At the end of the journey together, our hope for our patients is motherhood. Many of our patient's share their story and thanks with us about their 'Berkley' baby and we celebrate them! If you have a friend going through infertility treatment and acupuncture, here is a great idea to encourage and inspire her en route her journey to family.
San Diego based Artist Marsha Anderson
This Fertility pendant pomegranate on black chain necklace will make you want to be fruitful and multiply! Are you looking for a gift for someone who is trying to start a family? Are you searching for a little help to become pregnant? Would you like to show your appreciation to the woman who birthed you or is birthing your child?
Did you know that the pomegranate has been used throughout history and in almost every religion as a symbol of humanity's most fundamental beliefs and desires, including life and death, rebirth and eternal life, fertility and marriage, abundance and prosperity. Almost every aspect of the pomegranate has come to symbolize something . . . its shape, color, seeds, juice. Because this fruit contains an enormous amount of Seeds, it is regarded as a symbol of fertility, prosperity, abundance, and generosity. Not to mention, that they taste amazing!!!!
The glass dome on this necklace pendant measures 1" in diameter and has a height of 11mm and sits in a silver plated metal bezel.
If you are looking for something new to brighten up your home, bring fertility art into your space for good luck. This is the Sacred Fertility Goddess print of painting available by Portland based artist Tamara Adams.
Here is a relatively new product on the market that may be interesting to you and your partner. They are from California and was created by Dan Frey, his naturopath fertility specialist and ABCO Labs in Fairfield California.
The Fertility Drinks LLC has created a healthy and delicious shake that is safe, effective and affordable. It comes in Vanilla and Chocolate and has no artificial dyes, colors or preservatives.
All you have to do is mix it with milk, juice or water. You can add fruit, ice and other ingredients to make a great tasting smoothie.
It is specifically designed to provide optimum reproductive healthy benefits with a woman's and man's unique nutritional requirements in mind.
For many years I never needled the abdomen of a pregnant
woman for fear of causing miscarriage. This method of behavior stems in part
from fear of over-stimulating blood flow to the embryo or placenta. This
thinking, as I have recently discovered, is incorrect. It has taken me ten
years of study and research to enable me to fully understand what is happening
in the uterus after a successful pregnancy and why abdominal acupuncture for
the first three months of pregnancy is not only safe but serves significantly
to prevent miscarriage.
At the luteal phase or secretory
phase of the menstrual cycle the predominant hormone is progesterone.
Progesterone is created from the follicle that has ovulated the mature egg.
This follicle is now known as the 'yellow body' or corpus lutuem. The corpus
luteum, under the influence of luteinizing hormone which emanates from the
anterior pituitary in the brain secretes progesterone. This action is done to
enable the uterine lining to be amenable to a successful embryo implantation
and pregnancy. If pregnancy is not successful, the corpus luteum becomes
atretic (dies) and progesterone levels diminish and menstruation starts.
When a woman does successfully
become pregnant, the LH which is required to maintain high levels of
progesterone (P) no longer comes from the anterior pituitary gland in the
brain. It comes in fact, from the developing blastocyst itself. The blastocyst
(developing baby), secretes HCG or Human Chorionic Gonadotropin which has a
very similar molecular structure to LH. The HCG causes the corpus luteum to
continue to secrete P (this is called corpus luteum- rescue), until the
placenta is fully formed at which point the placenta itself secretes
appropriate amounts of P to help maintain pregnancy.
So, if the developing blastocyst
is responsible for secreting HCG to keep itself alive it made sense to me to
use very few and well placed needles in the abdomen to gently stimulate blood
flow to the blastocyst so that P would continue to be secreted from the corpus
luteum.
This, in my opinion is one of the
major ways that miscarriage prevention can be achieved with acupuncture. I am
the first one to arrive at this idea and have been using it with great success.My protocol consists of using acupuncture
twice weekly for 13 weeks after IUI, IVF or donor-egg or after a natural
pregnancy is confirmed. The majority of miscarriages occur within the first
twelve weeks of pregnancy. Our goal is to take the patient one week outside of the danger zone; this is why
we treat for 13 weeks and not 12.
After 6 or 7 weeks the placenta
is formed and it secretes P. The corpus luteum is no longer necessary. But, one
of the major causes of miscarriage is inappropriate blood flow to the placenta.
One of the causes of this is due to thrombophilic disorders (The
tendency to form blood clots).But
clinically what does this mean? Blood carries oxygen, hormones and nutrients to
the placenta and excretes dead cells from it.
These dead cells are called
'debris'. By continuing to use abdominal acupuncture, we continue to gently
stimulateblood flow to the placenta
(reducing the effects of poor hemodynamics which can occur due to thrombophilic
disorder or just poor circulation), maintaining its ability to secrete P,
estrogen, human placental-lactogen, relaxin and other hormones necessary for
the maintenance of a healthy pregnancy.
I am constantly studying Western
reproductive medicine and translating my findings into a Chinese medical model
which serves to increase a useful knowledge-base to help couples achieve
pregnancy. However, achieving pregnancy is only half the battle. The other half
is maintaining a healthy pregnancy. The focus of many acupuncturists is
to help their patients become pregnant. This too is my first goal, but only my
first. My second goal is to maintain a viable pregnancy and this is where my
research and studies are now taking me.
This new Berkley Center protocol
is working wonders for those suffering with repeated pregnancy loss, as well as
those who have had difficulty in conceiving.
Acupuncture treatment for the
infertile patient as well as the patient suffering with repeated pregnancy loss
must be continued after pregnancy is
achieved to increase the odds of a successful,
full-term pregnancy.Treatment
should be continued for thirteen weeks, as 90% of miscarriages occur within the
first trimester.
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.
photo via brittanica.com
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.
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.
photo via todaysmama.com
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.
