Studies and Articles vol. 1

Some of you have asked me to post some studies and articles to read.  I have a long list of them but thought that this would be a good place to start.  Please check in for more! To go to the website click on to the title. 


1. ABCs of Fertility: Acupuncture, Babies, Chinese Medicine - Part 1 
By: Jennifer Dubowsky, L.Ac., M.S.O.M., Dipl.Ac

"Many women get pregnant easily, but it is unlikely that they are reading this article. For other couples, having a baby may be more difficult and therefore frustrating. If you are having difficulty, undoubtedly you want to optimize the likelihood of a pregnancy by practicing informed, healthy, fertile choices."



This article is published in the acufinder website.  It is a good general article to familiarize yourself with some of the basic principles of Chinese medicine and how it works with fertility.


2.  In April 2002, German researchers reported that they had increased the success rate by nearly 50% in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) using acupuncture.

This study is a landmark that was published in Fertility & Sterility Journal that pretty much launched acupuncture and Chinese medicine into the spotlight.  I have linked the abstract report and not the full text.  To read more about the study you can google the Journal issue and there are numerous stories about it.


3. Acupuncture Shows Promise in Improving Rates of Pregnancy Following IVF
 
"A review of seven clinical trials of acupuncture given with embryo transfer in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) suggests that acupuncture may improve rates of pregnancy. An estimated 10 to 15 percent of couples experience reproductive difficulty and seek specialist fertility treatments, such as IVF. IVF, which involves retrieving a woman's egg, fertilizing it in the laboratory, and then transferring the embryo back into the woman's womb is an expensive, lengthy, and stressful process. Identifying a complementary approach that can improve success would be welcome to patients and providers."

This article can be found on the NIH (National Institute of Health) website.

Some Help For the Men, Please...

I wanted to post here some foods that men can eat to help with their sperm.  Motility, morphology and sperm count are all important. As we all know, it takes two to make a baby....


Foods that are rich in zinc are included in the list.

Nuts are especially good for motility and morphology problems.

Almonds
Artichoke
Avocado
Bananas
Blackberries
Cashew
Cauliflower
Chicken (dark meat)
Chickpeas (including hummus and falafel)
Crab, Dungeness
Cucumber
Eggs
Fish
Kidney beans
Kiwi fruit
Lima beans
Liver
Olives
Onion
Oysters
Peaches
Pecan Nuts
Pine Nuts
Pumpkin seeds
Radish
Shellfish
Spinach
Squash
Strawberries
Sunflower seeds
Sweet potatoes
Turkey (dark meat)
Walnuts

OV-Watch, New ovulation predictor kit

I know what you are thinking, "another gadget!".  Some of you may already be using the pee stick and/or the Basal Body Temperature charts to determine when you ovulate.  However they may not work as the pee stick tells when you are ovulating and by then it may be too late.  Or if you are an early riser for work your body temperature may always register on the cold side, without any of the peaks that are indicative of ovulation.  My patient told me about the the OV Watch last week and I was thrilled to learn about something new.  From what I gather with this product is that it tells you the four days prior to ovulating that is so essential for the most fertile times.  I copied from the Amazon.com website the product description so that you could read about it.  Of course if you go on the Amazon site you can read all the reviews and decide for yourself if this is something that you would like to try.

"OV-Watch is a clinically proven, patented fertility predictor that is cleared by the FDA. It is a wrist-mounted, bio-sensing medical device that tracks a woman's individual body chemistry to find the 4 crucial days before ovulation-her most fertile days of the month. OV-Watch has a special processor and biosensor that takes readings from your skin every 30 minutes while you sleep. This advanced technology works differently from other ovulation prediction devices in that it tracks chloride ion levels as opposed to LH or estrogen surges. It allows you to be able to fully utilize all 6 days of fertility- the four most crucial fertile days of a woman's cycle before ovulation and the time during ovulation. With OV-Watch, there are no messy, urine strips and no complicated charts. Just wear the watch at night while you sleep knowing that you will be alerted 4 days before ovulation, giving you plenty of time to plan multiple romantic interludes if desired. If women use a LH urine kit that only detects hours before ovulation, they may miss their most fertile time since by the time ovulation occurs, the egg, which only has a life span of approximately 12-17 hours, is already beginning to die. Sandra Ann Carson, President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine states, "Although LH peaks accurately detect ovulation, they do not identify the pre-ovulatory fertile period. Up to two thirds of pregnancies are conceived at or prior to ovulation."..."

Infertility and Traditional Chinese Medicine

I was talking with one of my patients the other day.  We were discussing how we figured that once we got all our ducks lined up, mainly careers, then we would just magically start having children.  Not once did it cross our minds that becoming pregnant would be reduced to a science that seems more like shooting rubber bands at the stars.  Every year, millions of women wait month by month and are disappointed yet again.  There is not much to be offered out there aside from the plethora of fertility drugs and procedures that are at best reduce women to feeling like just another number in a clinic. 

After years of working with women who are seeking to get pregnant, I am struck time and time again the uniqueness of each individual and the beauty of Chinese medicine.  Through the lenses of this medicine we can really focus on what is happening with a woman’s body and every woman has walked away if not pregnant at least of better body, mind and spirit.  Women are no longer reduced to just fibroids or hormonal imbalances but a whole being that is supported in every way possible to allow a natural process to occur. 

The most common question that I am asked is how does Chinese medicine work?  This is such a complex question that six and a half years of schooling and 15 years of practice still has me stopped in my tracks to contemplate a moment how best to answer.  Everything in the body can be reduced to Qi and truly not much can happen without it.  Blood cannot move, the spirit cannot be tended to and cycles cannot be maintained without Qi and all of those things are essential for fertility to occur.  I like to think of the practice of Chinese medicine as the supporting of Qi, through the work of channels and organs.   Every point that we insert a needle directly effects the delicate balance in the body’s energetics, helping to nudge the flow one way or another.  Of course this is a very much simplified answer and open to much larger discussions.

Welcome

There have been many years that I have been working with women and infertility.  As things have changed and new information being made available I wanted to be able to share this information with everyone.  Somehow, I am hoping that this will provide the place that can be easily referenced.  I will do my best to include all the latest studies, stories, personal reflections and anything related to infertility and Chinese medicine.