The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay
The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay
Acupuncture is a traditional medicine form that has been around for over 3000 years, originating in China and is used in to treat various health problems such as back and joint pains, relieve stress and regulate the flow of chi or energy in the body of the person that avails it. Acupuncture makes use of very thin needles inserted in different pressure points throughout your body to achieve energy flow regulation and promote health and well-being. Apart from this, the use of acupuncture has also been used to help people having problems in fertility. It can be used to help you conceive if you are having problems doing so.
Over the years, more and more treatments aiming to address fertility and conception problems and help individuals and couples get pregnant. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay. Some of these treatments have worked in one way or the other, while some have been proven to be ineffective and are eventually no longer used or prescribed. Among these treatment methods, traditional Chinese medicine procedures such as acupuncture and others are still used in the Western world and is gaining popularity for its benefits not only for helping couple in terms or fertility and conception but also for their general health status.
What is Fertility? Conception?
Fertility is the word that is used to denote your capacity to get pregnant (if you are a female) or impregnate (for males). It is usually connected to your capacity to perform the roles and responsibilities associated either with motherhood or fatherhood. However, the word conception is used to point out to a state when that capacity to get pregnant is taken advantage of, resulting to the creation of a fetus and therefore pregnancy. These are all part of the natural order of things and are considered to be both responsibilities and privileges as well.
The Problem of Fertility and Conception
One of the most exciting phases in the life of an individual is when he or she is able to procreate and bring forth a child in to the world. If you are a woman, getting pregnant usually is correlated to your sense of completeness and ability to perform your biological role of motherhood. Likewise, if you are a man, being a father confirms your virility and your ability to procreate and start a family. Therefore, conception is not only a burden and role placed upon the woman, but also upon the man as well because they have shared responsibilities in the process of conception. However, this is usually clouded when either of you are faced with problems with fertility and conception, resulting to decreased ability to get pregnant and bring forth a child. The usual problem of fertility and conception also puts a strain into a relationship, with partners focusing and stressing over the need to conceive. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay.
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When you are stressed, it usually causes a disruption in the flow of your chi (or energy), and can bring about changes in how your body functions. This change in bodily function can affect levels of specific hormones that are responsible for fertility (as with ovulation in females and sperm counts and motility in males), and eventually in conception. Also, stress can also take its toll on the body by altering blood and oxygen flow to vital parts of the body that plays a role in fertility, conception and pregnancy. Moreover, lifestyle and dietary patterns have also been shown and proven to play a significant role in your fertility by altering nutritional and oxygen level and delivery to other cells of your body. By having patterns that are less than ideal, your fertility, and subsequently, capacity to get pregnant may also be affected.
Fertility and Acupuncture
As previously mentioned, problems with fertility or more commonly called infertility, is due to a number of causes. In females, one of the most common factors associated with fertility is the presence of spasms in the uterus and fallopian tubes and miscarriages. Acupuncture in fertility is usually used to address these problems. Also, since fertility is related to hormonal levels, acupuncture can also be used to treat problems with hormones (specifically the thyroid hormone) which are also pointed out to be root causes of infertility. This can be seen when hormones responsible for the general sense of health and well-being are being affected, creating what you call as a “feel-good” state. Likewise, acupuncture is also used as a form of treatment for people with infertility from usually unknown causes. These all help place acupuncture in the mainstream, allowing it to be used side-by-side with more medically-traditional treatments.
For women, acupuncture has been seen to improve hormonal levels that are highly important for fertility such as the luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormones.The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay. This can contribute greatly to higher chances of pregnancy, as was supported by research studies. In males, acupuncture has been seen to increase the fertility of males as it contributes to the increased number and volume of sperm cells with normal characteristics and reducing the number of defective ones. Moreover, this can also help improve sperm motility, causing it to reach its destination faster than other sperm cells.
Benefits of Acupuncture in Fertility
Because of its ability to realign and create a sense of normalcy in your energy flow or chi, acupuncture can bring about a lot of benefits for you as you go on your way to improving your fertility and become pregnant. As it balances those aspects of your mind and body that creates a problem in your state of fertility and ability to conceive, acupuncture combined with proper diet and a good physical environment can help you attain pregnancy. Moreover, the following aspects are also improved, contributing to increased fertility.
