Medicine seeks to make matters of health black or white, but all too often are they gray. For these people who don’t fit into the box that is standard of care, they also tend to fall through the cracks in healthcare; as unfortunate as this is, it is a reality. One such area is fertility which tends to have a “wait, watch, and see” approach and when either six months or a year have passed without success, depending on the woman’s age, invasive options are presented, such things like Intrauterine Insemination (aka IUI) and In Vitro Fertilization (aka IVF).
For those of you who don’t know, a diagnosis of infertility is made based upon age and length of time trying to “unsuccessfully” conceive. For those under age 35, unsuccessful conception after one year and after 35, if unsuccessful after 6 months both receive the label of “infertility.” Why would we wait until these timelines have been achieved to address the potential underlying concerns and then do so invasively? But no surprises here, right?
Alternative medicine provides great support for women who are looking to get pregnant with herbs, stress management and cycle mapping, rather than just a passive approach. A key component of one’s fertility plan may just be acupuncture, one that can benefit both woman and man; it can help to heal internal imbalances where conventional medicine falls short.
While acupuncture can address even the most obvious musculoskeletal concerns, it is very much a system of balancing energy.
The beauty that can be found for practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is that two patients can walk in the office with the exact same Western diagnosis and present very differently: receiving different TCM diagnoses and therefore different treatment plans. This is because TCM looks beyond a subset of symptoms and takes into consideration the individual’s constitution and personality type.
For those who aren’t familiar with TCM or have never received acupuncture before, this type of medicine is deeply rooted in theories that have been put forward by its originators and then time-tested to show their efficacy. It is only more recently that TCM treatments are being researched to show scientific validity – but it’s important to understand that because no two people will present the same and will likely not have the same treatment, it’s hard to do case-control studies. Also, just because many of these theories can’t be proven scientifically, it doesn’t invalidate the obvious benefits and improvements its recipients have experienced.
In acupuncture, there are 12 primary channels and two extras that run up and down the body and each starting at the feet or the hands. They are named for a particular organ – yes, such as the stomach, intestines, or the heart – and while they have similar attributes to their Western function, their TCM purpose extends well beyond the obvious.
As it pertains to fertility, the key channels often involved are the heart and the kidney; it can be said that they are not communicating effectively. In TCM, the kidney is where the essence, or life-giving force, is stored; a woman’s fertility is dependent upon how much essence she holds there. It is because of this attribute the kidney can be likened to the ovaries in Western medicine as they release the eggs for ovulation each month which are essentially life-giving.
The heart houses the mind, so when patients complain of things like ruminating thoughts, it is frequently the heart that needs attention. Because of the close relationship of the heart to the mind, it can be said that this is like the brain, or specifically the hypothalamus and pituitary, when it comes to matters of fertility. In Western context, there is direct communication from that part of the brain that signals to the ovaries, making this relationship very important in both schools of thought.
Along with the nuances of a woman’s fertile status, stress management is a big area of concern since a “fight or flight” state is only functioning to preserve the life of the woman; the concept of creating life isn’t even on the radar. Acupuncture helps to quell the stress, which can come from soothing the heart, but it does so much more than that! It helps to reinforce or re-configure the connection between the brain and the ovaries.
Even if a woman isn’t considering children right now, or even in the next year, a fertile body is a healthy and optimally functioning one. This time leading up to conception is receiving much attention and has been given the name of “primemester” to ensure any irregularities in the menstrual cycle have been addressed for prime fertility in the future. But of course, those women who are seeking to fill their cups – and ultimately their wombs – much sooner, acupuncture may be the missing piece to their fertility plan.
If you are looking for ways to optimize your hormones whether to get pregnant or just feel good, lets figure out an acupuncture plan for you!
I am currently taking new acupuncture patients.
