Greenwich Acupuncture Clinic, LLC
Fertility Acupuncture, Counseling & Functional Medicine
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Fertility acupuncture is for anyone wanting or having a child. Whether just starting your journey, having challenges getting or staying pregnant or experiencing nausea or back pain during pregnancy, acupuncture has many benefits. Treatments are tailored to where a woman is in her natural or IVF cycle and can begin at any time. Anecdotal data from the practice supports that women who begin acupuncture before they are pregnant and continue through the first trimester have much smoother pregnancies with less illness.
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Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are also very effective for enhancing male fertility and treating male factor challenges. Red light therapy is also shown to have significant benefits.
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Acupuncture can effectively correct menstrual and ovulatory irregularities, lower Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), improve sperm/egg quality, treat Polycystic Ovaries (PCOS), improve blood flow though the uterine arteries and improve uterine lining thickness for better implantation, among other fertility-related conditions.
Treatments can also help alleviate PMS symptoms, painful periods, hormonal headaches, treat and prevent morning sickness and alleviate symptoms associated with menopause.
Since acupuncture activates the parasympathetic nervous system, emotional regulation and stress reduction is always an automatic bonus.
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"Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy"
Though acupuncture has been used for many years to treat female infertility, it started to gain a lot more attention in the US following a German ART study published in Fertility and Sterility in 2002.
160 women undergoing IVF were divided into two groups. One group received acupuncture at very specific acupuncture points 25 minutes before and after an embryo transfer. The other group did not receive acupuncture. Results showed that the group that received acupuncture treatments had a 42.5% pregnancy rate versus the non-acupuncture group which had a 26.3% pregnancy rate confirmed by ultrasound at 6 weeks. This outcome confirmed that acupuncture treatments directly before and after embryo transfer can significantly increase pregnancy outcomes.
While these results have never been replicated, the protocol remains the gold standard of pre/post IVF care.
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Read the full study here.
These are real examples of women seen in the practice:
Getting ready to conceive and want to make sure hormones are balanced and nutrition is optimal;
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Trying to get pregnant for a few months or more without success;
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Stopping birth control pills or had an IUD removed and want to encourage return of regular cycle in order to ovulate;
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Wanting to maximize overall health prior to egg freezing;
Doing IVF in the absence of known female fertility challenges:
- Solo moms by choice
- Female partners using donor sperm
- Both are genetic carriers for a condition
- Family gender balancing;
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Getting ready for, or in an IUI or IVF cycle ...
Often times clients in this category have experienced:
- Poor response to stimulation medication
- Diminished ovarian reserve
- Cancelled cycles
- Lack of viable embryos
- One or more unsuccessful transfers
- Over 40 years of age.
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Post baby or miscarriage where the menstrual cycle has become irregular or absent;
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Diagnosed with PCOS or Endometriosis (or maybe have it, but haven't been diagnosed);
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Surrogates having an embryo transfer and come for Pre and Post IVF sessions (both day of transfer). Many surrogates from all over the country who come to Greenwich for transfers have been seen in the practice.
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Pregnant and experiencing first trimester related illness, aches and pains throughout pregnancy, or getting ready to give birth.
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