How Chinese Medicine Can Increase Fertility

Whole-systems traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), (combined acupuncture and Chinese herbs), has been used continuously over the past four to five thousand years to help women and men have healthy children. In the past twenty years or so, TCM practitioners have also been helping Fertility Clinics to support IVF treatments and boost their live birth success rate.

The intersection between Chinese medicine and modern fertility treatments is the intersection between an ancient patient-centric holistic medicine with an ultra-modern high-tech problem-centric medicine. It is interesting that whereas acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are looked down upon as being merely palliative care (all the way to being outright chicanery) by most mainstream medical practitioners, super-specialized reproductive endocrinologists working in the most sophisticated IVF clinics are collaborating with TCM practitioners, and in some instances inviting acupuncturists to work in their clinics. The connection is being made at this level.

One randomized controlled pilot study from 2016 tested a whole-systems fertility acupuncture protocol on 56 women who had been trying to conceive for an average of 4.85 years. They were able to show that the fertility acupuncture protocol they tested positively influenced all of the women who received it compared to the women who used lifestyle modification alone. First of all, all women in the fertility acupuncture group reported that it increased their fertility awareness and improved their wellbeing. Secondly, those who conceived did so in half the time of those who modified their lifestyle alone.

When it comes to your reproductive health, acupuncture and Chinese medicine can:

  1. Increase live birth rates.

  2. Increase sperm count, motility and morphology.

  3. Regulate hormones and menstrual cycles.

  4. Reduce stress.

  5. Improve blood flow to the ovaries and uterus.

  6. Reduce miscarriages.

  7. Improve thickness of the uterine lining.

  8. Lessen the side effects of medications used in fertility treatments.

What fertility conditions are successfully treated by ivf?

There are many different causes of infertility, many of which can successfully be treated with IVF, and the chances of a healthy conception and live birth have gone up significantly in the past decade, particularly with frozen embryo transfers (FET). It may be a good idea to consult with a reproductive endocrinologist if any of the following are issues for you. Some indications for in-vitro fertilization include:

  • Anovulation (including polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), age-related infertility)

  • Implantation issues (including luteal phase defect (LPD), adhesions)

  • Tubal factor (including blockage of one or both fallopian tubes)

  • Pelvic adhesions (including from endometriosis, previous surgery for endometriosis removal or tubal surgery)

  • Abnormal cervical factor

  • Male factor (including oligospermia (low sperm count), teratozoospermia (few normally formed sperm), )

  • Immunologic factor (male or female)

  • Unexplained infertility

How does chinese medicine boost fertility?

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can be extremely helpful for the whole spectrum of patients who want to increase their fertility. From patients seeking to become pregnant naturally, whether they are experiencing difficulty becoming pregnant or merely want to become healthier before becoming pregnant, to support for patients who are working with reproductive endocrinologists or other fertility specialists and undergoing fertility treatments from intrauterine inseminations (IUIs) to in vitro insemination (IVF) with all kinds of pharmaceutical and mechanical fertility treatments. Obviously, Chinese medicine cannot undo structural damage like western medicine. We cannot unblock fallopian tubes blocked by scarring or remove varicocelle that are preventing viable sperm from forming, but Chinese medicine offers some amazing results to increase fertility for many women and men. In essence, TCM believes that the healthier and more in balance a couple is, the healthier their children will be and the easier it will be to conceive.

Traditional Chinese medicine gynecologists have known for thousands of years that regulating the menstrual cycle promotes fertility. Modern practitioners have begun to incorporate the knowledge we have of the biological stages of the menstrual cycle to focus on specific fertility issues and increase our effectiveness. We now look at four treatment phases to target the parts of the cycle that need adjustment and support for optimal fertility. Although each woman’s primary TCM diagnosis may be different, this type of approach allows for minute changes to be made in the acupuncture and herbal treatment while keeping in mind all the hormonal shifts occurring in each phase and the various organs involved.

TCM effectively treats many conditions that impair fertility by diagnosing through Chinese medicine pattern identification. Interestingly, according to Chinese medicine, many different conditions and diseases diagnosed by western medicine are due to the same root cause in TCM, whereas the same disease can present differently in different people and therefore be due to a different TCM diagnosis. For example, one patient with erectile dysfunction, low sperm count, and excessive day and night urination can have a TCM diagnosis of Kidney Yang deficiency (a lack of the vital warming force of the body) whereas another patient who also has erectile dysfunction, low sperm count and epididymitis could have a TCM diagnosis of Blood stagnation (issues due to sluggish blood flow and possibly inflammation).

From my experience, many patients who had previously undergone various fertility treatments - IUIs, IVF, ET, FET, ICSI, and other treatments with no success were able to have children with concurrent treatment with acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

board certification in reproductive medicine

In addition to being licensed as an acupuncturist and Chinese herbal medicine practitioner by the Acupuncture Board of the State of California and nationally certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (NCCAOM), I am board certified in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine treatment of reproductive medicine/fertility by the international Acupuncture & TCM Board of Reproductive Medicine (ABORM). ABORM board-certified reproductive acupuncturists have advanced training in western and Chinese reproductive medicine, have passed a rigorous advanced certification exam, and work collaboratively with your physician to ensure you receive the highest level of care.

REFERENCES:

  1. A randomized sham-controlled trial of manual acupuncture for infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome, Wen Pan et al, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imr.2021.100830. 2213-4220/© 2022 Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  2. Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine Effects on Assisted Reproductive Technology: Six Cases and Their Clinical Significance, Dan Jiang et al, Med Acupunct. December 2019; 31(6): 395–406. Published online 2019 Dec 13. doi: 10.1089/acu.2019.1338. PMID: 31871529

  3. Prior to Conception: The Role of an Acupuncture Protocol in Improving Women's Reproductive Functioning Assessed by a Pilot Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial, Suzanne Cochrane, Caroline A. Smith, Alphia Possamai-Inesedy, and Alan Bensoussan, 2018. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2016;2016:3587569. doi: 10.1155/2016/3587569. Epub 2016 May 3. PMID: 29853947

  4. Impact of Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine on In Vitro Fertilization Outcomes, Lee Hullender Rubin et al, Reprod Biomed Online. 2015 Jun; 30(6): 602–612. Published online 2015 Feb 24. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.02.005. PMID: 25911598

  5. Acupuncture for ovulation induction in polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized controlled trial, Julia Johansson et al, Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2013 May 1; 304(9): E934–E943. Published online 2013 Mar 12. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00039.2013: 10.1152/ajpendo.00039.2013 PMID: 23482444.

  6. Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation: systematic review and meta-analysis, Eric Manheimer et al, 2008. PMID: 18258932