Are you preparing for an IVF cycle? Whether you’re just beginning the conversation with a reproductive endocrinologist at your fertility clinic or if you’ve already started stimulation medication, acupuncture can support you and improve your success rate. This can be a time of high stress and emotion, Chinese medicine can provide you with an extra level of support on many levels. Not only will acupuncture help to calm your mind during this time, it will also help increase your chance of conceiving, reduce adverse reactions to medications, and promote a healthy endometrial lining for implantation.
Maybe you’re wondering how exactly Chinese medicine can do this. Here are a few things that your practitioner is focusing on while supporting you and your partner during the IVF cycle. As a provider for many patients who have gone through IVF, we have a strong influence on the follicular microenvironment, egg quality, sperm quality, and endometrial lining. We aim to improve the quality of blood and increase blood supply by providing oxygen and nutrients to the reproductive organs.
We help to improve ovarian function by regulating hormone levels, which impacts luteinizing hormone, testosterone, insulin, estrogen, and progesterone. We reduce cortisol output, our stress hormone to help calm the mind and calm the sympathetic nervous system. When our body is in a state of stress, or fight or flight, reproduction is not a priority. In fact, even with a medicated cycle or IVF, elevated stress hormones are associated with poor success or cycle cancellation. Acupuncture will also improve the mitochondria of the oocyte with certain Chinese herbs, or kidney yang tonics; and will improve the follicular environment by reducing inflammatory cytokines.
An ideal time frame to begin treatment with a Chinese Medicine practitioner is three months prior to beginning an IVF cycle, but even if you’ve already begun taking medication, acupuncture can make a difference! It is important to wait until you have experienced at least one cycle before combining IVF medication with Chinese herbs to know how your body will respond.
If you’re interested in using Chinese medicine to help support you during an IVF cycle to promote conception I hope you reach out!