Acupuncture & Infertility

Many more couples are turning to acupuncture to cure infertility problems and help them make a baby.

What is acupuncture and how does it work?

Acupuncture is an ancient medical practice that originated in China over 2000 years ago.
In acupuncture, sterilized needles that are thin and hollow in shape are placed at specific points (sometimes referred to as acupuncture points) in the body in order to realign the body’s natural forces. The needles are then twisted or vibrated (it is not as painful as it sounds!) so as to rebalance the body and to decrease feelings of pain, disease and other illness.
Acupuncture works by restoring energy flow to the body. Chinese medical practitioners believe there are 20 distinct energy pathways that travel throughout the body. When one of these energy pathways becomes blocked, disease, illness or pain occurs.
By placing needles at specific points, the blockage is minimized, restoring health. There are over 2 000 such points in the body.
Western medicine now recognizes the benefits of acupuncture. Studies have shown that acupuncture causes the release of hormones, such as endorphins, which cause the body to relax and therefore heal.These hormones can also increase blood flow, enabling antibodies to attack viruses and infections in the body.

Acupuncture and Infertility – Men

Male infertility can also benefit from acupuncture. Acupuncture can be very effective at treating sperm health problems such as a low sperm count. Studies have shown that acupuncture can increase the amount and quality of a man’s sperm.
Acupuncture also be used to cure erectile dysfunctions.

Acupuncture and Infertility – Women

Many women choose acupuncture infertility treatment either on its own or in conjunction with assisted reproduction procedures, such as IVF.
There is a growing amount of anecdotal evidence that acupuncture can be effective in treating infertility in women. Whilst not enough medical research has been done, some scientific studies have also proved the effectiveness of acupuncture for infertility.
A 2004 study conducted by the Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Center in Colorado found that 51% of women who underwent both IVF and acupuncture treatment at the same time became pregnant, while only 36% of those who only underwent IVF did. The latter group also had higher rates of miscarriage stillbirth (20%) compared to those women who had received acupuncture (8%).
Acupuncture seems to work best when a functional problem is the cause of infertility, specifically when endometriosis, ovulatory problems or hormonal imbalances are the cause for not getting pregnant.
On the other hand, acupuncture has not been proven to be effective when structural problems, such as an improperly formed epididymis or a blocked fallopian tube, are the cause of infertility.

Causes of female infertility

There are many different reasons why a woman may be infertile. Below are some of the most common reasons for female infertility.

Endometriosis

This condition, in which endometrial tissue (the uterine lining that sheds with each monthly period) grows outside the uterus, is a major cause of infertility in women. Symptoms include painful menstrual periods, irregular or heavy bleeding and possibly, repeated miscarriages. Edometriosis can be cured by laparoscopic surgery. This will remove abnormal tissue or unblock tubes. 40-60 per cent conceive within 18 months after surgery. IVF can also be used to enable pregnancy.

Ovulation problems

This is usually a hormonal condition that prevents the release of a mature egg from an ovary. Symptoms include absent or infrequent periods and excessively heavy or light bleeding. Many ovulation problems can be cured by ovulation-stimulating drugs such as clomiphene, andf follicle-stimulating hormones. 70 per cent ovulate and of those, 20-60 per cent get pregnant. IVF can also be used to enable pregnancy.

Poor egg quality

Some women have eggs that become damaged or egss that develop chromosomal abnormalities that cannot sustain a pregnancy. This problem is usually age-related as egg quality declines significantly in the late 30s and early 40s. IVF combined with egg donation is an option. Or surrogacy.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome or PCO is when a woman’s ovaries contain many small cysts. It is often linked with hormone imbalances. Symptoms include irregular menstrual periods, excessive hair growth, acne and weight gain. PCO can be helped by the use of ovulation-stimulating drugs such as clomiphene and follicle-stimulating hormones. Appoximately 70 per cent of women who take fertility drugs ovulate and of those, half go on to conceive within six to nine months.

Female tube blockages

Blocked or damaged fallopian tubes prevent eggs from getting to the uterus and sperm from getting to the egg. Leading causes include pelvic inflammatory disease and sexually transmitted diseases such as Chlamydia. Laparoscopic surgery can be used to open tubes, If surgery fails IVF is an option.

Unknown Reasons

As much as a third of all female infertility is unknown. Lifestyle in particular can play a huge part in infertility. Stress, smoking, bad eating habits (over eating and under eating) will all affect a woman’s fertility. If you have been trying for over 12 months to get pregnant your first step should be to consult a professional.

