Tuesday, April 25

The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness has scheduled a meet up to discuss how acupuncture and herbs, when combined with A.R.T. can significantly improve pregnancy rates and reduce miscarriage rates.
Click here to find out more information and to register.

http://meetu.ps/s/.0/lHQD8/f

Wednesday, April 19

Couples Ideal for Acupuncture Fertility Treatment

Those who have structural infertility caused by tubal blockage and those with premature ovarian failure are unlikely to do well with acupuncture alone and may consider using acupuncture only as an adjunct to ART.  Those men with low sperm counts who have a shortage of time (acupuncture and herbs may take three to twelve months, if successful) will also need to consider ART as the primary treatment modality.  Good candidates for acupuncture for infertility include:
  • Couples who are having difficulty conceiving but are not ready for ART. Some will conceive using acupuncture and others will move on to ART.
  • Women who have done IVF and are taking a break and preparing for another cycle  and are seeking acupuncture to improve their probabilities.
  • Women who have done 3 to 5 cycles of IVF without success and women who have been advised not to undergo IVF by their doctor.
  • Couples who prefer natural medicine or have concerns about ART and are young enough to undergo the longer preparation period usually required for acupuncture.
  • Women going through IVF cycles. By the time you get to retrieval there will be a good chance that your egg, lining and/or sperm quality will be vastly improved thereby improving your chances for a positive outcome.

Remember this: when trying to conceive you need one good egg, one good sperm and a healthy lining. Acupuncture and herbal medicine have been shown through research to positively affect egg, sperm and lining quality.

For more visit  http://www.berkleycenter.com

Tuesday, April 18

We're having a meet-up tonight at The Berkley Center at 7pm. This meet-up is about how acupuncture and herbal medicine can help you to conceive.

Tuesday, 4/18/17
7pm-8pm
16 East 40th Street
2 floor

You're invited!
After treating infertility cases for twenty-one years I've arrived at some conclusions which I'd like to share.

1. A reproductive endocrinologist cannot determine when an embryo is "good".  Embryo grading means nothing unless it's a bad embryo.  Yes, one can visualize a 'bad' embryo, but even with PGD, a 'good' embryo is undeterminable. How many times have you heard about an embryo (blast) which is 'normal' based upon PGD and the cycle fails?  Here's why: embryo grading is only as good as current diagnostic procedures. Perhaps in time, embryo testing will be viable. Yes, PGD can rule out various chromosomal anomalies but that is determining a 'bad' embryo. My point is - if an embryo looks bad, it probably is. If an embryo looks good, it may not be.  This why including acupuncture and herbal -medicine in your reproductive medicine protocol makes sense. Acupuncture and herbal medicine can improve egg quality and embryo quality. There are many studies on the web that are revealing.
2. Endometriosis can still contribute to infertility even after laparoscopy. Why? Because it may not be possible to eradicate all endometriosis due to several reasons.
a. Some endometriotic tissue looks exactly like normal tissue and therefore, the surgeon will not be able to observe this tissue as diseased tissue.
b. Some endometriotic tissue may be on structures which are difficult or dangerous to reach and the surgeon will opt not to try and excise this tissue.
Endometriosis does more than cause tubal pathology; it changes the uterine environment by causing an inflammatory state in the uterus. This is not amenable to facilitating an ongoing implantation. This is why acupuncture and herbal medicine should be included in the reproductive medicine protocol of those trying-to-conceive who have been diagnosed with endometriosis as acupuncture and herbal medicine can reduce inflammation and make the uterus more hospitable to an implanting embryo.
3. PCOS We all think of PCOS as a metabolic-endocrinological disorder whose main deterrent to conception is lack of ovulation. All of this is correct but myopic. Clomid or gonadotropins can cause one to develop mature eggs and other meds are used to actually facilitate ovulation - but that's not enough. Why do many PCOS patients not conceive after several IUI's or even IVF's? Because women with PCOS have excess androgen within the follicular fluid. Androgen is an anti-estrogen and as such causes or can contribute to poor egg quality. This is why PCOS patients have a difficult time conceiving or frequently miscarry. In fact, those with PCOS are twice as likely to miscarry as those in the non-pcos population. Acupuncture and herbal medicine should be included in your reproductive medicine protocol is you have PCOS since we know that these Chinese medicine protocols help clear the ovary and its contents of 'debris' and other pathological substances, i.e. androgen excess.

For more information on how acupuncture and herbal medicine may be of help to you visit our site: http://berkleycenter.com