Fertility Acupuncture in Winnipeg
Fertility care can feel overwhelming. At Family Acupuncture Wellness Clinic in Winnipeg, we offer a welcoming space to discuss acupuncture, your goals, and the care you are already receiving.
Whether you are trying to conceive or undergoing infertility treatments, your first appointment starts with your health history and questions. We discuss an individual plan alongside the recommendations of your fertility team.
What to expect
Your first visit includes an in depth consultation and acupuncture treatment. Be prepared to answer questions about your history, menstrual cycle and hormonal changes. We know that infertility is a vulnerable subject and we approach this subject with compassion and respect. We treat a wide variety to challenges that come along with fertility struggles like endometriosis, PCOS, cysts, thin uterine lining, prolonged bleeding, short luteal phase, anovulation, amenorrhea, male factor infertility and more.
Planning your appointments
Appointment frequency depend on your circumstances and unique needs. If you are preparing for IUI, IVF, or an FET, please tell us about your schedule when you call so we can plan accordingly.
Endometriosis
What is Endometriosis?
Endometriosis is the growth of endometrial tissue in areas of a woman’s body outside the uterus. It can be a distressing and often painful condition that can interfere with fertility. Chinese medicine can help reduce inflammation and manage symptoms such as:
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Pain during menstruation
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Pain with intercourse
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Infertility
Treatment
As with many things, Western and Chinese medicine approach endometriosis differently. Western medicine can be very effective at removing scar tissue and repairing structural problems, while Chinese medicine focuses on reducing inflammation and slowing down progression.
Mild or Moderate Endometriosis
If you have mild or moderate endometriosis, your MD may prescribe birth control drugs to suppress the female hormones that are affecting growth. This therapy may reduce the endometriosis but it also prevents conception. As well, the endometriosis frequently reappears once you stop using the medication.
Severe Endometriosis
If you have severe endometriosis your doctor might recommend surgery to remove the endometriosis and repair the damage to the reproductive organs. The effectiveness of this depends on whether a normal anatomy can be restored.
How Chinese Medicine can Help
Chinese medicine can help reduce symptoms, regulate your menstrual period and balance your hormones. We encourage women who have abnormal bleeding, painful menstruation, or pain with intercourse to visit their gynaecologist for a complete medical assessment. If the endometriosis is mild, then Chinese medicine can be an effective approach on its own. If the endometriosis is severe, then a combination of Chinese and Western treatments will likely be the most beneficial.
Our acupuncturists may develop a personalized treatment program with you that will include:
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Anti-inflammatory diet therapy
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Chinese herbs and supplements
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Acupuncture
Mild or Moderate Endometriosis
With mild or moderate endometriosis, Chinese medicine can provide an alternative to hormone therapy. While this treatment approach takes longer than the Western treatment, it can help address the hormonal imbalance causing the endometriosis. After a few cycles, on average women experience a reduction in pelvic pain, improved menstrual regularity and flow.
Severe Endometriosis
Acupuncture, herbal therapy, and diet can help reduce inflammation, enhance post-surgical recovery, and improve your body's ability to absorb the endometrial tissue.
Diet
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Eat plenty of high fiber foods, which increase transit time in the intestines and promote an optimal balance of probiotics in the intestines
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Increase liver friendly foods such as kale, Brussels sprouts and broccoli
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Use more anti-inflammatory spices such as turmeric (which protects against environmental carcinogens and decreases inflammation), ginger, dandelion leaves and ground flaxseeds
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Avoid sugar, caffeine and alcohol
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Avoid or minimize dairy and gluten as they can contribute to inflammation
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Avoid red meat because it contains large amount of arachidonic acid, which promotes inflammatory prostaglandins, inflammation and pain
IVF Assistance with Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been used to optimize women's fertility for over 2000 years. Recent meta-analysis of clinical trials shows that acupuncture can significantly improve the rate of conception for women undergoing IVF. Medical research shows the effectiveness of acupuncture for:
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Reducing stress to increase overall well-being
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Improving pregnancy rates in conjunction with IVF
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Improves blood flow to the reproductive organs
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Supports immune function required for implantation
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Regulating menstrual cycle and ovulation
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Improving sperm count, motility and morphology
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Reducing painful conditions and inflammation
The following treatment plans are recommended for acupuncture support before, during and after your IVF cycle:
Stimulation phase: This is a busy and vulnerable time for women. Acupuncture can be effective at promoting healthy blood flow to the uterus and ovaries to help with quality and quantity of follicules.
