Infertility Managing Irregular Menses

By Maureen Meng, LAc

East Natural Therapy

. https://www.acupuncturerockville.com/

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Infertility Managing Irregular Menses

Infertility is an area where Chinese medicine is particularly helpful. In women below the age of 38 without organic disturbance, the success rate of using TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and acupuncture chance of success should exceed 85%. Also, when supporting IVF (in vitro fertilization) procedures, the addition of herbal medicine and acupuncture can double the success rate per procedure. This is significant, because a single procedure might only have a 20% success rate and incorporating Chinese medicine may be able to raise those odds to 40%.

In most infertility cases, regulation of hormones is the key to treatment and success. For modern medicine, this means regulation using exogenous hormones. This does not encourage the ovaries, hypothalamus and pituitary to produce its own hormones, and in fact, may inhibit their production. On the other hand, Chinese medicine restores and stimulates the natural production of estrogen, progesterone, Luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). In TCM and acupuncture, this means regulation of imbalances in the liver, kidney and spleen.

In cases of women with normal periods, and in generally good health, it can be tricky for the TCM practitioner to make an accurate differentiation. Better success is possible when we have a situation where the menstrual cycle is disturbed. When there are irregularities in the timing of the period, TCM and acupuncture can focus and intervene, even without knowledge of specific hormonal imbalances. When a woman has fertility concerns, and she has irregular menses, there is a specific hook on which to base therapies, and in these cases, TCM and acupuncture are very successful.