This is the first in a series of articles about pregnancy by YinOva Acupuncturist and Obstetric Nurse, Laura Scheurer.

What an exciting time it is anticipating the birth of your baby, whether it is your first or a new addition to your growing family.  We can say with confidence, there are few experiences in life that top the moment your pregnancy is confirmed.

At the YinOva Center we offer acupuncture, herbal remedies, massage and holistic support for you as you prepare for a healthy pregnancy.  Happily we see many of you transition from this “premester” preparatory phase, to your first trimester.  When that time comes, we often hear, “We’re pregnant, now what?”  We can continue to work together as your body adjusts to the various changes of pregnancy.  Guided by the principles of Chinese medicine and our philosophy of “traditional wisdom for modern families,”  I have been inspired to start a blog series offering safe, simple self-help suggestions for the common side-effects of pregnancy.  Topics will include everything from the first trimester through to preparing for labor and finally, the postpartum period.

“Why am I always so tired?”

Fatigue is a common complaint in the early stages of pregnancy, with a sudden loss of energy as your body gets used to the all the changes.  Your body is adjusting to the extra workload of the developing placenta as well as hormonal changes.  This fatigue often lasts throughout the first trimester, with a sense of renewed energy starting at about week 13.  Toward the end of your pregnancy, in your last trimester, fatigue is often linked to the additional 20 – 30 lbs. gained, lack of sleep due to frequent bathroom visits or the station of the baby, making it hard to find a comfortable sleeping position.

Your Doctor or midwife may suggest an iron supplement early in your pregnancy to improve your hemoglobin levels, which will improve overall oxygenation to your cells and thereby improving your energy.

Based on the result of an involved questionnaire, we can find different patterns that emerge.  Your acupuncturist will then select a course of treatment best suited for you particular presentation.  You may recognize the names of some of the more common patterns if you have been receiving acupuncture for a while, if not, this may be an introduction.  Either way, I’d love to explore the Chinese perspective with you.  They include:

• Qi deficiency: fatigue that is worse after exertion and better with rest.

• Yang deficiency: includes some of the signs of Qi deficiency plus sensations of feeling cold.

• Yin deficiency: fatigue, restlessness and heat signs, like warm flushes or night sweats.

• Liver Qi stagnation: fatigue that is worse with inactivity and stress.

• Liver Blood deficiency: fatigue, weakness, dry skin, pale lips and poor memory.

Acupuncture is useful at any stage of your pregnancy.  If there are obvious reasons for your fatigue, like nausea, anemia or musculoskeletal pain, those issues will be addressed first.  We would advise you to listen to your body and slow down if needed.  This is not the time to push the envelope on your energy reserves.  Small, simple lifestyle or nutritional changes will correspond to increased energy.

Self help suggestions:

• For those of you taking an iron supplement, choose an easily absorbed liquid formula, like Floradix.

• Incorporate iron rich foods into your diet, like organic eggs, grass-fed red meats, spinach, blackstrap molasses and dried fruits.

For those presenting with patterns such as Qi deficiency or Yang deficiency:

• Think about how you can reduce your workload.
• Dress warmly.
• Start work later in the morning if possible.
• Go to bed earlier.
• Pay attention to your sleep hygiene: keep your room dark; remove electronics like TV’s and laptops from your bedroom; if outside noise is an issue, use a white noise device.
• Your diet should incorporate Qi and Yang tonifying foods and preparations: limit the consumption of cold and raw foods; lightly steam or roast veggies with rosemary, add a little garlic or ginger to stir-fry;  add cinnamon, or cloves to fruit compotes or rice congee.

Yin deficient women need to support and conserve their Yin energy:

• Seek out activities that are calming as opposed to stimulating, i.e., gentle moving meditations, Tai Chi or prenatal yoga help to center and ground your energy reserves.
• Avoid foods that are too stimulating like caffeinated drinks, pick-me-up snacks with too much sugar.
• Incorporate Yin nourishing foods like banana, mango, dairy, legumes, fish and pork.
• Small frequent meals, rather than less frequent, large meals, keep blood sugar levels stable, minimizing those after meal or mid-day energy slumps.
• Try different kinds of milk to make fruit smoothies, such as almond, rice, hemp or coconut milk as these are less mucus producing, and nourish the Yin energy.

