Royal Jelly, Green Tea & Chamomile tea
Thu, 2009-04-23 19:17
I have scheduled some apts with your office this May, in conjuction with my IVF treatment. Currently, I am taking Royal Jelly but will stop once I start my IVF during mid-May. What are the benefits of Royal Jelly as I have read articles that this is enriched with all kinds of Vitamins B ?
Is it alright to take chamomile tea for my husband & myself during this time, or during the time when I am undergoing IVF ? Most experts say " Green tea" is beneficial due to its antioxidant, however, all tea have caffeine, therefore, I am wondering whether Green tea will be good for me to take at this time.
In general, how can I improve the quality of my eggs as I know this is important for successful IVF ( what kind of food, vegetables, drinks I should consume more or to avoid)? With respect to my husband, what types of food my husband should eat to improve his sperm count & motility ?
I look forward to your reply to the above 3 issues.
Wen
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HI Wen,
I am not sure how well I can answer this question as it is not so black and white. It is really more for a face to face discussion where we both have a chance to ask questions and make sure we understand what each of us our asking and explaining. I will do my best here, bnut for others reading this post I can tell you that it is really incomplete and I would not take what I have written here for face value. You really need to have a more involved conversation with your Fertility acupuncturist. It is too general and not individual specific enough in my opinion.
Western doctors working in IVF do not think there is anything that can improve egg quality. Chinese medicine has theories as to how we can improve sperm and egg quality though. And even western literature is full of documentation on how we can improve egg quality within the discussion of epigenetic. So I think what is missing for most IVF docs is the evidenced based medicine they desire. I have seen it anecdotally in my practice but that does not meet the standard of evidenced based medicine. And most women reading this do not have the luxury of time to wait until such evidence accumulates.
I wanted to pre-empt my response with the above as I know you will hear conflicting stories about improving egg quality. The good news is western medicine is still in its infancy and what we call a theory today will mostly likely be changed by a new and more current theory tomorrow. I believe in my lifetime we will accumulate enough data that will lead to replacing the cuurent theory that you only have "bad eggs left in your basket at the end of your reproductive years" and it will be be replaced with the understanding that we can improve egg quality.
It does take between 120-150 days for follicles which contain an egg to be recruited from their resting state to becoming the dominant follicle. So egg quality is a process and it is takes time to negatively or positively impact it. It is my understanding that to have the greatest impact on egg quality you are looking at 4-5 months of preconception care. Does this mean all women should wait 5 months before doing IVF? No. This is case dependent. I would be happy to go through all the different scenarios as to waiting versus going forward with IVF when we meet. I also can discuss this in detail at Acubalance’s orientation seminars as well as the presentation I am doing with a few other healthcare providers during Canada’s Infertility Awareness week.
I have included a few points on how Acupuncture can help women in the weeks before an IVF and on transfer day. It is really helping with implantation and pregnancy rates. I think it is less about egg quality when it is only a few weeks before based on how I understand the physiology from both a western and Chinese medicine perspective. So in the weeks before an IVF retrieval and embryo transfer acupuncture is:
To improve egg quality I suggest the 4 free therapies (diet, lifestyle, deep relaxation and community) as well as acupuncture and Chinese herbs for 3-6 months before trying an IVF.
Good luck and see you in a few weeks at our initial consult. In the mean time follow the 4 free therapues I discuss at the Orientation.
Sincerely,
Lorne Brown, DR TCM, FABORM
Founder, Clinical Director
Acubalance Wellness centre
I am not concerned about caffeine when it surrounded by other healthy nutrients like antioxidants found in tea. So enjoy your tea.
Caffeine in coffee is not so great. Even decaffeinated coffee can be an issue because it is also the coffee bean itself that has properties. The volatile oils in the bean can tax the Adrenals which can negatively impact both wellbeing and fertility.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We too often like to look at individual ingredients as good or bad for us. We have to look at the whole food and not individual ingredients. So caffeinated tea is probably OK and too much coffee is not.
Sincerely,
Lorne Brown, DR TCM, FABORM
Founder, Clinical Director
Acubalance Wellness centre