New York Fertility Acupuncture

Like countless other couples around the world my husband and I left trying to get pregnant until I was 39...

2012-01-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

Like countless other couples around the world my husband and I left trying to get pregnant until I was 39, with little realisation what a journey we had in store for us. We were both fit and healthy so it never occurred to us that there would be any difficulty.

After 3 years and several failed attempts with IUI and IVF we were told that our best chance of success would be through egg donation. We were given all the statistics but felt that we weren’t ready to give up and make that decision.
By now we were becoming exhausted with what seemed to be a hopeless pursuit which was draining on so many levels, emotionally, physically and financially. It was at this time that we met Mike. The Berkley Center was recommended to us for pre and post transfer acupuncture. Mike made us feel welcome and his kindness and support was encouraging a refreshing change from the statistically orientated RE’s that we had previously dealt with. For the first time someone was giving us support and encouragement that we weren’t on a hopeless journey. Despite the fact that we lived overseas Mike conducted a telephone consult and prescribed a course of Chinese Herbs to be taken before the next IVF he also took the time to speak with my acupuncturist and advise him what protocol to use.

That IVF didn’t work but four months later we became pregnant naturally. Amazing considering all the failures along the way and believe me I was doing all sorts, meditation, yoga, a variety of supplements I even changed my job to reduce the amount of stress in my life but the one thing I had done differently was the herbs prescribed by Mike. I am happy to report that our precious baby boy was born April 2011 and was definatly worth the wait.

Mike is a true professional whose philosophy embraces the East meets West approach to infertility. I wish that we had known about the Berkley Center when we started our journey but it is where we are heading with help to conceive number two.

Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Infertility

2012-01-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Although the goals of Complementary medicine and conventional Western medicine are the same, their ideas about what causes a disease, the nature of the disease itself, and the process used to regain health are very different. The physician learns that disease must be cured by prescribing medicine or by surgery. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach. It often works. But why does Complementary medicine succeed where conventional Western medicine sometimes fails? What is it about acupuncture and herbal medicine that can result in relief of symptoms or even a cure that is often lacking in conventional Western medicine?

Though the ultimate result of Complementary medicine care is to cure the patient, the doctor of Complementary medicine attempts to do this by treating the whole person, taking into account the various attributes of an individual that, when combined, account for an individual’s health status. A person, according to the tenets of Complementary medicine, is more than their condition. To treat just the condition may yield results, but, however impressive, these results are usually temporary.

People are not, according to Complementary medicine, represented solely by their illness, but by the accumulation of every human interaction engaged in from the moment of their birth and by the culture they are exposed to. The emotional experiences, eating habits, work habits, work and living environment, personal habits, and social network all contribute to their disease, and are factors that, when changed appropriately, may lead to regained health.

The power and effectiveness of Chinese medicine is evidenced by its long history of continued success. More than a quarter of the world’s population currently uses Complementary medicine as part of their health-care regimen. Chinese medicine is the only form of classical medicine that is regularly and continuously used outside of its country of origin.

The experienced doctor must use his or her own interpretive skills and consider not only what the patient reports to them about their condition, but also what they reveal without meaning too and what they don’t express. This leads to a better understanding of who the patient is and what the deeper, underlying cause of their condition may be.

The practitioner of Chinese medicine is trained to observe one’s tone of voice, complexion, eyes (in Complementary medicine, the shen or sprit of an individual is said to be revealed through the eyes), facial expression, overall demeanor, and how one walks, sits, and stands, and to use these observations to arrive at a diagnosis. Before the patient says one word, the doctor already has some idea of who this person is, clinically, simply by observing them.

A great doctor is one who can process a mix of medical knowledge with a personal sensitivity based on experience. The practitioner of Complementary medicine specializes not just in inserting needles or prescribing herbal remedies, but in being able to see ‘hidden’ or subtle conditions that may not been seen or understood by practitioners of other types of medicine. This ability to see these hidden elements is difficult to master, and is done without the benefit of modern technology.

The only diagnostic tools used by practitioners of Chinese medicine are the “Four Examinations”: Observing, Listening/Smelling, Questioning, and Palpating. This method of diagnosis dates back over 3,000 years, and although it may seem quite simple, it is far from simplistic. Each of the Four Examinations can take years to master, and the astute practitioner uses them to arrive at a differential diagnosis. With the advent of technology—as amazing, necessary, and beneficial as it is—there seems to be a direct correlation between advances in technology and a decline in doctor sensitivity to the patient, and thus, misdiagnosis. The ability to listen and observe clearly, yields gems that are clues to the cause of disease. This is the stuff of Complementary medicine.

Proper treatment in Complementary medicine is more than the elimination of the disease. In addition to attacking a factor that is contributing to the disease process, it is the responsibility of the practitioner of Complementary medicine to support the individual in his or her goal of achieving overall total health, which includes the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the patient. This multidimensional approach is crucial to the process of healing. Without it, practitioner are merely “chasing” the sickness and forgetting that the patient is much more than their disease. They are a whole person—the sum of a lifetime of experiences.
Pathologies are guests (and we hope temporary ones!) in a home that serves as a gracious host—our physical, emotional, and spiritual selves. Complementary medicine first is concerned with strengthening the immune function, which includes balancing the physical, emotional, and spiritual attributes of the patient, so as to be able to assist the patient in his or her endeavor to do battle and destroy the “enemy at the gates.” When people can’t sleep because they are anxious and depressed, they become chronically exhausted and chronically sick as a result of a compromised immune system.

The key to cure is to not view curing the disease itself as the be-all and end-all in treatment, but instead to treat the root of the disease—the anxiety and depression that causes the insomnia, which facilitates exhaustion, which lowers the immune function, which leads to chronic illnesses. So rather than prescribing antibiotics repeatedly, a practitioner of Complementary medicine might address the patient’s anxiety/depression syndrome or refer them to a psychotherapist for appropriate intervention while simultaneously providing Complementary forms of treatment.

Infertility and Complementary Medicine: Mechanisms of Action

Historically, infertility—particularly “functional” infertility—was attributed to psychological problems of one or both partners. Preliminary works in the 1940s and 1950s considered “psychogenic infertility” as the major cause of failure to conceive in as many as 50% of cases. As recently as the late 1960s, it was commonly believed that reproductive failure was the result of psychological and emotional factors. Psychogenic infertility was supposed to occur because of unconscious anxiety about sexual feelings, ambivalence toward motherhood, unresolved Oedipal conflict, or conflicts of gender identity.

Fortunately, advances in reproductive endocrinology and medical technology, as well as in psychological research, have de-emphasized the significance of psychopathology as the basis of infertility. Stress does, however, play a part.

A study done at Harvard showed that stress reduces the hypothalamic-anterior-pituitary-ovarian axis function, and should thus be considered in the infertility workup. Acupuncture releases endorphins that mitigate one’s response to stressful stimuli, thus enhancing the possibility of conception. Biologically, since the hypothalamus regulates both stress responses as well as the sex hormones, it’s easy to see how stress may contribute to infertility in some women.

Excessive physical stress may even lead to complete suppression of the menstrual cycle, and this is often seen in female marathon runners, who develop “runner’s amenorrhea.” In less severe cases, it could cause anovulation or irregular menstrual cycles. When activated by emotional stress, the pituitary gland also produces increased amounts of prolactin, and elevated levels of prolactin can contribute to irregular ovulation. The female reproductive tract contains stress-hormone receptors; stress can affect fertility.

However, more complex mechanisms may be at play, and researchers still don’t completely understand how stress interacts with the reproductive system. This is a story that is still unfolding, and during the last 20 years, the new field of psychoneuroimmunology has emerged. This field focuses on how your mind can affect your body. Research has shown that the brain produces special molecules called neuropeptides in response to emotions, and that these peptides can interact with every cell of the body, including those of the immune system. In this view, the mind and the body are not only connected, but inseparable, so that it is hardly surprising that stress can have a negative influence on fertility.

Stress can reduce sperm counts as well. Testicular biopsy specimens obtained from prisoners awaiting execution (who were obviously under extreme stress) revealed complete spermatogenetic arrest in all cases.

The stress factors that acupuncture addresses stems from both psychological and emotional factors as well as physical ones. For example, extremely painful premenstrual or mid-cycle pain can be debilitating. This type of physical stress no doubt produces emotional stress as a result of missed work, interference in activities, and the pain itself, which in turn can compromise the function of the reproductive system.

The insertion of acupuncture needles has been shown to effectively increase blood circulation. Enhanced blood flow to the reproductive environment clearly improves pregnancy outcomes.

A Diagnostic Window: East Meets West

It is becoming more and more prevalent that research conducted by Western scientists and physicians are highlighting the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine. In an article published in the December 2002 issue of the medical journal Fertility and Sterility, the authors reviewed existing evidence regarding the role of acupuncture in the treatment of infertility, and identified a number of studies indicating that acupuncture can increase the success rates of infertility treatments, including IVF.

In a study conducted by Dr. Wolfgang Paulus (Christian-Lauritzen-Institut, Ulm, Germany) and colleagues, half of a group of 160 women who were about to undergo IVF were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture therapy before and after embryo transfer. In the women who received acupuncture, the needles were placed at points believed to influence reproductive factors (for example, by improving blood flow to the uterus).

The acupuncture group had a higher rate of pregnancy compared with those not given acupuncture (43% versus 26%), suggesting that acupuncture can be used to improve pregnancy rates during IVF.

One alternative medicine diagnosis that exists which may be help to explain male or female infertility is called Liver qi stagnation. Key identifiers of an individual with this condition are anger, rage, frustration, depression, and anxiety.

Dr. Secondo Fassino (University School of Medicine, Turin, Italy) and colleagues recorded the personal characteristics of 156 infertile and 80 fertile couples, and measured their degree of psychopathology. When the researchers divided the couples according to the nature of the infertility—organic, functional, or undetermined—they found that anxiety, depression, and a tendency toward anger suppression could predict the diagnosis of organic or functional infertility in women with 97% accuracy. For infertile men, anxiety was also an important independent predictor of functional infertility, increasing the likelihood of having this form of infertility five-fold, while depression was more predictive of organic infertility. However, unlike in women, anger did not appear to influence infertility in men. These results suggest that, beyond the distress that accompanies the failure of repeated attempts to conceive a baby, psychological problems may contribute to functional infertility.

Herbal Medicine

The exact mechanisms of action of herbal medicine intervention are not, at this time, completely understood. However, herbal medicine has been used successfully to treat infertility for thousands of years.

Practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine rarely use a single herb in treatment. Chinese herbs are formula based; many herbs are mixed together to create the perfect ‘decoction’ specifically designed for the individual patient.

Some formulas contain two herbs and some thirty or more herbs. Each herb has many functions. Each herb has its own flavor, nature, temperature and trophism. Prescribing the correct herbal medicinals requires extensive training and clinical experience.

Self-medicating with herbal medicine presents a dual dilemma. At best the herbs will be useless, as the key to correct formula prescription is an accurate differential diagnosis that can only be rendered by a licensed, Board-Certified, experienced practitioner. In the worst case, self-prescribing of herbal medicine may prove harmful.

One should take herbs only when they’re prescribed by a Board-Certified herbalist. Not only is herbal medicine safe, it is highly effective and free of harmful side effects that often accompany pharmaceutical drugs. There are more than one million hospitalizations per year as a result of drug-induced side effects; not so with herbal medicine.

I have prescribed herbal formulas for 14 years to improve egg and endometrial quality. This is often effective, but, as in all fields of medicine, there is no guaranty of success. Herbal medicine is also very often used successfully in treating certain sperm anomalies.

Clearly, further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms of action of acupuncture and herbal medicine in treating the infertile patient. Nevertheless, it is my opinion, based on fourtenn years of clinical care that the best-case scenario for patient faced with fertility challenges is to offer them every reasonable option which may serve to address their underlying condition. The integration of acupuncture and herbal medicine into the treatment protocol of the infertile patient, from a clinical perspective, based on current scientific and empirical data makes sense.

http://www.berkleycenter.com

STUDIES

1. BMJ 2008;336:545-549 (8 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39471.430451.BE (published 7 February 2008)

Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation: systematic review and meta-analysis

Eric Manheimer, research associate1, Grant Zhang, assistant professor1, Laurence Udoff, assistant professor2, Aviad Haramati, professor3, Patricia Langenberg, professor and vice-chair4, Brian M Berman, professor1, Lex M Bouter, professor and vice chancellor (rector magnificus)5

1 Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 2200 Kernan Drive, Kernan Hospital Mansion, Baltimore, MD 21207, USA, 2 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Services, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 3 Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, 4 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 5 VU University Amsterdam De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Correspondence to: E Manheimer emanheimer@compmed.umm.edu

Objective To evaluate whether acupuncture improves rates of pregnancy and live birth when used as an adjuvant treatment to embryo transfer in women undergoing in vitro fertilisation.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data sources Medline, Cochrane Central, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Database, hand searched abstracts, and reference lists.

Review methods Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials that compared needle acupuncture administered within one day of embryo transfer with sham acupuncture or no adjuvant treatment, with reported outcomes of at least one of clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, or live birth. Two reviewers independently agreed on eligibility; assessed methodological quality; and extracted outcome data. For all trials, investigators contributed additional data not included in the original publication (such as live births). Meta-analyses included all randomised patients.

Data synthesis Seven trials with 1366 women undergoing in vitro fertilisation were included in the meta-analyses. There was little clinical heterogeneity. Trials with sham acupuncture and no adjuvant treatment as controls were pooled for the primary analysis. Complementing the embryo transfer process with acupuncture was associated with significant and clinically relevant improvements in clinical pregnancy (odds ratio 1.65, 95% confidence interval 1.27 to 2.14; number needed to treat (NNT) 10 (7 to 17); seven trials), ongoing pregnancy (1.87, 1.40 to 2.49; NNT 9 (6 to 15); five trials), and live birth (1.91, 1.39 to 2.64; NNT 9 (6 to 17); four trials). Because we were unable to obtain outcome data on live births for three of the included trials, the pooled odds ratio for clinical pregnancy more accurately represents the true combined effect from these trials rather than the odds ratio for live birth. The results were robust to sensitivity analyses on study validity variables. A prespecified subgroup analysis restricted to the three trials with the higher rates of clinical pregnancy in the control group, however, suggested a smaller non-significant benefit of acupuncture (odds ratio 1.24, 0.86 to 1.77).

Conclusions Current preliminary evidence suggests that acupuncture given with embryo transfer improves rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation.

2. Acupuncture and IVF Study Shows Early Promise for Increased Take Home Baby Rates

Posted on: Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 15:00 CDT

Dr. Paul C. Magarelli, a nationally noted specialist in the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and Dr. Diane K. Cridennda, a recognized authority on acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, have announced early results of an ongoing study linking acupuncture to positive in-vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes. The study, which includes the largest-ever participant pool for a study of its kind, explores the increase in take home baby rates associated with combined Eastern and Western medicine treatments.

Drs. Magarelli and Cridennda's ongoing research shows an astonishing 15 percent increase in pregnancies, with a 23 percent climb in actual births in IVF patients treated with acupuncture. In addition, of the 578 patients Magarelli has co-treated at the Reproductive Medicine & Fertility Centers and East Winds Acupuncture from 2003 to 2008, 26 percent more patients became pregnant with acupuncture treatments added to IVF, saving them the costs and heartache of having to repeat an IVF cycle. This savings would decrease the national IVF fertility costs by more than $150,000,000 per year in the United States alone.

"Infertility is a condition that affects more than 7.3 million people nationwide, and many of those couples are unaware of the potential that acupuncture holds for them," said Dr. Magarelli. "Our study demonstrates that acupuncture increases uterine blood flow, reduces stress and has an overall positive impact on our IVF patients. And the results really speak for themselves: one of every four of our patients who have used acupuncture in conjunction with IVF has not had to repeat an IVF cycle to create their families."

A three-part exploration of Drs. Magarelli and Cridennda's ongoing breakthrough acupuncture and IVF study will be published in Fertility Today magazine later this year. ABOUT DR. PAUL C. MAGARELLI

Dr. Paul Magarelli, MD., Ph.D., a member of the GENESIS Network for Reproductive Health (www.genesisivf.com), recently won the Practicing Physicians Award from the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society for his groundbreaking research on the impact of acupuncture on IVF pregnancies. Not only is he known for his instrumental work in creating new pricing structures to provide cost-effective, competent IVF care for the average wage earner, but he is best known to his patients for applying high-tech procedures with a personal touch. In addition to co-founding the Corona Institute for Reproductive Medicine & Fertility, he is the medical director of the Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Centers in Colorado and New Mexico, where he specializes in infertility and all aspects of hormonal pathology in women. Dr. Magarelli has been interviewed as an expert source for MSNBC, Fertility & Sterility and PregnancyandBaby.com. To learn more, visit www.ColoradoSpringsIVF.com and www.CoronaFertility.com.

ABOUT DR. DIANE K. CRIDENNDA

Diane K. Cridennda, L.Ac., (FABORM) is Board Certified in the field of Reproductive Oriental Medicine. She graduated from the International Institute of Chinese Medicine in l995 with her Masters of Oriental Medicine degree. She trained in Beijing, China to explore the root of this ancient healing art. She is NCCA certified, licensed in Colorado and is a member of Resolve, a national infertility support group. She has also had extensive training in Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine. For more than seven years, Diane has been working with Reproductive Endocrinologists using a combination of Eastern and Western medicine therapies for the treatment of infertility. To learn more, visit http://www.eastwindsacupuncture.com./

3. Fertility & Sterility Journal Volume 85, Issue 5, Pages 1347-1351 (May 2006)

Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a randomized, prospective, controlled clinical study

Stefan Dieterle, M.D.a , Gao Ying, M.D.ab, Wolfgang Hatzmann, M.D.a, Andreas Neuer, M.D.

4. Can acupuncture boost my fertility?

Skrivet för BabyCentre UK
The BabyCentre Editorial Team svarar:

Research suggests that acupuncture may be helpful to couples undergoing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), but the verdict is still out on whether it can improve fertility in general. Although smaller studies show promising results, more research is needed before we can say for sure that this age-old therapy can help you get pregnant.

Acupuncture is based on the theory that vital energy (or "qi," pronounced "chee") flows through the body along certain pathways. Acupuncturists try to balance this energy and restore health by stimulating specific points along the pathways with thin needles. Although it has been a staple of Chinese medicine for some 5,000 years, acupuncture has only gained acceptance in the Western medical community in the past few decades.

In 2002, a team of German researchers discovered that acupuncture significantly increased the odds of pregnancy among a group of 160 women who were undergoing IVF treatment. Forty-two per cent of the women who received acupuncture got pregnant, compared to 26 per cent of those who didn't receive the treatment.

Since then, more research has given support to the benefits of acupuncture for women undergoing IVF. One study, also in Germany, reported that conception and ongoing pregnancy rates were higher for women who had acupuncture treatment in the the second part of their menstrual cycle (the luteal phase) following IVF or ICSI. While a Danish study found that conception rates were best improved by having an acupuncture treatment on the day the embryos were transferred into the uterus. Their findings showed that having an additional acupuncture treatment two days later did not improve the chances of conception or ongoing pregnancy.

So how does it work? Nobody really knows, but researchers think that acupuncture may help increase blood flow to the uterus and relax the muscle tissue, giving the embryos a better chance of implanting.

Acupuncture may also help male infertility. Regular treatments have been shown to improve sperm counts and motility (the strength with which the sperm swim) for men with fertility problems but not always significantly. To improve the chances of pregnancy by natural means, acupuncture treatment would need to increase a man's sperm count over the threshold needed for conception. This means a minimum of 10 to 12 million moving sperm per ejaculate, and the men in these studies didn't get up to those levels.

However, for couples considering assisted conception, acupuncture can help by improving the quality of the sperm. In a study published in 2005, researchers analysed sperm samples from men with infertility of unknown cause before and after acupuncture treatments. They found that acupuncture was associated with fewer structural defects in sperm and an increase in the number of normal sperm.

Most experts believe that we need larger and better studies, ideally random and double blind trials, using fake needles for some patients and real ones for others, in order to really know whether acupuncture is effective. In some of the studies mentioned above, the patients and healthcare providers knew that acupuncture was performed, so the studies weren't "blind" and the success of the treatment might have been due to what's known as the placebo effect. Perhaps it was the patients' belief in acupuncture, rather than the acupuncture itself, that accounted for the treatment's success.

However, in the end it doesn't matter that much whether the success of acupuncture is a placebo effect or not. The bottom line is that acupuncture is relatively safe, and if it improves fertility, even if it's only because you think it does, it may be worthwhile.

The best first step to treating any fertility problem is to contact a specialist. If you do decide to try acupuncture, look for a registered acupuncturist, some of whom are also medical doctors. The British Acupuncture Council (www.acupuncture.org.uk) can help you find one near you.

Reviewed May 2007

Sources

Chang R, Chung PH, Rosenwaks Z. 2002. Role of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility. Fertil Steril. 78(6):1149-53

Dieterle S, Ying G, Hatzmann W, Neuer A. 2006. Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a randomized, prospective, controlled clinical study. Fertil Steril. 85(5):1347-51.

Paulus WE, Zhang M, Strehler E, El-Danasouri I, Sterzik K. 2002. Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy. Fertil Steril, 77(4):721-4

Pei J, Strehler E, Noss U, Abt M, Piomboni P, Baccetti B, Sterzik K. 2005. Quantitative evaluation of spermatozoa ultrastructure after acupuncture treatment for idiopathic male infertility. Fertil Steril, 84(1):141-7

Siterman S, Eltes F, Wolfson V, Lederman H, Bartoov B. 2000. Does acupuncture treatment affect sperm density in males with very low sperm count? A pilot study. Andrologia, 32(1):31-9

Siterman S, Eltes F, Wolfson V, Zabludovsky N, Bartoov B. 1997. Effect of acupuncture on sperm parameters of males suffering from subfertility related to low sperm quality. Arch Androl, 39(2):155-61

Westergaard LG, Mao Q, Krogslund M, Sandrini S, Lenz S, Grinsted J. 2006. Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial. Fertil Steril. 85(5):1341-6

Zhang M, Huang G, Lu F, Paulus WE, Sterzik K. 2002. Influence of acupuncture on idiopathic male infertility in assisted reproductive technology. J Huazhong Univ Sci Technolog Med Sci, 22(3):228-30

Finally…something for nothing!

2012-01-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

We offer a free full-consultation and free treatment for anyone being treated by an acupuncturist for fertility-care.

We simply require two things to enable you to take advantage of this free offer valued at $250.00.

1. You must be or have been in treatment with your acupuncturist for at least three months where the goal of treatment was pregnancy.
2. You must bring your acupuncture treatment notes from your acupuncturist showing 3 months of treatment. You are entitled to a copy of your treatment notes from any doctor and any acupuncturist.

Have your free full-consultation and free treatment with Mike Berkley, a licensed and board certified- acupuncturist and board-certified herbalist who has been treating those faced with fertility challenges for fourteen years - no strings attached.

At the end of your consultation you will be provided with a treatment plan and lots of useful information. All of your questions will be answered.

We think it’s really important that both you and your partner attend, though this is a suggestion, not a requirement.

This is being offered to you so that you may have an opportunity to get a different diagnostic opinion and a different treatment plan - there is absolutely no obligation.

Call 212-685-0985 to schedule your free consultation and free treatment.

We look forward to meeting you and your partner and to helping make your dream of starting or growing your family a reality!

Visit our website!

New York Fertility Acupuncture: What Can I do in 2012 to Have my Baby?

2011-12-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

New York Fertility Acupuncture: What Can I do in 2012 to Have my Baby?: Congratulations to all of you that that were faced with fertility challenges in 2011 and had babies. As for the rest of you still TTC, all ...

What Can I do in 2012 to Have my Baby?

2011-12-25T07:16:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to all of you that that were faced with fertility challenges in 2011 and had babies. As for the rest of you still TTC, all is not lost; you do have a chance to conceive in 2012.

The question you should be asking yourselves is "what can I do to help get pregnant that I haven't already done?" This doesn't only refer to protocols such as IUI, IVF, donor-egg, acupuncture and herbal medicine, but choosing the right reproductive endocrinologist and acupuncturist to create a winning team.

Many couples will go to an RE (reproductive endocrinologist) because of a gynecologist's recommendation or the recommendation of a friend. This is not a bad policy and often yields excellent results. But after several failed attempts with an RE and the support of an acupuncturist perhaps it might be prudent to consider a new team.

I work closely with several reproductive endocrinologists and I think they are wonderful. They have a great bed-side manner; they listen, they answer questions, they don't rush, they respond quickly to your calls and emails and they are seasoned, high level doctors; they also support acupuncture and recommend it to their patients; in other words - they are well informed about other modalities of medical intervention other than their own which have been shown to be effective in increasing positive outcomes. And they have high success rates not only in getting women pregnant, but more importantly - in take home babies!

These are the RE's that I recommend:
1. Joel Batzofin, M.D., of New York Fertility Services http://www.batzofinfertilityservices.com
2. Tanmoy Mukherjee, M.D., of RMA-NY http://www.rmany.com
3. Dan Stein, M.D., of St. Luke's-Roosevelt http://www.infertilityspecialistnewyork.com
4. Glenn Schattman, M.D., of New York Cornell http://www.ivf.org
5. Dan Levine, M.D., of Hudson Valley Fertility http://www.hudsonvalleyfertility.com
6. Robert Kiltz, M.D., CNY Fertility http://www.cnyfertility.com

A Little Data About Each of These Great Docs!

Dr. Batzofin is an expert on immunological causes of infertility and chronic repeated miscarriage. These causes are often overlooked and take many years typically to diagnose. And by that time you've lost precious time and more eggs. Dr. Batzofin does so after the first couple of visits! He is a brilliant investigator, diagnostician, and reproductive specialist. Dr. Batzofin always elicits a smile from his patients even in their darkest moments. He is a man of great humor, high integrity and excellence in medicine. I am proud to call him a friend.

Dr. Mukherjee is a great and seasoned reproductive endocrinologist who has the advantage of working with a seasoned team of seasoned pros including Drs. Ben Sandler, Lawrence Grunfeld and the medical director, Alan Copperman. Complicated cases get discussed and analyzed by the 'team' so a clearer picture of the case may be arrived at. So you as a patient have the advantage of having many doctors working on your case but enjoying the benefit having a wonderful relationship with just one- Dr. Mukherjee.

Dr. Stein is one of the few real competitors of Dr. Zhang of New Hope Fertility. He offers a similar but better protocol. What makes it better in my opinion is that Dr. Stein, after a single egg retrieval transfers a single 'fresh' embryo unlike Dr. Zhang who first freezes, then thaws, then transfers. Fresh transfers statistically have better outcomes than frozen. Dr. Stein is a truly compassionate man who works slowly, carefully and attentively with each and every patient - you are never rushed when you are with him. In fact when you sit across his desk you really feel like you're at his home, in his living room having an important dialogue - about you and your needs.

Dr. Schattman works under the aegis of medical director, Zev Rosenwaks, M.D., and has an excellent team of doctors, nurses and state-of-the-art facilities behind him to help ensure that your IVF procedure yields the result you want - a baby. Dr. Schattman is also a brilliant surgeon and a great guy.

Dr. Dan Levine of Hudson Valley Fertility is one of the most caring, loving and compassionate doctors I have ever met. And he takes all comers. He treated a woman with an fsh of 100 and she got pregnant and delivered a healthy baby. His wife Debbie is an expert on natural foods for fertility enhancement. They are a great team, delivering big results from a small, warm, homey, and wonderful practice.

Dr. Kiltz is a story unto himself. He is a most unique gentleman. He is a brilliant diagnostician and amazing reproductive endocrinologist. He has offices in Albany and Syracuse. He cooks organic food, practices Tai Chi, meditates, takes beautiful photographs, hikes the wondrous mountains of upstate New York and creates babies. He writes poetry. He has been an inspiration to hundreds of patients and is certainly an inspiration to me. I have met his parents and brothers - he comes from a tight knit, loving family - all of whom have open arms for friends and patients alike - these two distinct entities are usually indistinguishable. Dr. Kiltz is responsible for helping thousands of couple have babies. He is the 'guru' of reproductive medicine.

Regarding acupuncturists: most of them treat various pathologies from insomnia to infertility. You wouldn't go to an RE that treats infertility and asthma would you? You'd want to be cared for by a specialist - a doctor who knows a lot about a little - not a little about a lot.

One of the reasons to consider having a consultation with me is because I am the first acupuncturist in the United States to completely devote a complementary wellness practice to the care and treatment of those faced with fertility challenges. I am licensed and board certified in acupuncture and I am board certified in herbal medicine.

I have been treating infertility for fourteen years and nothing but infertility. Of course I highly recommend that you also consult with several acupuncturists so you can get a good 'gut' feeling about the one you choose to work with. If you'd like to find out more about me and The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness please visit our site http://www.berkleycenter.com. Other highly qualified acupuncturists who specialize in treating those with fertility challenges may be found at http://www.aborm.org.

Remember, at The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness we offer a 100% money back guarantee and free mini consultations. We want to be 100% certain that you have had every opportunity to have your questions answered and to feel totally comfortable with the team at The Berkley Center before your become a patient. Make sure that the acupuncturists you visit are willing to give you your money back if you are not satisfied and be certain to ask them if they will see you - free - for a brief consultation - we do and we always will. Be sure to call us at 212-685-0985 to learn about our money back guarantee and to schedule your free mini consultation.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanuka, Happy Kwanza, Happy Life, and best wishes on your journey to family.

