DAAN Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture

Some couples are finding success with using acupunture to treat infertility:

“The countdown has begun for “Jessica,” 40, and her husband. The couple is blissfully expecting their first offspring, twins, this June after several attempts at natural conception. When the old-fashioned method wasn’t working, they pursued invitro fertilization (IVF).

That wasn’t working either, so Jessica turned to acupuncture to nudge her into the family way.

“I was having problems getting pregnant,” she says. “My fertility doctor couldn’t find anything wrong. One day I woke up and decided to check out acupuncture. I did some research on the Internet, just read up what people had to say. I also have migraines, and I needed some help with that as well.”

Jessica made a visit to Hong Yan, an acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine specialist at Southcentre Chinese Acupuncture. After an extensive assessment and a customized treatment plan, the new mother-to-be said she noticed a difference.

“Hong was very good, very relaxing,” she says. “After two months of having pins stuck in you, I’d had enough of it, but I felt great afterwards. I think it woke my system up. Once we started the second IVF treatment, I got pregnant right away.”

Yan, who originally honed her skills in China as a physician, has been practicing acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine for 13 years. While many people come to her for pain and stress relief or alleviation from chronic illnesses, she’s found the method has worked effectively for couples who want to conceive.

“Most want to try a natural process, and some of them are on waiting list for fertility clinic specialist,” she says. “Then some people have already tried IVF, didn’t succeed and they want something more natural.”

Yan says she immediately checks to see if there are any medical impediments to prevent a woman from getting pregnant. Then she helps them track their basal body temperature, which is commonly used the rhythm method. The evidence collected helps her determine where to apply the acupuncture needles as well as which herbs to prescribe.

“With every phase of a woman’s cycle, there are particular levels of hormones and temperatures,” she says. “I find what is wrong with the hormones I will try to add some new protocols with acupuncture and Chinese herbs to help regulate the temperatures.”"

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Scientists are exploring traditional Chinese medicines to treat menopause:

“A related concern involves so-called bio-identical compounds pharmacies make to treat hot flashes. These compounds are similar to prescription estrogen, but often contain different ingredients or in different concentrations tailored to an individual patient’s needs.

In November, the American Medical Association called for tougher FDA regulations of the compounds, claiming some pharmacies improperly tout them as safer than FDA-approved estrogen. Pharmacists argue that they are sufficiently supervised by state licensing boards.

The absence of federally authorized alternatives to estrogen has aroused keen interest among some biotech executives.

“The potential market opportunity for a safer drug to treat menopausal symptoms is enormous,'’ said Dr. Mary Tagliaferri, chief medical officer at Bionovo, who said she and another executive sold their homes to help start the company in 2005.

Bionovo calls its Chinese-herbal extract treatment, which is taken orally, MF101. Like many estrogen treatments, MF101 attaches to receptors on a woman’s cells, triggering a genetic response that tends to limit hot flashes. But unlike estrogen, MF101 doesn’t activate a type of receptor linked to cancerous growths, according to an early-stage study of 22 postmenopausal women that was published in the November issue of the journal Endocrinology.

Depomed hopes to one day win FDA approval for its proposed hot-flash treatment using gabapentin. That drug was approved in 1994 as a medicine for seizures. But this summer, gabapentin also proved as effective as estrogen in easing hot flashes in a preliminary National Institutes of Health-sponsored study involving 60 women.”

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A story about a couple in Manhattan treating infertility with traditional Chinese medicine. Some interesting background on some of the theories behind Chinese medicine:

“Hunyuan is an alternative fertility treatment of acupuncture and herbs, used by practitioners around the country trained and certified by Yaron.

A philosophical Taoist concept, Hunyuan translates as “’primordial origin or energy’ n the inborn energy in everything that’s there by itself,” says Yaron, who is fluent in Chinese. “We have an inborn ability to be healthy.”

In fertility, Hunyuan refers to the inborn ability of every woman to conceive naturally.
Chinese medicine believes that to conceive, both partners must be in optimal health. “We need to get you as healthy as we can, and pregnancy happens naturally, as it should,” Yaron says.

Most of the Seidmans’ patients have tried in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and are looking for another option.

“Doctors don’t know why IVF fails,” Yaron says. “They say the woman is too old or has poor egg quality. But from the Chinese-medicine point of view, if a body isn’t in optimal health, a pregnancy won’t develop.”

Nutrition can affect the quality of both egg and sperm. Taly tells of a patient diagnosed with a low sperm count, who took Chinese herbs for two months, and tested normal.

Chinese medicine does consider egg quality, but only in relation to the woman’s state of health, not as much to her age. All women eventually stop ovulating naturally. But a stressful life can affect the health of the egg, Yaron says. “If you eat well, keep stress away, and use Chinese medicine, you can be 44 but your reproductive system can be like 38. Your ability to conceive all depends on what you do to get your health back.”

Western medicine addresses infertility with harsh drugs and invasive procedures, but Chinese herbs work to repair the body. “Our challenge is to educate people that there is a gentler way to treat infertility,” Yaron says.”

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Some patients find success using acupuncture and Chinese herbs for fertility treatments:

“Katherine Simpson, of Davidsonville, was running out of options.

She was 35, unable to get pregnant, and her fertility clinic had not found any obvious reason why. According to her doctors, the only thing left for her to try was in vitro fertilization, a costly procedure that Ms. Simpson didn’t feel was right for her.

“They told me they couldn’t do any more,” Ms. Simpson, now 36, said.

Then she looked into acupuncture.

“I thought, ‘even if it doesn’t work, I’ll feel better,’ ” she said. After working with Severna Park acupuncturist Nicole Withrow for six months, Ms. Simpson became pregnant with her son.

Ms. Withrow, a licensed acupuncturist, has now shifted from general practice to exclusively treating clients struggling with infertility. Some of her patients have suffered recurrent miscarriages and some are simply unable to conceive.

Although the business change has meant an overall decrease in clients, Ms. Withrow did it because she saw a need - treatment for women and men who are navigating through a tough journey of frustration, fear and loss.

“There’s a failure aspect, especially with unexplained infertility,” the 33-year-old said. “Women often feel like failures.”

In Ms. Withrow’s practice, clients might receive acupuncture treatments, nutritional recommendations, supplements or herbs, or some combination of therapies. Ms. Withrow said she often recommends lifestyle changes like yoga, meditation and tai chi.”

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