1. Acupuncture helps you reduce stress levels. Because of the burden you face in becoming pregnant, psychological form of stress is not uncommon. This can create a less than favorable impact on fertility since the presence of stress can lead your body to release hormones that may interrupt normal mechanisms that are related to proper ovulation and menstrual cycle. Acupuncture helps in this area by increasing the release of the hormone beta endorphin, allowing you to feel more relaxed and calm and decreasing your stress and anxiety levels. Also, because of this, the blood flowing to the uterus is improved, and oxygen and nutrient supply to the ovaries are maximized. When this happens, your menstrual cycles are regularized, ovulation cycles are normalized and fertility is improved.
2. Acupuncture increases the strength of your immune system. Sometimes, problems with fertility is caused by a problem with the immune system, making it less favorable for fertility to thrive and pregnancy to occur. Acupuncture treatments can help you treat the root cause of immune system problems and ensuring that your body is at its best possible condition necessary for fertility and conception. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay.
3. Acupuncture can help in regulating your hormones related to fertility. As mentioned in the previous section, when you are stressed, the body decreases its release of an endorphin that is necessary in controlling pain sensation and affecting the ovulatory processes essential for fertility and conception. Hormones such as the gonadotropin releasing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone and the luteinizing hormone are regulated, contributing to fertility.
4. The quality of your egg cells are improved after acupuncture treatments. Because of its ability to normalize bodily functions, and in effect the function of your endocrine glands, acupuncture can help improve the quality of your egg cells, resulting to better chances of successful conception and pregnancy. Also, it has been shown that through regular treatments with acupuncture, women who are experiencing anovulatory cycles can achieve normalized menstrual cycles and that hormonal disturbances are also resolved.
5. Side effects of medications may be reduced through acupuncture treatments. One of the most common medications prescribed to older women who want to become pregnant is Clomid. However, one of this drug’s effect is the thinning of your uterine lining, decreasing your chances to successful pregnancy. Acupuncture serves a reversing agent for this by causing your uterine lining to thicken and allowing it to maintain a uniform appearance and functioning. Because of this, blood flow to the arteries in the uterus is improved, allowing more oxygen and nutrients to be distributed to the uterus and its linings which are conducive to promoting fertility and pregnancy.
6. Acupuncture may be used concomitantly with in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for better success rates. Because of its capacity to increase and improve blood flow to the uterus, acupuncture is often used as a concomitant therapy to IVF. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay. This is because acupuncture is seen to cause a thickening in the uterine lining that is rich in oxygen and nutrients, and also by causing this lining to be more uniform in structure. Blood flow to the ovaries are also increased, ensuring better quality of the egg cells.
7. Uterine contractions are decreased. During implantation, there is a tendency for your uterus to contract, which may cause you to lose the pregnancy. Acupuncture treatments, when given regularly, may help in reducing these contractions during implantation, allowing the embryo to grow and become a fetus that can carry on to term.
8. Acupuncture also helps fertility in males too. This is because with acupuncture, sperm appearance, count and motility is increased.
The above-mentioned benefits of acupuncture in fertility may be achieved through regular treatments and observance of modalities that are set in place to ensure that you can best take advantage of the role of acupuncture in pregnancy.
Infertility is considered an inability to conceive in a sexually active couple who are trying to get pregnant for one year. About 8-12% of the couples in the world are facing problems with infertility, and in this modern times the per cent is getting bigger, and 20% of the cases are due to both male and female factor. By the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) infertility occurs due to disrupted vital balance and blockages in the Qi energy and Blood circulation flow.
CASE REPORT:
We present a case of a young couple, 28 years old man and woman who were unable to conceive after trying for a year. Both were treated with acupuncture treatment in a clinic for TCM and acupuncture in Skopje, Macedonia. Treatments were with duration of 35-40 minutes on both sides of the body. Treatments were done indoors, at room temperature, once a week in three months. The man has done 4 treatments to improve the sperm quality. The woman had ovarian cysts which were gone after 7 treatments and succeeded to get pregnant. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay. Acupoints that were used in the treatment in both patients are: HN1 (SiShenCong), LI4 (HeGu), ST36 (ZuSanLi), GB34 (YangLingQuan), SP9 (YinLingQuan), SP6 (SanYinJiao), LR3 (TaiChong), RN13 (ZhongWan), RN7 (QiHai), RN4 (GuanYuan), RN2 (QuGu), ST29 (GuiLai), ST25 (TianShu), GB20 (FengChi), DU14 (DaZhui), BL18 (GanShu), BL19 (DanShu), BL20 (PiShu), BL21 (WeiShu), BL25 DaChangShu) and BL32 (CiLiao).
