Posted by Dr Vitalis Acupuncture in IVF, infertility
Success at Last
Couples fighting infertility might have more control than they think
By Deborah Kotz
Posted 4/29/07
Tracy Ryan had given up hope of having a second child. Two years of trying to conceive, including three failed artificial inseminations, had finally culminated in a successful in vitro fertilization-and 2-year-old Christopher. But further attempts at in vitro had left Ryan, 35, disappointed and exhausted. Desperate to feel better, the stay-at-home mom from Fair Haven, N.J., decided to try acupuncture, kick her six-can-a-day Diet Pepsi habit, and eat more fish, fruits, and vegetables. Eight weeks later and slimmer by 7 pounds, Ryan was shocked to discover that she was pregnant. “I was literally shaking when I saw the pregnancy test,” she says. “My husband made me buy a different brand to verify it.”
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Among the good strategies of dealing with stress of infertility and IVF (apart from acupuncture, of course!) is getting more information about your condition and what you can do.
Another one is reading stories of people who have been in your situation. I can recommend you a couple of good books.
One, The Infertility Cure, is on acupuncture and infertility, but it also gives you a good roundup of diet and other things you can do yourself.
Another one recommended by one of my patients, is Legs Up and Laughing. In this book Vanessa Bates takes you on her “Big Great Fertility Ride”. This one is for you AND your partner.
Do you have a suggestion? Let us know in the comments.
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Complimentary medicines and therapies are widely used by patients with infertility says study published in current issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Health care practitioners and fertility specialists need to be proactive in acquiring and documenting the use of these practices. There is a need to provide further information to patients on the use of complimentary medicines and therapies.
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Many infertile man have an increased proportion of genetically abnormal sperm. Normally this is not an issue, because the sperm number is so small, that it fails to fertilise an egg. But in case of ICSI, the potentially genetically abnormal sperm is injected directly in to an egg. This increases the risk risk for ICSI failure as well as the risk of transmitting diseases such as Klinefelter’s syndrome, Down’s syndrome, congenital heart defects, etc.
Scientists from university of Kent conducted research on six men who had very high levels of chromosome abnormalities in their sperm. After a course of traditional Chinese medicine each of the six men participating in the study showed a significant reduction in the proportion of sperm genetic abnormalities.
This research offers promise to male infertility patients. However more research is needed to convince the skeptics.
Ref:
“Significant reduction of sperm disomy in six men: effect of traditional Chinese medicine?” Darren Griffin, Helen Tempest, Sheryl Homa and Xiao-Ping Zhai
“Asian Journal of Andrology”
IVF and acupuncture :: vitalis.co.nz
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Summer is best time for fertility treatment
Women who undergo fertility treatment during the summer are twice as likely to become pregnant as when they try in winter, British researchers have found.
Longer daylight hours appear to improve the chances of successful treatment, according to the study.
The research was presented at the annual conference of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).
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Quantitative evaluation of spermatozoa ultrastructure after acupuncture treatment for idiopathic male infertility.
Pei J, Strehler E, Noss U, Abt M, Piomboni P, Baccetti B, Sterzik K.
Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. jianpei99@yahoo.com
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ultramorphologic sperm features of idiopathic infertile men after acupuncture therapy. DESIGN: Prospective controlled study. SETTING: Christian-Lauritzen-Institut, Ulm, IVF center Munich, Germany, and Department of General Biology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
PATIENT(S): Forty men with idiopathic oligospermia, asthenospermia, or teratozoospermia. INTERVENTION(S): Twenty eight of the patients received acupuncture twice a week over a period of 5 weeks. The samples from the treatment group were randomized with semen samples from the 12 men in the untreated control group.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Quantitative analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to evaluate the samples, using the mathematical formula based on submicroscopic characteristics.
