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
Wednesday, September 28
Monday, June 20
We are all headed towards a state of ignorance which comes from the pursuit of knowledge.
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.
Saturday, May 14
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.
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
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
Monday, April 25
What is the Berkley Method?
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
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
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