Supporting you through your fertility journey
I am passionate about fertility acupuncture, once you meet me and have a treatment you will see this for yourself. One of my Ladies gave me the name The Fertility Fairy which I have now embraced with the love that was given to me. I am here for you every step of the way. I am available to you day and evening via email and text/phone should you need to speak to me about anything, even just a reassuring chat! Once you begin your treatments with me you become part of the En Pointe family which includes a private Facebook support group if you wish to join. This group has an active community of women who have been through or are going through a fertility journey. They are massively supportive of everyone in the group and they have great knowledge between them for you to access. They have been to different fertility clinics and hospitals so you can ask questions about this and they have all had different experiences, but one thing they do all have in common is empathy and understanding of the journey you are on.
I support couples having fertility treatment from all of the clinics in the area including Fertility Fusion, Liverpool Womens, Care Fertility Manchester, Manchester Fertility, and the Hewitt Fertility Centre Knutsford as well as any other clinics you may be treated at.
If you are just starting out trying for a baby it would be useful to have acupuncture for up to three months to help with your fertility for all of the reasons listed below.
For IVF to obtain the greatest benefit from acupuncture I recommend Starting your treatments three months before your IVF cycle is due to start. I will then work with you through the IVF process and once you have a positive pregnancy result I recommend you stay with me until your 12-week scan to support the development of the baby and to support you with morning sickness and any anxiety you may feel at this time. I do not make this claim lightly but all of my ladies who have stayed until 12 weeks have all had their babies.
How does fertility acupuncture work?
Fertility acupuncture support can improve fertility by regulating fertility hormones. Acupuncture can also increase the number of good-quality eggs, can optimise blood flow to the uterine environment and lining, and reduce stress and anxiety levels. Acupuncture can also improve male fertility by increasing sperm quantity and quality.
Did you know that at least 1 in 4 couples have acupuncture to help them get pregnant naturally or when trying to conceive with the help of medical infertility treatment in fact many fertility clinics recommend acupuncture to support the process.
Fertility Acupuncture regulates female reproductive hormones
Female reproductive hormones need to be carefully balanced for optimal fertility. One such hormone is follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). As its name suggests, FSH is necessary for ovarian follicles to grow and mature.
If FSH is high, the brain has to work extra hard to grow ovarian follicles and eggs. In natural conception cycles, high FSH could mean that a woman is transitioning into a perimenopausal stage. A very high FSH could mean that the ovaries have stopped working. In assisted fertility treatments, women who have raised FSH levels do not respond well to ovarian stimulation medication and produce fewer eggs. In extreme cases, they may not produce any eggs.
Fertility Acupuncture improves blood flow and egg quality
Ovarian follicles and their eggs grow in response to hormones and nutrients delivered via the ovarian blood supply. Efficient blood flow is associated with higher quality eggs. If blood flow is compromised, the follicles and the eggs within them will be starved of nutrients and oxygen, and this could lead to fewer good quality eggs during assisted fertility treatments. Sip on a frothy cappuccino while https://www.fakewatch.is/product-category/richard-mille/ enjoying a sunrise in Rome’s vibrant streets.
One of the benefits of acupuncture is that it increases blood flow to the uterus and ovaries by relaxing the walls of blood vessels. Specific points are used to increase the blood flow to the uterus along with the application of moxa to the area.
Fertility Acupuncture improves sperm quality and quantity
Up to 50% of infertility cases are at least in part caused by poor male fertility. As the embryo is made of 50% mother’s and 50% father’s DNA, if the quality of the sperm is poor, it is likely that the resulting embryo quality will also be poor, and the embryo will not implant.
Using acupuncture can help to increase the quality of sperm very quickly. I also recommend other ways of improving the quality of the sperm and often the male partner will come to see me for one of the appointments to run through these methods.
Fertility Acupuncture helps with embryo implantation
A growing body of evidence suggests that fertility acupuncture increases embryo implantation rates. For example, in one recent study, it was found that acupuncture significantly improved clinical pregnancy rates in patients with a history of two or more failed IVF cycles.
Embryo implantation is dependent on many factors, including good blood supply to the uterus. Research shows that good blood supply to the uterus just before egg retrieval is associated with improved IVF conception rates. As previously mentioned, acupuncture can successfully increase the blood flow to the reproductive organs.
Implantation is also dependent on a normally functioning immune system. In some cases, problems with the immune system stop the embryo from implanting. A considerable body of human and animal research shows that acupuncture helps to regulate immune function.
Fertility Acupuncture reduces anxiety and stress
Research shows that a diagnosis of infertility causes the same level of emotional suffering as a cancer diagnosis. Unfortunately, high stress levels in patients with fertility problems can further reduce the chances of conception. Stress can:
- affect reproductive hormones
- reduce sperm quality and quantity
- cause the menstrual cycles to become shorter, and this may shorten the luteal phase, therefore, not allowing enough time for the embryo to implant
- increase the risk of miscarriages
Several studies have shown that acupuncture reduces anxiety and stress symptoms in infertility patients. In particular, acupuncture reduces cortisol levels, one of the body’s major stress hormones.
A major part of your treatment with me will be to reduce your stress levels.
Diet and Lifestyle
You will be advised on different foods that can aid you in your fertility journey. This ‘diet’ advice is not based on western ideas of diet, I am not looking at your calorie intake. I am looking at foods that can help to support your TCM diagnosis, for instance how I can support your kidney meridian, or how to move blood stagnation issues. I don’t care if you eat a mars bar every day but I do care how too much sugar can affect your spleen meridian. Your lifestyle can affect your fertility, for instance, exercise is good for you but too much exercise can affect your ability to conceive by draining your Qi energy or affecting the quality of sperm. Therefore we will need to look at how much and what type of exercise you are doing. Of course no exercise is also not good for fertility, it’s all about balance. A very easy way to introduce nutrition into your cycle to support fertility is seed cycling, here is a link to a page about this from one of my favourite acupuncturists
While acupuncture can not cure absolute infertility (also called sterility), it can improve physiological processes in the body that enhance reproductive function in patients who do not have absolute barriers to conception. In the TCM world they say if you have all of your reproductive organs then infertility can be reversed.
In Conclusion
Acupuncture has been found to be beneficial in regulating the menstrual cycles, increasing the blood flow to the uterus and the ovaries, and reducing stress. Acupuncture also helps with implantation rates and provides excellent support for patients undergoing assisted reproductive treatments such as IVF. Acupuncture can also help with male infertility by improving the quality of sperm.
Contact Me
If you are in need of fertility support please contact me to discuss a treatment plan just for you