in the midst of their process and we can still support you from where you are at.
What we recommend …
For Women
Fully stimulated IVF/ICSI cycle:
- Weekly treatments for 8 weeks prior to start date.
- Weekly treatment leading up to your egg pick up – encouraging healthy egg and endometrium development.
- One session after egg pick up and before the embryo transfer – we want to ensure that inflammation from the procedure is minimal, and to support your recovery.
- Post transfer treatments – we will see you after your transfer, ideally on the same day.
- After your transfer, we continue to see you weekly until wk 13-14 to support your pregnancy, or we continue weekly leading up to your next transfer or assisted cycle.
For Men
We can provide you with herbs to help your sperm quality reach its potential. There is also strong evidence that acupuncture helps with motility, and clinically we have seen it impact morphology, DNA fragmentation, and sperm count. So in this instance we would recommend:
- Weekly treatment for 8 weeks in the lead up to your partners start date
- Weekly treatment through out her stimulated cycle so you are at your best to produce a top quality sperm sample (it takes four months for one sperm to grow and so sperm can be radically changed over the course of that time… how many there are, how easily they swim, the shapes of them etc)
So where to from here?
Check out how naturopathy can be a great compliment to acupuncture treatment throughout this time
Read more on fertility and how you can improve your chances of conception
Discover our fertility success stories… using acupuncture… using naturopathy