Boosting Fertility With Chinese Medicine

When Michelle finally decided to start a family in her mid-30s, she didn't expect that she would become a statistic. However, like one in six women in Canada, Michelle discovered she suffered from infertility. (This figure appears to be on the rise as more and more women delay their first child until they are in their 30s and beyond.)

After two years of unsuccessfully trying to conceive and her biological clock ticking more loudly by the day, Michelle finally decided to seek the help of fertility experts at Genesis Fertility Centre. Dr. Beth Taylor, a fertility specialist at Genesis, gave Michelle a complete fertility workup which revealed she had endometriosis. Given her age and medical history Michelle wasn't surprised that Dr. Taylor recommended she try invitro fertilization (IVF), a high tech procedure that involves fertilizing a woman's egg with sperm in a lab and then transferring the resulting embryo back into the woman's womb. What did surprise her was that Dr. Taylor also suggested that she might want to try the ancient practice of acupuncture as part of her fertility treatment.

"When I told Dr Taylor that I wanted to do everything I could to make sure I was in the best shape to get pregnant, she mentioned that a lot of people find that acupuncture helps," said Michelle. "Dr. Taylor e-mailed Dr. Lorne Brown, the clinical director of Acubalance Wellness Centre (a Chinese medicine clinic focused on fertility and reproductive health) and made sure that he could fit me in right away."

That quick e-mail speaks to the open communication and unique integrated care approach that Genesis and Acubalance have developed.

"At Genesis we spend a lot of time talking to patients explaining our medical treatments and encouraging them to look at ways to optimize their health and fertility naturally. We want to empower them with what they can do to take care of themselves in a holistic way," says Dr. Taylor. "And while we are really good at getting women pregnant with procedures like IVF, Chinese medicine teaches self care, diet, and stress management, all of which can help patients get in the best shape to conceive--which in turn can make the procedures that we do, like IVF, more likely to succeed."

"Women experiencing fertility problems often feel out of control and that their bodies are letting them down," explains Dr. Brown. "What we try to do at Acubalance is to give women their lives back--to show them what they can do to make themselves as healthy and fertile as possible. We know that stress diverts blood flow from the reproductive organs and puts the body in a flight-or-fright response. These chronically elevated stress hormones can also interfere with ovulation and implantation. Diet, exercise and deep relaxation combined with acupuncture can help balance hormones, increase blood flow to the reproductive organs and manage chronic stress.

For Michelle, "Doing both Chinese medicine and IVF made me feel like I was taking a more comprehensive approach and taking control of the process. During my first appointment, Dr. Brown did a detailed intake, and recommended diet and lifestyle changes, including eliminating dairy and alcohol, cutting back on the intensity of my exercise and reducing my work schedule to lower stress. In addition, I had twice weekly acupuncture treatments as well as acupuncture before and after my IVF procedure. One thing that really impressed me about Acubalance is that the practitioners are obviously experts at what they do."

Although the BC College of Traditional Chinese Medicine doesn't recognize areas of specialization, all the practitioners at Acubalance have taken extra training in Chinese reproductive medicine and are knowledgeable about western fertility treatments.

Increased patient satisfaction and some promising research about the benefit of acupuncture and IVF have boosted confidence in Chinese Medicine, according to Dr. Taylor. "A growing number of research studies have come out exploring acupuncture and fertility, and there appears to be a potential benefit. We've embraced the notion of acupuncture and fertility. So much so that we actually have Acubalance here on site to provide acupuncture before and after transfers."

For Michelle, integrated fertility care has proved to be a winning combination. Much to her surprise, she got pregnant with her first IVF procedure. "When I first found out I was pregnant, I wasn't quite sure whether to believe that it had really worked. But now I have a very happy, healthy, baby girl to prove it!"

"The practice of integrated care requires a shift in the way we think of medical care and the role of healthcare practitioners, from a purely biomedical model based on treatment of symptoms and diseases to a patient-centred model that treats the patient as a whole person and recognizes the patient as an active participant in their own health care," says Dr. Taylor.

It is challenging for busy practitioners and IVF clinics to dedicate the time and energy necessary for developing and implementing an integrated practice. However, the increase in patient satisfaction and health outcomes can make this investment worthwhile and highly gratifying for everyone involved.

Source: HANS http://www.hans.org/76-integrated-fertility-care-chinese-medicine-and-as...