The definition of Recurrent Pregnancy Loss is three or more miscarriages prior to 20 weeks gestation.    However even one miscarriage takes it emotional toll.  Even though the statistical chances of carrying a baby to term are much more favorable than having another miscarriage it is probably better to take the necessary preventative health steps before trying to conceive again.    In Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine recurrent miscarriage shows that there is an underlying imbalance, either with the mother or father.   This imbalance is a reason the pregnancy is not taking hold and should be corrected.  Yes if your only goal is to have a baby then you can use IVF. But for the sake of the baby’s health and your health during pregnancy and postpartum it is wise to correct the underlying imbalance before getting pregnant.

The cause of miscarriage are multifaceted.  Read the rest of this entry

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

A recent study showed that uterine lining health may be more important than egg quality in creating a healthy birth weight baby and carrying to term.    (Click here for the Time article about this published research).   This was a large study out of Baylor that reviewed over 300,000 IVF cycles  with specific interest in birth weight and gestation.  What they found was that IVF cycles that stimulated the uterus (which is the majority) had lower birth weight and less chance of carrying to term than ones that were unstimulated such as donor egg, surrogate or frozen transfer.

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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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Proper nutrition is always a big part of my fertility workups. Even if people say they just want acupuncture because they read that it can help I always discuss diet. I feel that nutrition plays a large role in the chances of getting pregnant. If we eat a food that we are sensitive to thus causing an immune reaction and a cascade of inflammatory molecules it can reduce our chances of procreating. Both in females and males. (Unfortunately it is often the females that get labeled ‘infertile’ even when it is a male problem. If the sperm are within normal limits the guy usually gets a pass. Many practitioners practitioners question this methodology.) A healthy diet will also lead to healthier pregnancy, postpartum and offspring as there are many studies that show diet during pregnancy effects offspring health.
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