Love and Blessings...

Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM
212-685-0985

About Dawn Harris – Fertility Advocate

2011-12-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

I am a Certified Doula who has over 10 years practical experience with integrative medicine, coaching, consulting and fertility exposure.

My six years plus journey with infertility is what has inspired me to bring this to other individuals.

I have always been drawn to women’s health…having my own health challenges and seeking different alternative directions for optimal benefits.

My background includes over 18 years of legal services work, ballet, creation of proprietary organic nutraceutically-enhanced products/bakery and spiritual counseling.

I avidly practice creative visualization and Kundalini yoga.

The skill I am most known for is inspiring other’s Bliss.

Let me help you manifest your miracle and Heart’s Desire.

CONTACT INFO:

Dawn Harris

email: info@myfertilityadvocate.com

Phone: 917-334-3407 www.myfertilityadvocate.com

Why a Fertility Advocate?

2011-12-11T13:47:00.001-08:00

Fertility is a woman’s sacred right.

Conception and fertility treatments are often roads sometimes fraught with obstacles.

A daunting process at best.

A mystery…a maze…a road with no map.

We all need an advocate in our lives…I am that person and I will show you that the REAL advocate is YOU.

I can, and will, guide and teach you ALL the tools you need to advocate for yourself.

I have personally dealt with the challenges of getting and staying pregnant…the countless doctor’s appointments, endless energy and the emotional roller coaster!

I have gathered the tools and resources necessary for you to successfully navigate yourself through this process.

After six and a half years of this journey, I am now blessed with twin boys…and I want to give the benefit of all the information I have gathered back to you. I can actually help you save on your resources…time, energy or finances.

My goal is to empower and inspire you…to have the best understanding of fertility…from conception to pregnancy.

This may involve:

• Education about fertility from evaluation through treatments including integrative options of Eastern and Western modalities. Get a fertility checklist!

• Choosing the right doctor, clinic…to know when or if it’s time to see a fertility specialist or change the plan, doctor etc.

• Support with IVF, surrogacy, donor egg or sperm

• Male factor infertility

• Identification of other contributing factors-emotional imbalances (stress management techniques)

• Understanding you have choices and options; how to articulate your needs to your doctor

• Support on dealing with family member’s and friends through this time

• Supporting you to set up a birth plan (home or water birth, birthing center, minimal obstetrics) and pregnancy you envision. I can support you from pre-conception through mid-pregnancy and assist with choice of birth provider/options(midwife, birth doula, obstetrician)

This is a time when you need to have someone who’s there for you. Whether it’s your 1st or your 4th child, you’re in your 20’s or your 40’s, I am that person.

Let me help you unlock the mystery of fertility and reach your most successful outcome.

If you wish to schedule a 15 minute complimentary consultation, please send an e-mail to info@myfertilityadvocate.com or call 917-334-3407. Skype calls available as well. My rates are on a sliding scale so that I may accommodate all. Package rates available for further discounts.
CONTACT INFO:

Dawn Harris

email: info@myfertilityadvocate.com

Phone: 917-334-3407 www.myfertilityadvocate.com

Herbs and Blood Clotting Disorders Contributing to Recurrent Miscarriage

2011-12-01T04:26:00.000-08:00

Both anticoagulants and antiplatelet mitigators are medicines that reduce blood clotting in an artery, a vein or the heart.

Heparin and Lovenox are anticoagulants and aspirin is an antiplatelet.

Antiplatelets such as aspirin decreases platelet aggregation and thrombus formation. They are mostly used in problems with arterial circulation where anticoagulants have little effect.

Anticoagulant medications make the blood 'thinner' and prevent the formation of blood clots and hence could prevent stroke.

Both anticoagulants and antiplatelet medications have been used to treat chronic recurrent miscarriage due to thrombophilic disease.

There are several herbal medicines which possess antiplatelet and anticoagulant properties.

Jiang Huang and Yu Jin are herbs that possess antiplatelet properties. Chuan xiong has both anticoagulant and antiplatelet properties.

I am not recommending that a patient with a thrombophilic presentation use herbs instead of Western medicine which possess the required qualities necessary to prevent miscarriage via anticoagulant or antiplatelet activity. Sometimes however, a drug does not possess the same qualities of an herb. An herbal formula, for example, has a multitiered effect. The correct formula might for example, be used to reduce inflammation, reduce platelet aggregation and/or reduce coagulopathies as well as reduce stress, strengthen the immune function and help facilitate weight loss in an obese patient. All of these things would be required in a patient of this type to increase the odds of a successful on-going pregnancy; not just Heparin or Lovenox or Aspirin. This is important to consider in case you miscarry even when taking these types of meds.

In other words, you may need more intervention than these meds are capable of providing.

I would recommend that you follow the instructions of your reproductive endocrinologist and hope for the best. But in the face of failure with traditional Western medical approaches, trying herbs may help contribute to a full term pregnancy. In my practice I have seen this occur many times.

Many patients faced with the difficult challenge of trying to conceive or who recurrently miscarry are instructed by their reproductive endocrinologists to not take herbs. This is because your doctor is trying to protect you because his or her training is in Western medicine and not in Chinese medicine and they do not feel comfortable mixing Western medicine with herbs.

Though their hearts are in the right place, their experience is not. I have, on multiple occasions prescribed herbs to patients who were taking gonadotropins or Clomid or Lupron, etc., and have never seen any problems. The combination either helped the patient or did not.

The herbs will not reduce the effectiveness of the meds nor, in most cases will they increase the potency of the meds. The only exception to this would occur if I prescribed herbs with anticoagulant/antiplateleet properties to a patient who was taking Lovenox or Heparin. Then there would be a potentiating and possibly dangerous effect.

Acupuncture can increase metabolic function and stimulate the flow of blood throughout the body. Increasing hemodynamics is not, however the same as actually reducing platelet aggregation or reducing hypercoagulation. The benefit of using acupuncture with herbs is that the acupuncture will help ensure the distribution of the herbs throughout the body.

Typically when getting treated for infertility or recurrent pregnancy loss the most effective approach in the absence of success with Western medicine alone is to combine acupuncture, herbs and Western medicine.

Herbs and Blood Clotting Disorders Contributing to Recurrent Miscarriage
Both anticoagulants and antiplatelet mitigators are medicines that reduce blood clotting in an artery, a vein or the heart.

Heparin and Lovenox are anticoagulants and aspirin is an antiplatelet.

Antiplatelets such as aspirin decreases platelet aggregation and thrombus formation. They are mostly used in problems with arterial circulation where anticoagulants have little effect.

Anticoagulant medications make the blood 'thinner' and prevent the formation of blood clots and hence could prevent stroke.

Both anticoagulants and antiplatelet medications have been used to treat chronic recurrent miscarriage due to thrombophilic disease.

There are several herbal medicines which possess antiplatelet and anticoagulant properties.

Jiang Huang and Yu Jin are herbs that possess antiplatelet properties. Chuan xiong has both anticoagulant and antiplatelet properties.

I am not recommending that a patient with a thrombophilic presentation use herbs instead of Western medicine which possess the required qualities necessary to prevent miscarriage via anticoagulant or antiplatelet activity. Sometimes however, a drug does not possess the same qualities of an herb. An herbal formula, for example, has a multitiered effect. The correct formula might for example, be used to reduce inflammation, reduce platelet aggregation and/or reduce coagulopathies as well as reduce stress, strengthen the immune function and help facilitate weight loss in an obese patient. All of these things would be required in a patient of this type to increase the odds of a successful on-going pregnancy; not just Heparin or Lovenox or Aspirin. This is important to consider in case you miscarry even when taking these types of meds.

In other words, you may need more intervention than these meds are capable of providing.

I would recommend that you follow the instructions of your reproductive endocrinologist and hope for the best. But in the face of failure with traditional Western medical approaches, trying herbs may help contribute to a full term pregnancy. In my practice I have seen this occur many times.

Many patients faced with the difficult challenge of trying to conceive or who recurrently miscarry are instructed by their reproductive endocrinologists to not take herbs. This is because your doctor is trying to protect you because his or her training is in Western medicine and not in Chinese medicine and they do not feel comfortable mixing Western medicine with herbs.

Though their hearts are in the right place, their experience is not. I have, on multiple occasions prescribed herbs to patients who were taking gonadotropins or Clomid or Lupron, etc., and have never seen any problems. The combination either helped the patient or did not.

The herbs will not reduce the effectiveness of the meds nor, in most cases will they increase the potency of the meds. The only exception to this would occur if I prescribed herbs with anticoagulant/antiplateleet properties to a patient who was taking Lovenox or Heparin. Then there would be a potentiating and possibly dangerous effect.

Acupuncture can increase metabolic function and stimulate the flow of blood throughout the body. Increasing hemodynamics is not, however the same as actually reducing platelet aggregation or reducing hypercoagulation. The benefit of using acupuncture with herbs is that the acupuncture will help ensure the distribution of the herbs throughout the body.
Typically when getting treated for infertility or recurrent pregnancy loss the most effective approach in the absence of success with Western medicine alone is to combine acupuncture, herbs and Western medicine.
When you are prescribed herbs be certain that a board certified herbalist is doing so.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T05:55:00.000-08:00

You haven't had a child yet? Give thanks. You have a dream that will be realized. People who are starving in the world dream of food but they die of starvation. Do you love someone? Give thanks. Just imagine how empty your life would be without the ability to love. Are you loved? Give thanks. Lonliness kills. Learn to love yourself; give thanks as that relationship is precious. Learn to be alone and give thanks as being with self is truly being. Can you see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Feel? Can you orgasm? Do you appreciate good food and wine? Do you enjoy music and art? Did you wake up this morning? Then give thanks.

My love goes out to my friends, family and patients. I give thanks that you are all in my life.

In your Forties and Trying-to-Conceive?

2011-11-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

Many women are trying-to-conceive while in their forties. Chances for success are limited and even if conception is achieved, the rate of miscarriage is high. The reason it is difficult to conceive is because the woman in her forties has (generally speaking) diminished ovarian reserve and a reduction in egg quality.

After several failed IVF cycles the usual next step is donor egg. Donor egg has between a 60 and 70 percent success rate.

Rate limiting factors may include but are not limited to poor uterine lining, poor sperm quality, and disease (autoimmune attack of the embryo – or poor patency of blood flow not nourishing the embryo or placenta).

Acupuncture and herbal medicine cannot increase ovarian reserve, but it can improve egg, lining and sperm quality in many instances. The mechanism-of-action is improved blood flow- to the ovaries and testes. A “perfect” 10 millimeter lining is not necessarily “perfect”. Many 10 millimeter linings do not have proper blood flow within the lining and this compromises the ability of the lining to maintain an implantation. The eggs of a woman in her forties can always stand to be improved. The sperm in a man in his mid to late forties is often sub-par and may often be improved with acupuncture and herbs.

I don’t, for example, believe that acupuncture and herbal medicine can get one pregnant

The desired and often obtained end result of the inclusion of acupuncture and herbal medicine when trying-to-conceive is an improvement in egg, lining and sperm quality. An IVF-embryo transfer is a ‘mechanical’ procedure: eggs are retrieved, mixed with sperm, embryos develop, and are placed in the uterus and the rest is pure luck.

IVF or IUI has no bearing on improving the chances of conception and an ongoing pregnancy via the mechanism of improving the constituent components of an embryo – egg and sperm. Acupuncture and herbs often fill in this gap. If egg and sperm and lining quality can be improved even a little bit, this may significantly enhance pregnancy outcomes.

Our expectations are not unrealistic. I don’t, for example, believe that acupuncture and herbal medicine can get one pregnant any more than an IVF can get one pregnant, even though pregnancies do occur as a result of both interventions occasionally. Pregnancy occurs as a result of the relative health of the woman who is housing the embryo in addition to the quality of the embryo and uterine lining. Many things can go wrong resulting in failed cycles. So, at the end of the day IUI, IVF, acupuncture and herbal medicine can help a woman conceive but cannot guarantee success. The key is this: you have the power to use additive means which today, more than ever, are at your disposal to help increase the odds of a healthy, ongoing pregnancy. Acupuncture and herbs are just but two. Psychotherapy, diet, exercise, biofeedback, yoga, taichi, and meditation can also be helpful.

Did you know that pregnant women who are highly stressed are more likely to give birth prematurely? This is a fact. Acupuncture, besides it action on the testes and ovaries and lining is also known to help reduce stress.

Repeated Donor Egg Failure

Why is it that some women with “good” lining and access to “good” sperm do not conceive with donor egg transfers? There are several reasons: 1) chromosomally abnormal eggs; 2) undiagnosed poor lining quality; 3) disease (as mentioned above). Most of these cases are considered ‘idiopathic’ meaning that your doctor does not understand why you are not getting pregnant. Idiopathic means ‘no known cause’. That the cause is ‘unknown’ does not mean that there is no cause.

Acupuncture and herbs are probably not necessary for the donor of the egg unless she is older than 35 years old, but realize that even 16 year old girls have some amount of chromosomally abnormal eggs. So if your cycle fails because of a chromosomally abnormal egg it is undoubtedly bad luck and should not typically re-occur.

However, if you have repeated failed donor egg cycles it is probably not a matter of egg quality, but more likely, sperm quality, lining quality or disease. Acupuncture and herbs can help improve lining quality and sperm quality and in some cases even reduce the effect of autoimmune issues or blood clotting issues which may contribute to repeated pregnancy loss. I do firmly believe, however, that the best and most effective way to treat autoimmune disorders or blood clotting disorders which may cause miscarriage is with Western medicine.

Stress and reactive-oxidative-species negatively affect sperm quality. Herbs and acupuncture can successfully reduce both as well as stimulate greater blood flow to the testes improving delivery of hormones, oxygen, electrolytes and nutrients thereat and enhancing the excretion of dead cells. This is the same mechanism-of-action whereby egg quality is improved in the ovary. Acupuncture cannot positively affect a man with no sperm. This is called aspermia. Nor can acupuncture improve sperm count due to genetic abnormalities (micro deletion of the y chromosome) or anatomical abnormalities of the testes (vericocele).

East meets West in Reproductive Medicine – The New Gold Standard

The most intelligent approach for the couple faced with difficulty conceiving and/or staying pregnant is to combine Eastern and Western medicine. These two modalities, though decidedly different, are, nonetheless, complementary and work synergistically. This means that by combining IUI or IVF or donor egg with acupuncture and herbs you should expect better results than when using one of these modalities alone.

In the world, most things manifest in pairs – marriage, night and day, summer and winter, exercise and rest, work and vacation, food and wine, joy and sorrow, etc. This is the yin and yang of life.

The ‘pair’ or yin and yang of reproductive medicine is embraced by recognizing the benefit of pairing Eastern and Western medicine.

What You Need Most when You’re in Your Forties and Trying to Conceive

1. Improved egg quality – acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.

2. Improved lining quality - acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.

3. Possibly improved sperm parameters - acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.

4. Reduced stress - acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.

5. Hope and Commitment – The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness always facilitates this.

Women in their forties are welcome here!

Endometriosis and Herbs

2011-11-02T06:20:00.001-07:00

I do use herbs to clear heat in endometriosis patients because endometriosis is an inflammatory disease. So even in the absence of heat signs/symptoms the patient still has ‘heat’. My most frequent dx in endo cases is derangement of qi and blood, qi and blood stagnation and stasis and hidden heat trapped in the interior. I don’t have a cookie-cutter formula for said cases as each case is different. But heat clearing is always part of my treatment principle and clinical goal in endometriosis patients. Also, IVIG/intralipid is not typically used to prevent miscarriage due to endometriosis or remnants of, but rather to suppress activated natural killer cells which are often, though not always evident in the endo pt. A pt w/ endo should be screened for activated nk cells, ata, apa, lac, and have a reproductive immunophenotype panel done to rule out other potential autoimmune etiologies of chronic recurrent miscarriage. It is often these OTHER causes that are the culprit rather than the endo itself which, is generally no longer extant as the dx of endo is done via lap and ablation is done at the time of discovery. This may seem contradictory in that earlier I said I always use heat clearing herbs in the endo pt. and here I am saying that after a lap the endo is no longer extant. The reason I use heat clearing herbs even after a lap is because it is virtually impossible to ablate or resect ALL endo lesions. Some lesions are the SAME COLOR as normal tissue. So even after a lap, there is STILL ENDO though much less.

Infertility specialists believe they might have an answer for women prone to having miscarriages - natural killer cells.

2011-10-31T04:57:00.000-07:00

With no scientific evidence to back up their suspicions, they are willing - but extremely cautious - to treat women like a 31-year-old Johannesburg businesswoman who has been trying to have a baby for four and a half years, but has too many NK cells.

The woman, who wants to be known only as Chantal, said: "I've done pregnancy tests each month, but to see the stick with the one line on it, instead of two, can crush you," she said.

Dr Merwyn Jacobson, medical director of Vitalab centre for assisted conception in Johannesburg, said: "We're trying to find explanations for things we don't understand. We may be way out and have to eat humble pie, but that's our thinking as of now."

During early pregnancy there is a dramatic increase in the number of NK cells, which search for and destroy harmful cells in the body.
Based on research by controversial British infertility specialist Dr George Ndukwe, Jacobson and his colleagues Dr Lawrence Gobetz and Dr Stephen Volschenk think over-reactive NK cells in the uterus attach to the growing embryo and destroy it because the killer cells view it as an "invader".

My notes: I have been espousing this pathomechanism for years. Herbs help to mitigate activate natural killer cells in addition to IVIG or intralipid therapy. mike berkley, L.AC., FABORM

Preserving Your Fertility - You're Invited

2011-10-27T13:09:00.001-07:00

START SPREADING THE NEWS!

New York Fertility Services

Presents a free event

Stop The Clock

Preserving Your Fertility

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

6:30pm – 8:00pm

16 E. 40th Street, 2nd Floor

New York, NY 10016

If you are single, in a relationship, or newly married and are wondering how long you can wait to start your family, this event is for you! Please join us for an evening of information about Age and Fertility. Dr. Joel Batzofin will address these topics:

 Infertility and Age – Where are you? How does one affect the other?

 Egg Freezing and Fertility Preservation – Can we “stop the clock”?

 Success Rates – What exactly do they mean?

 Egg Freezing Cycle Costs – Can I afford to do this? Can I afford NOT to?

Hors d’oeuvres will be served so bring your friends along to this informative event. We will have a drawing for a free Egg Freezing Cycle* to one lucky person who attends this event – you must be present to win. We will also offer a special “End of the Year” Egg Freezing Cycle Incentive for all who attend to help you preserve your fertility now so you can concentrate on living your life!

Reservations are a must.

RSVP to Teresa attrandolph@nyfsb.com or call 212-679-2289.

ivf and cancer

2011-10-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

Ovarian Malignancy Risk Seen Doubled 15 Years After IVF By: JENNIE SMITH, Family Practice News Digital Network.

Women who have undergone in vitro fertilization appear to have a twofold risk of ovarian malignancies later in life, compared with women with fertility problems who never used IVF.

However, the risk of invasive ovarian cancer was not significantly increased in IVF-treated women until 15 years after IVF treatment, the results of the study found.

Results from a large Dutch cohort study of 25,152 women using linked medical records to identify women who had been seen for infertility and/or treated with IVF from 1983 to 1995 showed that borderline ovarian tumors accounted for most of the increase in risk after a median 15 years of follow-up. Most of the women were in their late 40s at the study end point.

The investigators of the study, which was published Oct. 26 in Human Reproduction, compared the 19,146 IVF-treated women in the cohort with a control group of 6,006 women who had been seen for fertility problems but had not undergone IVF (although they may have received other forms of treatment, including drugs). The investigators also looked at rates of ovarian malignancies in the general population (Hum. Reprod. 2011 [doi:10.1093/humrep/der322]).

Having subfertile controls was important, the investigators said, because women with infertility have a different risk profile for ovarian malignancies than do women in the population at large. Causes of infertility in the study included fallopian tube disorders, subfertility of a male partner, cervical factor, and endometriosis.

The investigators, led by Flora E. van Leeuwen, Ph.D., of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, noted that the findings of a risk increase for ovarian malignancies confirmed older findings from smaller cohort studies. Borderline tumors are considered to have a low malignancy potential, and not much is known about which will become invasive, but these tumors do require treatment.

Nearly half of the 61 malignancies detected in the IVF-treated women were borderline tumors, while in the general population of women under age 50 years, these normally account for 15%-30% of malignancies, Dr. van Leeuwen and her colleagues found. A high proportion – 63% – of the borderline tumors seen in the IVF-treated group were serous, while mucinous tumors are more frequent in the general population.

After the researchers adjusted for such potential confounding factors as age, parity, and causes of infertility, IVF-treated women saw a significantly elevated risk for borderline ovarian tumors, compared with subfertile controls (hazard ratio 4.23) and for all ovarian malignancies combined, compared with controls (HR 2.14).

Risk of invasive ovarian cancer was not seen as significantly increased in the IVF-treated women, compared with controls (HR 1.51). However, compared with the general population, the IVF-treated women’s risk of developing invasive ovarian cancer was higher 15 years after IVF treatment, with a standard incidence ratio of 3.54. No increased risk was reported for non-IVF controls, compared with the general population.

Dr. van Leeuwen and her colleagues noted that they did not find evidence that repeated cycles of IVF increased the risk of malignancies, as might be expected. However, they wrote, the powers of their analyses were reduced by missing data and small numbers of women in the subgroups. In the IVF group, 40% of women had one to two stimulated IVF cycles, 39% had three to four cycles, and 21% received five or more cycles.

The type of infertility treatments were as follows: clomiphene/hMG (human menopausal gonadotropins) or FSH (follicle stimulating hormone)/hMG stimulation protocols were used until 1988-1989, whereas stimulation with GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) agonists became common after 1990 (from 20% in 1986 to about 90% after 1990), the investigators said.

Dr. van Leeuwen and her colleagues cited the large cohort size and long follow-up period as strengths of their study, as well as linkages to population-based cancer and pathology registries, which enabled the investigators to also evaluate the occurrence of borderline ovarian tumors.

They noted as a weakness of their study the fact that their group of subfertile controls was relatively small and that 40% of controls had been prescribed clomiphene, meaning that they were not truly unexposed if the cause of the malignancies was drug related and not related to ovarian puncture. The study was based on IVF treatment protocols through 1995 only, they added.

Still, the researchers concluded that they had demonstrated sufficient risk for women and their physicians to consider when deciding whether to start or continue IVF treatment.

The study was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Health, the Health Research and Development Counsel, and the Netherlands Cancer Institute. J.L.H. Evers declared that he works in a department that has received unrestricted research grants from Merck and Ferring. Neither Dr. van Leeuwen nor any other of her colleagues declared any relevant financial disclosures.

Maybe acupuncture and herbal medicine should be tried first! (mike berkley's note)

Acupuncture: A Cure for Infertility?

2011-10-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Catherine Donaldson-Evans

At 36, Lucy Appert has suffered through two miscarriages, a stillbirth at 8 1/2 months and, because of a rare pregnancy-related liver dysfunction, intensive illness and surgery.

Yet after enduring five painful years of trying to have their own baby, Appert and her husband Edward finally saw their dream come true last month when their son Henry was born — premature, but healthy.

For all the fertility treatments, technologies and prenatal care available to women today, Appert credits the success of her pregnancy to an ancient Chinese secret.

"I recommend acupuncture (search) to everyone," Appert said. "It does work. I did everything possible for years to have a baby. I almost lost hope."

The millennias-old Asian medical practice — in which the acupuncturist places tiny needles in various pressure points, or "Qi" (Chee), in the body to improve circulation and reduce stress — has been around in the United States for years as an "alternative" treatment for numerous ailments.

But recently, acupuncture has been picking up steam as a possible remedy for female infertility, with a handful of American and European studies showing that it enhances the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF) (search).

“Do I believe in it? Absolutely,” said Dr. Paul C. Magarelli, an infertility doctor at the Reproductive Medicine & Fertility Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., and co-author of an ongoing study into the use of acupuncture with IVF with Dr. Diane K. Cridennda. Cridennda is a licensed acupuncturist with a master's degree in Oriental medicine from the International Institute of Chinese Medicine (search) who owns East Winds Acupuncture, also in Colorado Springs.

Magarelli said he joined the study at the urging of Cridennda, who had approached him about using acupuncture with IVF based on her knowledge of its history as an Eastern fertility treatment. A skeptic at first, Magarelli said he dismissed the idea for a while before signing on.

"I thought, this is rubbish — it can't be true," Magarelli said. "But no matter how I look at this data, I see an improvement. ... I'm pretty much a convert."

In general, studies seem to indicate that doing acupuncture about 30 minutes before and after in vitro fertilization can increase the chance that the embryo will be implanted successfully and reduce the chance of miscarriage.

There are also indications that the effectiveness of the IVF drugs and procedure may improve if acupuncture is done about once a week in the month or two leading up to the start of IVF and then continued regularly — once or twice a week — during the whole cycle.
And, as in Appert's case, there is anecdotal evidence that acupuncture can help with other fertility and pregnancy problems. Appert didn't need IVF to conceive, but she was told she probably couldn't carry a healthy baby to term because of her liver disorder.

But some doctors caution that there is no "magic pill" for fertility, pregnancy and IVF troubles — whether it's acupuncture or something else.

"The jury is still out on that," said Dr. Eric Surrey, president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) (search), who has a practice at the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine. "I don't think we have good data to show that acupuncture before and after the embryo transfer is truly beneficial."
And they warn against making too much of claims that acupuncture can help with having babies.
"It's impossible to say at this point," said Dr. Robert Schenken, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) (search), who has a practice at the University of Texas Health Science Center. "In the absence of any controlled data, I don't think we can come to a firm conclusion."

Promising Research

Acupuncture seems to help some women because it improves circulation to the ovaries (search) — which makes for healthier eggs — and to the uterus (search), which increases the chances that the lining will be strong enough to hold those eggs to full-term.

"Acupuncture provides better circulation and better blood flow to the womb," said Dr. Raymond Chang, director of New York's Meridian Medical Group, who has been incorporating acupuncture into fertility treatments for the past decade. "It will give a better chance for the eggs to be nourished and therefore carried."

There's also the fact that acupuncture can be a stress-reliever during an emotional time.

"Trying to get pregnant is incredibly stressful," said Victoria Koos, the acupuncturist who treated Appert at Yin and Tonic Acupuncture in New York. "They're crossing their fingers. The longer they're trying to get pregnant, the worse it gets ... Part of [acupuncture's success] is simply relaxation. When the body is relaxed, all systems function better."

The Colorado study Magarelli and Cridennda presented at a conference this fall is one of a series the pair have done with acupuncture and in vitro.

That one looked at 114 patients who had a good chance of IVF being effective, some who did acupuncture and some who didn’t. It found, among other things, that there were fewer miscarriages, more pregnancies and a 7 percent higher birth rate among those who got acupuncture treatment over those who didn’t, according to Magarelli.

It piggybacked off other research the team did on 147 “poor responders” to IVF, which found that the pregnancy rate was 40 percent, with 11 percent more babies born, among those who did acupuncture with in vitro fertilization compared to those who didn’t.

In March, Magarelli and Cridennda released findings in Italy involving patients with an average prognosis for IVF success. Those yielded clear numbers that the pregnancy rate increased with acupuncture by 24 percent, according to Magarelli.

“What got us was that now we were seeing a firm trend toward getting more people pregnant,” he said.

The Colorado research seems to support some findings of two earlier studies, one in Germany by lead researcher Dr. Wolfgang E. Paulus — published in ASRM's “Fertility and Sterility” (search) in April 2002 — and one in Sweden by lead researcher Elisabet Stener-Victorin in the 1990s.

Of course, even those who believe in acupuncture concede that while the existing studies have yielded good information, there still isn't sufficient evidence, or a broad enough sample of patients tested, to call acupuncture a proven remedy.

"We are convinced, but scientifically you need proof — or so-called proof," Chang said. "There is a whole set of proof from lab experiments and animal studies to human studies, but it's very difficult to do human studies."

Schenken noted that even though there might be one set of data showing positive results, "it really needs to be corroborated, preferably with several different studies and different patient populations." For example, there can be bias when the entire study sample comes from the same clinic, or when patients know they're doing something different from usual.

Schenken said he doesn't get asked about acupuncture often, but when patients do, "we don't recommend it, but we do not discourage it."
Surrey takes a similar approach. In his opinion, the data "is not bad" on the theory that acupuncture can help when administered before IVF, but as far as acupuncture generally improving fertility or helping after the embryo transfer in IVF, "there really isn't a whole lot of data on that."

But at the very least, "there is absolutely nothing to show that it's harmful if it's done with a trained and appropriately skilled acupuncturist," he said. It's a notion that nearly everyone in the medical field — whether they believe in needles and Qi or not — seems to agree upon.

Some Eastern medicine-Western medicine rivalry may come into play with how to treat reproductive problems, but Chang said he sees more resistance with the use of Chinese herbs — which are ingested — than he does with acupuncture. Often, it's the in vitro specialists themselves who refer their patients to him for acupuncture after a couple of failed IVF attempts.

As for the couples trying to bring a child into the world — particularly through a complicated, invasive procedure like IVF— anything that helps the process along is welcome.