Liver Qi stagnation fatigue requires us to focus our attention on promoting the smooth flow of Qi.  Possibly you are one of those ladies, who, prior to your pregnancy found regular, strenuous work-outs like running suited you best.  Now that you are pregnant those work-outs may not be advisable.  If you feel the need to release some of that pent up energy and doing nothing makes you feel more tired a brisk daily walk and/or lane swimming  are good alternatives.  They are both gentle enough and active enough to move the energetic Qi of the Liver, calm irritability, and energize you at the same time!

Liver Blood deficiency ladies need to build Blood (of course we are primarily speaking of the energetics of Blood, through the eyes of Chinese medicine, we are not suggesting there is anything wrong with your blood – using upper case ‘B’ for Chinese medicine and lower case ’b’ for what is commonly thought of as blood).

• Dietary suggestions include already mentioned iron rich foods.
• Other suggestions: beetroot, avocado, dark leafy green vegetables, kidney beans.
• Smaller, more frequent meals.
• Include plenty of plant based proteins, like quinoa or whole grain buckwheat.
• Wheat grass shots are a nice addition to your routine.
• Don’t forget your fluid intake.  Always start with water, water, water.
• Another option, pure, clear and clean broths to sip on throughout the day.

Daily waking activities need to include some down time.  Most likely you will find it is after lunch between 1 and 3 pm, you may feel,  as my mother would say, “too pooped to pop.”  Energetically, in terms of Chinese medicine, this is the time when the Liver energy is at its weakest (peak time is 1 – 3 am while you’re body is resting & rebuilding Liver Blood).  A nap would be ideal, but often not possible for many working women.  Please listen to your body’s needs.  Put yourself first for now.  Schedule a daily 20 minute catnap.  Close the eyes, get into a no fly zone space to replenish your energy reserves.

Remember how incredible your body is.  Enjoy, marvel and embrace the changes your body is going through and bringing forth!

Stay tuned for the next topic in our series: ‘Morning Sickness.’

“Do I really have to give up coffee now that I’m trying to get pregnant?” Patients ask me this question a lot and here’s how I usually answer it. If you’re trying to get your body healthy in order to conceive it makes sense to limit your coffee intake to one cup a day. However if getting pregnant is proving to be struggle or you are suffering from infertility it’s best to cut coffee out altogether.

I understand the allure of coffee. I love a cup of coffee myself and I’m similar to my patients in that I’m an over-scheduled New Yorker and I appreciate the energy lift coffee can give me. However even as I guiltily sip my latte, I know that this caffeine boost is false energy and no replacement for proper rest and good nutrition.

We all know that caffeine can increase stress and anxiety levels but for women trying to conceive, coffee has other consequences as well. Caffeine can decrease the flow of blood to the uterus, which can interfere with implantation. Too much caffeine can increase the risk of blood clotting and miscarriage.

Knowing that caffeine can cause fertility problems some of my patients switch to decaffeinated coffee in order to enhance their fertility. However, all coffee, be it regular or decaf, is acidic and can make the body and cervical mucus too acidic and so hamper conception. Several studies have shown that coffee (even decaffeinated coffee) can diminish fertility. One Dutch study showed that 4 cups of decaf or regular coffee a day lowered a woman’s chance of having a baby by 25%. Some studies have linked coffee to miscarriage and some have linked it to low sperm count.

So the message is clear. If you’re trying to conceive and nothing’s working, it may be time to ditch your daily cup of Joe.

Here’s the advice we give our YinOva patients who are trying to limit their coffee intake.

• If you are suffering physical symptoms due to coffee withdrawal, acupuncture can help. Caffeine constricts the blood vessels in the brain and decreases circulation. If you suddenly cut out coffee, the increase in circulation both to your brain and your digestive system can lead to headaches as well as constipation or loose stools. An acupuncture treatment can treat both these symptoms well and so help you navigate your first coffee-free week.

• Herbal tonics such a astragalus or ginseng can help give your body a boost as you adjust to living without caffeine.

• Try drinking black tea. Even though tea contains some caffeine it does not seem to have the same adverse effect on fertility as coffee. In fact some studies have shown that tea may even help fertility. Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California in Oakland found that women who drink tea, even caffeinated black tea, have increased fertility.  Black tea contains some caffeine so it can give you a bit of a boost, however the caffeine content is much less than coffee making it a great alternative.