RESULT(S): Statistical evaluation of the TEM data showed a statistically significant increase after acupuncture in the percentage and number of sperm without ultrastructural defects in the total ejaculates. A statistically significant improvement was detected in acrosome position and shape, nuclear shape, axonemal pattern and shape, and accessory fibers of sperm organelles. However, specific sperm pathologies in the form of apoptosis, immaturity, and necrosis showed no statistically significant changes between the control and treatment groups before and after treatment.
CONCLUSION(S): The treatment of idiopathic male infertility could benefit from employing acupuncture. A general improvement of sperm quality, specifically in the ultrastructural integrity of spermatozoa, was seen after acupuncture, although we did not identify specific sperm pathologies that could be particularly sensitive to this therapy.
NCBI
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Acupuncture: A Cure for Infertility?
Monday, April 25, 2005
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans
NEW YORK — At 36, Lucy Appert has suffered through two miscarriages, a stillbirth at 8 1/2 months and, because of a rare pregnancy-related liver dysfunction, intensive illness and surgery.
Yet after enduring five painful years of trying to have their own baby, Appert and her husband Edward finally saw their dream come true last month when their son Henry was born — premature, but healthy.
For all the fertility treatments, technologies and prenatal care available to women today, Appert credits the success of her pregnancy to an ancient Chinese secret.
“I recommend acupuncture (search) to everyone,” Appert said. “It does work. I did everything possible for years to have a baby. I almost lost hope.” More »
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Japanese doctors use Chinese herbal medicine to treat infertility
Dr. Takahisa Ushiroyama and colleagues at Osaka Medical College in Japan conducted a trial of treating polycystic ovary syndrome and non-polycystic ovary syndrome with herbal medicine. The medicine is Unkei-to (Chinese name Wen-Jing-Tang), which combines 12 herbal drugs, including ginseng, cinnamon bark, angelica root, evodia fruit and ginger stem. One hundred women participated in the experiment. Fifty-two of these women were given a daily dosage of 7.5 gram Unkei-to while the other women remained untreated. The study shows that more than half of the women treated with Unkei-to saw improvement in their menstrual cycle and successful ovulation. It is further discovered that the treatment can reduce the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), a symptom characteristic of polycystic ovary syndrome. Still, the mechanism of the treatment remains unclear.
Read the story here
More on PCOS and acupuncture
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March 2, 2005
A combination of Chinese medicine and conventional in-vitro fertilisation treatment is showing promising results in helping infertile couples, reports Hester Lacey -The Independent
Read the story here
To read more about fertility and acupuncture on vitalis.co.nz IVF and acupuncture :: vitalis.co.nz
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Acupuncture
Significantly increases pregnancy rate
Significantly reduces the risk of miscarriage
Significantly reduces the risk of tubular pregnancy
Significantly increases the life birth rate
Researchers from USA presented another study on IVF and Acupuncture that convinced even the sceptics. The research highlighted and reconfirmed the benefits and the value of acupuncture to the success of ART (assisted reproductive technologies). The study was presented at the meeting of American Society for Reproductive Medicine (October 2004) by Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Centre (Colorado Springs, USA).
IVF and acupuncture in Auckland, NZ
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Dr. R. Ian Hardy, an M.D. with Ph.D. Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist at Fertility Centers of New England said he recommends acupuncture in conjunction with in vitro fertilization to his patients all the time.
IVF and acupuncture in Auckland, NZ
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The Washington Post: Hard to Conceive:
“Hard to Conceive Unable to Get Pregnant, She Turned East in Quest of Fertility ”
And why not? Six months on fertility drugs, two inseminations and one $13,000 attempt at vitro fertilization (IVF) had all failed me — or I them. I felt I had to try something else. In February, minutes after I realized the IVF hadn’t worked, and knowing my husband and I would have a rough time financing a second round of treatment, I hit the Internet looking for an alternative.
I quickly stumbled on Lewis’s book “The Infertility Cure: The Ancient Chinese Wellness Program for Getting Pregnant and Having Healthy Babies” (Little, Brown, 2004). Unlike lots of other books that champion this or that single regimen, this one combined a slew of alternative therapies: herbs, acupuncture, diet changes and mind/body work.
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