“IVF is so technical that patients feel like they’re being pushed and pulled … with acupuncture, they’re in a sense taking some control,” Magarelli said. "Acupuncture isn't a needle, it's an environment."

Added Koos: "They're on these incredibly strong drugs that make the poor women crazy. They're running around like Catwoman. This is to help them stay sane while they're going through the process."

The emotional cost of infertility comes with a hefty financial price tag as well — in vitro fertilization can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 a cycle and generally isn't covered by insurance; acupuncture ranges from about $30 to over $200 per treatment — Koos and Chang charge about $90 a pop — and certain health plans do cover at least a portion of it.

Meanwhile, researchers and experts in the field are excited at what they're seeing in the studies. Chang said he's currently working with NYU Medical Center on a trial that looks at IVF with and without acupuncture.
Appert, for her part, was at the end of her rope and felt she had nothing to lose. She started acupuncture with Koos about two months before she began trying to conceive — with needles in her toes and a couple of liver points — and continued with the treatments throughout the pregnancy.
"The first time I went, I was completely terrified. My husband went with me and held my hand," she said. "I could feel the muscles in my liver jump and an electric current going through my body. It was very strange but also felt right."

She said being monitored by both her obstetrician and Koos helped reassure her about what was going on during her high-risk pregnancy.

"She would tell me things about how I was doing physically and then I would go to the doctor and he would tell me the same thing," remembers Appert, who works as a professor.

When she got sick late in the pregnancy, both Koos and Appert's OB/GYN were able to detect when her liver went dangerously haywire and get her to the hospital for delivery six weeks early, before the problem harmed the fetus and caused another stillbirth.

Regardless of the skeptics, Appert said she's relieved that she was finally able to have a nearly full-term baby of her own. At 4 pounds, 6 ounces, Henry has been in intensive care but otherwise is doing "fine."

"It really was a miracle," the new mom gushed. "It's one of these weird things that Western medicine can't explain."

Women with unexplained infertility are at heightened risk for having undiagnosed celiac disease

2011-10-20T05:20:00.000-07:00

Women with unexplained infertility are at heightened risk for having undiagnosed celiac disease (CD), which may be a modifiable and treatable risk factor, research suggests.

To determine whether an increased prevalence of undiagnosed CD might exist among a population of infertile women, investigators conducted a prospective cohort study at a U.S. infertility clinic. Serologic screening uncovered CD in four of 188 subjects, translating to an overall prevalence in this population of 2.1%.

Although this rate was not significantly higher than the expected 1.3%, undiagnosed CD was significantly more prevalent in the subset of 51 women presenting with unexplained infertility: Three (5.9%) of these women had previously undiagnosed CD (J Reprod Med. 2011;56:199-203).

All four women found to have CD underwent nutrition counseling to help them change over to a gluten-free diet. All four became pregnant within a year of diagnosis.

"Diagnosing CD in an infertile woman would be particularly beneficial if the low-cost (and low-risk) therapy of pursuing a gluten-free diet could improve chances for conception," study researcher, Janet Choi, MD, said in a statement.
From the October 2011 Issue of Clinical Advisor

Women with PCOS or anovulation demonstrate higher live birth rates than women with tubal infertility

2011-10-20T04:49:00.000-07:00

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome appear to have more success across the reproductive lifespan than women with tubal infertility, new data suggest.

“Women with PCOS have an increased number of antral follicles in the ovary and higher anti-Mullerian hormone levels,” researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia wrote.

To determine if this plays a role in reproduction, the researchers collected information on 44,286 women who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) and were listed in the 2004 to 2006 Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies database. They then compared outcomes of women with PCOS with those of women with tubal infertility after completion of IVF.

Results revealed that women of all ages with PCOS had a considerably higher live birth rate than women with tubal infertility. An adjusted model also indicated that the RR for live birth in women with PCOS vs. those with tubal infertility after IVF was 1.12 at age 35 years, 1.22 at age 40 years and 1.34 at age 45 years (P<.001), the researchers said.

“Women with PCOS or anovulation demonstrate higher live birth rates than women with tubal infertility across the reproductive lifespan,” the researchers wrote. “This novel finding becomes more robust in later reproductive life and suggests a lengthening of the fertility window.”

Acupuncture increased success rate of 37.3 percent

2011-10-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

A randomized placebo-controlled study of 309 women concludes that electro-acupuncture “significantly improved the clinical outcome of ET (embryo transfer).”1 IVF (in vitro fertilization) live birth rates jumped from 21.2 percent for women who did not use acupuncture to a 42 percent success rate for women who received acupuncture twice. The women received acupuncture 24 hours before the IVF procedure and 30 minutes after IVF. In another control group, women who only received acupuncture once, 30 minutes after IVF, had an increased success rate of 37.3 percent.

IVF is a treatment for infertility. This involves controlling a woman’s ovulatory process with medications, removing the ova (eggs) from the body, fertilizing the ova with sperm outside of the human body and then implanting the fertilized ova (zygote) into the uterus. Acupuncture for the treatment of infertility has received a great deal of press because singers Mariah Carey and Celine Dion used acupuncture with success. Mariah Carey used acupuncture to balance her body after a miscarriage in 2008. Carey said she did not use IVF but used acupuncture for stress relief and hormone therapy to boost her fertility. Celine Dion used acupuncture to achieve success with her 6th attempt at IVF. Both singers gave birth to healthy twins.

References:

Fertility and Sterility. Volume 96, Issue 4, October 2011, Pages 912-916. Increase of success rate for women undergoing embryo transfer by transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation: a prospective randomized placebo-controlled study. Rong Zhang Ph.D., Xiao-Jun Feng B.S., Qun Guan B.S., Wei Cui M.S., Ying Zheng M.S., Wei Sun B.S., Ji-Sheng Han M.D.

Research Centers:

Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Peking University Health Science Center, Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Reproductive medical center, The second hospital affiliated to Shandong University of traditional Chinese medicine, Jinan, People's Republic of China.

New Study Finds Sperm Quality Decreases as Males Age

2011-10-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

Colorado Researchers Confirm Men, like Women, have a Ticking Biological Clock that Impacts Fertility

DENVER, Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A new study conducted by the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine (CCRM) in conjunction with the National Foundation for Fertility Research (NFFR) concludes that sperm from middle-aged and older male mice is less likely to lead to a successful pregnancy. The study, the first-of-its-kind, found that sperm quality began to decrease in males at mid-life, 12 months and older (equivalent to forty and older for human males).

"This is not a study observing male factor infertility. Rather, this is a study about once fertile males becoming infertile because of age," said Mandy Katz-Jaffe, PhD, Scientific Director of NFFR. "We were able to document when sperm from older males begins to suffer quality problems, and to understand the impact of older sperm on reproductive outcome."

This is the first longitudinal study following males over a lifetime to directly correlate sperm aging with reproductive success. Ten young male mice with proven fertility were mated every month during their lifetimes as they naturally aged with fertile young females. "This study is unique because we were able to remove infertility related to the female aging from the equation and focus solely on the male," said Katz-Jaffe. "This is something that is impossible to accomplish with human studies."

This study found that when proven fertile male mice reached mid-life (12 months = forties):

Eggs were less likely to be fertilized by aged sperm.

Embryos were less likely to develop in vitro.

Embryos were less likely to implant in the uterus.

Natural conceptions were far fewer. Only 50 percent achieved pregnancy naturally at 12 months (forties) and 10 percent naturally at 15 months (fifties).

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) improved the chance of clinical pregnancy.

The few successful natural conceptions with aged sperm resulted in significantly smaller fetuses and placental weight.

"There is much focus in society on the 'maternal biological clock.' This study shows us that we also need to be concerned about the 'paternal clock,'" said William Schoolcraft, M.D., Founder and Medical Director of CCRM. "Men in their thirties should consider freezing sperm if they plan to wait to have children. Men in their forties and fifties should consult a reproductive endocrinologist if their partner is unable to conceive after six months of active trying."

About the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine

Founded in 1987 by Dr. William Schoolcraft, the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine is one of the nation's leading infertility treatment centers, providing a wide spectrum of infertility treatments ranging from basic infertility care to advanced in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology. Today, joined by Drs. Eric Surrey, Debra Minjarez and Robert Gustofson, Dr. Schoolcraft and his staff achieve some of the highest pregnancy rates in the country. CCRM has been ranked "The #1 Fertility Center in the U.S., with the Greatest Chance of Success" by Child.com. For more information, visit www.ColoCRM.com .

About the National Foundation for Fertility Research

The National Foundation for Fertility Research is 501 (c) (3) non-profit collaborative of internationally known researchers dedicated to advancing the field of reproductive medicine. The mission of NFFR is to ensure that all who seek fertility treatment have that joyous moment when they hold their baby for the very first time. Under the direction of Dr. Mandy Katz-Jaffe and her team of senior scientists and embryologists, NFFR research studies will continue to bring hope and new opportunities to couples seeking fertility treatment. For more information, visit www.fertilityresearch.org .

SOURCE Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine (CCRM)

Copyright (C) 2011 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Embryo Grading

2011-10-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

I never understood the presumed science behind embryo grading. In fact the 'science of embryo grading' may be an oxymoron. Embryo grading is theoretical but not scientific. It is my experience that embryo grading gives patients fall hopes and also lowers hopes of patients inappropriately. There have been many 4 cell embryos transferred on day two back in the 1980's in the U.S., which resulted in live births. There are many 6 cell embryos with up to 25% fragmentation which yield live births. There are countless grade A blastocysts which do not yeild a pregnancy or do, but with resultant miscarriage. Yes, if an embryo has > 45 or 50% fragmentation it can be safely assumed that won't result in a pregnancy or live birth. But without such an extreme presentation, it is really not possible to predict an outcome.

I would rather the 'line' that reproductive endocrinologists offer their patients be "we have transferred 3 embryos successfully into your uterus. In 2 weeks we will know if you are pregnant. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best." This way the patient has no expectation other than the fact that she will or will not become pregnant. This is an issue of 'patient management' and one, which in my opinion, should be adhered to.

It is possible to determine a poor embryo. For example a 3 cell embryo with 40% fragmentation probably won't yeild a pregnancy or a live birth. However, it is impossible to determine a good quality embryo if by good quality it means that a reasonable expectation of pregnancy can be expected. The underpinnings of what makes a good embryo good have yet to be parsed out scientifically. This is equivalent to an acupuncturist feeling a pulse and telling the patient that they are pregnant. The acuracy of this endeavor is rarely experienced. However, a very experience acupuncturist probably can tell by pulse palpation whether a patient is pregnant before a reproductive endocrinologist can prognosticate the outcome of an IFV ET based upon visual inspection of an embryo.

The take-home message is this: do not be excited when you have an IVF-ET and your doctor raves about the beauty of your embryos just transferred, nor be dismayed when you are told that they are a grade C. You must clear your mind of expectation and 'be' and wait. It is very difficult to go through the day without an expected outcome. Expected outcomes are derived from your output which typically yeilds a result. This is an example of 'control' which we all thrive on and feel so lost without. In the case of IVF-ET your output nor that of your doctor has any prognostic value. You must 'be' and wait and have no expectation. You can hope; and that's it.

This is also the case of the endometrium. Your doctor will tell you that you have a "beautiful 10 millimeter lining." You are 30 years old and so is your husband. His sperm is healthy, you are hormonally within-normal-limts and both you and your husband are anatomically normal. You have tried to conceive for two years with intercourse, you have done 4 intrauterine inseminations and two invitro-fertilization-embryo-transfers and you have never gotten pregnant. There is a good possibility that your endometrium is defective and can only be properly diagnosed via an endometrial biopsy. Remember the things needed for a successful pregnancy and a live-birth are good egg, good sperm, good lining, anatomic normalcy and absence of pathology which can mitigate conception. Pathology which can mitigate conception is often under-diagnosed. A perfect example of this is endometriosis. The mean-time to diagnosis for endometriosis in 10.3 years. Imagine this: a couple is idiopathic meaning that there is no known casue for their inability to conceive. After multiple attemps via assisted-reproductive-technology-interventions the reproductive endocrinologist states "it's time for you to consider using a donor egg" You are devastated, but you MUST HAVE THAT BABY! So you proceed and the transfer is negative. Then, after six years of trying, a doctor recommends a diagnostic laparoscopy to rule out endometriosis and you are found to have stage four endometriosis which is why, all along, you have not been able to conceive. But now you're forty-years old. So even though the endometriosis has been resceted, you have 40 year old eggs and your chances of conceiving with your own eggs are about 8-10%. You were robbed of your opportunity to conceive becasue of the ultra-conservitism, ignorance or ego of your doctor. I am not suggesting that at the drop of a hat a diagnostic laparscopy should be scheduled. What I am suggesting is that many reproductive endocrinologists (just as is the case with acupuncturists and every other type of health-care-provider) are too conservative and think-out-of-the-box when it's too late.

I had a doctor tell me recently that mild endometriosis doesn't interfere with conception. This is not true; it does. "Endometriosis is likely the most the common cause of endometrial receptivity defects, especially in cases of minimal or mild disease for which mechanical reasons do not explain the loss of fertility." This is from the September, 2011 issue of Fertility & Sterility, Vol 96, No 3, page 524. When I brought this to the attention of the doctor, he replied with "Fertility & Sterility is a lousy journal." It is not. In fact, most American reproductive endocrinologists read it and respect it.

It is very difficult to find a good doctor in any field. I know most of them, especially in New York City. If you would like guidance in finding one with an open mind, an agressive outlook and that has you in mind rather than protecting his or her ego I wouuld be happy to offer it to you.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM
http://www.berkleycenter.com/
212-685-0985

Acupuncture Fertility Clinics in New York City

2011-09-29T05:53:00.000-07:00

Can anyone tell me if they are aware of any acupuncture clinics in New York City besides The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness that JUST TREATS INFERTILITY CASES?

Thanks.
Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM

Mariah Carey and Celine Dion used acupuncture with success.

2011-09-29T04:54:00.001-07:00

New Research – IVF Fertility Success with Electro-Acupuncture 28 September 2011

A randomized placebo-controlled study of 309 women concludes that electro-acupuncture “significantly improved the clinical outcome of ET (embryo transfer).”1 IVF (in vitro fertilization) live birth rates jumped from 21.2 percent for women who did not use acupuncture to a 42 percent success rate for women who received acupuncture twice. The women received acupuncture 24 hours before the IVF procedure and 30 minutes after IVF. In another control group, women who only received acupuncture once, 30 minutes after IVF, had an increased success rate of 37.3 percent.

IVF is a treatment for infertility. This involves controlling a woman’s ovulatory process with medications, removing the ova (eggs) from the body, fertilizing the ova with sperm outside of the human body and then implanting the fertilized ova (zygote) into the uterus. Acupuncture for the treatment of infertility has received a great deal of press because singers Mariah Carey and Celine Dion used acupuncture with success. Mariah Carey used acupuncture to balance her body after a miscarriage in 2008. Carey said she did not use IVF but used acupuncture for stress relief and hormone therapy to boost her fertility. Celine Dion used acupuncture to achieve success with her 6th attempt at IVF. Both singers gave birth to healthy twins.

References:

Fertility and Sterility. Volume 96, Issue 4, October 2011, Pages 912-916. Increase of success rate for women undergoing embryo transfer by transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation: a prospective randomized placebo-controlled study. Rong Zhang Ph.D., Xiao-Jun Feng B.S., Qun Guan B.S., Wei Cui M.S., Ying Zheng M.S., Wei Sun B.S., Ji-Sheng Han M.D.

Research Centers:

Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Peking University Health Science Center, Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Reproductive medical center, The second hospital affiliated to Shandong University of traditional Chinese medicine, Jinan, People's Republic of China.

New York Fertility Acupuncture: RMA of NY

2011-09-28T04:29:00.000-07:00

New York Fertility Acupuncture: RMA of NY

RMA of NY

2011-09-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Have established working relationship with RMA of New York and have been seeing some of their patients. Wonderful doctors all. I highly recoomend Drs. Mukherjee, Copperman, Sandler and Grunfeld. All top-notch, leading-edge reproductive endocrinologists - that care!

Supplement could be key to pregnancy for older women

2011-09-28T04:22:00.000-07:00

Co-enzyme Q10 results in healthier eggs, delays onset of menopause during experiments on mice

By Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News September 22, 2011 Canadian scientists are working on a way to make older human eggs young again - and maybe even slow menopause - experiments that could make it easier for women in their 40s and perhaps beyond to have babies.

The answer may lie in a single vitamin.

Toronto fertility doctors say their experiments in mice show that co-enzyme Q10 makes older mice produce more and healthier eggs. The doctors are now preparing to test the supplement on women aged 35 and older undergoing fertility treatments.

The work comes as women are pushing back motherhood ever later in life.

Across Canada, pregnancies in women over 35 are increasing, and fertility clinics are seeing more women over 40.

"Our mean age for patients first coming to see us is now 37," said Dr. Robert Casper, medical director of the Toronto Centre for Advanced Reproductive Technology.

Five years ago, it was 33.

Not only do older women find it more difficult to get pregnant, they run an elevated risk of miscarrying or of conceiving embryos with chromosomal abnormalities that cause conditions such as Down syndrome.

A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have, and by the time she reaches her late 30s, the quality of those eggs begins an irreversible slide. They have less chance of leading to a normal live birth.

Eggs have 46 chromosomes to begin with, but they undergo a change when a woman ovulates. Each egg discards 23 of its own chromosomes and, if it's fertilized, takes in 23 from the sperm cell to replace them. But this takes a lot of energy.

The energy in eggs, and essentially in all human cells, is produced by mitochondria, little power packs inside all our cells. But these weaken with age so that they don't produce as much energy, resulting in a steady decline in tissue and organ function.

"Somebody who is 20 will have eggs with 20-year-old mitochondria in them, and somebody who's 40 will have 40-year-old mitochondria that will produce less energy," said Casper, professor in the division of reproductive sciences at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

If there isn't enough energy to separate the chromosomes properly, some get left behind.

"They don't get pulled out," Casper explains.

Extra chromosomes can lead to aneuploidy, an abnormal number of chromosomes, the stringlike structures that carry our genetic material.

"That's why Down syndrome increases with age - it's all an energy issue," Casper said.

"It's not that there is anything wrong with the eggs, it's just that the batteries have run down."

Casper's team has been studying mitochondria for years, trying to understand whether it's possible to boost energy production in human eggs.

Together with Dr. Andrea Jurisicova, an associate professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Toronto, the researchers originally tried injecting young mitochondria into old mouse eggs, using a preparation made from cordblood stem cells, which are fetal cells, so that the old eggs would have young, healthy mitochondria.

The technique worked - it improved the quality of the eggs and the embryos. The problem was, the embryos had two different mitochondrial DNA - essentially, two different mothers. When Canada's Assisted Human Reproduction Act outlawed mitochondrial gene replacement in 2004, Casper's team abandoned that avenue of research.

Now they're taking a different tack, using co-enzyme Q10.

Mitochondria need co-enzyme Q10 to make energy.

The vitamin is also a powerful anti-oxidant that may prevent mitochondrial DNA damage, Casper said. Co-enzyme Q10's production by the body also decreases as we get older, starting around age 25.

"One of the theories about why we get old and die in the first place is that our cells just run out of energy - the mitochondria stop working properly and there's just not enough energy for cellular function so organs start to fail," Casper said. "A simple explanation could be that there's not enough fuel from the co-Q10 around."

In a pilot study using 52-week-old mice - mid-life for a mouse, and the equivalent of 40 to 50 for a human - Casper's team gave half the group co-enzyme Q10, and the other half a placebo. Next they compared eggs retrieved from both groups of mice with eggs from 10-week-old mice.

"What we found was that just treating the mice with co-Q10 we got more eggs than when we gave them fertility drugs," Casper said. The nuclear spindles that pull the chromosomes apart were more like those in young eggs. The litter size was bigger, and the eggs from the vitamin-treated mice had improved mitochondrial function.

Even more surprising, when the researchers examined the mouse ovaries, there were significantly more egg follicles in the old mice treated with the co-Q10 - suggesting, Casper said, "that we actually were able to delay the onset of the equivalent of menopause in the mice."

The glitch is that the mice were pre-treated for 18 weeks - the equivalent of 10 years or so relative to a human lifespan.

"We might be able to delay menopause, but it might take a decade of pre-treatment," Casper said. The more immediate application might be in improving an older woman's fertility by improving her egg quality. When word got out about his early research on the Internet, women undergoing fertility treatments began taking co-enzyme Q10.

Casper is now trying to recruit women over 35 for a study testing whether taking 600 mg daily of the supplement can lead to a higher number of chromosomally normal eggs.

The rub is that, as soon as the researchers explain the mouse results, none of the women want to be randomized to the placebo group, "especially if they're 40."

The Toronto researchers need 50 women for their study; they're up to 25 so far, after a year-and-a-half of trying.

If the mice experiments hold up in the clinical trials, the implications would be significant, Casper said. "Women could get pregnant easier when they're older."

It also could buoy calls for more single-embryo transfers. For years, fertility clinics have been putting three, four or more embryos back into women over 40 in the hope that at least one would implant and a baby would result.

"If we could improve the percentage of normal eggs, you wouldn't have to put back so many embryos."

The other hope is that, "if we can increase the energy for chromosome separation, then we could eliminate Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities," said Casper.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Supplement+could+pregnancy+older+women/5440917/story.html#ixzz1ZFGGXaek

We are all headed towards a state of ignorance which comes from the pursuit of knowledge.

2011-06-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

For a long time now I have been privy to brilliant and articulate writings and research on the efficacy or lack thereof of traditional Chinese medicine. You can find all the research you want on the Internet. Some research shows efficacy in treating certain pathomechanisms of infertility and some research denies efficacy.

In Western medical approaches to the treatment of infertility there is much research that points to the efficacy of PGD and much research that denies its value. Many doctors promulgate intercourse the night before IVF, many don’t. Many doctors give patients antibiotics before a transfer, many don’t. Many doctors believe in IVIG or intralipid therapy, many don’t. There is lots of research on the deleterious effect of autoimmune mitigators of infertility including natural killer cells but there are many doctors who think this is all hogwash.

Many doctors believe in going straight to IVF after two failed IUI’s, though many believe that one should do four to five IUI’s before engaging in the first IVF.

Many IVF doctors believe in this protocol and many believe in that protocol. Many doctors believe that obesity interferes with fertility outcomes (there is research attesting to this!) and many doctors will do an IVF on a three hundred pound woman.

There was a time when I was very interested in research, which would prove the value of acupuncture in the treatment of the infertile patient.

There is a parable that tells the story of a Zen master talking to his student and pointing at the moon. The student looked at the master’s finger and was summarily dismissed by the master. Have we, as practitioners become too focused on the finger?

It is my contention that we are all headed towards a state of ignorance which comes from the pursuit of knowledge; an incorrect type of knowledge. Knowledge or lack thereof of regarding why something works does not confer or negate efficacy. I remember when I was a student at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in Dr. Yan Wu’s class when a student asked Dr. Wu a question as to why, when a needle was inserted at a particular point, did it have the intended effect. Dr. Wu’s reply was “who cares – it just does”. Dr. Wu is a master physician with more than 30 years of clinical TCM experience under his belt. It is in the West that we care about cause and effect, but in TCM the effect is what counts.

I am now less inclined to be interested in research regarding TCM and it’s efficacy. I am interested more in learning TCM and its theories and applications. Those of you who are spending years and years doing research on how TCM mitigates a pro-inflammatory state may be fooled into thinking that you are learning something of value. This is debatable. True value is measured by our success rates. The way to higher success rates is attained through learning the medicine that we practice. Most of you, and certainly I, know very little about TCM just as reproductive endocrinologists know very little about why women conceive and why they do not.

If you want to help patients to conceive then learn your medicine.

Want facts? Here’s one: I can look any patient or doctor in the eyes and state that acupuncture and herbal medicine have been used continuously for the past three thousand years to treat infertility; sometimes successfully. It was used in China before the advent of Western medicine and is now used in China in conjunction with Western medicine to treat infertility.

I think that many of us (including me when I was a mere tadpole) felt that we needed the nod from Western medical practitioners and researchers to validate TCM. Now that I am a frog, I realize that my own legs are strong enough to propel me forward.

Study Chinese medicine and study Western medicine and then integrate the two in a way that works for you.

Be able to defend your ideas and treatment protocols; be sure that your ideas have integrity.

Treat as many patients as you can so you may positively impact many lives.

I am through with sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for an REI to say, “Acupuncture seems to offer some value to those trying to conceive” and jump up and down shouting yea! I don’t mean to seem trite or competitive, I assure you, this is not my intention, but here goes: we were successfully treating any and every pathology which existed long before Hippocrates was a twinkle in his momma’s eye.

I believe in the value of IVF – but not for all its research. Indeed with all its research it still has far more failed cases than successful ones. But it does have some successful cases, and that demands respect – as do acupuncture and herbs. So don’t show me research – show me take home babies.

Knowledge is doing. You can study martial arts for years and analyze the dynamics of kicks, punches, thrusts and parries, and take - downs, and joints locks – but that does not mean that you can fight. If you can’t fight, then you do not know martial arts – you research them only. Outcomes are all that matter.

I have not renewed my memberships with AFA and Resolve. When they honor an acupuncturist for his or her work in the field of reproductive medicine I’ll re-join. In the mean time, they will, one again, undoubtedly honor Zev Rosenwaks. Dr. Rosenwaks, what is your success rate for the thirty-nine year-old women with ovarian resistance? Is it any better than mine? I don’t think so.

I’m going to study herbs now.

Supplementation of mitochondrial nutrients may improve the availability of energy production for the maturing oocyte and the developing embryo and thus reduce aneuploidy and assist in clinical pregnancies and live birth rates.

2011-05-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

5/14/2011

Supplementation of mitochondrial nutrients may improve the availability of energy production for the maturing oocyte and the developing embryo and thus reduce aneuploidy and assist in clinical pregnancies and live birth rates.

Ovulation leads to resumption of meiosis in the oocyte. This means that there is an alignment and separation of chromosomes by the nuclear spindle. The mature oocyte then contains 23 chromosomes. 23 chromosomes are isolated outside of the zona- pellucida in the first polar body. When penetrated by a euploidic sperm a second polar body is extruded and the zygote then has a normal diploid complement of 46 chromosomes. The process of extruding chromosomes outside of the oocyte as well as expulsion of the second polar body requires energy.

The energy required for metabolic function of the oocyte is provided by mitochondria and ATP. The egg has more mitochondrial cells than any other tissue in the body. During recruitment of follicles mitochondrial DNA increases from 6000 copies to about 200,000.

Mitochondrial DNA is very vulnerable to mutations and deletions. The inheritance of mitochondrial DNA is strictly maternal. We can see from a TCM perspective that this is a clear depiction of yang within yin since the absence of the female’s yang qi would mean a complete lack of mitochondria/ATP. Mitochondria is where the power cells, ATP are stored. As a woman ages her mitochondrial function (yang qi) declines and, as a result there are mutations and deletions in the nucleotides which is where mitochondrial DNA is stored.

Oxidative phosphorylation is a metabolic pathway that uses energy released by the oxidation of nutrients to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Although oxidative phosphorylation is a vital part of metabolism, it produces reactive oxygen species such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, which lead to propagation of free radicals, damaging cells and contributing to disease and, possibly, aging (senescence). Free radicals are harmful to egg and sperm quality.

One of the more frequent nucleotide deletions is the “common” deletion of 4977 base pairs, almost a third of the whole mitochondrial DNA genome. This deletion was shown to have a high prevalence in unfertilized oocytes and oocytes from older patients. As women and eggs age, mitochondrial energy production diminishes. Many processes of oocyte maturation especially nuclear spindle activity and chromosomal segregation become impaired.

It appears that free radicals along with reduced ATP and mitochondrial anomalies cause follicular damage and aneuploidy in the older woman.

Supplementation of mitochondrial nutrients may improve the availability of energy production for the maturing oocyte and the developing embryo and thus reduce aneuploidy and assist in clinical pregnancies and live birth rates. There are two ways to supplement these nutrients; exogenously and endogenously. For example, exogenous supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 helps to create ATP. It is also a major antioxidant. Natural systemic CoQ10 decreases with age.

An endogenous means of supplementation has less to do with directly affecting the function of the ovaries than improving systemic function so that ovarian function will improve naturally.

In order for a family to function in a healthy fashion all members of the family must be healthy. Let’s look at this statement from a different perspective: if one family member is sick, it will affect the others members of the family, either physically, emotionally or both. So the family dynamic must be treated; not just the sick individual. This is a more organic and holistic approach to treating the root and not the branch or the etiology as opposed to the symptoms. This is the goal of endogenous supplementation with, for example, herbal medicine.

An herbal formula that may be used to treat poor egg quality endogenously, due to yin-essence vacuity with depletion of yang might be composed of:

Xiang fu, dang gui, bai shao, shu di, rou cong rong, rou gui, shan yao, dang shen, mai dong and lu rong.

Of course, a formula must be created based upon a differential diagnosis and must strictly follow a treatment principle but this formula elucidates the pathology being treated: yin-essence vacuity with yang qi depletion.