• Go green. Not only does green tea contain even less caffeine (about 1/3 of the amount) but it also boasts numerous health benefits.

• Herbal teas are also worth considering. Experiment with different teas at different times of the day. A soothing cup of chamomile at night or a bright tasting mint tea first thing in the morning.

• Take a coffee-free break! Coffee drinkers enjoy the rituals around their regular cups of coffee as much as the coffee itself. So try to find a replacement for making a cup of coffee in the morning. Buy a pretty tea pot and sip tea from a china cup. If popping out to your favorite coffee shop is a wonderful break in your day, know that you don’t have to give this up along with the coffee. Give yourself permission to take a coffee-free break and go out and buy some tea or even a bottle of water.

Today’s blog was written by YinOva acupuncturist Amanda Silver. Amanda has over a decade of experience as an acupuncturist and herbalist and is a popular practitioner here at the YinOva Center where she is known for her practical, common sense advice on all matters related to OB/GYN.

Spring is a great time to do a cleanse, but some cleanses aren’t particularly safe when you are trying to get pregnant. A lot of popular cleanses today involve fasting or just drinking juices/water, which can be draining to the vital energies needed to get pregnant. Chinese Medicine generally advises against strict fasting and recommends eating a very clean diet of fresh fruit and vegetables and lean organic protein.

Here are some guidelines for a safe cleanse when trying to become pregnant:

• Avoid sugar, including all “fake sugars”. This can be difficult, but I have noticed that it gets easier after the 3^rd day. So hang in there!
• Eat mostly vegetables, organic when possible.
• Eat a variety of grains, not just wheat. Try whole grains, such as brown rice, oats, buckwheat, millet and rye. These foods are high in B vitamins, which the liver needs to support its metabolic processes. Whole grains also bind excess hormones and toxins to carry them through the bowel for excretion.
• Drink water. Try to drink half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 140 lbs drink 70 oz or about 9 x 8oz glasses a day.
• Cut out caffeine and alcohol.  Always a good rule when trying to get pregnant.
• Meditate and breathe. These relaxation techniques help to reduce stress hormones. For more information about mediation see this YinOva blog article

YinOva acupuncturist Laurel Axen Carroll blogs about acupuncture before labor.

I have had really great success treating pregnant women and helping them to go into labor “on-time”. These days not many doctors will allow their patients to carry past 41 weeks. Unfortunately, babies do not always know the time line which, leads to anxious moms worrying  about pitocin, cervadil or a scheduled C-section. Stressed out moms make for tight muscles and a tense cervix which, is less than optimal if you are trying to go into labor.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with many pregnant women and have had a lot of success using a pre-labor protocol that was created by Debra Betts, a renowned midwife and acupuncturist from New Zealand. Most of the women who get this treatment go into labor “on time” usually by 40-41weeks, and have had relatively short (less than 12 hours which is short in my book) and often unmedicated labors. First time mothers may go past 40 weeks but in my practice I have had very few Mom’s who have been induced medically.

The treatment commences at about 36-37 weeks gestation and ends at the onset of labor. Treatment consists of a core group of acu-points that help facilitate muscle relaxation, a softening of the cervix and relaxation for the mind. During treatment I also addresses other issues that may be affecting the woman. This could be reflux, insomnia, back pain etc…

A recent study showed a 35% reduction in the number of inductions, (for first-time mothers this was a 43% reduction) and a 31% reduction in the epidural rate. When compared to a local midwifery practice (with no acupuncture) there was 32 % reduction in emergency Cesarean Sections and a 9% increase in normal vaginal births. Read the full study here.

Once considered an unusual treatment, acupuncture has become a valued and more mainstream method of enhancing an IVF cycle. As successive studies point to it’s efficacy, couples are more comfortable about adding a course of acupuncture to their IVF protocol. You can read more about how we, at the YinOva Center, treat women who are going through IVF by clicking here.

Many of you are familiar with this German study that looked at 160 women undergoing IVF and split them into two groups. One group combined acupuncture with IVF and one group did not. Interestingly the group that did the acupuncture had a 50% better outcome than the group that did IVF alone. Likewise research published in the British Medical Journal showed that women doing IVF who underwent acupuncture were 65% more likely to have a successful embryo transfer compared with those who underwent a “sham” version of the treatment, or no extra treatment at all. You can read about this study here.

