Many couples take it for granted that when they want to start a family they will be able to get pregnant quickly and it will just happen. When it does not it is often a complete shock. Acupuncture can be used to support getting pregnant helping with many of the reasons for infertility.

... the aim in all cases is to get the body of both prospective parents to a balanced healthy position to facilitate conception. Acupuncture can do this ... Jo Rochford

Conditions such as Blocked Fallopean Tubes, Pelvic Inflamatory Disease, previous Miscarriage and Low Sperm Count can all be treated with acupuncture and lead to successful pregnancy.

In general treatment for problems that affect female fertility will follow a womans' cycle. Following your initial consultation, you can expect to be treated at the beginning of your period and around the time of ovulation. Although the specific treatments will be tailored to your condition and background health, I have found in practice these times within the cycle are the most effective times to treat most conditions.

There are a few cases when I would need to see patients each week at the start of treatment with the first and third treatment timed to be as close as possible to the beginning of your cycle and ovulation respectively.

Conditions that affect male fertility such as low sperm count and poor mobility or deformed sperm can be treated successfully with acupuncture.

Treatments tailored to your specific complaint and background health will initially be weekly spacing out to once a fortnight, and in time monthly as your condition improves.

Just how long treatment will take does depend on many factors. Your partners fertility and overall health will definitely be an important factor. Couples who are both experiencing some degree of infertility will obviously have the most work to do and often are the most delighted with successful treatment.

Where the problem is only affecting one of you, your chances of getting pregnant increase dramatically over the time of treatment. In all cases it is particularly helpful if you both keep your general health as good as possible.

Despite the differing reasons for infertility the aim in all cases is to get the body of both prospective parents to a balanced healthy position to facilitate conception. Acupuncture can do this in addition to treating specific infertility causes.  If you are having trouble conceiving or you have been diagnosed with a specific complaint discuss this with your acupuncturist. 

A lot of the problems associated with infertility relate back to lifestyle and are things that your acupuncturist will discuss with you. Known things like your diet, smoking, drinking alcohol, your weight (too heavy or too light), exercise, stress, workload etc are all contributing factors to infertility.

For example it is known that anorexic women suffer loss of periods if their weight drops below around 7 stone. Also irregular periods and various problems with the menstrual cycle are often lifestyle related.

Likewise with male infertility, male lifestyle is an important factor in fertility levels. Diet, smoking, drinking alcohol, exercise and stress particularly affect male sperm counts and sperm quality. For men this additionally complicated as the lifecycle of sperm which is three months from initial production to release.  Maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle for the three months prior to attempting conception is often complicated with today's busy workload.

Acupuncture can be one of many pieces to the jigsaw puzzle of conception and and can increase the percentage chances each time a couple try to conceive. a recent study by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that acupuncture increases the chance of live birth in patients receiving IVF treatment by 65% over IVF on its own or placebo acupuncture and IVF. This means that if 10 women underwent IVF treatment this month and all of them were supported with acupuncture one extra baby would be born.

The principle of affecting the conception rate lies at the heart of treatment. Everything that patients can do to increase their chances multiply together to assist in the goal of conceiving.  This combined with treating specific problems has led to many of my patients conceiving with or without the assistance of Fertility Clinics. 

If you are undergoing fertility treatment please do discuss Acupuncture with your practitioner. Many clinics recommend acupuncture alongside certain treatments and whatever your specific treatment plan there is support that you can get from Chinese Medicine to improve your chances. 

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