There are two herbs, dang gui and xiang fu which will help ‘move’ the other herbs so stagnation will not occur but dissemination will. There also two herbs to help benefit the kidneys through supplementation of the spleen qi; shan yao and dang shen. Mai dong is used to benefit metal so as to promote water. Rou cong rong, rou gui and lu rong warm the kidneys, promote yang and benefit essence.

These methods of treatment involving benefitting the kidneys through supplementation of the spleen qi and benefitting metal to promote water; are referred to as treating ‘one step removed’. In other words we don’t just treat the organ or channel involved but we also treat organs that have a direct effect on other organs. It’s similar to using lung acupuncture points as part of a protocol to positively affect the large intestine.

Aging is a natural process and in the present culture health-care providers are often faced with the challenge of trying to reverse the reproductive clock with assisted reproductive interventions. These techniques such as IUI and IVF are often successful but more often they are not.

The main reason that ART fails more than it succeeds is because ART is primarily a mechanical process which cannot improve the components required to facilitate a clinical pregnancy and a live birth – egg and sperm.

Though CoQ10 has shown promising results, it still is not a full system approach. In other words it works on egg and sperm but not lining and other presentations which can alter the perfect balance, integration and function of the entire body to allow for pregnancy.

Acupuncture and herbal medicine are less involved per se in improving one area of function but more to the point, they improve all systems and functionality of the human organism –psycho-emotionally and physically.

Let’s use an analogy. If you lived in a rickety old house which was literally falling apart and it had very drafty windows you could spend $20,000.00 replacing the windows with state-of-the art windows and the drafts would be gone. But the house would fall apart anyway in a short time. In order for the house to be healthy the entire house must be addressed, not just the windows. IUI and IVF are really just dealing with the windows. TCM rebuilds the house.

The lungs, spleen and kidneys are the primary organs which, according to the theory of TCM, contribute to the creation and dissemination of energy or qi in the human being. As a person grows older their aerobic capacity decreases, their digestion worsens, their lower back and knees weaken, and their sexual and urinary functions worsen. That’s because these named organs are becoming deficient in qi which is a natural part of aging. If these organs could be nurtured, supplemented, and regulated their functionability may improve.

Improvement would be witnessed as improvement in the functions associated with each organ that I mentioned above. However, these three organs have far greater responsibility than that which is associated with the organs themselves. Egg quality, sperm quality, lining quality and the emotional state can all be improved with their respective improvement.

Then, when an IVF ET is performed the products (egg, sperm and endometrium) that the REI are mechanically manipulating will be superior in health and have a higher possibility of manifesting in a live birth.

The best outcomes for pregnancy and live births will come not from improved IVF techniques or more powerful drugs to facilitate greater folliculogenesis but through the improvement of the quality of the necessary components to achieve pregnancy: sperm, egg, and lining along with the down-regulation of pathogenic factors that can mitigate fertility such as immunological factors, blood clotting factors and inflammatory processes (endometriosis without pelvic distortion for example).

Acupuncture and herbal medicine has been effective in treating many cases of infertility for more than two thousand years.

When East meets West in the clinic, then patients will have the best chance of turning their dreams of having a family into a reality.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM

What is the Berkley Method?

2011-04-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

The Berkley Method represents an integrative approach to the diagnosis and treatment of the infertile patient.

This is unique within the community of most acupuncturists treating infertility.

Most acupuncturists in the U.S. diagnose and treat strictly from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine. While this method of treatment is rather romantic it does not represent an East meets West approach to care which is the standard currently used in China.

The East meets West approach is the more scientific approach; one which combines traditional Chinese medical applications such as acupuncture and herbal medicine along with scientific and medical approaches to care. For example, we are one of the few acupuncture centers that knows how to utilize herbal medicine in conjunction with clomid or gonadotropins and other medications such as dexamethasone, Lupron, Antigon, Tamoxofin, Letrazole, Naltrexone, etc. We also have extensive knowledge in treating disorders of pregnancy with herbal medicine such as sub chorionic hematoma and placenta previa. Most practitioners are not comfortable treating pregnant patients with herbal medicine because of their lack of clinical experience with herbs. We have saved many impending miscarriages with the use of herbs.

Integrative means that we combine both Western medical findings and traditional Chinese medicine findings when performing a diagnostic evaluation and creating a treatment plan. For example, a patient with endometriosis will be treated very differently than a patient with PCOS. A patient with high FSH will get very different treatment than one with high LH. A patient with low estrogen levels will get treated very differently than a patient with low FSH. These distinctions are very important when diagnosing and treating patients. You’ll want to know if your acupuncturist can make these distinctions and treat based upon them.

We are one of the few if not the only acupuncture center in NY that treats in this manner. We request and review the semen analysis, day 3 blood work, and thryroid findings. We also request testing for immunological factors and blood clotting (thrombophilic disorders) when necessary. We also request testing in some cases which may reveal a ‘hidden’ pathology of sperm which the typical semen analysis does not do.

We are probably the only acupuncture center that knows when to request certain tests and importantly how to interpret the results of these tests.

We are also the only fertility acupuncture center in Manhattan that has a Board of Advisors composed of some of the finest reproductive endocrinologists in NY State ( see our website to view our Board of Advisors).

The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness is the first acupuncture fertility center in New York City to specialize in infertility treatment. As the leader in our field we feel that we have learned to successfully integrate ancient and modern medicine. This gives our patients the best environment for care with the greatest chance of pregnancy and live births. We strongly believe that the best outcome for successful pregnancy and live birth is to be treated by a reproductive endocrinologist as well as an acupuncturist/herbalist who truly specializes in this field.

We are pleased to offer free mini consultations so that your questions may be answered and your concerns addressed. Bring in your reproductive medical findings and be prepared to have an active, interesting and informative conversation about your case. Hopefully, at the end of this lively dialogue you will have a lot more information than you had before you came in. This consultation in no way obligates you to be under our care. We offer this free mini consultation to help you make an informed decision when choosing your acupuncturist. In fact, you should have at least three FREE consultations with three separate practitioners – this way you can really have an informed opinion as to which practitioner is most suited to meet your needs.

We maintain relationships with many fantastic reproductive endocrinologists such as Drs. Alan Copperman, Tanmoy Mukherjee, Dan Stein, Dan Levine, Joel Batzofin, Glen Schattman, Robert Kiltz, Owen Davis, Sami David, Jonathan Scher, and many others.

These relationships make it easier for us to coordinate care with your reproductive endocrinologist providing you with a well rounded and highly coordinated patient centric-approach to care.

You should also know that we are available 24/7/365 for pre and post embryo transfer acupuncture treatment.

We are the first and the most experienced acupuncture clinic specializing in the field of oriental reproductive medicine in the United States.

Call us for excellence in care. 212-685-0985

Infertility, Endometriosis, Pain Management

2011-04-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Changes in my Acupuncture Protocol

After 13 years of study and clinical experience in treating infertility I have refined my approach to treating patients with acupuncture.
Previously I had always treated patients lying on their backs facing upwards.

Now I treat with three successive protocols: 1)Patient is on back facing upwards; 2) Next visit the patient is on his/her side and I needle the front and back simultaneously; 3) 3rd visit, I treat the patient face down and use acupuncture points on the back only.

This multi-faceted approach allows me to access many important acupuncture points on the body and potentially improve efficacy.

For those of you who are acupuncturists, I am using front mu points, back shu points and points of the 8 extra meridians as well as points which are appropriate for the pattern of disharmony being addressed.

I am starting to see good results with this new appropach.

Endometriosis

Recently, I have added endometriosis as a disease which I am treating.

Treatment is geared towards ameliorating pain AFTER a laparoscopy is performed; potentially slowing down it's re-growth after a laparoscopy by potentially regulating and stabilizing the immune function of the endometrium (for REI's: reduction of MMP's and aromatase IN THE uterine cavity. This is obviously experimental, but if success is manifest then many will be helped - if not, then I will strictly deal with pain management).

So, endometriosis patients are welcome!

Meditation & Pain Management

Lastly, we just completed our second Joanne Verkuilen, Fertility Meditation and everyone loved it! Thanks Joanne for a great job! Joanne is the Co-Founder of Circle+Bloom an incredible organization.

Oh...one more thing, I have hired two excellent acupuncturists whose expertise is in pain management. So, if you, a friend, or a loved one suffers with headache, back-pain, neck-pain, arthritis, etc., have them call Abbey Fromkin, L.Ac. or Jeff Wolf at The Berkley Center they will receive excellent care.

Ciao for now!

Endometriosis

2011-03-31T07:36:00.001-07:00

Endometriosis and pain

Pain in the endometriosis patient is caused by several factors which may function individually or concurrently.

1. Inflammation

2. Increased prostaglandins (pain substance)

3. Adhesions which cause distortion of the pelvic organs

4. Endometriotic adhesions on nerves (the woman with endometriosis who suffers with sciatica for example, as a result of endometriotic adhesions on the sciatic nerve)

Acupuncture and herbal medicine often facilitate the following effects.

1. A reduction of inflammation

2. An interruption of the prostaglandin cascade

3. Increase blood flow to areas with adhesions delivering appropriate biochemical products which increase healing; macrohphages for example, which serve to ‘eat’ foreign objects in the body of which an adhesion is but one. Acupuncture nor herbs can eradicate adhesions or endometriotic implants but may, as a result of increased delivery of mitigating biochemical substances, help reduce pain.

If you have pain pre and during menses, pain with deep penetration during intercourse, pain with ovulation, pain at mid cycle, and bowel changes with menses this is suggestive of endometriosis.

Before you get your laparoscopy (for example, if there is a 3 month waiting period because of your surgeons busy schedule), then use acupuncture and herbs to help reduce the pain.

In many cases pain is completely ameliorated after laparoscopy. There are occasions however, when pain persists. It is at this juncture that the use of acupuncture and herbs are very appropriate. Your ONLY alternatives are strong pain medication or medication which will prevent you from menstruating such as aromatase inhibitors or Lupron.

Though these medications will reduce pain, and prevent endometriosis re-growth you will not be able to get pregnant while on them. Even though these drugs can help reduce pain, they will also reduce your estrogen levels which, over time, can negatively affect your heart, brain function, and bone density. Acupuncture and herbs do not have these side-effects and permit pregnancy to occur.

The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness is pleased to announce that we are now treating endometriosis patients in addition to treating those couples who are trying to start or grow their families.

Endometriosis and infertility

Endometriosis causes infertility for several reasons.

1. Tubal damage which prevent egg fertilization.

2. Inflammatory proteins in the uterine cavity which prevent implantation

3. Implantation deficit as a result of endometrial pathology associated with endometriosis

4. Possible additional contributing autoimmune disorders which can contribute to infertility; activated natural killer cells, for example.

For the individual wishing to achieve pregnancy who has tubal damage, in-vitro-fertilization after laparoscopic excision surgery is the quickest means to a successful outcome in general. However, the endometrial lining itself is often pathologic and even after a laparoscopy, implantation failure is common. Even the best laparascopic surgeon cannot always excise all endometrial implants.

If, after a laparoscopy, if any endometriosis is still manifest, so too will be the inflammatory proteins associated with endometriosis which contribute to a hostile uterine environment preventing embryo implantation. One may think of this state as having a fever in the uterus. In essence, the uterus is sick. Acupuncture and specifically customized herbal medicine can, in some cases, as mentioned above, reduce these proteins, improve the uterine environment, and help increase pregnancy and live birth rates.

How does Acupuncture work?

2011-03-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

For the Chinese and other like-minded individuals, it’s simple. Acupuncture works because it moves the Qi and blood within the body. One of the most important precepts of Chinese Medical theory states, “Where there is a free flow of Qi and Blood, there is no pain or dysfunction. Where there is no free flow of Qi and Blood, there is pain and dysfunction.”

If that’s the case, how do Qi and Blood become disordered?

Qi is the functional force that moves blood and “gets things done” within the Chinese body. It may become negatively affected in some of the following common ways:

*Repetitive strain disorder

*Trauma

*Climactic factors/wind, cold, damp, dryness, heat

*Nutritional insults/poor diet, drugs, alcohol, caffeine, etc..

*Disordered & imbalanced emotional states/anger and depression in particular

*Personal habits/overwork, overeating, too much sex (for men it’s a problem )

I’ve heard about Tai Qi and Qi Gong. What do these do for people?

They are “core level” practices within Chinese medicine related to the warming,

stretching and healing of the body. They help move the Qi and blood along their

meridian pathways, thus promoting a healthy body, mind and spirit. When practiced

along with acupuncture they enhance acupuncture’s beneficial effects thus helping

regulate normal body functions.

OK. I don’t necessarily believe that the movement of “Qi and Blood” are the reason acupuncture works. What is the western biomedical explanation for how acupuncture produces its effects?

*It inhibits the secretion of the neurotransmitter “Substance P” along ascending pain

sensory pathways to the brain, effectively “gating out” painful stimuli at the level of

the dorsal root ganglion in the spinal cord where the cell bodies of sensory neurons

are located. (The Melzak and Walls, MDs hypothesis)

*It facilitates the release of serotonin, dopamine, GABA and other inhibitory central

nervous system neuropeptides which translates into a happier, pain free affect.

*It affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-endocrine axis thus affecting hormonal and

metabolic functions within the body.

*It exerts its visceral effects on the tissues of the body via the glial cell – neuroendocrine

pathway hypothesis of Richard Gerber, MD.

*It stimulates the activity of certain immune system cells and supportive cells (fibroblasts

and fibrocytes) within connective tissue matrix.

*It produces muscle fasciculation which ultimately relaxes hypertonic muscle and connective tissue.

What is Chinese herbal medicine? And is it safe?

Chinese herbal medicine is a nearly five thousand year old practice of imbibing

special naturally derived medicinal substances as contained within the Chinese

Materia Medica, that when taken in combination with each other – most Chinese

herbal formulas contain at least four different medicinal agents – accentuate the

positive effects of each, while diminishing any unwanted side effects. When properly employed, it is the oldest, safest system of internal medicinals in the world. Western allopathic medicine cannot make that claim.

What is Chinese nutritional therapy?

Chinese nutrition therapy involves the inclusion or omission of certain food

items which are known to affect the state of Qi and Blood within the body,

down to the specificity of which internal organ(s) may be positively affected.

It is often used in conjunction with Chinese herbal formulas for the resolution

of internal disorders, as well as promoting overall maintenance of good health.

Does acupuncture hurt? Let’s get real here…

When an acupuncture needle pierces the surface of the skin, it typically inserts to

a moderate depth within the connective tissue. Most often, the patient experiences

an initial pricking sensation which gives way to a feeling of pressure and warmth.

The ancient Chinese texts called this “De Qi,” or “The arrival of Qi” to the point. Most

patients do not find this sensation painful or uncomfortable. The needles are made of surgical grade stainless steel, very thin in diameter, solid – thus not ripping of tissue like a hypodermic needle, presterilized and disposable. Counter-intuitively, a quicker,

faster, deeper insertion produces less of a “De Qi” sensation than one more superficially

applied.

What is moxibustion? How does it feel?

Moxibustion is the smoldering of a medicinal herb – artemesia vulgaris – on the handle of a needle, or on the protected skin of a patient to induce an even greater movement of Qi than would be produced by an acupuncture needle alone. It is often used for internal conditions and to tonify the overall Qi of the body. It warms the point and feels quite comfortable. Many patients report loving the feeling of moxibustion.

What is cupping? Why did Gwenyth Paltrow look like that?

Perhaps it was a publicity stunt? Cupping involves the application of

hollow glass spheres onto the protected skin of the patient, each cup creating a vacuum

which pulls skin, connective tissue and muscle up into the cup. The cup is then moved

around the skin, resulting in a greater flow of Qi and Blood to the local area, thus relieving pain and loosening up the tissues. It is often applied to muscular adhesions as well as areas of chronic stress and “stagnation,” within Oriental medical theory.

What is Gua Sha? Why on earth would I want to look like that?

When Qi and Blood get “stuck” in chronically tight muscle and connective tissue,

“Sha” results. Cupping is one way to relieve the “Sha”. Another method is to

“Gua” it away. A base of protective liniment is applied to the skin, and the practitioner

brushes the area with a porcelain soup spoon, or other suitable device. In western medical terms, the capillary beds are broken underneath the skin resulting in varying

degrees of ecchymosis or bruising. New blood and the Qi that carries it will slowly

repair the local tissues producing a healthier metabolic state than previously found, and relieve tightness and pain. It looks unusual, but feels great, especially starting a few days after its application.

What is a typical course of treatment like?

Many simple neuromuscular complaints of healthy individuals may resolve

within two to four visits, especially when combined with other proactive modalities

like Pilates, Yoga, Stretching, Qi Gong & Tai Qi. Internal disorders typically take

longer periods of time to shift into healthier patterns of organ functioning and thus usually require longer periods of treatment, along with Chinese herbal medicine, to successfully resolve.

Does insurance pay for treatment?

It may. Check with your health insurance carrier to determine if acupuncture is a covered benefit under your specific health plan. Some employers provide flex accounts that reimburse employees for out of pocket health care costs. As an independent self-employed practitioner, I am not a participating provider under any insurance plan and thus operate on a fee for service basis, with payment made at the time of treatment. I do offer “Superbill receipts” and gladly offer any other paperwork that may help patients obtain reimbursement for their expenses.

Why should I come to see you as opposed to another practitioner?

Because I’m good, with far more western biomedical knowledge than many other acupuncturists/herbalists. I truly care for you, taking the time to listen and treat, if desired, the totality of your complaints. When I don’t think I can help sufficiently, I refer out to a host of western medical specialists including many other complementary providers. That being said, the dynamics of the patient-practitioner relationship are
individual to every person I see. I strive to meet and exceed patients’ expectations of my care for them.

How would acupuncture support my goals for which I do Pilates, Feldenkrais, Alexander technique and Gyrotonic?

Great question! Whether on the “Reformer,” “Allegro” or simply doing mechanically unassisted Pilates work, the goals are typically to tone muscles, improve posture, repair and prevent injuries while engaging in a low impact, full body workout that also reduces mental and physical stress. In Pilates, the “tree can only bend as well as the trunk supports the whole tree”. In Chinese medicine the “trunk” of the body is not only its core structural center (abdominals and axial skeleton) but the energetic “Tan Dien” a point a thumb and a half width’s inferior to the umbilicus, or belly button. Furthermore, the energetic flow of Qi and Blood is found deepest and most significantly in the “Jing” level of the body – the Chinese “core” – with its extraordinary meridian pathways from which the regular organs in turn get their Qi and Blood. (i.e. Chong mo, Ren mo, Yin Wei mo, Dai mo support the Kidney, Liver and Spleen meridians that nourish the uterus, ovaries and vagina for women.) The “Ying level” of the Chinese body relates to the twelve organs found within, i.e. Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen, Heart, Small Intestine, Urinary Bladder, Kidney, Pericardium, San Jiao, Gall Bladder and Liver. The “Wei Level” of the Chinese body relates to the muscles, tendons and surface energetics that prevent external pernicious influences from penetrating the body and causing illness and disease. Fasciculation type needling releases hypertonic muscle, providing healthier tone, flexibility and range-of-motion. Acupuncture needles, especially auricular (ear) needles, also release endorphins, enkephalins, and appear to raise serotonin levels in the central nervous system, resulting in a happier, more stress free affect. Acupuncture also acts as an analgesic at the source myofascial pain, simultaneously reducing inflammation and speeding up the repair of soft tissue that has been injured. Pilates’ emphasis on breathing, along with therapeutic movement, also reduces stress and helps injured soft tissue heal faster.

Acupuncture - Optimizing your physical and mental health through free flow of qi

2011-03-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

When the body is in free flow, with no blockage, there can be no imbalance, disharmony, or pain. It is only when the flow of qi, blood and fluids is compromised that a pattern of disharmony results. Thus, the goal for all acupuncture treatment is to restore the body to the natural state of homeostasis.

To illustrate this fundamental acupuncture treatment principle, let us discuss the nature of pain in the body.

If you are experiencing tightness in your neck, it may be due to an accumulation of stress in your shoulders and back. As your muscles get tighter, the free flow through that area of your body is being compromised. You may not be aware of the effects of this stress immediately. The holding pattern of your body and the manifestation in postural changes may not register as a problem until you wake up one day and you can no longer turn your head. Now the body has your attention, you are in pain. Acupuncture will open the areas of blockage, releasing the neck and restoring the flow through the acupuncture points and meridian channels and, as a result, your neck is pain is ameliorated.

When treating pain a variety of acupuncture points are utilized: local treatment to the affected area, trigger point release in the muscles, and acupuncture points distal to the affected area are chosen to reduce inflammation and increase circulation and healing. Often the muscles themselves need to be relaxed and, for this, a combination of acupuncture with additional modalities such as cupping, the application of cups to the skin to draw out deep inflammation, and massage are indicated. Achieving free flow through the acupuncture points is the treatment principle for all conditions. Determining where to place the acupuncture needles is the art of acupuncture combined with the experience of the acupuncturist.

When the body is open and balanced, there is no discomfort. This is manifested in the seemingly boundless energy of healthy children. As the body ages, we accumulate holding patterns of stress and fatigue, and it becomes necessary to remind the channels what free flow feels like. Originally designed to connect and circulate energy from the internal organs to the surface of the body and then back again, the meridian channels perform a very important job. Acupuncture treatment is designed to open the channels, resulting in being whole and complete again.

When viewing the body in this way, it is more difficult to understand how acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help more complex internal symptoms, such as infertility, fatigue and depression. Fertility enhancement acupuncture often treats both female and male patterns. To help prepare the body for pregnancy, the acupuncturist guides qi, blood and fluids to the reproductive system increasing the likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

The result is better circulation, fresh new blood and surging qi through the reproductive organs. In addition, the acupuncture treatments are designed to reduce stress levels in the patient, to facilitate a deep sense of relaxation. As a result of this treatment, sleep, metabolism, and digestion often improve, a very welcome side effect of the acupuncture treatment.

In conditions affecting emotional health, Chinese medicine again teaches a simple principle, emotional balance is the ability to feel all emotions appropriately. Often when presented with heightened mental challenges, we get fixed in one emotional state. So often the patient suffering from fatigue and depression also feels unmotivated and lacking in self-esteem. It is by helping the emotions to move freely that the patient begins to feel less afraid and more motivated to take action.

A healthy emotional state can be observed in early childhood. A toddler will be happy one minute, screaming and frustrated the next, and then back to happy before the tears have time to dry. Unfortunately, as we age, our emotional responses become more and more predictable, rigid and neurotic. It becomes difficult to adjust our patterned responses and the free flow of emotions becomes blocked.

Fatigue is often a result of being set in one emotion. We yearn for change and freedom so we may feel better. Drug addition and drug dependency are often a result of a depressed view of oneself or one’s current situation. Acupuncture can help to treat these conditions by opening the channels and freeing the emotions so that they can return to a more centered and balanced state.

In conclusion, the acupuncturist’s main priority is to restore the natural free flow throughout the mind and body. Regardless of whether the patient needs stress and pain relief, support conceiving or holding a pregnancy, or emotional balancing, the guiding principle of acupuncture treatment remains the same; free flow promotes harmony and optimal health in the body.

Abbey Fromkin, M.S., L.Ac.

Acupuncturist: Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness and Women’s Health

The Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay (SCSA) and DNA Fragmentation: What Is It and What Does It Mean?

2011-03-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

This article from a Resolve 2006 newsletter written by Dr. Werthman

Until several years ago the belief among most reproductive specialists was that if a man had live sperm then they were suitable for use with IVF / ICSI and if the female partner didn’t get pregnant or a miscarriage ensued then it was probably an egg quality issue. Several studies had implied that the conventional sperm parameters (count, motility and morphology) as measured on a routine semen analysis had no bearing on success when ICSI was used. Many couples pursued egg donation after failed IVF attempts because the husband’s semen parameters were relatively normal and yet conception hadn’t occurred. Some of these same couples were still unable to conceive even with the “better quality” donor eggs leaving both the doctors and the couples frustrated and perplexed. Some couples then went on to use both egg donors and surrogates thinking it was both an egg quality and implantation issue, again without success. The only commonality was the husband’s sperm.

About a year and a half ago a relatively new concept was introduced to clinical practice; sperm quality was dependent on the amount of damage to the sperm DNA or DNA fragmentation. Simply put, DNA is arranged in a double helix or ladder configuration with side rails and rungs. If the rungs are broken, then the ladder is unsteady and won’t function properly. What has recently been shown in several studies is very interesting and in some ways unexpected. Sperm DNA fragmentation has little or nothing to do with the parameters that we measure on the routine semen analysis. It has little to do with the shape of the sperm or whether the sperm are moving. It is a completely independent variable. Men with otherwise normal semen analyses can have a high degree of DNA damage and men with what was called very poor sperm quality can have very little DNA damage. More importantly what has also been demonstrated is that the degree of DNA fragmentation correlates very highly with the inability of the sperm to initiate a birth regardless of the technology used to fertilize the egg such as insemination, IVF or ICSI. Sperm with high DNA fragmentation may fertilize an egg and embryo development stops before implantation or may even initiate a pregnancy but there is a significantly higher likelihood that it will result in miscarriage. By testing for sperm DNA fragmentation, many cases of formally “unexplained” infertility can now be explained. Many of those couples who have been previously unable to conceive with what would be considered extreme measures have been diagnosed with high sperm DNA fragmentation and treated. It is now very clear to see that having this information about the quality of the sperm can be tremendously helpful to couples and their physicians.

There are several ways to test for sperm DNA fragmentation; the most widely used and statistically robust test is called the Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay or SCSA. The patient semen samples are frozen and shipped in a liquid nitrogen container to the SCSA reference laboratory in South Dakota. The sperm are thawed out and a stress is applied (low pH). The sperm are then labeled with a special orange colored dye that only attaches to the ends of broken DNA within the sperm cell. If the DNA is intact then no dye will attach to the sperm. A machine called a flow cytometer is used to analyze ten thousand sperm from the sample. The sperm are passed single file by a beam of light that hits the dye inside the sperm cell and reflects light at a specific wavelength causing the sperm to appear either orange (damaged) or green (normal). A computer counts the percentage of green versus orange-labeled sperm and software allows for creation of a graphic plot of the percent of damaged sperm giving an index known as the DNA fragmentation Index (DFI).

The data from thousands of patients has been analyzed and correlated with the patient’s clinical outcomes and references ranges were compiled. A normal sample has less then 15% of the sperm with DNA damage. Men with poor fertility potential have greater then 30% of their sperm damaged. A DFI Between 16% and 29% is considered good to fair fertility potential but becomes poorer as it approaches 27%. These numbers are thresholds meaning that above 30% the outcome for most couples was failure to have a birth even though only 30+ percent of the sperm were damaged. Under 15% most couples achieved success. The logical questions that arose were: what about the rest of the undamaged sperm in the sample? Why don’t those sperm work? What causes sperm DNA fragmentation? Can the DNA fragmentation be reduced and the sperm improved? If so, How?

DNA fragmentation can be thought of as a marker for other types of damage to the sperm. It is a kin to seeing the tip of the iceberg. Apparently, in semen samples with greater then 30% DNA fragmentation, other abnormalities are occurring with the non-fragmented sperm that the SCSA doesn’t measure and that is why samples used with DFIs above this level do not usually result in births.

The causes of high DNA fragmentation are those same causes of male factor infertility that we have known about for years such as chemical/toxin exposure, heat exposure, varicocele, infection, age, smoking, testicular cancer, radiation, and anything that increases the free radical levels in the semen among a list of many other things. It is very important to understand that sperm DNA fragmentation can change with time and it can be improved in many cases. The goal of a male factor evaluation is to seek out the causes of poor sperm quality and try to correct them so conception can occur naturally or to improve the sperm quality for IVF and maximize the chances of success. In situations where DFI can’t be improved there is evidence to suggest that removing the sperm directly from the testicle via biopsy and using it with ICSI may lead to better outcomes then using poor quality ejaculated sperm. Other options include counseling patients regarding the use of donor sperm either by insemination or fertilizing a portion of the eggs harvested for ICSI with donor sperm and a portion with the patient’s sperm, once again to maximize odds.

The clinical utility of the SCSA is readily apparent. All men with an abnormal semen analysis are candidates for this test as well as men with normal semen analyses who have failed IVF for unexplained reasons. Those couples using egg donors or surrogates may also benefit from screening prior to going thru the procedures because the effort and costs are so great. Men with poor DFI should have a male factor evaluation including a physical examination by a male reproductive specialist. These new concepts have a significant implication on how we practice and what we recommend to couples but we must bear in mind that this test does not have a predictive values of 100% as healthy babies have been born from men with high DFI but this is fairly uncommon.

There are herbal medicine formulas which are exceedingly high in antioxidant properties. At The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness we have had great success in treating this disorder.

higher live-birth rates

2011-03-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

PHILADELPHIA — Women who receive acupuncture during the stimulation phase of an in vitro fertilization cycle and again immediately after embryo transfer have a higher live-birth rate than do controls, according to the first acupuncture study with this end point.

“Other studies have looked at pregnancy rates, but what is really important is whether or not there is a baby,” said Paul C. Magarelli, M.D., who reported his findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

The retrospective study included 131 women who were undergoing standard in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). All of these women were considered good prognosis candidates for IVF/ICSI and were given the choice of having acupuncture.

A total of 83 women declined (controls) and 48 accepted.