Now some new research may be casting further light on why acupuncture can be so helpful. The study, which you can read here, looks at how acupuncture when given twice a week for about 5 weeks regulates the stress hormones cortisol and prolactin and so improves pregnancy rates.

An IVF cycle can be very stressful. My patients talk about the financial pressure of having so much riding on the outcome of the procedure and how this combined with constant monitoring and taking large doses of stimulating drugs makes them tense and tired. Some studies, like this one by UCSD, have shown that the more stressed a patient is, the poorer the result, because of the way stress interferes with reproductive hormones. The reason this latest acupuncture study is important is that it shows that regular acupuncture treatment can offset the negative effects of stress by regulating stress hormones and so help a patient have the best possible outcome from IVF.

We love helping you have babies here at the YinOva Center and have helped thousands of couples achieve IVF success. Feel free to call and speak to one of our acupuncturists if you want to know more.

Whilst moderate exercise helps relieve stress and prepare a body for a healthy pregnancy, spending too much time in the gym can impair a woman’s fertility, according to a new study of 3,000 women published in last month’s edition of Human Reproduction.

In our book, Making Babies, we suggest that women who are trying to conceive do enough exercise to maintain a normal level of fitness and but that they do it in a way that makes them feel good physically and mentally, not drained or exhausted.  This advice is seconded by Sigridur Lara Gudmundsdottir, who led the study, ” we found two groups who experienced an increased risk of infertility. There were those who trained almost every day, and there were those who trained until they were completely exhausted. Those who did both had the highest risk of infertility.”

The researchers believe that high levels of physical activity consume so much energy that the body experiences short periods of time where there simply is not enough energy to maintain all the necessary hormonal mechanisms that make fertilization possible.

This correlates with the way traditional Chinese medicine sees the effects of too much exercise on qi. Qi is the word used to describe the body’s ability to warm, move and make transformations. For thousands of years Chinese doctors have cautioned their patients not to deplete their qi, if they are trying to conceive, because weak qi can lead to failure to ovulate or affect the embryo’s ability to implant.

The key is moderation. Too much exercise depletes qi whilst moderate exercise can help build qi. This is supported by previous research which has shown that moderate physical activity gives women better insulin function and an improved hormonal profile. In this recent study there is no evidence of impaired fertility through moderate amounts of exercise. Gudmundsdottir advises that women who want to conceive should still maintain their fitness but avoid extremes.

‘We believe it is likely that physical activity at a very high or very low level has a negative effect on fertility, while moderate activity is beneficial,’ she said.

Patients who have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility often find it a great relief that their seemingly random collection of symptoms make sense from a Chinese medicine perspective. They have usually undertaken a battery of tests by the time they visit us at the YinOva Center and their first question is, “If nothing is wrong, why am I not getting pregnant?”

Chinese diagnosis is based on identifying patterns of disharmony so an acupuncturist will look for signs that have meaning when seen in relation to each other. Two of the most common patterns in women with unexplained infertility are Liver Qi Stagnation and Kidney Yang Deficiency. In our book, Making Babies: A Proven Three Month Program for Maximum Fertility, Dr. David and I called these the Stuck Type and the Tired Type. You can identify your type by taking this quiz on the book’s website.

The Stuck Type describes someone who manifests stress physically. Often they have tension headaches or nervous stomachs, which are signs that they have become tight like a pressure cooker and qi is not flowing smoothly. This lack of flow can lead to unsmooth hormone transitions resulting in symptoms such as PMS. At the YinOva Center we give these patients a very well known Chinese formula called Xiao Yao Wan and treat them with weekly acupuncture to move qi. We know they are getting better when they no longer have PMS and many of them then go on to get pregnant.

The Tired Type describes someone who has metabolic issues that effect their reproductive hormones. They usually complain of fatigue, feeling cold and weight gain. At the YinOva Center we put them on a warming herbal formula and suggest they eat warming foods. We give them weekly acupuncture often with moxibustion, a warming herb. We know that they are getting better when they tell us they have more energy and that their hands and feet are not cold anymore. At that point many of them go on to get pregnant.

