A San Francisco woman and her husband, tried for three frustrating years to get pregnant. For their final desperate attempt, the couple tried acupuncture. Her doctor gave her a 5 percent chance of getting pregnant, given her age of 40.
More Western doctors are recommending acupuncture to couples with fertility problems. Dr. Vick Sahakian of UCLA believes it can reduce stress for women trying to get pregnant. It can improve pregnancy rates by improving blood flow to the uterus where the embryos are basically implanted.
A study by German researches found that women who used acupuncture while undergoing in-vitro fertilization increased their success rates by almost 50 percent. Sahakian said his own patients have expressed confidence in the procedure.
Alternative therapies may still raise some eyebrows in the scientific community, but many of these couples say they have all the proof they need. The San Francisco couple says it worked for them — twice.
Infertility, in women, can have a variety of causes. To maximize treatment results women are recommended to schedule a consultation to determine if they are good candidates for Oriental medicine. Typical etiologies include emotional stress, internal cold or heat, Kidney Essence deficiency or an accumulation of Phlegm-Dampness in one or more organ-meridian systems. Once the underlying cause is identified, treatment will involve acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. The focus of treatment is to remove the underlying mechanisms, allowing the natural process of pregnancy to resume.
Patients with obstetric and gynecological disorders have numerous treatment options available to them with Chinese medicine. Most have no side affects.
Meridian Harmonics