A few days following egg retrieval: Post egg retrieval, your body will need somewhere between 4 and 14 days to recover. Treatment focuses on minimizing bloating and physical discomforts, and reducing stress and anxiety to create a calm environment for the arrival of an embryo.
It's been found that adding pre and post embryo acupuncture treatments can increase implantation rates.
We use points specific to your needs, as well as a protocol of points used in clinical trials whcih aim to decrease uterine contrations and support the regulation of stress responses. We see best results when patients come in the morning before their transfer and immediatly after their transfer too.
Some women and men find the TWW the hardest part. Acupuncture can help calm the body and mind.
Our acupuncture treatment plans are based on evidence-based protocols and range from preconception programs of 1-2 treatments on the day of embryo transfer to a course of treatments (one treatment per week for four weeks leading up to the egg retrieval to optimize your results). Along with traditional acupuncture, we use the most up-to-date electro-acupuncture stimulation, both of which have been shown to support overall pregnancy rates.
Male Factor Infertility
What is Male Factor Infertility?
Almost one in six couples experience fertility problems. Studies show that while 40% of the time infertility is the result of the result of female factors, 40% of the time it's the result of male factors and 20% of the time the result of a combination of both women and men. If you are experiencing difficulties getting pregnant, it is important that the male partner get his sperm checked.
Sperm problems may involve the quantity and/or quality of the sperm. A simple semen analysis can assess basic fertility. This simply involves asking your family doctor for a test requisition and taking a sperm sample to a local lab for testing.
The semen analysis looks at the sperm in three different ways:
1. Sperm Count: This is the most important part of the test. The more sperm there is, the better!
2. Sperm Motility: This measures the percentage of sperm that is moving in a forward direction
3. Sperm Morphology: This measures the shape of the sperm. It is quite common for men to have lot of abnormally shaped sperm
How Chinese Medicine can Help
Recent studies have shown that acupuncture can help:
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Increase sperm production
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Improve sperm movement (motility)
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Improve the levels of hormones responsible for fertility
*Acupuncture needles are never inserted into the genitals. The needles are instead painlessly inserted into acupuncture points in various other parts of the body.
Things to Avoid
High Temperatures
The human body is 37 degrees Celsius while sperm functions best at 32 degrees Celsius. This means anything that elevates the scrotum’s temperature over a period of time can adversely affect sperm. Long distance driving, extended sitting, hot baths, saunas, hot tubs, tight-fitting underwear, and athletic support straps all can raise the temperature of the scrotum, thus “cooking” the sperm.
Drugs
Many prescription drugs affect fertility: common antibiotics such as penicillin and tetracycline can wipe out a sperm harvest. Phenytoin, glucocorticoids, sulfasalazine, and nitrofurantoin are other drugs that can affect sperm motility. Furthermore, many nonprescription drugs can have a toxic effect on sperm. For example, the chemical ingredient in marijuana is very closely related to testosterone, which causes the body to produce less of its own. Marijuana also builds-up in the testes, lowering libido, causing impotence, and sometimes even causing sexual anxiety. Fortunately, as with cigarettes, if you stop smoking them, you will probably see an improvement in sperm quality within a few months. The effects of cocaine on fertility are similar to those of marijuana.
Environmental Estrogens
Environmental estrogens can damage the sertoli cells. Sertoli cells are responsible for the production of sperm. Estrogens are now found in drinking water and food such as meat. Plastics also give off estrogens. Don’t microwave plastic and try to avoid drinking from it. Try to use glass containers instead. If you are drinking water from a plastic bottle, try to limit its exposure to the sun or heat. Balance your intake of water between bottled water and filtered tap water (or tap water that has been let sit on the counter for a few hours).
References
1. Park JJ, Kang M, Shin S, Choi E, Kwon S, Wee H, Nam B, Kaptchuk TJ (2010). "Unexplained infertility treated with acupuncture and herbal medicine in Korea". J Altern Complement Med. 16(2): 193-8
2. Shuai Z, Lian F, Li P, Yang W (2015). "Effect of transcutaneous electrical acupuncture point stimulation on endometrial receptivity in women undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer: a single-blind prospective randomized controlled trial". Acupuncture in Medicine, 33(1), 9-15. https//doi.org/10.1136/acupmed-2014-010572
3. Cochrane S, Smith CA, Possamai-Inesedy A, Bensoussan A. (2018). "Prior to conception: the role of an acupuncture protocol in improving women's reproductive functioning assessed by a pilot pragmatic randomized controlled trial"{published correction appears in Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2018 May 2;2018:2343604}. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. Doi: 2016;2016:3587569. doi:10.1155/2016/3587569