There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of infertility diagnoses, demographics, and treatment protocols, except that sperm morphology was slightly better in the partners of women receiving acupuncture (7.3% vs. 5.9 % normal forms with strict criteria evaluation), and the average uterine artery pulsatility index was lower in the acupuncture group (1.57 vs. 1.72), said Dr. Magarelli of the department of ob.gyn. at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

The study found that pregnancy rates per embryo transfer were not significantly different between the two groups (50% in the acupuncture group and 45% in controls).

The miscarriage rate was almost halved in the acupuncture group (8% vs. 14%).

In addition, the rate of ectopic pregnancies was significantly lower in the acupuncture group—0 of 24 pregnancies (0%) vs. 2 of 37 pregnancies (9%), said Dr. Magarelli, who is also in private practice in Colorado Springs and Albuquerque.

Thus, the live-birth rate per IVF/ICSI cycle was significantly higher in the acupuncture group than in controls (21% vs. 16%).

“The live-birth rate per pregnancy is an even more telling number, since some cycles get cancelled. There was a 42% live-birth rate per pregnancy in the acupuncture group, compared to a 35% rate in the nonacupuncture group,” Dr. Magarelli said in an interview with this newspaper.

“We believe that what we are doing is improving the uterine environment such that implantation is improved,” he added.

The study used two acupuncture protocols.

The Stener-Victorin electrostimulation protocol—which has been shown to reduce high uterine artery blood flow impedence, or pulsatility index (Hum. Reprod. 1996;11:1314-7)—was used for eight treatments during ovarian stimulation.

The second acupuncture technique—the Paulus protocol, which has been associated with improved pregnancy rates (Fertil. Steril. 2002;77:721-4)—was used within 24 hours before the embryo transfer and 1 hour after.

“This protocol has demonstrated reductions in uterine contractility, so by relaxing the uterus before the embryo transfer and immediately after, we felt we were setting up a better environment for implantation,” Dr. Magarelli said.

Study Shows Acupuncture Treatment May Help Male Infertility Problems

2011-03-09T05:55:00.001-08:00

Acupuncture may help some men overcome infertility problems by improving the quality of their sperm, according to a new study.

Researchers found that acupuncture treatment reduced the number of structural abnormalities in sperm and increased the overall number of normal sperm in a group of men with infertility problems.

They say the results suggest that acupuncture may complement traditional infertility treatments and help men reach their full reproductive potential.

Acupuncture May Ease Male Infertility

The male partner is a factor in up to 50% of infertile couples, write the researchers. In many cases, the cause of male infertility is unknown.

Previous studies of acupuncture and male infertility have suggested that acupuncture can improve sperm production and motility and count.

In this study, researchers looked at the effects of acupuncture on the structural health of sperm in men with infertility of unknown cause. The findings appear in the July issue of Fertility and Sterility.

Twenty-eight infertile men received acupuncture treatments twice a week for five weeks, and 12 received no treatment and served as a comparison group.

Researchers analyzed sperm samples at the beginning and end of the study and found significant improvements in sperm quality in the acupuncture group compared with the other group.

Acupuncture treatment was associated with fewer structural defects in the sperm and an increase in the number of normal sperm in ejaculate.

But other sperm abnormalities, such as immature sperm or sperm death, were unaffected by acupuncture.

The researchers write that acupuncture treatment is a simple, noninvasive method that can improve sperm quality.

SOURCE: Pei, J. Fertility and Sterility, July 2005; vol 84: pp 141-147.

Fertility Meditation at The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness

2011-02-16T04:21:00.000-08:00

Joanne Verkuilen, Co-CEO of Circle+Bloom, the pre-eminent producer of scientifically supported and vetted fertility meditations will now be providing live meditations at The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness. To find out more, visit http://www.berkleycenter.com/.
You must register early as seating is limited to 12 people. IT IS FREE!

East Coast Fertility Does it Again!

2011-02-16T04:14:00.000-08:00

Im standing in front of 34 people lecturing on the benefits of acupuncture and herbal medicine for those faced with the difficult challenge of infertility. I was preceeded by a very articulate and charming Dr. David Kreiner and his wonderful Head of Mind-Body-Awareness and his terrific embryologist, Head Nurse and support staff. This was a lecture for new patients at East Coast Fertility a star that continues to rise in reproductive medicine circles. I was proud to be speaking amongst such seasoned professionals. ECF is, in my estimation, the go-to-place to have a baby for those who live in Long Island. ECF is the very first group in Long Island that offers co-culture and embryo 'glue' protocols to help further the potential positive outcomes of IVF. They are also the first Long Island reproductive Center to offer complete complementary medicine services. Please visit http://www.eastcoastfertility.com/ for more enlightening information on how you can finally get pregnant and stay pregnant!

Infertility Lecture - A Must Attend Event!

2010-12-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

Register for the January 13th Fertility Seminar!

This will be the most informative hour and a half you can spend learning how acupuncture and herbal medicine can make the difference between success and failure for those faced with the difficult challenge of infertility.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM has been successfully treating infertility cases for 13 years with acupuncture and herbs. He is one of the nations leading experts in this field.

Please come so we can help you turn your dream of family into a reality!

Love and blessings...
mike

Click here to find out more

New Year's Resolution - again

2010-12-29T04:23:00.000-08:00

2011 is the year that you are determined to get pregnant and to stay pregnant.

I have put together a list of items that may be appropriate for your New Years Resolution List.

1. I have had several failed IUI's and/or IVF's. I will try to include something different going forward as I know there must be something missing. Otherwise I'd be pregnant - acupuncture and herbs.
2. I have tried acupuncture and herbs but I'm still not pregnant. I will find an acupuncturist who is an expert in infertility to treat me rather than using the 'guy down the block' because he or she is conveniently located.
3. I have had 3 failed IUI's and 3 failed IVF's. My doctor says "no herbs". Ask yourself this: Has your doctor given you a baby? Start taking herbs. Theys have been effectively used 3000 years before your doctor was a twinkle in his momma's eye.
4. Want to know if acupuncture and herbs can help you conceive...well do your due diligence and start researching. Of course you'll find many studies that prove efficacy.
5. Ask, ask, ask your acupuncturist every question you can come up with. If they cannot answer your questions...move on until you find someone who can.
6. Find an acupuncturist who is willing to have a free mini-consultation with you so you and your partner can meet him/her, see their clinic, see if you connect and have your questions answered.
7. Find an acupuncturist who works 24/7 so that if your transfer occurs on a Sunday, your acupuncturist is available to perform pre and post embryo transfer acupuncture, a method proven by several studies to increase positive outcomes.
8. Find an acupuncturist who is a Board Certified Herbalist, not an acupuncturist who prescribes herbs but really is not qualified to do so.
9. Learn to exhale.
10. Remember to love those closest to you, express it, show it, live it.
11. Remember to love those that you don't know!
Happy New Year! And...God speed on your journey to family.
Love...
Mike Berkley

A great embryo - or is it?

2010-12-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

There is no way a doctor can determine that an embryo is of good quality with today's diagnostic capabilities. This is why when a doctor says "you have a beautiful embryo and a beautiful lining" these are merely words of encouragement with no substantive clinical value.

The reasoning behind my statement is based on my experience. Thousands of patients have perfect blastocysts transferred and get pregnant and miscarry or don't get pregnant.

Thousands of patients have 5 cell embryos with some percentage of fragmentation manifest and conceive and deilver a healthy child.

Why is this? Probably becuase there are many processes and hormones, chemicals and other biochemical components that need to be in perfect balance before conception will occur.

Most doctors don't want to do embryo transfers on women whose linings are less than 9 mm but there are many documented pregnancies which occur with 5mm linings.

The role of acupuncture and herbal medicine is, essentially, one of balancing, or harmonizing - facilitating a state as close to homeostasis as possible. This is why when patients include acupuncture and herbal medicine into their IVF embryo transfer protocols success is often found where previous failures were ongoing.

I had a patient today who has had 4 failed IVF cycles. She has been getting acupuncture and I suggested that she take herbs. She informed me that her doctor didn't want her to take herbs; I asked her what her doctor has done for her so far. She then decided to take herbs.

If IVF were the answer, the success rates would be higher than 25-35%. If acupuncture and herbal medicine were the answer, there would be no need for IVF. But, when these two modalities are used together, the results are frequently better than that achieved when using one of them alone.

Many doctors don't want their patients to take herbs becasue there hasn't been enough scientific research done on herbal medicine and they don't have proof of it's efficacy. Do you have proof that God exists? Yet you have faith that he(or she) does. And, interestingly, many doctors and scientists believe in God though there is absolutely no evidence to prove the existance of God. I would say this may represent a double standard in these individuals.

Am I asking too much of my patients to have faith in herbs? After all, there is greater evidence of their efficacy than there is of the existance of God. Herbs have been ingested and have helped heal millions of people for thousands of years. You can see, touch, taste, feel and smell herbs. And you can see their immediate effect. Can you state the same about God?

I think the proof is in the pudding. IVF is only as good as it's positive outcomes and that doesn't mean pregnancies it means take home babies. Until IVF can provide a 100% success rate, patients and doctors alike are foolish to shun herbs.

Want more proof? Just ask any of my success patients about how acupuncture and herbs changed their lives by helping to facilitate an ongoing pregnancy.

I believe in integrative medicine, not egocentric, segrated, fear-based medicine. Isn't interesting how the practice of Western medicine is a microcosm of the world in which we live. Full of in-fighting, and egos, and ignorance?

Chinese medicine is far more inclusive. For example, in China today, most hospitals use both Western and Chinese medicine to treat in-patient and out-patient cases.

In Germany, homeopathy is wide-spread and is used in conjunction with Western traditional medicine. In France, acupuncture has been used for 400 years.

What is wrong with the mind, heart and soul of the American medical instituion?

Did you know that a 10mm lining provides absolutely no assurance of its health nor its ability to recieve and nurture an implanted embryo? Some 10mm linings are pathologic and some 5mm linings are perfectly physiologic. Did you know that by doing a transvaginal ultra-sound with a color doppler a doctor can determine if there is adequate blood flow to the lining? Did you know that if there is inadequate blood flow to the lining a pregnancy will not occur? Did you know that acupuncture and herbal medicine can greatly increase blood flow to the lining?

I'll leave you with these thoughts for now. Think carefully about what I have written.

Conception is a natural process – Or…don’t microwave your dinner!

2010-12-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

Process

Conception, pregnancy and parturition are a process. One definition of process is “a series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result”. Any natural process is better in every way than an artificial one. A good example is cooking. There is the process of cooking which is a slow, mindful act and there is microwave cooking which is basically a non-participatory act without natural process. There is no relationship between the chef and the outcome of the meal. Which meal tastes better? And, which is healthier to eat?

The process of conception is quite complicated and requires the perfect balance and function of many components all working in a coordinated and harmonious fashion. Sperm must be attracted to egg, it must find the egg, and it must penetrate the egg. The egg has be high quality and so too must be the sperm. The lining must have qualitative integrity. The embryo must find the lining and must be able to penetrate it. The placenta must develop and nourish the developing fetus and rid the fetus of waste matter. The placenta must protect the fetus from immunological attack. The cytokines, proteins, immune function, blood flow, gycoproteins, hormones must all be in balance and not under or over functioning. There must be absence of pathological mitigators which can contribute to infertility or promote miscarriage. Each and every player in the orchestra of conception must be in tune. One sour note and pregnancy will not occur or miscarriage will ensue.

Chinese medicine which consists mainly of acupuncture and herbal medicine does not work by adding to that which is deficient or reducing that which is in excess; Western medicine is good at that. For example, a common practice in treating a deficiency syndrome, i.e., hypothyroidism is to ADD synthroid. Or a common method at reducing excess insulin is by prescribing Metformin. These medicines which add or suppress or reduce have changed the face of civilization. Without the intervention of Western medicine and surgery our life-span would probably not exceed 40 years of age and three million babies would not have been born as a result of IVF. How many couples however, have remained childless even though they have undergone multiple IVFs? I am guessing more than three million.

Here is why: Just as a microwave oven can cook a meal, IVF can create a baby. But, as the microwave does not supplant the relationship between the chef and the food and the process of creating a meal, IVF cannot, in all its glory, in all cases, replace the natural process which is necessary to occur for conception and a take-home-baby to ensue.

The alternative

Acupuncture and herbal medicine are essentially used to create a state as close to homeostasis as possible. Homeostasis is when everything in the body and mind work perfectly. Obviously, this is not attainable. But, acupuncture and herbs attempt this and by attempting it a greater state of systemic and psycho-emotional health is frequently achieved. This is why, in many cases, acupuncture and herbs work to help one achieve pregnancy when IVF fails.

Because the greater one’s physical and psycho-emotional health is, the more likely they will be to conceive and deliver.

Based upon fourteen years of clinical experience in the field of infertility it is my professional opinion that the best case scenario for the infertile patient is to utilize Western medicine in conjunction with acupuncture and herbal medicine. The reason for this is quite simple. When the reproductive endocrinologist retrieves eggs and fertilizes them with sperm the resulting embryo is as good as its constituent components, egg and sperm. Most IVFs that fail do so because of poor egg quality and/or poor sperm quality. The reproductive endocrinologist cannot improve egg or sperm quality; acupuncture and herbs frequently can.

Blood

I saw a thirty four year old patient today. She has conceived three times with intercourse only to miscarry each time. She did get pregnant and delivered a baby as a result of insemination. She had one subsequent failed IVF. Now her doctor recommends donor egg with IVF. The patient has cold hands and feet, a pale complexion, low energy and gets dizzy. Obviously she has poor hemodynamics.

Blood is what carries FSH and LH from the brain to the ovaries; blood nourishes the endometrial lining; blood carries oxygen, electrolytes and nutrition to the entire reproductive system and removes waste matter from the reproductive environment. When cells die which they constantly do, they are ‘eaten’ up by macrophages. If the immune function is not functioning normally and debris is not removed, the outer layer of the dead cells breach and the internal toxic substance circulates within the ovarian milieu causing degradation in ovarian/egg quality. Acupuncture and herbal medicine increase blood flow; as a result this- can in many instances improve the health and function of the target tissue: ovaries and endometrial lining.

Why are you not using acupuncture and herbs?

It is difficult for me to understand why all infertile patients don’t include acupuncture and herbal medicine in their protocols. Why would they not? There has been so much research elucidating the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of infertility that acupuncture is no longer referred to as ‘alternative’ medicine but rather ‘complementary’ medicine. Herbs have a three-thousand year history of positive clinical outcomes.

Herb safety

Regarding the safety profile of herbs I have this to say: there are at least one million hospitalizations per year in America alone which occur as a result of adverse reactions to Western medicine. Many of these hospitalizations result in death. This does not happen with herbal medicine.

It is ironic therefore, that many (but no longer all!) doctors don’t want their patients on herbs because “they don’t know what’s in them”. Do you know what’s in Lupron? Or Gonal F? Did you know that ovarian hyper stimulation even from clomid can be fatal?

Don’t misunderstand, I am 100% pro IUI, IVF and donor egg-IVF protocols. But to not partake of a modality with proven results which may change the course from a negative outcome to a positive one especially in the patient who has had multiple IUI/IVF failures is a clinical error.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM

Founder and Director, The Berkley Center for Reproductive Medicine

happy thanksgiving

2010-11-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

eyes to see blue skies
nose to smell the rose
mouth to taste the sweet
hands to hold and squeeze
legs to carry me
heart to be gracious
soul to be bodacious
courage to move forward
love to give
open to receive
i give thanks
peace

You Can Have a Baby! LECTURE in LONG ISLAND!!!

2010-11-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 will be one of the most important nights of your life. If you have plans, cancel them. Attend this mind-blowing, information-packed, life-changing seminar!

Do you want a baby? Or perhaps another one? Have you had multiple failed cycles of IUI, IVF, or even donor-egg transfers?

Are you ready to open your heart and mind to learn about something that was successfully used to help couples get pregnant long before your great-great-great grandparents were even a twinkle in their parent’s eye? Way before the time of IUI or IVF or donor-egg transfer?

Mike Berkley, licensed acupuncturist and board certified herbalist has been treating infertility for thirteen years. He has lectured nationally to gynecologists, reproductive endocrinologists, acupuncturists and patients alike on the subject of complementary medicine and infertility.

Mike has created new acupuncture and herbal medicine protocols that are showing promising results. He has helped hundreds of ‘failed’ cases have babies!

In fact, Mike was the very first acupuncturist in the United States to devote a complementary medicine wellness center to the treatment and care of those trying to start or grow their families.

You are invited to attend this lecture and learn about ALL of your option. You are invited to learn how your odds of having a baby can sky-rocket with the right help!

Please be sure to bring your partner and a friend who may benefit from this ground-breaking knowledge.

Where: The Berkley Center at East Coast Fertility

1074 Old Country Road, Plainview, New York

When: Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 – 7:00pm to 8:30pm

The ball is in your court. Are you going to play to win or just sit in the stands and watch others score?

I have devoted my life to helping couples become pregnant; will you grant me the privilege to help you?

Register

Free Lecture: How Acupuncture will Help You to Conceive!

2010-11-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

Free Lecture: Learn how Acupuncture Significantly Increases Pregnancy Rate

FERTILITY DISCUSSION SERIES

2010-11-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

Come talk with fertility experts the first Wednesday evening of every month, 6-7:15 pm. Everyone is welcome and you do not have to be a patient at Batzofin Fertility Services to attend. There is no charge. Light refreshments will be served.

Contact Carolyn Berger, LCSW, at 914-834-6396 or cnberger@optonline.net for more information and to RSVP.

January 5th: “How Healthy Eating and Losing Weight Can Help You Get Pregnant: With Weight Loss Expert Kavita Jhaveri-Patel.

February 2nd : “Options in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART): It Takes a Team” With Joel Batzofin, MD, Kristina Salvati-Block, PA-C, and Colleen Ryan, BS; Batzofin Fertility Services.

March 2nd: “Embryology: Choosing the Best Embryos to Transfer, Intricacies of ICSI and Much More” With Mary Schalkoff, PhD, Embryologist, Batzofin Fertility Services.

April 6th: “Can Acupuncture Help Me Get (and Stay) Pregnant?” With Mike Berkley, L.Ac., The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness, NYC.

May 4th: “Love and Infertility: Keeping Your Relationship Alive While Trying to Get Pregnant” With Carolyn Berger, LCSW, Fertility Counselor at BFS and in Westchester.

June 1st: “Yoga for Fertility” with Beth Gibney-Boulden, Registered Yoga Teacher, Certified in Fertility Yoga, Full Circle Family Care, White Plains, NY.

July 6th: “Building Your Family in the LGBT Community” With Terry Boggis, Family Policy Advocate, The Gay Center, NYC.

All talks will be moderated by Carolyn Berger, LCSW, Fertility/Adoption Counselor and Founding Board Chair of The American Fertility Association. Carolyn counsels patients at Batzofin Fertility Services.

A Day of Peer Groups and Professionally Led Support, Education and Roundtable Discussions for the Third Party Reproduction and Parenting Community

2010-11-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

The NYC Gathering November 14, 2010

Upper West Side, 12:30-5:30pm

~Considering and Creating Strong Families~

A Day of Peer Groups and Professionally Led Support, Education and Roundtable Discussions for the Third Party Reproduction and Parenting Community

Topics Include:

Disclosure for Ages and Stages of Development ~ Family Communications

Known and Unknown Donation ~ Acupuncture for Fertility ~

Traveling for Donor IVF~ART Patient as ART Legal Client

Children’s Book Review ~ Creating Your Own Photo-Story book

Choice Parenting and Donor Selection ~ Nature and Nurture

Attachment and Identity Formation in Family Building

~Disclosure for Blended Families~

Participation by Clinicians, RN’s, Doctors, Agencies, Attorneys, Parents Engaging Discussion Groups

Families Sharing Support, Education, and Resources

Registration ~12:15-12:30

Lunch & Introduction ~12:30-1:00

Q&A ~1:00-2:00

Roundtable I~2:00-3:00

Roundtable II~3:15-4:15

Q&A and Closing~4:15-5:15

Workshop $75 pp includes lunch, 2nd or more adults $50, Creative Sitters Childcare $45 for the day in the Discovery Gym (adjacent to workshop).

Contact Saxel95@aol.com for registration

~Considering and Creating Strong Families~

Roundtable Leaders and Topics:

Nancy Kaufman, LCSW-Introduction to Professsionally Led Support Group: The Third Party Parenting Network. Nancy is a Clinician in Private Practice in NYC with an expertise in Infertility, Family-building and Disclosure.

Patricia Mendell, LCSW and Co-Chair of The AFA-Disclosure and Professionally Led Support Group. Patricia is a Clinician in Private Practice and group practice with a focus on Disclosure as the founder of The Family Building Network.

Nancy Freeman-Carroll, PsyD-Childrens Book Review & Nature vs Nurture Nancy is a Clinician in NYC with Group and Private practice in Parenting and Infertility with a focus on Womens Health, Parenting After ART and Family Counseling. She has presented at ASRM and The NYC Gathering and is a DE Mom.

Mary Fusillo, RN, De Mom, The Donor Solution Agency Owner and Healthcare Professional Former Clinic Donor Program Coordinator, and Mom to 12 yo daughter who is also attending. Mary is a volunteer through Donormoms of Houston and has presented at ASRM and The NYC Gathering.

Dr Susan Treiser, MD,PHd (attending with Nursing Staff) Co-founder and Co-director of IVF NJ to introduce clinic and lead discussion on Donor Egg and Third Party Reproduction at IVFNJ, PVED.ORG Executive Board Member and Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist. Resolve Award Winner.

Rosalind Hoffman, MD- DE/DS/SMC-Decision-making and donor selection for Choice Moms and general SMC Support. Long Island Resolve Peer Group Member.

Amy Demma, JD. When an ART Patients is also an ART Law Client: a practical discussion about navigating collaborative reproduction from the “parentage” perspective. Amy is a New York State licensed attorney working in assisted family building, primarily third-party and donor collaboration. Amy is a Vice President on the Executive Committee of RESOLVE of New England and serves on the ARTs Law Committee of the American Bar Association.

Rev. Susy Nason-Child Development and Family Communication Expert to introduce and discuss the How To Talk So Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk method.

Lisa Schuman, LCSW-General Support Group Lisa is on staff at RMA NY and in Private Practice in the field of Infertility,Third-party Reproduction and Parenting. She is an Adoption Consultant specializing in Disclosure, Decision-making, and Child Development and has presented at ASRM.

Mike Berkley-Acupuncture for Fertility- Mike Berkley is the Director of The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness, the first center of complimentary medicine to specialize in the treatment of infertility. He has been in practice for 13 years as a fertility practice.

Ingrid Maurer-Traveling for Donor IVF - Ingrid is a member of our community that has participated in numerous capacities in peer-support, as a guest speaker for Resolve, as a member of PVED.Org andTPPN and of course, The NYC Gathering.

Lori Goldkind-General Peer Support-Lori is a member of our on-going Womens DInner in Midtown and is a new mom via egg donation. Lori has been involved in The NYC Gathering and is a member of PVED.Org. Lori will be available to share her insights, support and experience with others who are considering or parenting via de.

Joann Paley Galst,Ph.D-Attachment, Identity Formation and Family Building: How and Why It Is Safe To Disclose. Joann is a clinician in private practice in NYC. Please see the June 2009 recap here on DONORGROUPSNYC about wonderful The AFA Teleconference that Joann led with Patricia Mendell.

Carolyn N. Berger, LCSW-Disclosure in Blended Families:When Children Come into the Family through Adoption And/Or Third Party And/Or Are Genetically Related. Carolyn is a clinician in NYC and Westchester with a practice devoted to Fertility, All Forms of Family Building and Adoption.

Judy Kottick-LCSW-Known vs Unknown Donors & Disclosure Judy is a Clinician in Private Practice facilitating Donor Parenting groups, is on staff at IVF NJ facilitating Donor and Recipient Screenings, has presented at ASRM and The NYC Gathering.

Long Island Parents via DS-will show us their photo story books, discuss their experience meeting donor sibling family, and share their journey with us.

REGISTER NOW. Contact saxel95@aol.com

Corroboration of my previous post on male contribution to viable embryo

2010-11-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

We evaluated cytogenetic results occurring with first trimester pregnancy loss, and assessed the type and frequency of chromosomal abnormalities after assisted reproductive treatment (ART) and compared them with a control group. We also compared the rate of chromosomal abnormalities according to infertility causes in ICSI group.

Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was made of all patients who were referred to the Genetics Laboratory of Fertility Center of CHA Gangnam Medical Center from 2005 to 2009 because of clinical abortion with a subsequent dilation and evacuation (D&E) performed, and patients were grouped by type of conception as follows: conventional IVF (in vitro fertilization) (n=114), ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) (n=140), and control (natural conception or intrauterine insemination [IUI]) (n=128).

Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software.

Results: A total 406 specimens were referred to laboratory, ten abortuses were excluded, and in 14 cases, we did not get any spontaneous metaphase, chromosomal constitutions of 382 specimens were successfully obtained with conventional cytogenetic methods. Overall, 52.62% of the miscarriages were found to be cytogenetically abnormal among all patients, the frequency was 48.4% in the control group, 54.3% of miscarriages after ICSI and 55.3% after conventional IVF (p=0.503).

The most prevalent abnormalities were autosomal trisomy, however, nine (11.69%) sex chromosome aneuploidy were noted in the ICSI group vs. four (6.45%) and two (3.23%) cases in the conventional IVF group and control group.

We compared chromosomal abnormalities of miscarriages after ICSI according to infertility factor. 55.71% underwent ICSI due to male factors, 44.29% due to non-male factors.

ICSI group having male factors showed significantly higher risk of chromosomal abnormalities than ICSI group having non-male factors (65.8% vs. 34.2%, p=0.009, odds ratio=1.529, 95% CI=1.092-2.141).

Conclusions: No increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities due to ART was found with the exception of a greater number of sex chromosomal abnormalities in the ICSI group with male factor infertility.

Therefore, these alterations could be correlated with the underlying parental risk of abnormalities and not with the ICSI procedure itself.

Author: Ji won KimWoo Sik LeeTae Ki YoonHyun Ha SeokJung Hyun ChoYou Shin KimSang Woo LyuSung Han Shim

Credits/Source: BMC Medical Genetics 2010, 11:153

Male Contribution to Viable Embryo

2010-11-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Centriole definition: a structure found in the cell cytoplasm (cytoplasm: all of the contents outside of the nucleus and enclosed within the cell membrane of a cell) that plays a role in embryo development.

Sperm centrioles were traced from fertilization to the hatching blastocyst stage. The sperm centriole is introduced into the egg at fertilization. As the male and female aspects of the developing embryo (called pro nuclei) fuse (called syngamy) to become a shared environment of both male and female DNA, centrioles play a pivotal role in cell division (cleavage) of the embryo.

This division, when the embryo goes from a single cell organism to a two cell organism to a four cell organism to an eight cell organism to a sixteen cell organism is called mitosis or cleavage. Sperm centrioles were detected at all stages of embryonic cleavage from the 1-cell through 8-cell stages, right up to the hatching blastocyst stage.

It is evident that the sperm centrosome ( formed from centrioles and having to do with cell division) is the functional active centrosome in humans, while the female is inactive.

Did you know? Embryos having 7-9 cells on day 3 have an increased chance of developing to the blastocyst stage. A blastocyst is a 5 day embryo and is considered to be of significant quality. Embryos with <7 cells or >9 cells are less likely to make it to the blastocyst stage.

My question is this: if a woman consistently produces 4 or 6 cell embryos during a stimulated IVF cycle is it not possible that the male partner’s sperm has some ultra structural defect whereupon centriole quality is subfunctional?

Since we know that the male contribution of healthy centrioles is necessary to facilitate cleavage of embryos to the blastocyst stage, it is my ardent recommendation that male partners of all women who are trying to conceive should also be treated with acupuncture and herbs. Even when the male partner presents within the normal range for volume, count, morphology and motility, centriole health cannot be easily determined.

Case: A female patient has 15 eggs retrieved during an IVF cycle; 10 fertilize, and 7 survive. She has 7, day 3 embryos ranging in size from 6 to 10 cells with zero fragmentation and a healthy10mm endometrial lining. The reproductive endocrinologist transfers three of these beautiful embryos and the cycle fails. Why? We do not know for sure: it could be that the embryos were chromosomally abnormal. This can be due to chromosomally abnormal eggs or sperm. It can also be due to the fact that the male centriole health and function were not optimal. This may be considered a ‘hidden’ cause of infertility.

The use of acupuncture and certain herbal medicines can vigorously stimulate blood flow to the testicles carrying oxygen and nutrients, as well as hormones from the brain, as well as electrolytes, while simultaneously carrying debris or dead cells away from the testicles. This increased delivery of the ‘good’ and increased excretion of the ‘bad’ may improve ultra structural properties of the sperm including centriole quality and function and thereby improve embryo quality and help facilitate cleavage to the blastocyst stage and thereby potentiate take home baby rates.

Summary: It is my opinion, based on clinical experience, that both partners should be treated with acupuncture and herbal medicine when wishing to start or grow a family and is having difficulty doing so.

[1] Alikani M, Caulderon G, Tomkin G, et al. Cleavage anomalies in early human embryos for transfer after in vitro fertilization. Human Reprod 1997; 12(7): 1545-1549

A new perspective on infertility treatment

2010-10-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

How many failed IUI's and IVF's have you had? Four? Five? Seven? Have you heard this "you are producing beautiful embryos, your lining looks great and your husbands sperm is off the charts"? How many failed donor egg cycles have you had?