Both these types can result in problems that can be identified by conventional medicine. Women who are the Stuck Type can have elevated prolactin levels and women who are the Tired Type can have low thyroid hormone. However in many cases the imbalance is sub-clinical and not picked up by medical testing. That is a great reason to seek out an acupuncturist and herbalist in order to correct patterns of disharmony that may be minor but are subtly impeding your fertility.

I recently wrote a blog entry that was all about influencing the sex of your baby. All that talk about X and Y chromosomes prompted one of my patients to ask me about Fragile X syndrome. She had just been diagnosed as a carrier for this disorder and wanted me to help her sort through her options.

What is Fragile X Syndrome?

Fragile X is a genetic disorder and is the most common cause of inherited mental impairment and cognitive problems including some forms of autism. It is caused by a mutation of the FMR1 gene on the X chromosome. The mutation turns off the production of the FMR1 protein which in turn affects brain development. People with Fragile X suffer from mental impairment which can take the form of anything from very minor learning difficulties to severe cognitive problems. They may be hyperactive or over sensitive to stimuli and they may have short attention spans. Physically people with Fragile X may have a long narrow face, prominent ears, enlarged testicles and loose joints. Approximately 1 in 2000 boys suffer some kind of mental impairment due to Fragile X. The disorder also affects girls but the incidence is lower and the symptoms tend to be milder. This is because girls have 2 copies of the X chromosome whereas boys only have one. This means that girls have 2 copies of the FMR1 gene so if one is mutated a girl has another copy of the gene to fall back on. Boys only have one X chromosome.

What does it mean to be a carrier of Fragile X?

Fragile X syndrome is carried on the X chromosome. Since men (XY) and women (XX) each have at least one X chromosome, both parents can be carriers.

If a father is a carrier, he can only pass the gene defect to his daughters, since he transmits a Y chromosome to his sons. All of his daughters will inherit the gene, but as far as anyone knows this inherited defect will be in the premutation stage which means that if a daughter inherits Fragile X from her father she will not be symptomatic although she can pass the disorder on to her children.

If a mother is the carrier, she can pass the gene defect to either her sons or her daughters, since she contributes an X chromosome to each. If, as a woman, you are a carrier you have a 50% chance of passing the gene on because you have two X chromosomes and only one of them is affected. So if you are a carrier you may not pass on the defect at all or you may just pass on the premutation or your child could inherit the full syndrome. Sons who have fragile X are at high risk of intellectual disability but daughters who receive the fragile X gene may appear normal because the have two X chromosomes and only one is affected.

If you are a carrier how is risk assessed.

A simple blood test can establish if you are a carrier of Fragile X and the degree to which this mutation is likely to cause problems for your child. Geneticists classify the gene mutation into three categories based on the number of repeats of a pattern of DNA called CGG repeats. Individuals with less than 60 CGG repeats have a normal gene. Individuals with 60-200 CGG repeats have a premutation which means they do have a small risk of their child suffering from Fragile X syndrome and that risk is directly related to the number of CGG repeats. Parents with over 200 repeats have a full mutation which causes fragile X syndrome.

As for my patient. She fell into the middle ground in that she had the premutation and so was at a small risk of passing on Fragile X. Fortunately we live in a time when we have access to good genetic testing and advice. Her doctor was able to reassure her that, because the number of CGG repeats was low her risk of passing this disorder on to her child was minimal. An amniocentesis at 16 weeks was able to confirm her doctor’s prediction and she was relieved to hear that her baby was just fine.

Although it’s scary to find out that you are a carrier for a genetic disorder such as Fragile X, it’s important to find out more about your own situation. You may find that with a combination of genetic and prenatal testing you , like my patient, receive reassuring news.

I enjoyed this video by Alice Eve Jones performing an extract from her book, What I Thought I Knew. In it she describes how, after a long struggle with infertility, she was told she was in menopause, only to find out that she was pregnant. Recently Dr. David and I were consulted by a patient in her mid-thirties who was told she was menopausal and that she should give up all hope of bearing her own child. She’s now four months pregnant. Miracles do happen. In fact they happen all the time.

Thanks to Njemile Carol Jones, an fabulous acupuncturist in Maryland for sending me this link. Njemile specializes in OB/GYN with a particular specialty in treating infertility. So if you are looking for an acupuncturist in the MD or DC area she would be an excellent choice.

