A real life patient spotlight: Fertility and Acupuncture
Sara had been trying to get pregnant for two and a half years now. She had been pregnant about a year and a half ago, but unfortunately she lost the baby around week 8, they tested the tissue and found no answer. Her and her husband had been trying naturally since then. They have also recently considered seeking out a reproductive endocrinologist to discuss intra-uterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Sara came to Tao to Wellness to get her body into balance and to support getting pregnant whether naturally or while getting Western support through IUI or IVF. Like most of our fertility challenged patients, she was healthy overall, but there was some minor things that needed balancing. She ovulated monthly, but her cervical mucus didn’t match up with ovulation and her periods were a little short at 25-27 days (we aim for 29 days in Chinese medicine.) She experienced some low back pain, some slight digestive discomfort once a week, some fatigue, stress and sleep problems; she woke in the middle of the night with her head spinning with thoughts. Sounds like just about everyone you know, right? In Chinese medicine, each symptom we experience is a clue for the practitioner and tells us what organ system might be out of the balance and causing a barricade around the key to our fertility.
For Sara, like most of us, her Liver was out of balance. Almost everyone has some degree of Liver imbalance and each person displays that imbalance with a different set of symptoms. Basically, stress and the Liver imbalance was causing tightness and impeding circulation into her uterus, which was compromising implantation. So often, I believe that a patient is conceiving, but implantation is the problem.
In one month, Sara got pregnant under our care. She is now in her 27 week and everything is going smoothly. Both acupuncture and herbs were mandatory for her and she needed to be diligent. She also discontinued coffee and her excessive bootcamp workouts. Essentially, we needed to relax the body allowing her to become more grounded in her lower abdomen, while bringing more circulation to the area. In addition and as an added bonus, she had more energy, was sleeping better and no longer had digestive discomfort soon after the second treatment.
Much love,