Researchers from Tel Aviv University have found that if Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture and IUI treatment is used in combination, it boosts the success rate of IUI.
They studied 123 women who were having intra-uterine insemination (IUI). IUI is when a sample of healthy sperm are taken and transferred to the woman’s uterus at the time of ovulation to secure a better chance of conceiving. It can be helpful, particularly if the male partner has few good sperm. For the majority of couples, this was their only treatment.
Herbal Medicine Increased Birth Rate
29 of the women were given Chinese herbal medicines and weekly acupuncture treatments in addition to their IUI treatment. Herbs they were given included PeoniaAlbae and Chuanxiong., amongst others. The remedies were tailored to each specific woman.
The combined treatment group fared much better with 65.5% of them being able to conceive compared with only 39.4% of the IUI only group.
The percentage of women who ended up with a baby was also greater in the combined treatment group with 41.4% delivering healthy babies compared to 26.9% in the IUI only group. The thing that made the results so powerful was that the women who received the herbal medicine and acupuncture were on average older than the women who had IUI alone, and advancing maternal age normally reduces your ability to conceive.
Dr. Lev-Ari, a cellular biologist and Sela, a Chinese Medicine Practitioner, wrote:
‘The average age of the women in the study group was 39.4, while that of the control group was 37.1. Normally, the older the mother, the lower the pregnancy and delivery rates.’
How Can Chinese Herbal Medicine Help You Get Pregnant?
Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioners say that it can help by:
- Correcting imbalances of energy within the body
- Promoting a feeling of health and well-being
- It may possibly regulate the ovulation and menstrual cycles, thus improving the chance of conception
- It may possibly enhance blood flow to the uterus, making the environment more suitable for a newly fertilized embryo. This could aid implantation
- It could stimulate endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller. Endorphins inhibit the central nervous system and so make the person feel calm. This may be why they act as a painkiller, because the more stressed you are, the more pain you feel. Calm people may have a greater chance of conceiving as stress is known to affect fertility.
How Can Acupuncture Help You Get Pregnant?
Studies on acupuncture appear to be mixed, but the Tel Aviv study is not the only one that has found it beneficial to women trying to achieve a family. It has been shown to be useful to women undergoing Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as it increased the number of follicles produced. It is might also inhibit the central nervous system to induce calm in the same way that Chinese Herbal Medicine does. Either way, there are a growing number of women who say that acupuncture and alternative medicines helped them have a baby.
Sources:
- Traditional Chinese medicine makes fertility treatments far more effective, Tel Aviv University researchers discover, Tel Aviv University Press Release,
- Acupuncture Treatment For Infertile Women Undergoing Intracytoplasmic SpermInjection, Medical Acupuncture, A Journal For Physicians By PhysiciansSpring / Summer 2000- Volume 12 / Number 2.
Joanna Karpasea-Jones - I have been a health writer since 1997 when I published my own newsletter, SHOTS. I have written 2 books on childhood health, and write ...