Kathryn, one of our lovely YinOva patients was reading our book Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility when she had a thought. She facebooked me to suggest that we start collecting fertility-friendly recipes and publishing them here on the blog. I loved the idea and thought her first two recipe suggestions were great. I’m growing cucumbers in my garden so her creamy cucumber soup sounds wonderful and her second recipe for a spicy lentil soup is a fabulous hot weather idea.

These recipes are inspired by our book and nourishing for people who are trying to conceive but they’re also just lovely summer fare. Enjoy!

Thanks, Kathryn, for your contribution. I hope you’ll write more recipes and share them with the YinOva community and for anyone else out there who wants to join in I say, feel free….email me, comment or facebook me and I’ll put your recipes on the YinOva blog.

K’s Creamy Cucumber Soup

2 medium onions, roughly chopped
2 T. butter
4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded & chopped
4 oz. fresh goat cheese
sea salt
white pepper

Saute onions with butter and 1 tsp salt until soft (“sweated”) but not browned. Add cucumbers and cook until tender. Remove from heat and puree in a blender with the chevre (a VitaMix is ideal for this, but a food processor or a blender works fine). Add salt and white pepper to taste. Chill in the fridge. Serve cold or room temperature.

Kathryn emailed me to add that she often chops mint and sprinkles it on this soup.

K’s Super-Delicious Red Lentil Soup

1 T. olive oil
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled & sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks lemongrass, bruised and cut into 3 inch lengths
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1/2 or 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
1 can light coconut milk
1 c. red split lentils
4 c. water
1 t. sea salt, or more to taste
1 large handful cilantro, finely chopped (I love cilantro, so I tend to go heavy handed with it, but some people hate it)
4 fresh scallions, finely chopped
2 c. fresh baby spinach
½ lime, juiced (about 1 or 2 tablespoons)

Saute ginger, garlic, lemongrass, onion, and optional jalapeno in olive oil, until fragrant (leave the ginger & lemongrass large enough so that you can remove the pieces from the soup later). Add water, coconut milk, red lentils and salt. Cook until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Remove lemongrass & ginger pieces. Add cilantro, scallions, spinach and cook until spinach is wilted (but don’t overcook!). Add salt and lime juice to taste. Yummy!

Jill Blakeway is the Clinic Director of the YinOva Center. She is an acupuncturist, author and speaker who makes regular media appearances to talk about natural health care for women. Here she writes about how acupuncture can help women undergoing IVF.

For the past 12 years here at the YinOva Center we have used traditional Chinese medicine to support women during fertility treatments. As one of New York’s largest and most well known acupuncture practices we currently treat thousands of women a year, using acupuncture to support them as they go through IVF. We also take care of couples in the run up to an IVF cycle to make sure that they are in an optimal position to succeed.

My book Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility, which I wrote with a Reproductive Endocrinologist, contains an easy to follow three month program based on your fertility type that is an excellent preparation for an IVF cycle. All our YinOva acupuncturists are trained to support women as they follow the Making Babies program and all of our practitioners have many years of experience when it comes to combining acupuncture with IVF.

When choosing an acupuncturist to treat you before and during IVF it’s a good idea to seek out a practice with a specialty in fertility as well as one that has sufficient acupuncturists that there will always be someone on duty when you need to time a treatment with your cycle.

Here are the questions our patients most frequently ask about using Chinese medicine during an IVF cycle.

Does having acupuncture increase the likelihood of success with IVF?

Clinical research seems to suggest it does. One German study took 160 women undergoing IVF and split them into two groups. One group combined acupuncture with IVF and one group did not. Interestingly the group that did the acupuncture had a 50% better outcome than the group that did IVF alone. You can read a BBC article about this study here. In 2008 research published in the British Medical Journal showed that women doing IVF who underwent acupuncture were 65% more likely to have a successful embryo transfer compared with those who underwent a “sham” version of the treatment, or no extra treatment at all. You can read about this study here.

How does acupuncture help an IVF cycle be more successful?

Here at the YinOva Center we use acupuncture every day to treat those of you who are undergoing IVF and we are proud of our success rates. Our positive experiences are echoed by recent research which shows that acupuncture can promote the circulation of blood in the pelvic cavity and improve ovarian function. Acupuncture may also be beneficial in promoting follicle production, enhancing uterine blood flow and thus improving uterine lining thickness and decreasing uterine contractions after embryo transfer.

