When a prospective patient decides to pursue Acupuncture as
a means of reproductive assistance they must first seek out a licensed and
Nationally Board certified acupuncturist.
An acupuncturist does not have to be board certified to practice
legally, he or she must only be licensed. However, board certification means
that the practitioner has participated in continuing education classes and or
taught and or written and published papers regarding medicine. Thus, if a
practitioner is board certified, there is some assurance that the individual
cares enough about his or her patient’s to stay on the cutting edge,
educationally. There is no licensure required to practice herbal medicine.
Anyone can do so. It is therefore essential to make sure that your acupuncturist
is Board Certified in herbal medicine. Though it is completely legal to
prescribe herbal medicine without a license, the effects can be disastrous. An
herbalist who is board certified has undergone required study and training
mandatory for the award of board certification.
Anyone who is having difficulty conceiving is a good
candidate as long as the reason for their infertility is functional and not
anatomical. In other words, acupuncture and herbal medicine cannot treat and
correct a retroverted uterus or unblock or unscar fallopian tubes. Acupuncture
and herbal medicine are good modalities to treat elevated FSH levels PCOS,
hypothalamic amenorrhea, thin uterine lining, poor motility, poor morphology
and low sperm count. If a male has a vericocele, it requires a surgical
procedure
Q: What educational
background should an acupuncturist have?
A: An acupuncturist should be state licensed and nationally
board certified. Acupuncture school takes from between three and a half to four
years to complete. The best schools of acupuncture include bioscience and
biomedical coursework as well as studies in Chinese medicine theory and
practice.
Q: How does a woman
find a good acupuncturist?
A: By recommendation. Sometimes, people in chat rooms can
refer an acupuncturist with whom they’ve had a good experience. There are web sites with referral
capabilities such as www.acupuncture.com
Organizations such as the American Infertility Association and Resolve can
refer people to acupuncturists who specialize in infertility.
Q: What associations
oversee the field? Are acupuncturists
part of the American Medical Association. Who regulates them?
A: Acupuncturists are not a part of the American Medical Association. The National Certification Commission for
Acupuncturists and Oriental Medicine is the overseeing board for
acupuncturists. They are located at 11 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 300, Alexandria,
VA 22314 Their phone number is:
703/548-9004 and their Fax number is:
703/548-9079. Also, the American
Association of Oriental Medicine has a web site where referrals to acupuncturists
may be found. Their site is http://www.aaom.org/
Q: What is the
success rate of acupuncture for aiding fertility.
A: I can only speak about my own success rate, which is
about one in twenty. The population of
women whom I treat is over thirty-five years old and has some presenting
pathology. They have elevated follicle
stimulating hormone or a blocked fallopian tube, or PCOS or have difficulty
implanting due to the inability of the uterine lining to thicken. Hence, this population is basically the
“worst case scenario” population. Many
of my patients have undergone two to
three IVF’s without success. Their next
step is either donor egg implantation or adoption. So I am basically the last stop. Out of that population, my success rate is
approximately one in twenty.
Q: Are there some
women who do not conceive after treatments?
A: Yes.
Q: What exactly is
herbal medicine and how do you use it in conjunction with acupuncture?
A: The art of Chinese formulas and traditional Chinese
medicine has undergone significant change throughout the centuries. Starting out as fairly crude potions with
magical overtones, it has developed into sophisticated therapeutic tools. The earliest of the formularies extend s to
the end of the third century, B.C. Herbs
have different tastes or properties and affect different things in the
body. Some herbs are acrid which
disperse; some are sour which restrain and retain; some are sweet, which moderate and tonify;
some are bitter, which strengthen; and some are salty, which soften.
A formula is comprised of plants, flowers, stems, seeds,
bark and various other substances containing
medicinal qualities, the particular configuration of which is dictated by the
organizing principles of the treatment strategy. If the pattern of a disorder is misdiagnosed,
the treatment strategy will be incorrect.
Therefore, its derivative formula will be ineffective. For example, a patient presents with fever,
irritability, thirst, red face and flooding big pulse. If the practitioner ignores the fact that the
fever is low, the thirst is for warm beverages and the pulse is also deficient,
he can misdiagnose the pattern and prescribe an incorrect formula. No matter how cleverly the formula is
modified, the results will be disappointing because the patient is really
suffering from a disorder that remains undiagnosed based on the inexperience of
the practitioner.
To maximize the benefit of the treatment and minimize its side
effects, it is very important to determine which aspects of the disorder in a
particular patient are most significant.
In traditional Chinese medicine, this is known as distinguishing the manifestations
of the disorder from its root cause. The
following distinctions are used when making this determination.
The strength of the patient’s normal qi or energy is the
root. And the strength of the pathogenic
influence is the manifestation. The
ideology or the cause of the disease is the root and its presentation is the
manifestation. During the course of a
disease, the underlying primary disorder is the root and the secondary
complications are the manifestations.
With respect to the location of a disease, the internal aspect is the
root and the external aspect is the manifestation. Clinically, it is important
to distinguish the root from the manifestation of a disease so that treatment
can be directed accordingly and fine-tuned according to the precise need of the
patient at a particular time. The rules governing treatment of the root and
manifestation are as follows:
- For
acute disorders, treat the manifestation.
- For
chronic disorders, treat the root.
- Simultaneous
treatment of the root and manifestation can also occur.
Formulas are used depending upon the strength or lack
thereof of the patient or strength or lack thereof of the presenting
pathology. Other things, such as the
season, the environment and the overall picture of the individual patient
including their weight, diet, lifestyle habits, etc., are taken into
consideration.
Herbal formulas can be served up in various ways. One type
of formula is known as a decoction. The
ingredients are placed in water or a mixture of wine and water and then boiled
for a specified period of time. The formulas
also come in powders. The ingredients
are ground up and sifted into a relatively uniform powder and then are ingested
or applied externally. They also come in
pills. Ingredients are finely grounded
or pulverized, a liquid or other viscous medium is added and round pills are
formed.
There are also soft extracts, liquid extractions, syrups and
semi-solid extracts. There are medicinal
wines, lozenges, tablets, granules and injections as well.
Herbs and herbal formulae are critical part of the treatment
of gynecological disorder in general and infertility in particular.
Q: About how many
visits or treatments does a patient need to have before conception?
A: The treatment frequency for a patient undergoing a
protocol for infertility is as follows: they receive acupuncture treatment one
time per week and they take herbal medicine two to three times a day, seven
days a week for a period of three months.
The patient should conceive within that period. If they do not conceive within that period,
their chances of conception after subsequent IVF are much greater than if they
had IVF without first undergoing the acupuncture and herbal medicine treatment protocol. When a patient undergoes acupuncture treatment
and takes herbal medicine, their internal environment is brought to the point of
maximum achievable health. Acupuncture
and herbal medicine help the body to become the absolute best that it can be
internally, thereby allowing and assisting reproductive health to be at its
peak.
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