You may be a victim of poor diagnosis. For example, how many of you have had a fluid ultra sound? If you have not, raise your hand. Did you know...one polyp residing in the uterine cavity can prevent implantation? Did you know that frequently a transvaginal ultra sound cannot detect a polyp but a fluid ultra sound always can?

Let's look at a common scenario together. You are thirty-nine years old and you have an fsh of 17 and you have endometriosis. Your doctor thinks that you are not getting pregnant because you have an inflammatory disorder (endometriosis), and that you have poor egg quality, and low ovarian reserve indicated by your age and fsh levels respectively. But, if you have a regular period, the odds are that you still have some good eggs and may have a chance to conceive, else why would your doctor be willing to proceed with an IVF embryo transfer.

The fact that you have been diagnosed with endometriosis indicates that you have had it surgically addressed and so now its clinical relevance is diminished. Now its down to egg quality and ovarian reserve. If you still menstruate regularly, you still have some good eggs even if your fsh is 17.

So why are you not conceiving? Perhaps because of a physical obstruction, i.e., a polyp or worse, multiple polyps. Polyps are easilly, painlessly and quickly removed via a hysteroscopy. So, instead of continuing to have ivf after ivf and failure after failure why not rule out possible hidden causes of your problem with simple procedures? I am not trying to insinuate that all infertility stems from improper diagnosis; sometimes woman can't conceive for reasons which are beyond the scope of current diagnostic tools. I am, however, suggesting that many cases of infertility can be successfully treated where heretofore, they have not.

Did you know that day 3 embryos with less than 6 cells and more than 10 cells are often indicative of poor sperm quality? Yes I know: your husband had a normal semen analysis. But, has he had a sperm dna fragmentation assay? This test can reveal a hidden sperm pathology that may be contributing to your inability to conceive?

If his sperm tests normal from the perspectives of volume, count, motility, and volume and you are producing day 3 embryos with less than 6 cells or more than 10 cells, he should have this test. Frequently this test is not performed because your doctor doesn't believe in this test and wouldn't know what to do with the results anyway. Doctors will tell you that the only challenge that sperm with fragmented dna poses is their inability to penetrate an egg, so the answer is simple: do icsi. ICSI is a process whereupon the sperm is injected into the egg enabling forced fertilization. So your egg is being fertilized with a sperm that couldn't, on it's own, have done this. Essentially, by default, you are ending up with a less than optimal embryo which may yeild a pregnancy which may either result in miscarriage or produce a male child with the same problem as his dad with his future familiy planning requiring IVF with ICSI.

So, are we not, through these 'band-aid' procedures facilitating a nation of weakened children and actually contributing to a generation of infertile couples?

You're wondering what the solution is. Well that begets a question. If you had type 2 diabetes and were very overweight and had insulin resistance you could do two things to get better: 1) take Metformin and possible other medications or you could change your diet, lose weight, exercise and cure your-self.

One approach is a 'band-aid' approach and one approach is to address the problem at its root. The solution lies ahead.

Back to sperm dna fragmentation. Before we can hope to address a 'root' treatment we first need to know what causes the problem. Reactive oxidative species or 'ROS' causes fragmentation of the dna in the sperm. ROS is caused by environmental assault such as exposure to certain chemicals, toxins, etc., which can come from smoking marijuana or cigarettes, testicular injury or testicluar surgery allowing antibodies to enter the testicular environment and cause damage.

The severity of DNA fragmentation is determinied by the amount of sperm that is affected. 0 to 15% is indicative of good outcomes in IVF procedures; 15% to 29% means that chances are fair to good; numbers above 29% usually do not result in live births.

In the idiopathic (no known cause) infertile couple, a full diagnosis has not been rendered without a sperm dna fragmentation test. What is the cure? The eradication of free radicals which manifest as a result of ROS.

How? acupuncture ( stimulates blood to the testis helping to send more oxygen and nutrients and dispel dead cells), herbs which have anti oxidant properties, vitamins C and E which have strong anti oxidant properties and daily intake of wheatgrass juice. There is no traditional Western medical approach to the successful treatment of sperm dna fragmentation.

Is medical ego perhaps a contributing factor to the paucity of testing done for this significant pathology? In other words: if the doctor doesn't 'believe' in the test then it won't be done. Can you see air? Can you see microorganisms? Can you see God? Can you see energy? No, no, no and no. Do you believe in their existance? Is your day to day behavior not based upon your belief in these entities even though you have never seen even one of them?

There are some people that do not believe in the existance of God or microorganisms. Does their lack of belief indicate the lack of existance of these things? It is the wise person who, though belief may not be held, understands that there is a possibility of existance nonetheless.

Did you know that endometriosis is an autoimmune disease than can cause infertility even in the absence of damaged fallopian tubes? Another interesting thing that you should be aware of is that when one has an automimmune disease such as endometriosis there are often other autoimmune factors which can contribute to infertility which have not been diagnosed; but they should have been. I always recommend a full autoimmune evaluation when one of my patients presents with a known automimune disease to rule out the posibility of other, asymptomatic autoimmune disorders which can cause infertility.

The reason for the paucity of testing for autoimmune disorders which are known to contribute to infertility is that many doctors don't believe that autoimmune disorders can contribute to infertility. The terms yin and yang according to traditional Chinese medicine, means, among other things balance. Balance, according to the traditions of Chinese medicine is required for health, and imbalance is what leads to sickness. Would you agree that an immune system which acts innapropriately against it's host represents an imbalance? And, does it make clinical sense to try to rebalance the behavior of organ/endocrine systems to re-institute health?

Let me tell you an interesting story: when the surgeon general first advised the nation that there was a direct link between lung cancer and other cancers with cigarette smoking, most doctors who smoked (many, many did) continued to do so becasue they didn't believe what the surgeon general said. Now, years later, most physicians don't smoke because they became convinced of the validity of the surgeon general's report. So, perhaps, years from now, many reproductive endocrinologists will finally understand the clinical significance of certain autoimmune disorders in so far as their role in infertility is concerned.

An example of an autoimmune disorder which can cause infertility is activated natural killer cells. These cells are meant to kill cancer in the uterus. They do so by spraying something called TNF-alpha or tumor necrosis factor on tumors, killing them, and in the best case scenario, saving the patient from endometrial cancer.

However, in one with an autoimmune mitigated hyperactivity of activated NK cells, these cells spray TNF-alpha on the embryos, instantly killing them causing infertility. This again is a hidden pathology as it presents with no signs or symptoms.

The appropriate treatment is intralipid therapy or intravenous immunoglobulin therapy, both of which have been shown to positiviely effect pregnancy outcomes in patients presenting with highly activated NK cells.

Again, this is the band-aid approach and, in many cases a band-aid approach is not a bad thing; if it works, it works and at the end of the day that's all we want.

To include a modality of medicine which can regulate immune function so that the body can behave normally again also makes sense. Acupuncture and herbal medicine can frequently manifest in this regulation of the immune system. This is how acupuncture and herbal medicine helps patients who are HIV+ or in full blown AIDS to feel better and stronger - by immune function regulation to whatever extent possible.

Infertility treatment is still in its infancy stage. There have been more than three million babies born as a result of IVF. But this is similar to the concept that many people with cancer have been saved by medical intervention. Both are true, yet the fact remains many more people die from cancer than who are saved and many more IVF's have been done without the production of a baby.

As time goes on, more and more research will yield better treatment approaches and perhaps one day infertility will not exist. In the mean time however it is my contention that all testing, even testing that may present a greater insight into the cause of a couples infertility should be rendered and, the root cause of the problem should simultaneously be treated with natural medicine such as acupuncture and herbs.

Western medicine is superior to Chinese medicine in treating the manifestation of an underlying disregulation or lack of harmony in the functioning of the body but traditional Chinese medicine is, in my opinion (based on clinical experience and three thousand years of data) superior in treating the human body and spirit at the deepest levels. Therefore, the best approach to treatment of the infertile couple is to employ both modalitities of intervention. This is the solution!

My Belly Will Rise

2010-10-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Another disappointment another failed cycle

Another thousand tears, my heart an icicle

A sled ride rapidly down the slope

To the land of depression and dashed hope

I sit at my window and watch the last days of winter, the sun burns the frost, the birds begin to sing, leaves turn green; flowers kiss each other and elope; yin transforms into yang

I am but a microcosm of the world I know-my heart must be tame – for soon I’ll be reading the ‘Book of Baby Names’

Remember this: It is only when the night is darkest that the sun will start to rise…

as will my belly.

mike berkley

Poetry

2010-10-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

I am inviting anyone who wants to submit their writings, musings, poetry about their journey to family to submit your creative output to me for posting on my website. Your identitiy will not be disclosed but your hope will be; your pain will be; your love, sorrow, disappointment and joy will be; your soul will be.

Please submit your writing to mikeberkley@berkleycenter.com for publication on my site - http://www.berkleycenter.com/.

Your identitiy will not be revealed.

Share of your self and give to others and reap from others the positive energy that you will derive from their writings.

Please help me to help you by facilitating the growth of this fertility creative project.
Thanks.
Love, peace and blessings...
mike

My son called me this morning...Sunday October 17th...

2010-10-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

And asked me to join him to see Jackass 3 in 3-D. I couldn't have been more pleased. To have my son reach out to me and embrace me in his life (he is 15 years old) is the most complementary experience I can ever have. I can't express the joy that I derive when he invites me out with him..

After all, his life at this point is about 'hanging out' with his friends and don't forgot the raging hormones directed at anything in a dress. So when the call comes I am flattered and honored.

The greatest thing I every accomplished in my entire life was contributing to the birth of my son. I honor my relationship with him and love him intensely.

This, I suppose, the driving force behind my work in the field of infertility. If I can help another couple experience that which I do, I know that I am helping to bestow a great gift to a couple faced with the difficult challenge of infertility. My love, heart and soul and best wishes go out to all of you involved in the struggle. My mission is to help you become parents.

Thank you God, or the Dao or Nature for these two magnificant gifts; my son and my devotion to you.
I love you Noah.

Why I Hug My Patients

2010-10-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

Over the many centuries of human existence, many social customs have emerged out of both necessity and leisure. The handshake is one custom that encompasses both of those origins. The handshake may appear little more than a formality to some, but to others it is a complete view into the personality of the person on the other end of the handshake. The handshake has also created nations and bought homesteads. However, in all cases it still requires two people to be executed correctly, thus causing an interaction to take place, which gives me the right, as a student of sociology, to investigate the handshake from a sociological perspective.

The Origin of the Handshake

The actual beginning of the handshake is as difficult to specifically determine as most events that happened before written history. However, there are many accounts that provide both comedy and insight. One origin offered by Herbert Spencer, in his book THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY, is that of two Arabs meting in a desert. They each reach for the others hand to kiss it in greeting. However, it is an insult to have your hand kissed by another individual, so both men try to withdraw from the lips of the other man. The end result of this meeting is the acceptance by both men that they wouldnt kiss the others hand, and thus they ended up only clasping the hand of the other, and the handshake was born. The mutual acceptance by the two men that the hands wouldnt be kissed shows the equality between the two individuals; however, that aspect will be discussed a little further down the page.

Perhaps a more practical origin of the handshake comes from medieval Europe, where kings and knights would extend their hands to each other, and [grasp the] others hand as a demonstration that each did not possess concealed weapons and intended no harm to the other (Hall). I say this is a more practical origin of the handshake, because it more closely resembles our current use of the handshake as a way to introduce ourselves to a person and open ourselves up to them for the purpose of interacting. Interestingly enough, the ancient Greeks used it similarly. It was a welcoming sign of friendliness, hospitality, and trust (Schriffin).

Still, despite the various possible and plausible origins that the handshake sprung from, the handshake has taken many diverse and, at times, conflicting meanings. The question as to the meaning of the handshake is what the next section of this page will address.

The Various Meanings of the Handshake

Why is the handshake so important in the business world? Why are most meetings between diplomats ended with a handshake? Why do secret orders, fraternities, and sororities include handshakes among their secret rituals? I believe Hall and Hall put it best when they wrote, The handshake represents an expression of equality.

Take, for example, the meeting of diplomats to discuss a peace initiative for two warring countries. With the handshake giving a sense of equality to the meeting, the playing field is leveled and the proceedings can occur, unhindered by feelings of inequality. Admittedly, most diplomatic meetings occur in times when one side has a dramatic diplomatic advantage over the other, however, the handshake can often serve to equalize the two diplomats with each other, rather than equalize the parties they are representing.

Another example of political use of the handshake to imply equality is in the Presidential debates, where the candidates face off in a discussion of current events and personal policy beliefs. At the beginning of the debates, the candidates shake hands, much like in boxing matches when opponents touch gloves before the first bell rings, and then again at the end, which Hall and Hall describe as a handshake of reconciliation, in which participants reestablish a sense of solidarity. However, in politics, the meaning of the handshake has been cheapened by politicians preying on peoples beliefs on the meanings of the handshake to help further their own political interests.

Politics isnt the only place in which the importance of the handshake has been made lesser in value. Over the course of the past two centuries of American existence, the importance of the handshake in the business world has declined from a once binding contract that pledged both your wealth and your honor, to little more than a business formality and tactical action. At one point in the banking industry, a person could lend and borrow money based on the palm-to-palm contact called a handshake.

Looking through the eyes of a symbolic interactionist, you could argue that the handshake is a binding agreement because it allows for the tangibility of feeling the other persons hand in yours and that contact and interaction is symbolic of the trust and reliance the two people are exchanging with each other. Because people develop a sense of personal space around them, physical contact between two people requires that this invisible barrier be suspended for the duration of the contact. Because the lowering of such a barrier requires trust in the person with which the interaction is taking place, the symbolic interactionist would say that the act of the handshake incorporates all those feelings into that one action.

A Goffmanesque Approach to the Handshake

Although in my research I never found an instance in which Goffman addresses the handshake directly, I did manage to gather some clues as to how he would probably view the interaction associated with the handshake. This section is dedicated to an analysis of the handshake from the most likely view Goffman would take. Note that these are not his direct applications of the various theoretical elements, but it is definitely a possible and accurate use of the theories. With that having been said, here is my analysis of the handshake through the eyes of Erving Goffmans various theories.

The act of shaking hands requires what Goffman calls focused interaction. This is where a person interacts with another person directly and pays attention to the responses and social cues given by that person. Instances of focused interaction are called encounters. As Goffman also states, encounters require openers, in order to show that both parties recognize the encounter that is now taking place, as well as closers, to signify the end of the encounter. The handshake serves both the purposes with little modification. Specifically in the business world, handshakes are often used at the beginning and end of business meeting, interviews, and whenever else people want to show that they have entered into the interaction (encounter) and are ready to listen and respond to what the other person has to say.

Another one of Erving Goffmans major theoretical concepts was that of the Dramaturgical Approach to interaction. Applying this theory to the act of the handshake can provide some interesting insights into the importance of the handshake in the modern business world. For instance, in an interview, there is a very set pattern of events that is to occur in order for the interaction to be perceived as normal. The interview begins and ends with a handshake, displaying the equality of the two people. This is a very important line in the script that guides this reaction. A weak handshake can often be seen as a departure from the script because it can signify inattentiveness, weakness, insecurity, or rudeness. After the interview has been concluded, the handshake is once again needed as if it were the finale of the play. This time the handshake is not that of introduction, but that of closure.

Conclusion
Another theory, although not one of Goffmans, that applies to the handshake and too business in general is that of the compulsion of proximity. This theory is credited to Deirde Boden and Harvey Molotch. The compulsion of proximity refers to humans need for face-to-face interaction. I discovered this theory while browsing through the textbook and thought that it had relevance to the handshake because despite the massive amounts of cheap long-distance communications technologies (i.e. fax, video-conferencing), there are still a lot of business travelers filling our airports day-to-day. I attribute this to the compulsion of proximity and to the importance of the handshake in the business world. Obviously there is still a high value placed on the value of the personal focused interaction and encounters that are enclosed by handshakes everyday. Many business coaches and personal behavioral books attribute to the handshake the role of encompassing your personality into a single action. This interaction cannot occur except in person. So, the price of this interaction is obviously worth the time and money it takes for these people to complete the interaction.

As you have read, the handshake is a very important part of the business world. A person would be foolish to overlook the importance of the handshake. So, to all those business students, professors, and anyone else interested in the importance of the handshake, remember that you are being judged on your handshake whether consciously or subconsciously, so make it count. Since starting my research, I have paid a lot of attention to how people shake hands and there is a lot to be learned through paying a little more attention every time you shake hands. So, remember this the next time you shake a hand and pay attention, it means more than you think.

The above was written by Keith Andrew and was found by doing a search on the web for the History of the Handshake.

Why I hug my patients

No where in the above article did I find the word 'intimacy'. Doctors typically shake hands with their patients; a decidedly unintimate gesture; more busines-like.

My patients are faced with the challenge of infertility. They are medicated, talked at, poked and prodded, blood drawn, speculums inserted, and frequently disappointed by failed IUI's, ivfs and donor egg transfers.

Is intimacy only supposed to take place between the patient and her or his partner? Why can't a doctor have an intimate relationship with his or her patient?

Some definitions of intimacy that I found on the web
familiarity: close or warm friendship
closeness: a feeling of being intimate and belonging together
intimate - marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity; "intimate friend"
intimate - familiar: having mutual interests or affections; of established friendship

There is no intimation of 'sexuality' here. Only a close bond. Shouldn't a patient and his or her doctor or health-care provider have a close bond? Is not having a close bond clinically important?

I believe in intimacy; warmth, compassion and love for my friends, family members and my patients: that is why i hug my patients; men and women: it is an intimate, connecting, comforting gesture.
Love and blessings and hugs!

mike berkley, L.Ac.

New Plainview, Long Island Holistic Fertility Center Update!

2010-10-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

I will be seeing patients in the NEW Plainview, Long Island Holistic Fertility Center starting Friday, 10/15/09. Call 516- 204-7149 to schedule your appointment.

This is the FIRST comprehensive East meets West fertility Center in Long Island. I will be working closely with Dr. David Kreiner, the Founder and Director of East Coast Fertility to bring to best of complementary medicine and cutting-edge high tech techniques to help those challenged with infertility to start or grow their families.

Our mission is to provide nurturing, caring and state-of-the-art medicine in a warm, inviting environment, providing a safe-haven for those who want a comprehensive approach to their fertility needs.

It is our goal to transform patients into parents.

We would be honored to accompany you on your journey to family.

Love and blessings.
mike berkley, L.Ac.

Find out more

Acupuncture Treatment for Infertility: Landmark Study Identifies Mechanism for Improved Pregnancy Outcomes on In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

2010-09-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

Acupuncture Treatment for Infertility: Landmark Study Identifies Mechanism for Improved Pregnancy Outcomes on In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Stress + Infertility

2010-09-25T09:49:00.001-07:00

One cause of elevated levels of catecholamines is stress. Why is it not standard operating procedure to measure levels of epinephrine and norepinepherine in patients undergoing IVF-ET. We now know through recent research that stress does indeed have a deleterious effect on pregnancy outcomes, the extent of which is yet to be determined.

If patients do have elevated catecholamines in the absence of pheochromocytoma, then why not recommend that ALL of these patients be treated with acupuncture and/or biofeedback to lower elevated levels which may help facilitate a + outcome?

As you all know, contributing to a successful outcome takes more than an embryo transfer and certainly more than a proper hormone status and normal s/a; it takes a conglomeration of positive circumstances such as proper intraendometrial perfusion, proper immune status and maternal tolerance, etc. Should we all be taking stress as a mitigator more seriously?

Conception is a process - Or...don't microwave your dinner

2010-09-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Process

Conception, pregnancy and parturition are a process. One definition of process is “a series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result”. Any natural process is better in every way than an artificial one. A good example is cooking. There is the process of cooking which is a slow, mindful act and there is microwave cooking which is basically a non-participatory act without natural process. There is no relationship between the chef and the outcome of the meal. Which meal tastes better? And, which is healthier to eat?

The process of conception is quite complicated and requires the perfect balance and function of many components all working in a coordinated and harmonious fashion. Sperm must be attracted to egg, it must find the egg, and it must penetrate the egg. The egg has be high quality and so too must be the sperm. The lining must have qualitative integrity. The embryo must find the lining and must be able to penetrate it. The placenta must develop and nourish the developing fetus and rid the fetus of waste matter. The placenta must protect the fetus from immunological attack. The cytokines, proteins, immune function, blood flow, gycoproteins, hormones must all be in balance and not under or over functioning. There must be absence of pathological mitigators which can contribute to infertility or promote miscarriage. Each and every player in the orchestra of conception must be in tune. One sour note and pregnancy will not occur or miscarriage will ensue.

Chinese medicine which consists mainly of acupuncture and herbal medicine does not work by adding to that which is deficient or reducing that which is in excess; Western medicine is good at that. For example, a common practice in treating a deficiency syndrome, i.e., hypothyroidism is to ADD synthroid. Or a common method at reducing excess insulin is by prescribing Metformin. These medicines which add or suppress or reduce have changed the face of civilization. Without the intervention of Western medicine and surgery our life-span would probably not exceed 40 years of age and three million babies would not have been born as a result of IVF. How many couples however, have remained childless even though they have undergone multiple IVFs? I am guessing more than three million.

Here is why: Just as a microwave oven can cook a meal, IVF can create a baby. But, as the microwave does not supplant the relationship between the chef and the food and the process of creating a meal, IVF cannot, in all its glory, in all cases, replace the natural process which is necessary to occur for conception and a take-home-baby to ensue.

The alternative

Acupuncture and herbal medicine are essentially used to create a state as close to homeostasis as possible. Homeostasis is when everything in the body and mind work perfectly. Obviously, this is impossible. But, acupuncture and herbs attempt this and by attempting it a greater state of systemic and psycho-emotional health is achieved. This is why, in many cases, acupuncture and herbs work to help one achieve pregnancy when IVF fails. Because the greater one’s physical and psycho-emotional health is, the more likely that they will be able to conceive.

Based upon fourteen years of clinical experience in the field of infertility it is my professional opinion that the best case scenario for the infertile patient is to utilize Western medicine in conjunction with acupuncture and herbal medicine. The reason for this is quite simple. When the reproductive endocrinologist retrieves eggs and fertilizes them with sperm the resulting embryo is as good as its constituent components, egg and sperm. Most IVFs that fail do so because of poor egg quality and/or poor sperm quality. The reproductive endocrinologist cannot improve egg or sperm quality; acupuncture and herbs frequently can.

Blood

I saw a thirty four year old patient today. She has conceived three times with intercourse only to miscarry each time. She did get pregnant and delivered a baby as a result of insemination. She had one subsequent failed IVF. Now her doctor recommends donor egg with IVF. The patient has cold hands and feet, a pale complexion, low energy and gets dizzy. Obviously she has poor hemodynamics. Blood is what carries FSH and LH from the brain to the ovaries; blood nourishes the endometrial lining; blood carries oxygen, electrolytes and nutrition to the entire reproductive system and removes waste matter from the reproductive environment. When cells die which they constantly do, they are ‘eaten’ up by macrophages. If the immune function is not functioning normally and debris are not removed, the outer layer of the dead cells breach and the internal toxic substance circulates within the ovarian milieu causing degradation in ovarion/egg quality. Acupuncture and herbal medicine increase blood flow and as a result, can, in many instances, improve the target tissue, the ovaries and endometrial lining.

Why are you not using acupuncture and herbs?

It is difficult for me to understand why all infertile patients don’t include acupuncture and herbal medicine in their protocols. Why would they not? There has been so much research elucidating the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of infertility that acupuncture is no longer referred to as ‘alternative’ medicine but rather ‘complementary’ medicine. Herbs have a three-thousand year history of positive clinical outcomes.

Herb safety

Regarding the safety profile of herbs I have this to say: there are at least one million hospitalizations per year in America alone which occur as a result of bad reaction to Western medicine. Many of these hospitalizations result in death. This does not happen with herbal medicine.

It is ironic therefore, that many (but no longer all!) doctors don’t want their patients on herbs because “they don’t know what’s in them”. Do you know what’s in Lupron? Or Gonal F? Did you know that ovarian hyper stimulation even from clomid can be fatal?

Don’t misunderstand, I am 100% pro IUI, IVF and donor egg-IVF protocols. But to not partake of a modality with proven results which may change the course from a negative outcome to a positive one especially in the patient who has had multiple IUI/IVF failures is a clinical error.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac.

My Florida Vacation

2010-08-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

My son and I went to Florida together for vacation. He is 15 years old. This is the first time that we have gone away - just the two of us.
My good friend, the esteemed Dr. Stuart Zoll, one of the first acupuncturists to practive in the U.S., offered us the use of his home while we were there.

First of all, he doesn't have a home, he has a palace. The Zoll Retreat we called it.

Each and every morning upon awakening we found coffee on the pot, fruit in the bowl, juice in the pitcher and love in the air.

We were given a car for unlimited use and keys to the palace.
We had the most wonderful time in large part due to the incredible hospitality of our most giving and loving host, Dr. Stuart Zoll.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Stu.

Your love and graciousness made our trip a noteworthy one.
Love and gratitude.

mike and noah

The Ego of Reproductive Medicine

2010-08-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

"Put 3 docs in a room and you'll get 4 opinions". Mine: "Put 3 RE's in a room and you'll get 200 opinions".

Some believe in immunological mitigators of infertility, some dont; some believe in miscarriage caused by thrombophilic disease, some don't. Some use Metformin to improve egg quality in the absence of PCOS or hyperinsulinemia or hyperandrogenism and no obesity. Some use prednisone instead of intralipid tx. Some use DHEA with every patient. Some believe that the sole cause of infertility is bacterial invation. Can't we share experiences and see HOW to effectively use treatments based on each others experiences? NO. WHY? EGO!

Visualization improves fertility!

2010-08-26T04:37:00.000-07:00

Applying Visualization to Fertility

In 1971, Dr. O. Carl Simonton, a radiologist at the University of Texas met a 61-year old patient who had advanced throat cancer with a very poor prognosis. The patient was so weak that it seemed highly unlikely that he would respond well to radiation, the standard therapy for his condition.
In desperation, Dr. Simonton suggested the man try visualization as a means of enhancing his radiation therapy. While visualizing the cancer cells as vividly as possibly, he imagined his white blood cells successfully ridding the cancer. For him, he saw his cancer cells being swept clean from his system leaving only healthy cells behind. He went home with instructions to repeat this visualization throughout the day, every day.

In a few weeks, his tumor seemed to be shrinking and he was virtually free of side effects from his radiation therapy. After 2 months, his cancer was completely gone.

Naturally, Dr. Simonton was elated but baffled. How could a thought deal so effectively with a cancer cell? The patient went on to effectively deal with arthritis in his leg that kept him from going stream-fishing. Six years later, he was still cancer and arthritis free.

This is the power of the brain to heal.

This is the power of the brain and how we can use visualization to enact this self-healing power. According to Dr. Bernie Siegel, it doesn't matter if you direct it to heart-disease, cancer, arthritis, or infertility - it works on all aspects of our health.

This is the underpinning of our work and programming for Circle+Bloom. Applying this brain-visualization power to the reproductive system. This is why our programs follow the cycle as closely as possible. We move inward and visualize what is happening - or should be happening - on a daily basis.
After watching both my parents die of cancer at the hands of modern medicine, I find a bittersweet solace when I hear these types of stories. But at the same time it strengthens my resolve that we need to educate and teach everyone that this self-healing is a powerful tool we can all use no matter what stage of our life we are in.

I endorse this wonderful company! Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM

Stress reduces fertility

2010-08-19T03:44:00.000-07:00

Click on the title 'Stress reduces fertility' and watch!
Acupuncture reduces stress. Therefore acupuncture increases pregnancy outcomes. Simple enough!

The Berkley Center is Opening in Long Island!

2010-08-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

First Holistic Fertility Center on Long Island

East Coast Fertility is pleased to announce starting October 4th, 2010, in association with The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness, they will be the first Center on Long Island to offer an East meets West approach to fertile wellness.

While East Coast Fertility will continue to provide state-of-the-art high tech fertility care, The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness will be providing acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, and clinical counseling to help enhance your experience.

Mike Berkley, the Director of Complementary Medicine Services, is the first acupuncturist in the U.S. to devote his practice solely to the care of those faced with fertility challenges. East Coast Fertility is pleased to welcome The Berkley Center to their home!

Please call 516-204-7149 to schedule your first appointment for complementary medicine services at East Coast Fertility.

Rising infertility in men linked to pollution

2010-06-22T07:07:00.001-07:00

Published in: Legalbrief Environmental
Date: Tue 22 June 2010
Category: General
Issue No: 0168

The Cape Argus notes that there is growing concern that environmental pollution may be behind increasing male infertility.

The Southern African Society for Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecological Endoscopy is compiling data from all the fertility clinics throughout the country. Dr Klaus Wiswedel, of the Cape Fertility Clinic, said they were seeing 1 200 to 1 500 male patients a year. A list of harmful pollutants that carried a risk for sperm production included an increase of lead and toxic fumes in the atmosphere, xeno-oestrogens (female hormones of plant origin) in factory-produced meats and chicken, plus an increase in the use of pesticides such as organophosphates (most of which are outlawed globally but still used here) and use of plastic wrappings. Puberty was another time when males were vulnerable to these environmental factors, the report quotes Wisdewel as saying.