CONCLUSION:
Acupuncture as a treatment for infertility shows great results both in man and women. Acupuncture can be considered as successful treatment in restoring fertility in the patients, by improving the sperm quality and ovaries function and balancing the endocrine system and hormones.
Infertility is considered as the inability to conceive in a sexually active couple who are trying to get pregnant for one year. 8-12% of the couples in the world are facing problems with infertility, and in these modern times, the per cent is getting bigger. 20% of the cases are due to both male, and female factor [1] [2] Problems that are possible to arise in men are abnormal sperm, low sperm motility or low sperm count. Causes can be genetic factors, long-term use of steroids, age, obesity, stress, and inflammation of the testicles, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and other diseases. In women problems that can arise are a polycystic ovarian syndrome, hyperprolactinemia, thyroid problems, hormonal imbalance, poor egg quality, cancer, AIDS, etc. Risk factors and causes are age, obesity, eating disorders, smoking, alcohol, stress, infections and other [1].
By the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) infertility occurs due to disrupted vital balance and blockages in the Qi energy and Blood circulation flow. When the free flow of the energy is blocked, it can cause deficiency, stagnancy or heat syndrome [3].
Deficiency syndrome is blocking and disrupting the sexual and reproductive function both in men and women.
The stagnancy syndrome disables the free flow of the energy and Blood and restricts it from circulation to the tissues in the reproductive organs. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay.
The heat syndrome is connected to inflammation processes which have an impact on semen quality and gynaecological infections.
All three syndromes can be treated with Traditional Chinese Medicine, concretely with acupuncture and herbs [4] [5]. When it is known which syndrome to treat, and the problem is solved, the body returns to health and conception may happen naturally. TCM sees every patient as unique, and the treatment is made by their current condition and constitution. With such a long history for more than 5000 years, TCM is highly effective with no side effects. Acupuncture as part of the TCM as a treatment for infertility is used for a very long time. With the insertion of tiny sterile needles into acupoints located at specific points on the body the way the body functions can be regulated and the problem that affects fertility can be addressed. Acupuncture treatment can balance the hormones, strengthen the immune system, regulate the energy and Blood flow, remove the stasis and phlegm and stimulate the nervous system. With a combination of acupuncture and herbs, it is possible to improve the ovarian and follicular function and increase the blood flow to the endometrium [3] [6] [7].
Material and Methods
In this research is presented a case of a young couple, 28 years old man and woman who were unable to conceive after trying for a year. The male patient is with normal findings, normal blood pressure, blood sugar and appetite. Before starting the treatments, the patient was taking E vitamin and Tribestan tablets for improving fertility and to stimulate testosterone excretion. The acupuncture treatment was made to improve the sperm quality. The female patient is diagnosed with endometriosis on both ovaries. On the scans done before the treatment are visible ‘chocolate’ cysts on both ovaries. Since the patient was diagnosed, she was taking hormonal therapy for one year and one month before starting the acupuncture treatment the hormonal therapy was stopped. The menstrual cycle is regular but very painful. The patient was also struggling with hormonal acne on the face. Both of the patients were treated with acupuncture treatment in a clinic for TCM and acupuncture in Skopje, Macedonia by a doctor specialist in acupuncture. Treatments were with duration of 35-40 minutes on both sides of the body. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay. Treatments were done indoors, at room temperature, once a week in three months. In the treatment were used fine sterile disposable needles 0.25 x 25mm manufactured by Wuijuiang City Medical & Health Material Co., LTD. Points that were used in the treatment in both patients are: HN1 (SiShenCong), LI4 (HeGu), ST36 (ZuSanLi), GB34 (YangLingQuan), SP9 (YinLingQuan), SP6 (SanYinJiao), LR3 (TaiChong), RN13 (ZhongWan), RN7 (QiHai), RN4 (GuanYuan), RN2 (QuGu), ST29 (GuiLai), ST25 (TianShu), GB20 (FengChi), DU14 (DaZhui), BL18 (GanShu), BL19 (DanShu), BL20 (PiShu), BL21 (WeiShu), BL25 DaChangShu) and BL32 (CiLiao).
Results
When treating infertility both male and female factor is very important. Therefore both patients have done the treatment at the same time. On both patients were used the same points. The male patient has done 4 treatments to improve the sperm quality. Before the treatment, the patient has done one sperm test. Results from the test show a small amount of progressively moving sperm cells (5%) and a limited amount of immobile sperm cells (50%). The results from the sperm test done before the treatment are shown in Table 1. The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility Essay.
