Fertility is a difficult subject as many people are privately struggling to start a family without success or are in situations in which they have had multiple miscarriages and have not successfully been able to conceive. Both situations are very emotionally draining, and we often don’t disclose our struggles with people around us, even our closest friends and family. Most people don’t think of acupuncture as the first thing that would come to mind when trying to have a successful pregnancy. Helping couples who feel hopeless about the future of having children succeed in their goals may be one of the most rewarding parts of my job. I have been practicing for over 18 years now and have taken multiple specialized fertility and obstetrics courses that have helped me to help couples through their process of becoming pregnant and then continuing treatment with acupuncture throughout pregnancy and after childbirth. To watch a family be able to grow that previously thought that they had no hope of conceiving, makes me very grateful to witness the full circle of new life being brought together.
Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can work concurrently with the Fertility Clinic to help enhance the procedures that they are trying to perform and giving the patients a better success rate. Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine may also work so effectively that it may prevent couples from needing to use the Fertility clinic at all saving them a lot of money in the long run. Chinese Medicine looks at the whole picture of fertility together from using tests from your medical doctors to help provide information, to changing some diet and supplements to adjusting your menstrual cycles.
One of the most important factors in Chinese Medicine that help assist people to become pregnant is making sure that woman have NORMAL and regular menstrual cycles. So, what does this look like in real life. Well, this consists of having a cycle around 28-31 days consistently every single month as well as making sure that the patient is ovulating consistently at the correct time and without pain or bleeding. A normal cycle would not have any brown blood before or after the cycle, there would be little to no period cramping, breast tenderness, emotional instability, back pain, diarrhea or constipation, insomnia, and extreme tiredness. If we can make the periods and ovulation normal this half of the battle and both Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture can diagnose and treat many of these period symptoms and get your hormones balanced and ready for pregnancy.
The other hidden factor in helping couples with fertility is reducing their stress. In the wild, it is common for mammals exposed to a forest fire to not even try and conceive directly after the stressful event. We are not all that different, in the sense that if we are under constant stress, our bodies produce more cortisol and our hormones become unbalanced making fertility at this time more difficult. Acupuncture can reduce stress and cortisol levels and help rebalance the hormones to aid fertility. I really enjoy hearing how patients feel more energy and have an overall sense of relaxion and well being after doing acupuncture and often feel amazing right before becoming pregnant.
Other complicated fertility problems can arise and can be assisted with Chinese medicine such as anti-sperm antibodies, low sperm counts, blocked fallopian tubes, scar tissue and endometriosis. These are just a small handful of obstacles that some couples sometimes face while trying to become pregnant. Chinese Medicine can find you a clear path to help you through some of these challenges.
If you or someone you know is struggling with infertility, I would be happy to be a part of your process into finding both better health and assisting in your fertility journey.
Dr. Jennifer Nelson
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