Daily sex helps to reduce sperm DNA damage and improve fertility

2010-06-22T06:18:00.001-07:00

Published: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 - 08:38 in Health & Medicine

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Daily sex (or ejaculating daily) for seven days improves men's sperm quality by reducing the amount of DNA damage, according to an Australian study presented today (Tuesday) to the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam.

Until now there has been no evidence-based consensus amongst fertility specialists as to whether or not men should refrain from sex for a few days before attempting to conceive with their partner, either spontaneously or via assisted reproduction.

Dr David Greening, an obstetrician and gynaecologist with sub specialist training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Sydney IVF, Wollongong, Australia, said: "All that we knew was that intercourse on the day of ovulation offered the highest chance of pregnancy, but we did not know what was the best advice for the period leading up to ovulation or egg retrieval for IVF.

"I thought that frequent ejaculation might be a physiological mechanism to improve sperm DNA damage, while maintaining semen levels within the normal, fertile range."

To investigate this hypothesis, Dr Greening studied 118 men who had higher than normal sperm DNA damage as indicated by a DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI). Men who had a more than 15% of their sperm (DFI >15%) damaged were eligible for the trial. At Sydney IVF, sperm DNA damage is defined as less than 15% DFI for excellent quality sperm, 15-24% DFI for good, 25-29% DFI for fair and more than 29% DFI for poor quality; but other laboratories can have slightly different ranges.

The men were instructed to ejaculate daily for seven days, and no other treatment or lifestyle changes were suggested. Before they started, levels of DNA damage ranged between 15% and 98% DFI, with an average 34% DFI when measured after three days' abstinence. When the men's sperm was re-assessed on the seventh day, Dr Greening found that 96 men (81%) had an average 12% decrease in their sperm DNA damage, while 22 men (19%) and an average increase in damage of nearly 10%. The average for the whole group dropped to 26% DFI.

Dr Greening said: "Although the mean average was 26% which is in the 'fair' range for sperm quality, this included 18% of men whose sperm DNA damage increased as well as those whose DNA damage decreased. Amongst the men whose damage decreased, their average dropped by 12% to just under 23% DFI, which puts them in the 'good' range. Also, more men moved into the 'good' range and out of the 'poor' or 'fair' range. These changes were substantial and statistically highly significant.

"In addition, we found that although frequent ejaculation decreased semen volume and sperm concentrations, it did not compromise sperm motility and, in fact, this rose slightly but significantly.

"Further research is required to see whether the improvement in these men's sperm quality translates into better pregnancy rates, but other, previous studies have shown the relationship between sperm DNA damage and pregnancy rates.

"The optimal number of days of ejaculation might be more or less than seven days, but a week appears manageable and favourable. It seems safe to conclude that couples with relatively normal semen parameters should have sex daily for up to a week before the ovulation date. In the context of assisted reproduction, this simple treatment may assist in improving sperm quality and ultimately achieving a pregnancy. In addition, these results may mean that men play a greater role in infertility than previously suspected, and that ejaculatory frequency is important for improving sperm quality, especially as men age and during assisted reproduction cycles."

Dr Greening said he thought the reason why sperm quality improved with frequent ejaculation was because the sperm had a shorter exposure in the testicular ducts and epididymis to reactive oxygen species – very small molecules, high levels of which can damage cells. "The remainder of the men who had an increase in DFI might have a different explanation for their sperm DNA damage," he concluded.

Source: European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology

Male Infertility

2010-06-21T05:53:00.000-07:00

The integrity of sperm DNA is essential for the transmission of the father’s gene contribution.

Tests which show an increased fraction of sperm DNA fragmentation often correlates to other sperm pathologies such as poor motility, count and morphology. Most reproductive endocrinology clinics do not test for sperm DNA fragmentation even when the patient presents with poor sperm parameters.

As in all areas of medicine, there is internecine battling going on between physicians as to the meaning and the effect of sperm DNA fragmentation on male fertility.

Some doctors completely disagree with its relevancy as a contributor to male infertility; some physicians accept its contribution but don’t know what to do with the findings; others think that the only real detriment to the quality of sperm rendered by DNA fragmentation is the sperms inability to penetrate the egg and they think that injecting the sperm into the egg (ICSI) effectively deals with the problem. It does not.

Sperm DNA fragmentation has a far reaching effect on fertility and surpasses the mere diminished ability of sperm to penetrate egg.

Some studies show that with higher percentages of sperm DNA fragmentation, there are increased correlations in spontaneous abortions. The proportion of patients with abnormal sperm DNA integrity is higher in couples with spontaneous miscarriage. This is not surprising as a good embryo is nothing other than the combination of a good egg with a good sperm and sperm with DNA fragmentation is not good sperm.

In sperm without DNA fragmentation the DNA is protected from damage while being transported through both the male and female reproductive tracts; if there is damage to the DNA then impaired fertility is an obvious consequence.

Causes of DNA fragmentation are many and varied ranging from genetic anomalies to reactive oxygen species due to white blood cell (leukocyte) infiltration), as well as vericoceles.

As DNA repair systems are less active in the later stages of sperm production, sperm with fragmented DNA can readily reach the ejaculate.

Men that have sperm DNA fragmentation greater than 30% are typically infertile.

Treatment options
Antioxidant therapy

Antioxidants ‘scavenge’ reactive oxygen species and can, in some instances, reduce sperm DNA fragmentation percentages. A n anti oxidant compound which has been shown to be effective in some instances is composed of lycopene 6mg, vitamin E 400IU, vitamin C 100mg, zinc 25mg, selenium 26 mg, folate .5 mg and garlic (available in pill form)1000 mg. This should be taken once daily.

Acupuncture and Herbs

Acupuncture with its ability to stimulate blood which transports oxygen and nutrients to the testes, while carrying debris away from the testes may also be an effective treatment.

Many herbal medicines also have high antioxidant properties and should be included in the treatment regimen.

Combining antioxidant therapy as described above with acupuncture and herbal medicine can potentially reduce sperm DNA fragmentation and increase fertility outcomes in men with high percentages of DNA fragmentation.

Smoking cigarettes and marijuana have been shown to contribute to sperm DNA fragmentation. Elimination of these mitigators may also reduce sperm DNA fragmentation percentages.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac.

Acupuncture improves fertility outcomes

2010-06-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

Check out my new video on what acupuncture can treat from the perspective of reproductive pathology.

Click on the title 'Acupuncture improves fertility outcomes'

The Male Contribution to Viable Embryos

2010-05-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Centriole definition: a structure found in the cell cytoplasm (cytoplasm: all of the contents outside of the nucleus and enclosed within the cell membrane of a cell) that plays a role in embryo development.

Sperm centrioles were traced from fertilization to the hatching blastocyst stage. The sperm centriole is introduced into the egg at fertilization.

As the male and female aspects of the developing embryo (called pro nuclei) fuse (called syngamy) to become a shared environment of both male and female DNA, centrioles play a pivotal role in cell division (cleavage) of the embryo.

This division, when the embryo goes from a single cell organism to a two cell organism to a four cell organism to an eight cell organism to a sixteen cell organism is called mitosis or cleavage.

Sperm centrioles were detected at all stages of embryonic cleavage from the 1-cell through 8-cell stages, right up to the hatching blastocyst stage.

It is evident that the sperm centrosome ( formed from centrioles and having to do with cell division) is the functional active centrosome in humans, while the female is inactive.

Did you know? Embryos having 7-9 cells on day 3 have an increased chance of developing to the blastocyst stage. A blastocyst is a 5 day embryo and is considered to be of significant quality.

Embryos with <7 cells or >9 cells are less likely to make it to the blastocyst stage.1

My question is this: if a woman consistently produces 4 or 6 cell embryos during a stimulated IVF cycle is it not possible that the male partner’s sperm has some ultra structural defect whereupon centriole quality is subfunctional?

Since we know that the male contribution of healthy centrioles is necessary to facilitate cleavage of embryos to the blastocyst stage, it is my ardent recommendation that male partners of all women who are trying to conceive should also be treated with acupuncture and herbs.

Even when the male partner presents within the normal range for volume, count, morphology and motility, centriole health cannot be easily determined.

Case: A female patient has 15 eggs retrieved during an IVF cycle; 10 fertilize, and 7 survive. She has 7, day 3 embryos ranging in size from 6 to 10 cells with zero fragmentation and a healthy10mm endometrial lining. The reproductive endocrinologist transfers three of these beautiful embryos and the cycle fails.

Why? We do not know for sure: it could be that the embryos were chromosomally abnormal. This can be due to chromosomally abnormal eggs or sperm. It can also be due to the fact that the male centriole health and function were not optimal. This may be considered a ‘hidden’ cause of infertility.

The use of acupuncture and certain herbal medicines can vigorously stimulate blood flow to the testicles carrying oxygen and nutrients, as well as hormones from the brain, as well as electrolytes, while simultaneously carrying debris or dead cells away from the testicles.

This increased delivery of the ‘good’ and increased excretion of the ‘bad’ may improve ultra structural properties of the sperm including centriole quality and function and thereby improve embryo quality and help facilitate cleavage to the blastocyst stage and thereby potentiate take home baby rates.

Summary: It is my opinion, based on clinical experience, that both partners should be treated with acupuncture and herbal medicine when wishing to start or grow a family and is having difficulty doing so.

1. Alikani M, Caulderon G, Tomkin G, et al. Cleavage anomalies in early human embryos for transfer after in vitro fertilization. Human Reprod 1997; 12(7): 1545-1549

Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine and How it Helps in the Treatment of Endometriosis

2010-05-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

Endometriosis is a very painful condition that affects women; the condition can lead to multiple health related issues. Instead of using traditional forms of medicine some women prefer treating the condition with acupuncture and herbal medicine. The treatments offered vary upon the level of severity as well as a woman’s future plans to have children.

Typically women between the ages of 25 to 35 are diagnosed with endometriosis, but it can occur at different stages of a women’s life. Once a month the ovaries produce hormones that cause the cells of the uterine lining to increase in number and plan for a fertilized egg. The specific cells that cause this are called endometrial cells. They should only grow inside the uterus, when they begin to grow outside of the uterus the condition is referred to as endometriosis.

This condition causes a woman a great deal of pain and can also produce scars on the ovaries, tubes, and area surrounding the pelvis. It can also lead to chronic pelvic pain, development of large cysts in the pelvis, and infertility. A doctor may provide many options for treatment such as: surgery, hysterectomy, and medication. Not all women wish to take drugs or have an invasive operation such as a surgical procedure. For women that wish to have children at some point a hysterectomy is not an option, so they search for possible alternatives such as herbal medicine and acupuncture.

Herbal medicines and acupuncture are often used collectively to not only treat the physical conditions but the mental, emotional, and spiritual conditions as well. Acupuncture has been practiced in China for thousands of years, its use in America started around the 1970s. One of the most common uses for acupuncture in America is for pain treatment.

An acupuncturist inserts small sterile needles into specific points of the body based on the purpose for the treatment. Common locations where the needles are inserted for the treatment of endometriosis are the back, legs, feet, ears, wrists, and abdomen. The amount of time that the needles will be inserted vary on the severity of the condition, typically they remain in place for 20 to 40 minutes. It is believed that acupuncture treats endometriosis by balancing hormone levels, increasing circulation, and reducing pain by boosting the amount of endorphins produced by the body.

Herbal medicine is one of the premier forms of medicine. Typically medicinal plants are used internally and externally to treat a patient and restore their health. Herbalists base their methods on the traditional use of a specific plant as well breakthroughs in modern science. There are many different plants that may be used for the treatment of endometriosis such as: horsetail, cramp bark, burdock, wild yam, motherwort, and dandelion. These plants as well as others are used to help rebalance hormones and increase the strength of the immune system so the body can naturally fight endometriosis.

Like most medicines and treatments the use of acupuncture and herbs may take some time to produce results. When a woman chooses acupuncture or herbal medicine they should only be performed under the careful watch of an acupuncturist or herbalist. For women that suffer from endometriosis, acupuncture and herbal medicine offer an alternative to surgical procedures and drugs produced in a lab.

New Mind Body Approach at The Berkley Center

2010-05-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness Announces a Complete Mind Body approach to Fertile Wellness

Extend the benefits of acupuncture using advanced mind-body visualizations.

Only 15 Minutes a Day to Improved Fertility, Health and a Relaxed Pregnancy.

For all stages of trying-to-conceive as well as conception, Circle + Bloom has created an enjoyable and simple-to-use relaxation and mind-body program that gives back your control over your fertility, health and pregnancy.

We have decided to integrate the Circle + Bloom Meditations as part of your acupuncture experience.

Like a hand in a glove....acupuncture and mind-body guided visualizations go together so perfectly well!

Circle+Bloom have created an exciting product line that leverages your innate powers of self-healing using visualizations in a method that is both enjoyable and easy to use.

So the next time you come in for a visit, you will be handed an Apple iPod pre-filled with all of Circle + Bloom's programming, including their newly released IVF / IUI Mind-Body Program.

You select which session to listen to according to where you are in your cycle and while you are being treated, go on a wonderful enjoyable journey inside your mind and body to be further grounded, more relaxed and improve your probability for success.

Another innovative experience brought to you by
The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness.

The Berkley Method

2010-05-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

At The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness all patients are treated twice weekly with acupuncture until pregnancy is achieved. Once pregnancy is confirmed we treat with acupuncture twice weekly for thirteen weeks as 90% of miscarriages occur within the first twelve weeks. Acupuncture can help to reduce the occurrence of miscarriage.

It is best to have ongoing treatment with acupuncture and herbs for a period of three to four months before your IVF-embryo transfer, or IUI, but we see patients at various times in their IVF cycle.

Of course we also treat patients who seek support on their journey to family with an all natural approach.

We do recommend taking our proprietary herbal formulas even when you are taking reproductive medicine. We have seen good outcomes by combining both types of medicine without any deleterious effect.

The purpose of gonadotropins and other medications used during an IVF cycle are to stimulate the development of multiple follicles. The success or failure of your IVF cycle depends in great measure on the quality of sperm, egg and lining. It is the purpose of acupuncture and herbal medicine, when treating the patient who is trying to conceive, to improve egg, sperm and lining quality when necessary. Therefore, one can see that acupuncture and herbal medicine fill a significant gap which, to date, has not been addressed by Western reproductive medicine.

If you have a history of second or third trimester miscarriage we will continue to treat you throughout your entire pregnancy to help prevent miscarriage. The treatment will consist of a combination of acupuncture and herbal medicine.

We recommend that all of our patients take DHEA 75mg/day for three months prior to IVF as pregnancy rates seem to be higher in patients who follow this protocol.

We do not give pregnant patients herbal medicine unless they have a history of miscarriage. If they do, we recommend herbal medicine as herbs can sometimes be effective in preventing miscarriages. There have been no studies to date which show any harmful side-effects from herbs to either the mother or the baby.

We also recommend massage at the frequency of one session per week. Massage helps to stimulate blood flow to the pelvic environment and significantly reduces stress. All of our licensed massage therapists are fully trained in pre and post natal massage.

The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness does an excellent job in seamlessly coordinating your care with acupuncture, herbs, massage and the protocol of treating with acupuncture pre and post embryo transfer. We are open seven days per week to accommodate those patients seeking acupuncture pre and post embryo transfer.

Receiving acupuncture pre and post embryo transfer, according to several studies, increases pregnancy rates.

Mike Berkley, Licensed Acupuncturist and Board Certified Herbalist is the Founder and Director of The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness, established in 1997. Mike is the first practitioner in the United States to devote a complementary medicine practice to the care and treatment of those faced with the difficult challenge of infertility.

Continuity of practice, continued study and thirteen years of clinical experience: strictly in the field of reproductive medicine, is the foundation for the successes that many of Mike’s patients frequently experience.

Mike spends some of his time lecturing to other acupuncturists throughout the nation on how to best utilize acupuncture and herbal medicine to treat those faced with fertility challenges.

Mike works with patients of any age and with any FSH level. He believes that every woman deserves a chance.

Got Questions? Get Answers. Get a ‘Third Opinion’ - FREE

2010-04-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

A patient that I frequently encounter is a frustrated patient.

Patients are frustrated because they don’t understand what their doctors have told them and often can’t get a clear answer because their doctors just don’t have time to provide explanations.

Patients are frustrated because they don’t know which IVF clinic is right for them.

They are frustrated because they are not sure how to find an acupuncturist/herbalist who is an expert in the field of reproductive medicine.

They are frustrated because there is no one to talk to, or to bounce ideas off of about their situation, no ‘third opinion if you will.

They are frustrated because they feel alone in the vast world of reproductive medicine.

I want to give something back to the community of couples who are having difficulty conceiving and who are essentially alone and without proper information. I want to empower through knowledge.

I provide a ‘third opinion.’

The purpose of the ‘third opinion’ is to provide you and your partner with clarity about what it is that you are going through, and to help you become aware of your options; to give you both the opportunity to ask questions and to get clear and concise answers.

If you are confused and overwhelmed when you arrive, you will leave with clarity. Then you will be in the unique position of being able to make informed decisions about how to best proceed.

This is a free service. It is my gift to you. My payment is derived by the gratification that I experience by being of service to you and your partner.

I am uniquely qualified to offer this service as I have been treating infertility for 13 years and have acquired a vast amount of knowledge in Western reproductive medicine and I am a leading expert in the field of complementary reproductive medicine. I am one of the few acupuncturists in the United States who studies both Chinese and Western reproductive medicine extensively.

The ‘third opinion’ service is free. I offer it because I want to help.

‘Third Opinion’ sessions must be scheduled as they are by appointment only. The length of the sessions can be up to an hour long.

‘Third Opinion’ sessions are available on Saturdays or Sundays from 9:00AM until 12:00pm. They are free.

Schedule your ‘Third Opinion’ session by calling 212-685-0985.

My Mission is to help couples create families or grow their families with the least amount of stress by providing state-of-the-art information to inform and empower, and to provide natural medical solutions to complement high tech approaches.

I also provide an opportunity for you and your partner to travel the journey to family via a completely natural, safe and drug free approach utilizing proven methods of acupuncture and herbal medicine protocols.

I have been studying, teaching and practicing complementary reproductive medicine for 13 years. I am the first in the United States to do so. You are in good hands with me.

I look forward to being of service to you and your partner and to helping to make your transformation from patient to parent a little easier, a little less stressful and a lot more supported.

In service and in gratitude…

Mike Berkley, L.Ac.
212-685-0985

The best of the best in complementary reproductive medicine

2010-04-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

I was invited to speak on the Chinese medcial approach to the treatment of endometriosis in New Mexico by the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

I had an opportunity to mingle with the best-of-the-best in modern day practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine experts-in-reproductive disorders.

These elite group included: Ray Rubio, Stuart Zoll, Sadhna Singh, Dagmar Ehling, Diane Cridenda, Gerald Williams, Kirstin Karchmer and Caylie See. Paul Magarelli, M.D., Reproductive Endocrinologist was also very much there and participating in educating, supporting and facilitating. I also met Sabine Wilms, scholar and translator of Classical Chinese medicine works. Her most recent contribution is a translation of 3 volumes of gynecological writings the famous doctor by Sun Si Miao. I have already purchased this tome. It is available from CM-DB.Com.

Being with this group of wonderful 'Fellows' is always inspiring; this is the crem-de-la-crem of TCM reproductive medicine practitioners currently practicing in the U.S.

It was an honor for me to be counted among them.

If you want more information on any of these brilliant practitioners, please visit www.aborm.org

Warmest wishes and love to all my ABORM colleagues and thank you all for your amazing and never-ending contribution to this field.

PS: If I left out any names above, please forgive me; you know how I drink!

Love and best wishes.
Mike Berkley, L.Ac.
Founder and Director, The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness
212-685-0985
berkleycenter.com

Herbs for Fertility

2010-04-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

No woman wants to find out that they are going to have problems getting pregnant but every year more and more women find out that this is the case for them. If you are sadly one of those girls you should always remember that there’s hope and because you are having problems doesn’t mean that you can never conceive a kid. There is a lot of female infertility information out there if you just know where to look for it and you may be surprised at what you find out.

There are plenty of ladies who thru using the female infertility information that they find really finish up becoming pregnant later down line. While there are medical treatments available, not many people have any sort of infertility insurance to cover the costs. This implies that a large amount of the money is going to come out of your own pocket which may be anywhere from 5 to 10 thousand greenbacks over the course of a year. For most people, this is a big chunk of money and something that cannot be afforded. If you are one of those people who simply cannot afford the expensive treatments then you could always try your own treatments.

There is a lot of female infertility information out there that shows that you can use some home remedies or herbal mixtures to finally get pregnant. While the medical community hasn’t officially asserted that these work, there are a large amount of folk out there who are converts of it. Start searching the web and you will be surprised at all of the female infertility information that you find. Search blogs and such to see what other ladies in an identical scenario did and how it worked well for them. Something crucial to bear in mind though is that what worked for the girl on the opposite side of the country may not work for you.

3 more moms!

2010-04-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased to report that The Berkley Center has helped three women conceive NATURALLY in the month of March with acupuncture and herbal medicine. And...they are all still preggers!

Mike Berkley, L.Ac. is in the News!

2010-04-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

Many within the field of assisted reproductive technology have embraced this 3,000 year old practice and the trend of East Meets West IVF clinics is becoming popular nationwide. One such integrated practice is Batzofin Fertility Services in New York City. According to Joel Batzofin, M.D. "There is a myriad of ways to travel the road to fertility success, and everyone's situation is unique". The location of Batzofin's practice is adjacent to The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness, where TCM and acupuncture are administered to infertility patients.

A new poem...For My Son

2010-03-31T08:18:00.001-07:00

Can I write about a boy whose blood surges through my veins
whose heart pumps in my chest as a ferocious wind

May I write about a young man whose blue eyes pierce through darkness and
spread gold on shadows and transforms sins of the world – is this not profound?

I’d like to write about my son who makes my breath shallow and makes my heart pound

I must have his spirit close like a good suit of clothes and a handsome vest

I must write about the gift of joy that I receive every minute from my son, my very, very best

But write I cannot as the desk I sit at is splintering under the weight of my love

Buddhism & Albert Einstein

2010-03-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sence arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.
...If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

-Albert Einstein

Reproductive Medicine & Herbal Medicine

2010-03-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Your reproductive endocrinologist will not want you to take herbs when you are trying to conceive.

This speaks well of your reproductive endocrinologist because he or she doesn't know anything about herbs and therefore is afraid that they may be harmful to you or to your cycle. He or she has your best interest in mind; they are trying to protect you.

As I am sure that you are aware, there are many acupuncturists/herbalists who don't want you to take Western reproductive medicine. This speaks well of your acupuncturist/herbalist because he or she doesn't know anything about Western medicine and therefore is afraid that they may be harmful to you or to your cycle. He or she has your best interest in mind; they are trying to protect you.

"What we think we know prevents us from learning."

Western reproductive medicine when prescribed by a trained expert is completely safe. I am not aware of any deaths occurring as a result of taking reproductive medicine nor am I aware of an increase in cancer risk when using reproductive medicine within the appropriate guide-lines.

Herbal medicine when prescribed by a trained expert is completely safe. I am not aware of any deaths occurring as a result of taking herbal medicine nor am I aware of an increase in cancer risk when using herbal medicine within the appropriate guide-lines.

Reproductive endocrinologists are experts in a field of medicin, the aim of which is to assist infertile couples to start or grow their families.

Acupuncturists/herbalist who specialize in the treatment of complementary reproductive medicine are experts in a field of medicine, the aim of which is to assist infertile couples to start or grow their families.

"What we think we know prevents us from learning." What reproductive endocrinologists think they know is that herbs are not safe. It is this closed-minded ignornace that keeps them from learning the truth which is that herbal medicine has been used for more than 2500 years to help infertile patients start or grow their families.

"What we think we know prevents us from learning." What acupuncturists/herbalists think they know is that Western reproductive medicine is not safe. It is this closed-minded ignornace that keeps them from learning the truth which is that Western reproductive medicine since it's inception has been responsible for the birth of approximately three million babies.

What reproductive endocrinologists and acupuncturists/herbalists who specilize in complementary reproductive medicine need to learn is that when any medicine is provided to a patient by an expert in their field that expert should be respected and trusted unless there is a reason not to.

What reproductive endocrinologists and acupuncturists/herbalist who specilize in complementary reproductive medicine need to learn is that by combining both modalities of intervention outcomes are improved and patient satisfaction is met or exceeded.

If you are interested in seeking treatment from an acupuncturist/herbalist who has advanced training in complementary reproductive medicine please visit http://www.aborm.org

This way you will know that you are being cared for by an expert in the field of complementary reproductive medicine.

Until the field of reproductive medicine embraces an East meets West approach to care, patients will not be as successful as they could be.

I propose to acupuncturists/herbalists who specialize in complementary reproductive medicine that you try and learn as much as you can about Western reproductive medicine so your ignorance will be destroyed by the light that comes from the acquisition of knowledge.

I propose to reproductive endocrinologists that you try and learn as much as you can about herbal medicine so your ignorance will be destroyed by the light that comes from the acquisition of knowledge.

We all seek the same thing: to help infertile couples start or grow their families.

It is through potentiating the power of our respective modalities of intervention that service to our respective patients will be improved.

Potentiation may be achieved by working together as a team.

Let's leave our egos where they belong: in the void; lets join forces so that together we can facilitate improved outcomes and more effectively serve our patients.

A new poem...'Blues'

2010-03-26T15:40:00.001-07:00

alone. blues biting at my bones
cold and hard and taking me for all I’m for
i wipe the blues to the dusty floor
whole now and stronger too
present and fully accounted for
in transition from blue to renew
free again. and reborn too

Mike Berkley

New Protocols for Pregnant Patients

2010-03-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

You’re Pregnant. Congratulations! Now What?

I have developed three separate protocols for women who are pregnant.

The first thing to be aware of is that any pregnant patient is always at risk for miscarriage.

The Miscarriage Prevention Protocol
I treat my pregnant patients’ twice weekly with acupuncture. Additionally, I prescribe special miscarriage prevention herbs. You are under my care for thirteen weeks. The reasoning behind this is statistically sound: 90% of miscarriages occur within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The use of acupuncture and herbal medicine assists in preventing miscarriage that is not due to chromosomal anomalies. One reason for miscarriage other than aneuploidy (chromosomal problems), is lack of blood flow to the embryo and then, later on, to the placenta. Acupuncture and herbal medicine addresses this issue by stimulating blood flow first to the embryo, and then, later on, to the placenta, ensuring proper delivery of oxygen and nutrition to the developing fetus.

Another reason for miscarriage is that sometimes the body attacks the embryo or the placenta. This occurs when women have certain types of autoimmune disorders. As acupuncture and herbal medicine are frequently able to regulate immune function, these women’s pregnancies are often saved due to the inclusion of acupuncture and herbs.

The Healthy Mom/Healthy Baby Protocol
Under this method of care you are treated throughout your entire pregnancy at the frequency of once weekly and you will also take herbs. The purpose of this protocol is to help maintain your health during pregnancy and to assist in avoidance of possible complications such as pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, gestational diabetes, hyperemesis gravidarum (severe vomiting), etc. Further, the acupuncture and herbal medicine will serve to deliver more blood and more oxygen to your growing baby helping to ensure a beautiful, healthy and well developed child.

The Recovery Protocol
Post partum bleeding, swelling (edema) sweating, lack of energy, depression, weight gain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and lower back pain are not uncommon after delivery.

Through the proper use of acupuncture and herbal medicine, relief may frequently be found for these issues. I typically treat post-partum patients with any of these complaints for a period of two to four months at the frequency of two treatments per week.

IVF & Acupuncture -repsonse to new challenge to efficacy

2010-03-11T06:38:00.001-08:00

It's a Meta Analysis of already published RCT's on Acupuncture/IVF. I'm sure that it includes the "usual suspects", i.e. the same RCT's or at lest most of the ones, that have been looked at in the previous Meta Analysis, i.e. Mannheimer, etc. What's curious of course, is how different PI's can look at the same RCT's for Meta Analysis, and come out of the number crunching with vastly different conclusions.

This has to do with the fact that the strength of any given Meta Analysis relates to the homogeneity of the RCT's looked at within it. Because the published RCT's in Acupuncture and IVF are not very homogeneous in terms of their inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria, controls, STRICTA guidelines, etc., it is very difficult to say for sure whether or not their is a positive, negative, or no effect from Acupuncture in IVF patients. Even Professor Adam Balen (co-author of one of the ABORM Reference Texts (Balen and Jacobs) noted, " patients needed to be aware of the lack of evidence on acupuncture and herbs before signing up to a course of treatment.There was a a great deal of discrepancy, he added, in the way in which the trials were designed and the type of acupuncture used".

Dr. Balen goes on to say, "Any future randomised controlled trials in this area need to ensure that they use a standardised acupuncture method, have a large sample size and include adequate controls to account for any placebo effects".

Therein lies the "rub". Acupuncture is notoriously difficult to control or blind for, and both placebo acupuncture (fake acupuncture needles in real acupoints), and sham acupuncture (real acupuncture needles in "sham" off-channel points) are undoubtedly not inert controls, and therefore the outcomes are muddy.