How does IVF support at the YinOva Center work?

Whilst acupuncture works for some people straight away, it doesn’t necessarily work over night and the effects tend to be cumulative so, ideally, we would like to see our patients once a week in the three months leading up to IVF. If this isn’t possible, we recommend coming in to see us when you start your IVF cycle. We see our patients twice a week when they are taking the follicle stimulating drugs and we like to schedule a treatment before egg retrieval as well as another before embryo transfer. Finally we ask our patients to come in for treatment 24 – 48 hours after embryo transfer so that we can do an acupuncture treatment to prevent uterine spasm.

Should I take Chinese herbs during IVF?

The quick answer is no. Very occasionally, here at the YinOva Center, we do prescribe herbs for a patient going through IVF if she has a history of poor response to the stimulating drugs and if her doctor agrees. However, for most people the herbs can make your response to stimulating drugs unpredictable and we have found that most reproductive endocrinologists would prefer you not to combine them with IVF treatment.

How can I find out more?

Feel free to call us at the YinOva Center on 212 533 2255 and ask to speak to an acupuncturist. All of us have years of experience in women’s reproductive medicine and we all treat women undergoing IVF on a daily basis. We are always happy to talk to you about your concerns.

To schedule an appointment online click here

Those of you who sneaked a peek at our book Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility, in the YinOva waiting room, already know what their fertility type is. It’s so much fun when you come into the treatment room and tell me – “Guess what ?- I was reading your book and I’m a stuck!”

The book isn’t out until August 12th but you can find out your fertility type online – take this quiz and find out whether you are a tired, pale, dry, stuck or waterlogged.

The UK Sunday Times published extracts from the book this week and an interview with Dr. David and I, which you can read here. The book is called the Fertility Plan in the UK. Once you’ve worked out your type you can download a great chart from that the Times put together giving specific advice tailored to your type (PDF) Fertility Types

www.makingbabiesprogram.com (USA)
www.thefertilityplan.com (UK)

In our book Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility Dr. David and I recommend abdominal self massage as a way of helping to enhance fertility by increasing blood flow to the uterus. In the book there are detailed diagrams of different self-massage techniques for every phase of your cycle. This massage is partly based on the Maya Abdominal Massage™ developed by Dr. Rosita Arvigo and partly based on the extensive clinical experience of our own Nicole Kruck. We encourage anyone trying to conceive to book a session with Nicole where she will teach you the self massage techniques that are in the book.

I asked Nicole to answer some frequently asked questions about using abdominal massage to enhance fertility and her answers are below.

What can I expect in my initial treatment with Nicole?

Nicole Says:

The initial session consists of an intake, massage and “Self-Care” massage instruction. Many times guided meditation and breathing exercises are also included. I individually tailor the treatment to each client’s specific needs and comfort level.

We review the intake form together and start to put the pieces of the puzzle in place create a clear picture. I use the information you give me on the intake form to map out how we will resolve current issues as well how we can achieve long term health goal.

What is the massage treatment like and what does it do?

Nicole says:

During the massage much of the focus will be on the abdominal area. This gentle external massage is intended to remove blocks in circulation, lymphatic drainage, nerve connections & scar tissue or adhesions. It also strengthens uterine ligaments to reposition a wandering womb.

Attention is also given to postural alignment which may also create many reproductive problems.

Is that all there is ?

Nicole says:

No. The point of our sessions is to give you knowledge that you can use yourself at home. You will learn how to do your own simple abdominal massage treatment on a daily basis. This supports you to, literally, take your health “into your own hands” in between sessions.

How long before I can expect change in my conditions?

Nicole says:

With regular sessions and dedication of your self care practice at home. You should begin to see a change within your first cycle.

What do I need to know to schedule my appointment?

Nicole says:

There are 2 options for an initial treatment at the YinOva Center:

You can book a single two hour initial consult or some people choose to see me throughout one cycle and book four, one hour treatments over the course of a month.

After that you don’t necessarily need to come in and see me every week for treatment, especially if you are doing your own self-massage regularly, but it is important to come in periodically for follow up treatments so that we can assess your progress, make any necessary changes and make sure that you feel confident in with your own Self-Care massage at home.