Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic imbalance of a woman’s hormones. This imbalance can cause changes in the menstrual cycle (amenorrhea, irregular periods, dysmenorrhea), skin changes, small cysts in the ovaries, infertility, hair growth and other problems. In a woman’s normal menstrual cycle one (or more) eggs are released from the follicles in the ovaries. In PCOS the eggs do not mature and instead form small cysts in the ovaries. This can lead to infertility. Read the rest of this entry

I always tell my patients that Chinese Medicine has a lot more to offer than allopathic medicine for the treatment of many gynecological issues. I feel that most cases of menstrual irregularities can be succesfully treated with Chinese Medicine and there is 2000 years of clinical data to back it up.
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Chinese Medicine which includes acupuncture, herbal medicine and nutrition can often treat conditions concerning poor egg quality.   Often when a woman is labeled with poor egg quality they have other signs of poor circulation such as cold extremities, low energy and maybe skin conditions.   Most often the cause does not lie with the eggs, but the overall health of the body and poor circulation to the uterus and ovaries.

The quality of the eggs depend on the DNA and the environment in which they are developing.  The lifecycle of an egg is upwards of 150 days, but the 3 months prior to ovulation is the most critical time of cell division. During this critical time we want to increase blood flow to the ovaries and work on getting supportive nutrition to the body.  This may include herbal medicine and nutraceuticals such as minerals and vitamins if necessary.   We also want to make sure we aren’t causing additional inflammation in the body (and thus preventing reproductive blood flow) by eating foods which are causing immune reactions.

Acupuncture can increase blood flow to the reproductive organs which can thereby provide more blood flow to the ovaries and improve egg quality over time.  With any fertility treatment strategy besides using Chinese Medicine (acupuncture, herbs, shiatsu) we always want to make sure nutrition is sound.  Nutraceuticals such as powerful antioxidants like ubiquinol and alpha lipoic acid can help reduce an inflammation response.   Blood tests can uncover and food sensitivity issues.

In addition to the services we offer your home treatments of castor oil packs on the abdomen are used to increase blood flow to the uterus and ovaries.  Self massage and visualization are also important tools and we will provide information and resources on these techniques.

Each patient will follow a different treatment protocol based on their Chinese Medical Diagnosis. Some women conceive naturally after a couple of months of treatments for poor egg quality.  But many go on to have a successful IVF or IUI as the chances of conceiving improve greatly after a treatment protocol.

Yours In Health,

George Mandler CNS LDN LicAc

Although almost every woman I’ve helped with fertility was using some sort of Prenatal vitamin/mineral there are two recent studies below that show their benefit.   When undergoing IVF there are large non-physiological quantities of hormones that need to be metabolized and certain minerals such as copper and zinc are used as co-enzymes in their metabolism.   Therefore it is possible that deficiencies can develop.

For any kind of fertility issues I strongly feel that Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture are superior than modern assisted reproductive technologies (ART) for a majority of cases.   With acupuncture and herbs you not only help the woman conceive, but also to create healthier offspring, as well as support the health of the mother.   However I also prefer to use some sort of whole food multi vitamin and mineral to support general health.  If there have been miscarriages I also use potent antioxidants (not ones found in a multivitamin/mineral) to help reduce oxidative stress.  As shown by one of the studies below oxidative stress can be high in some IVF cases.
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Although this study was not a gold standard with a control (i.e. ‘placebo’) arm of the study it is still significant in how well acupuncture did over conventional drug therapy. In this study there were 47 women who were receiving the standard anti-cancer therapy tamoxifen or anastrozole were split into two groups to determine how best to deal with side effects such as hot flashes and night sweats. One group received the conventional antidepressent Effexor while the other group received acupuncture one or two times weekly. The study lasted 12 weeks. Read the rest of this entry