Perhaps the greatest insight - and one that might point a motivation for this Meta Analysis - was the quote, "But this sometimes comes at a cost which could buy a couple a further cycle of IVF"

Let's face it, there is increasing competition among REI's for patients as the field has increased in number, so any non-conventional therapy or treatment that might compete with that revenue source is going to put under the microscope.

Ray Rubio, DAOM, L. Ac. (FABORM)
President/ABORM
Reproductive Medicine Department Chair/Yo San University DAOM Program

Westlake Complementary Medicine
910 Hampshire Road, Suite A
Westlake Village, CA 91361
Phone: (805) 497-1335
FAX: (805) 497-1336
email: rtoo@earthlink.net

New Study 'Acupuncture Fails to Improve IVF Outcomes'

2010-03-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

Acupuncture has been used to treat infertility for three thousand years usually in conjunction with herbal medicine.

The current study done in the U.K. which states that the studies found no efficacy in helping couples conceive with the addition of acupuncture contradicts a previous study reported by The British Medical Journal. The synopsis of the study follows.

"February 8, 2008

Vittorio Hernandez - AHN News Writer

London, England (AHN) - Seven scientific trials among 1,366 women of different ages who found it difficult to conceive showed that having acupuncture at the same time the embryo was placed inside the womb during an in vitro fertilization procedure more than doubles the chance of the woman becoming pregnant.

The study was made by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the VU University Amsterdam. It compared results of women who underwent acupuncture, those who were given fake needle treatments and those who had no extra therapy.

Those who received acupuncture increased their chances of conceiving by 65 percent, the study said. The British Medical Journal published the result of the medical breakthrough Friday.

While the study did not clearly explain how acupuncture aids fertility, experts theorized it could possibly be the relaxing effect of acupuncture on the IVF procedure, considered extremely stressful.

Compared with repeated fertility treatment cycles which costs $7,785 (4,000 pound) per cycle in Britain, the acupuncture therapy is easier on the pocket.

One percent of births in the U.K. or 11,000 babies out of 32,000 IVF procedures are born every year in the U.K. The findings will be particularly significant for many western nations grappling with dwindling populations."

I have questions as to the new and negative study:
1. Was the acupuncture performed by experts in the field of acupuncture and infertility? This is as important as being treated by a physician who is an expert in the treatment of infertility, i.e., a reproductive endocrinologist, not a generalist.
2. How long was the acupuncture performed pre embryo transfer and at what frequency? Through treating thousands of patients over a span of thirteen years I have found that treating twice weekly for three months prior to IVF ET and twice weekly for 13 weeks post IVF ET is the efficacious protocol.

From my own experience I can share that I have treated thousands of infertile couples, hundreds of whom conceived while under my care but were unsuccessful without it. I have also had many failed cases. This type of outcome is not dissimilar to that of the typical reproductive endocrinologist.

IVF Et fails 65% to 70% of the time. Many of the ‘failed cases’ go on to conceive on their own without assisted reproductive medicine proving that there is more to a successful conception than that which is solely provided by A.R.T. alone.

I urge the readers not to have a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to this recent bad press and think logically about the points that I have elucidated in this article.

The other thing that I’d like to state is that herbal medicine is the medicine which most reproductive endocrinologists tell their patients not to use. Most of my patients use a combination of acupuncture and herbs while under my care and they have successful outcomes frequently. This is not an indication that acupuncture alone won’t help; it obviously does. Want proof? Simply ask the thousands of patients who have conceived with the implementation of acupuncture who did not conceive prior to its use.

My point about the herbs is that without them it is similar to having a reproductive endocrinologist do an IVF ET with a patient using clomid only. Yes; there would be positive outcomes but not nearly as many as would have occurred had the reproductive endocrinologist been allowed to utilize all the tools at her or his disposal.

The use of acupuncture and herbal medicine for fertility treatment has been extant for thousands of years; the first in vitro fertilization techniques occurred in the U.K. in the 1970’s.

There are many Chinese medical books written on the subject. In China today many infertile patients use both Western and Chinese medicine together when treating for infertility and most other disorders. This is typically recommended by the Chinese medical doctor handling the case.

Here is another question which I frequently ponder: the doctor states that the patient has beautiful blastocysts and a perfect lining. The patient does not conceive and the doctor then states “I just don’t understand it.” This speaks to the fact that much of infertility is a mystery and many interventions which are successful are also quite mysterious. For example, there are probably ultra- structural defects in sperm and/or egg which are currently beyond the scope of available diagnostic tools. These defects render the “beautiful blastocyst” not, in fact, not so beautiful.

Perhaps when acupuncture or acupuncture and herbs are included in the protocol, and success manifests it is because the Chinese medicine is addressing these ultra structural defects which Western medicine cannot.

Contrary to this single study, there are many studies all over the internet which attest to the efficacy of acupuncture in the arena of increasing take home babies.

I would also like to say that ALL IVF business is down through the United States because of changing demographics and due to a poor economy. I am wondering if the individuals who were involved in putting this study together might have some financial motives in mind by ‘steering’ more money to their practices. I say this with caution as the reproductive endocrinologists whom I know are all men and women of the highest integrity. But, at the end of the day, IVF is a business.

I always tell my patients to use all legitimate materials they have at their disposal to increase the odds of a successful outcome. These tools include dietary changes, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, herbs, and IUI or IVF when appropriate. I caution those who are willing to give up tools with a history of success in creating families.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM
Founder and Director, The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness

Cigarette Smoking Contributes to Infertility and Miscarriage

2010-03-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

Cigarette Smoking linked to Infertility and Miscarriage

Reproductive cells are vulnerable to genetic damage from smoking, but can be repaired.

In ejaculated spermatozoa, repair capacity declines drastically. This means that that repair is necessary at the time sperm is growing and developing in the testicles.

Smoking leads to chromosome errors which affect reproductive outcomes.
Smoking is associated with reduced numbers of eggs leading to early menopause.

Smoking inhibits embryo fragmentation; inhibition may confer survival advantage to embryos genetically altered. This can lead to pregnancy with impending miscarriage, or children born with cancer or born with genetic defects.

Smoking is associated with low sperm quality. Cadmium (a heavy metal), nicotine (a toxic alkaloid), and its metabolite cotinine, are detectable in testicular and ovarian tissue tissues and fluids in association with smoking. Cotinine incorporates into ovarian granulosa–lutein cells, compromising the developmental potential of follicles. Benzo[a]pyrene is a carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon resulting from cigarette combustion.

Smoking-related cellular products were detectable in ovarian granulosa–lutein cells, eggs, sperm and embryos. Transmission of altered DNA from smoking by sperm was demonstrated in embryos and in association with increased risk of childhood cancer.

We know that cigarette smoking stems in part from anxiety. The satisfaction derived from cigarette smoking is complicated and manifold but nonetheless stems from the need to reduce anxiety.

In 1999, clinical researchers reported that inserting acupuncture needles into specific body points triggers the production of endorphins. In another study, higher levels of endorphins were found in cerebrospinal fluid after patients underwent acupuncture. Endorphins have been shown to reduce anxiety.

Based upon my clinical experience, acupuncture can aid in the cessation of cigarette smoking and thereby serve two purposes: 1) improve the health of the individual and, 2) improve the quality of egg and/or sperm and increase pregnancy outcomes and reduce miscarriage rates as well as aid in the health of the newborn.

If you and your partner are trying to conceive, the cessation of cigarette smoking is of the utmost importance.

At the Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness, a leading fertility center in New York City, we have devised a protocol which confers an approximate 50% cure to cigarette smoking without drugs, nicotine, or other chemicals.

Take a journey and discover...

2010-02-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

How acupuncture can increase your chances of having a baby.
Click the link to find out more...

Peace and blessings on your journey...
mike berkley

Native American Smudging: The Sacred Smoke Bowl Blessing

2010-02-01T06:13:00.000-08:00

Native American Smudging: The Sacred Smoke Bowl Blessing

'Smudging' is the common name given to the "Sacred Smoke Bowl Blessing," a powerful cleansing technique from the Native American tradition. It is a ritual way to cleanse a person, place or an object of negative energies or influences.

The theory behind smudging is that the smoke attaches itself to negative energy and as it clears it takes the negative energy with it, releasing it into another space to be regenerated. Sage is burned in smudging ceremonies to drive out evil spirits, negative thoughts and feelings, and to keep Gan'n (negative entities) away from areas where ceremonials take place.

In the Plains Sweatlodge, the floor of the structure is strewn with sage leaves for the participants to rub on their bodies during the sweat. Sage is also used in keeping sacred objects like pipes or Peyote wands safe from negative influence. In the Sioux nation, the Sacred Pipe is kept in a bundle with sage boughs.

Smudging is very effective when you've been feeling depressed, angry, resentful or unwell or after you have had an argument with someone.

It is also great to smudge yourself, the space and all the guests or participants before a ritual or ceremony or celebration.

You can smudge your own auric field, the spaces of your home, car or work area. You can use smudging to cleanse crystals, gemstones, altars, sacred books, or any other spiritual item.

Different types of herb for different uses:

Sage: Healing, Out with the bad
There are two major genii and several varieties of each genus of Sage that are used for smudging. Salvia, or the herb sage used for cooking, comes in two major varieties: S. Officinalis, commonly known as Garden Sage, and S. Apiana, commonly known as White Sage. Salvia varieties have long been acknowledged as healing herbs, reflected in the fact that its genus name comes from the Latin root word "salvare", which is the verb "to heal" or "to save."

Cedar: Purifying, In with the good
True cedar is of the Thuja and Libocedrus genii. Cedar is burnt while
praying to the Great Spirit (Usen', the Source--also known to Plains nations as Wakan Tanka) in meditation, and also to bless a house before moving in as is the tradition in the Northwest and Western Canada. It works both as a purifier and as a way to attract good energy in your direction, it cleanses and chases away life-negative energies and beings.

Sweetgrass: Blessing, Goodness and Warmth
Sweetgrass is very important to the Sioux and Cherokee nations, its botanical name is Hierochloe Oderata. Used for general blessing--for making a home a warm, inviting place. In these tribes, the sweetgrass is braided like hair. Sweetgrass is burnt after smudging with sage, to welcome in good influences after the bad had been driven out. Cedar can also be safely be used this way. Also Pinon pine needles (used more frequently by the Southwest Teneh, like the Navajo and Apache as well as the Pueblo people and the Zuni) and Copal (used by the Yaqui and in ancient times by the Azteca and the Maya) have similar effects.

Other Ritual or Ceremonial Herbs
Sagebrush (artemesia) is for calling up spirit (empowering) or calling in spirits.

Mugwort stimulates psychic awareness and acts a strong cleanser of negative energies.

Lavender restores balance, and creates a peaceful atmosphere and attracts loving energy.

I have recently begun the ancient ritual of smudging the Berkley Center each morning with Lavender sage to help create a loving energy for patients,practitioners and staff.

Fertility Acupuncture Video

2010-01-27T14:25:00.001-08:00

Watch and learn how The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness combines acupuncture, and herbal medicine to improve pregnancy outcomes.

Finding Peace Within

2010-01-23T04:56:00.000-08:00

A Full Embrace Excluding Nothing

Most people agree that a more peaceful world would be an ideal situation for all living creatures. However, we often seem stumped as to how to bring this ideal situation into being. If we are to have true peace in this world, each one of us must find it in ourselves first. If we don’t like ourselves, for example, we probably won’t like those around us. If we are in a constant state of inner conflict, then we will probably manifest conflict in the world. If we have fighting within our families, there can be no peace in the world. We must shine the light of inquiry on our internal struggles, because this is the only place we can really create change.

When we initiate the process of looking inside ourselves for the meaning of peace, we will begin to understand why it has always been so difficult to come by. This in itself will enable us to be compassionate toward the many people in the world who find themselves caught up in conflicts both personal and universal. We may have an experience of peace that we can call up in ourselves to remind us of what we want to create, but if we are human we will also feel the pull in the opposite direction—the desire to defend ourselves, to keep what we feel belongs to us, to protect our loved ones and our cherished ideals, and the anger we feel when threatened. This awareness is important because we cannot truly know peace until we understand the many tendencies and passions that threaten our ability to find it. Peace necessarily includes, even as it transcends, all of our primal energy, much of which has been expressed in ways that contradict peace.

Being at peace with ourselves is not about denying or rejecting any part of ourselves. On the contrary, in order to be at peace we must be willing and able to hold ourselves, in all our complexity, in a full embrace that excludes nothing. This is perhaps the most difficult part for many of us, because we want so much to disown the negative aspects of our humanity. Ironically, though, true peace begins with a willingness to take responsibility for our humanity so that we might ultimately transform it in the light of our love.

Peace.
mike berkley, Licensed Acupuncturist/Herbalist

Bitterness

2010-01-21T04:32:00.001-08:00

It is natural to feel resentment or anger when life does not unfold as expected. We consciously or unconsciously anticipated one experience, and we grieve for the loss of it when the universe puts something else in our path. Most of the time, we work through these feelings and they pass. Occasionally, our anger and resentment do not fade and are instead transformed into bitterness. Bitter feelings allow us to become perfect victims in that we no longer feel obliged to work toward healing and choose instead to identify with our pain. Yet as unwholesome as bitterness can be, it is also a natural element of our emotional palette. When we acknowledge that it is okay to feel bitter, we reconnect with our hurt in a constructive way and can begin the process of working through it.

The nature of bitterness is rooted in the fact that the pain we feel provides us with a rationale. We may feel that we deserve to embrace our bitterness to its full extent. And to be bitter is, in essence, to cut ourselves off from all that is positive, hardening our hearts and vowing never to let go of our hurt. But just as bitter feelings can be self-defeating, so too can the release of bitterness be life-affirming in a way that few other emotional experiences are. When we decide that we no longer want to be bitter, we are reborn into a world filled with delight and fulfillment unlike any we knew while in the clutches of bitterness. The veil it cast over our lives is lifted, letting light and warmth touch our souls.

Divesting yourself of bitter feelings can be as simple as truly forgiving and moving on. Even when your bitterness has no concrete object, you can forgive situations too. Healing pain can be challenging but may be easier if you remind yourself that you are the only entity truly affected by your emotional state. In time, you will discover that letting go of your bitterness frees you to initiate the healing process and allows you to once again celebrate the possibility of the more wonderful life you deserve.

Peace.
m berkley, L.Ac., FABORM
berkleycenter.com
________________________________________

Baby joy via TCM

2010-01-20T04:34:00.000-08:00

SOME couples struggle to conceive, especially when infertility might be an underlying problem.

And besides undergoing Western fertility treatments, some are turning to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for help.

TCM treatments include herbal remedies and acupuncture, which are meant to bring the body into balance and thus facilitate conception.

But those who turn to TCM should know that TCM isn't a quick fix, said physician Loh Kim Gek, 55.

As with Western medicine, a substantial amount of time and patience may be required before a couple sees a successful result.

With TCM, couples need to undergo at least nine to 12 months of consistent treatment, said Ms Loh, who is one of four physicians at the fertility unit in free clinic Singapore Thong Chai Medical Institution.

Ms Loh, who has more than 20 years of experience, added: "I feel a sense of satisfaction when my patients bring along their babies to meet me. It makes me very happy."

She has helped about 30 per cent of some 900 couples to conceive.

She said that the success rate could have been as high as 50 per cent if some of those couples had stuck to their treatment without giving up halfway.

Although women are traditionally blamed for fertility problems, Ms Loh said that, in seven out of 10 cases, the problem actually lies with the male.

She will give a talk on Saturday to explain how TCM can help to boost fertility, and how one can improve one's constitution. my paper gets her to answer some questions from readers.

Why would TCM be better than Western medicine in fertility treatments?

MS JOEY GWEE, 25

Ms Loh: TCM treatment for gynaecological problems has a long history in China, and has proved to be effective.

To me, TCM and Western medicine serve complementary needs. TCM treats the root problem, while Western medicine tackles the symptoms.

For instance, if you have ovulation problems or problems with the quality of your ovaries, TCM treatment - which comprises Chinese medicine as well as acupuncture - can improve the function of the ovaries. TCM can also help strengthen men's sperm to enable a higher chance of conception.

But if you have problems such as a blockage in your fallopian tube due to ovarian cysts, then I would recommend Western treatment to remove them. My wife and I have been trying to have a baby for two years.

What can we do to improve our chances of conceiving?

MR J. Y. QUEK, 31

Ms Loh: Firstly, you should learn how to be free of worry. When people are anxious, it will affect the quality of a woman's ovaries and the effectiveness of sperm. In my talk, I will share some simple methods for relieving stress.

Secondly, you need to build up your constitution and prevent development of illnesses. Illnesses during the ovulation period can greatly affect conception.

The Wisdom of Surrender

2010-01-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

Relying on Others

Most of us pride ourselves on our self-sufficiency. We like to be responsible for taking care of ourselves and pulling our own weight in the world. This is why it can be so challenging when we find ourselves in a situation in which we have to rely on someone else. This can happen as the result of an illness or an injury, or even in the case of a positive change, such as the arrival of a newborn. At times like these, it is essential that we let go of our feeling that we should be able to do it all by ourselves and accept the help of others.

The first step is accepting the situation fully as it is. Too often we make things worse either by trying to do more than we should or by lapsing into feelings of uselessness. In both cases we run the risk of actually prolonging our dependency. In addition, we miss a valuable opportunity to practice acceptance and humility. The ego resists what is, so when we move into acceptance we move into the deeper realm of the soul. In needing others and allowing them to help us, we experience the full realization that we are not on our own in the world. While this may bring up feelings of vulnerability, a deep feeling of gratitude may also emerge as we open to the experience of being helped. This realization can enable us to be wiser in our service of others when we are called upon to help.

It takes wisdom and strength to surrender to our own helplessness and to accept that we, just like every other human being, have limitations. The gifts of surrender are numerous. We discover humility, gratitude, and a deepening understanding of the human experience that enables us to be that much more compassionate and surrendered in the world.

Peace.
Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM
________________________________________

Dr. David Kreiner of East Coast Fertility has put together your Fertility Resolutions for 2010

2010-01-11T04:39:00.000-08:00

East Coast Fertility's Top 10 New Year's Resolutions for Fertility: Follow These if you are Trying To Conceive

Dr. David Kreiner of East Coast Fertility has put together your Fertility Resolutions for 2010. “Whether you are just starting to think about having a family, or if you’ve been struggling with infertility for some time, the following list can provide some helpful tips,” says Dr. Kreiner. Here are his top 10 suggestions for trying to conceive.

(Vocus/PRWEB ) January 11, 2010 -- Is having a baby at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions? Dr. David Kreiner of East Coast Fertility has put together your Fertility Resolutions for 2010. “Whether you are just starting to think about having a family, or if you’ve been struggling with infertility for some time, the following list can provide some helpful tips,” says Dr. Kreiner. Here are his top 10 suggestions for trying to conceive.

1. Get your health in order now. Before you get pregnant, get a checkup! Get your pap smear done - go to the dentist – have your blood pressure and lipids checked. If you are over 35, get that mammogram done. Go for preconception testing for infectious diseases and hereditary disorders that can affect a baby. Whatever has been on your list, check it off before you get pregnant.

Whether you are just starting to think about having a family, or if you’ve been struggling with infertility for some time, the following list can provide some helpful tips

Whether you are just starting to think about having a family, or if you’ve been struggling with infertility for some time, the following list can provide some helpful tips

Infertility can be extremely stressful on a couple's relationship. It is especially important at this time to support each other and work through any problems together.

2. Make sure your partner is in good health as well. Make sure your partner takes his health seriously as well. Get him to stop smoking since it affects quantity and quality of sperm. Encourage your partner to avoid tight pants and underwear, hot tubs and saunas. Excess heat in the testicular region affects sperm production.

3. Consult with your doctor about any medications you are taking. You never know what might get in the way of your fertility and hinder conception. Have your partner check with his doctor as well. Visit Dr. Kreiner’s blog to find out more about how specific medications may affect fertility.

4. Pay attention to your nutrition and exercise regime. Your weight can affect ovulation and preparation of your uterine lining either because it is too high or too low. If you are overweight, get on a healthy diet and exercise. If you are underweight, try to increase your body weight. Some experts recommend eating more organic foods especially chicken, meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Others may tell you to limit your carbohydrate and caffeine intake. Consult with your doctor about what foods are best for you and if you should start taking prenatal vitamins.

5. You and your partner should stop smoking. Cigarettes can affect a woman’s ovarian hormone production and egg development. In males, they can affect the quantity and quality of sperm. Quit now to avoid harm to your reproductive health.

6. Find ways to diminish stress. Stress can affect your health and physiology in a negative way. Go for a massage, exercise regularly and communicate with your partner and your friends. Let them know how you are feeling. Go to a support group or mind and body program. Learn relaxation exercises. Try yoga or acupuncture.

7. Consult with your Ob/Gyn and see if you need a reproductive endocrinologist who specializes in infertility. It is recommended that you consult with a RE if you are under 35 and unsuccessful in getting pregnant after 1 year of trying, and if you are over 35 and have been unsuccessful after 6 months. Don’t wait.

8. Conduct research on fertility clinics and doctors in your area. Get references or check their history and success statistics. Find a reputable program where treatments are documented to be successful and affordable.

9. Research your health coverage carefully! Read your insurance policy to see what types of fertility treatments are covered if any, and what stipulations are placed on such treatments. Get the best insurance coverage for infertility that you can, and be prepared for what costs you may be responsible for.

10. Chart your cycle. Use ovulation kits or basal thermometers to learn about your menstrual cycle. Not only will it tell you a lot about your reproductive health, but it will help you best time intercourse to achieve pregnancy.

It is important to educate yourself and be prepared for what is involved in starting a family. Talk to your doctors, and communicate with your partner. Dr. Kreiner states, “Infertility can be extremely stressful on a couple's relationship. It is especially important at this time to support each other and work through any problems together.”

YouTube - Uploaded Videos

2010-01-10T09:45:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Uploaded Videos

2009-12-21T04:56:00.000-08:00

If you can't get pregnant, IVF is usually the next port of call - but there are alternatives, as Paula Goodyer discovers.

It was 2005, and after nine months of IVF treatment and a positive pregnancy test, 36-year-old Jill King was having a routine ultrasound to check that all was well. But when she turned to the screen, expecting to see a heartbeat, there was just an empty embryonic sac. In a cruel biological hoax, the sac minus its embryo - called a blighted ovum - was causing positive signs of pregnancy. There were more disappointments to come. By the time she discontinued IVF two years later, King had produced 50 embryos, but no babies, at a cost of about $50,000.

"People talk about the grief of miscarriage, and I've experienced that, but to me each embryo was also a potential baby lost," she recalls. "Whenever I had an embryo transfer [where the embryo is passed through the cervix into the uterus], I'd be calculating when its birthday might be."

Finally, she approached Jane Lyttleton, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner in Sydney who specialises in treating infertility. After three months of using Chinese herbs and acupuncture, King conceived naturally and gave birth to a daughter last year. "My message to other couples is be open-minded about alternative treatments," says King. "I know that for many people, IVF is the answer - but when both partners have been tested for all the typical causes and your infertility is still classed as 'unexplained', then Western medicine may not be the best approach. How can it successfully treat a problem it can't diagnose?"

Lyttleton is the first to admit that TCM is no cure-all for infertility, but it can help to normalise hormone levels, thus making ovulation more regular. It also improves the lining of the uterus and helps to prevent endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (common causes of fertility problems in women). Sluggish or abnormally shaped sperm can benefit from Chinese medicine, too. "But it can't help with blocked Fallopian tubes - even if tubes are scarred rather than fully blocked," cautions Lyttleton. "I'd encourage a woman to try IVF in those circumstances."

Some cases of unexplained fertility may have a cause that is overlooked if IVF is used as a first, rather than a last, resort, says Dr Anne Clark, medical director of Fertility First, a clinic in Sydney's Hurstville.

Being overweight, smoking or drinking too much - even a lack of vitamin D or iodine - can sabotage conception or increase the risk of miscarriage, points out Clark. While the clinic offers IVF treatment, 25 to 30 per cent of couples conceive without it after correcting certain lifestyle factors.

"Women are hammered for being overweight or for smoking, but we know that with men, nine kilograms of extra weight can lower fertility by altering hormone levels," she says. "We also know that fragmentation of DNA in male sperm is a common cause of miscarriage, and that factors such as smoking, alcohol and possibly caffeine may be contributing."

Her study in 2008 of 800 men who were attending Fertility First found 58 per cent had sperm damage, but that lifestyle changes and vitamin supplements could help prevent this. "Unlike eggs, which are as old as the woman herself, sperm is freshly made every three months," says Clark. "Because of this, you can often reverse the problem quickly."

This was the case for Matthew Lake, a 34-year-old landscaper whose partner, Amanda, had had three miscarriages by the time she was 29. Test results showed she had no obvious problem, but Matthew had fragmented DNA in 33 per cent of his sperm.

At Clark's suggestion, he reduced his weekly beer consumption from 24 to seven, stopped drinking Coke and took a daily multivitamin. He also took supplements of coenzyme Q10 and vitamins E and C, antioxidants that, according to some research, help reduce sperm damage.
"After six months, the number of fragmented sperm had dropped to nine per cent - a month later I was pregnant," says Amanda. "I don't think people realise the problem can often be with the male partner, and that the solution can be simple."
In Clark's experience, men are often only asked to provide a sperm sample, and if that is problematic, the couple are directed to IVF rather than addressing a man's underlying health problems. The pressure of ageing impels couples towards IVF, too, she says.

Francesca Naish, from the Jocelyn Centre for Natural Fertility Management in Sydney, agrees. "People are in a hurry to conceive, but they need to take about three months to clean up first."
The "cleaning up" regimen recommended by the centre, which employs medical practitioners, naturopaths and an acupuncturist, entails both partners eating whole food - preferably organic - taking herbs and vitamin and mineral supplements, and reducing exposure to environmental toxins.

"Take the example of a hairdresser or a motor mechanic," says Naish. "She's exposed to bleaches and solvents, and he's working with solvents, heavy metals and paints. This doesn't mean hairdressers and mechanics can't make babies together, but if their fertility is already compromised, these exposures can make conception - especially of a healthy baby - harder." Other workers who come into contact with pesticides, such as farmers, may experience problems, too, explains Naish, as can people who spend a lot of time flying (sperm and eggs can be affected by radiation at high altitude). Some studies have linked heavy mobile phone use to reduced sperm count and sperm health. In isolation, these factors may mean nothing, but an accumulation of them, plus increasing age, can make a difference.

Although there's evidence that the miscarriage rate is higher with IVF, says Naish, "this isn't necessarily to do with IVF technology, which is fantastic. Miscarriages can occur because other problems aren't being sorted out first," she says. "IVF helps sperm and egg to meet and then gets the fertilised egg to the uterus, but it doesn't solve underlying problems that can impede a pregnancy."

Anne Clark acknowledges that with IVF offering a monthly pregnancy rate that is two to three times higher than nature, it will always appeal to couples in the stressed-out 21st century. When she recommends waiting until the lifestyle changes kick in, some couples feel pretty thrown to begin with. "But achieving a pregnancy can be a bit like painting a wall," she says. "It's all in the preparation."

East meets West

Acupuncture and IVF might come from opposite sides of the medical fence, but there's growing interest in combining them. Some studies show an improvement in pregnancy rates if acupuncture is used at embryo transfer, says Jane Lyttleton, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner who works in partnership with IVF clinics. "We need more research to understand how it works," she says. "It may be that acupuncture increases blood flow to the lining of the uterus, creating a better environment for the embryo to grow. It may lower levels of stress hormones or, by having a calming effect on a woman's immune system, it may reduce the chances of her body rejecting the pregnancy."

Source: smh.com.au

2009-12-18T04:16:00.000-08:00

Acupuncture Could Play A Useful Role In The Treatment Of Female Infertility

Doctors at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Cornell’s Weill Medical College have investigated the potential usefulness of acupuncture in enhancing female fertility.

Traditional Chinese medicine would attribute a disease state, such as infertility, to energy disturbances or imbalances, or organ deficiencies and excesses. Acupuncture is used in this system as a way to correct disruptions in the flow of Qi (energy) and bring the body back to good health. Doctors Chang, Chung, and Rosenwaks examined the current literature on acupuncture from the perspective of Western medicine seeking to determine its impact on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis and the pelvic organs, and its potential for easing stress and anxiety.

Connections were found between acupuncture and the production of endorphins, which affect hormones playing a part in the menstrual cycle. In addition, studies were identified indicating that acupuncture can have an impact on ovulation.

Stress and anxiety, which too often accompany infertility, and possibly exacerbate the condition, can be relieved by acupuncture. Studies have been done, as well, on its use in relieving depression. As the impact of anxiolytic drugs and anti-depressants on infertility treatment is unknown, acupuncture presents an alternative for infertility patients.

Based on the preliminary clinical data showing acupuncture’s neuroendocrine effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis and peripheral impact on improving uterine blood flow and endometrial thickness, the authors feel that clinical trials are warranted to investigate systematically the efficacy of acupuncture in treating various conditions related to female infertility. As the physiologic mechanisms underlying acupuncture are becoming better understood, the technique has been shown in trials to relieve pain, alleviate chemotherapy-induced nausea, and to treat for substance abuse. If trials show that it has a positive effect on the physiology affecting fertility, it could become a useful adjunct to established treatments.