Antioxidants Could Improve Male Fertility

Men who are struggling to make their partner pregnant could boost their chances by taking antioxidants, according to new research.

A study published this week in The Cochrane Library provides evidence from a small number of trials to suggest that the  partners of men who take antioxidants are more likely to become pregnant.

Freaky chemicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS) are believed to cause damage to cells, and in particular sperm cells, which may result in lowered sperm counts and interfere with their ability to fertilise eggs.

The study believes antioxidants can help to reduce the damage caused by ROS. The review focused on 34 trials involving 2,876 couples undergoing assisted reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilisation and sperm injections. Most men in the trials had low sperm counts or low sperm motility. The trials explored the use of many different types of oral antioxidants, including vitamin E, L-carnitine, zinc and magnesium.

Compared to controls, a couple was more likely to have a pregnancy or live birth if the man took antioxidants. However, these results are based on just 964 of the couples in the review for pregnancies and 214 couples for live births.

Other trials tested the effects of antioxidants on sperm motility and concentration and showed mostly positive effects, although study group sizes were small.

“When trying to conceive as part of an assisted reproductive program, it may be advisable to encourage men to take oral antioxidant supplements to improve their partners’ chances of becoming pregnant,” said lead researcher Marian Showell, who works in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand.

But please note that the conclusions are based on pretty limited evidence. There was not enough data comparing different antioxidants to reach any conclusions about the relative effectiveness of supplements.

23/01/2011

Coffee could boost IVF chances

A strong cup of coffee could help prevent a life-threatening complication of IVF according to a new study.

Around 5% to 10% of women undergoing IVF experience a condition known as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).

Caffeine could block adenosine – a chenical that increases the risk of OHSS.

Although the majority of OHSS cases are mild, with symptoms including abdominal bloating, nausea and weight gain, in its most serious form it can cause blood clotting disorders, kidney damage and chest pain.

Scientists from Middlesex University and Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry who analysed fluid around the human egg discovered surprisingly high levels of the chemical adenosine.

They believe OHSS is caused when IVF drug stimulation creates high levels of adenosine, causing the blood vessels to dilate and blood fluid to leak into tissue.

“It may be that a cup of strong coffee with every IVF cycle could reduce the chances of OHSS. Caffeine competes with adenosine for the same receptors, effectively blocking adenosine’s action, and it could therefore potentially treat the cause of this condition.” said Ray Iles, professor of biomedical science at Middlesex University.

Further research is under way at Barts and The London Centre for Reproductive Medicine.

01/10/2010

Artificial Ovary Breakthrough

Using a 3-D petri dish, researchers at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island have built a completely functional artificial human ovary that will allow doctors to harvest immature human egg cells (oocytes) and grow them into mature, ready-to-be-fertilized human eggs outside the body. (In vitro) The advance could eventually help preserve fertility for women facing chemotherapy or other medical treatments that may be destructive to ovarian folliculogenesis.


30/09/2010

Stress and Infertility

New research has highlighted the importance of stress in understanding infertility.

Studies have shown that stress can prevent pregnancy by increasing too many of the fight-or-flight hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, which can reduce sperm count and prevent ovulation. Stress hormones can interfere with these steps by preventing the actions of a key reproductive hormone known as gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH).

When GnRH is inhibited, it does not trigger the pituitary gland to produce and secrete other reproductive hormones.

New research from the University of California Berkeley is now showing that stress can also impact fertility by causing the increase of another reproductive hormone called Gonadotropin-Inhibitory Hormone (GnIH). This hormone further impedes procreation by preventing the GnRH hormone from being released.

“Stress had already been shown to affect all those other more traditional players in the sex hormone cascade but no one had looked at GnIH yet,” says Elizabeth Kirby, a member of the research team. “So, our research basically adds a new piece to the puzzle of sex and reproduction – a new hormone known to suppress reproduction is also now known to increase in response to stress.”

Ultimately, what this means is that stress works in more than just one way to impact fertility.

07/03/2010

Lab Grown Human Eggs and Sperm

A major scientific breakthrough has been made in fertility treatment with the news that human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory.

The annoucement could change the face of parenthood.

This scientific advance paves the way for a cure for infertility and could potentially help those left sterile by cancer treatment to have children who are biologically their own.

But the breakthrough does raise a number of moral and ethical concerns. These include the possibility of children being born through entirely artificial means, and men and women being sidelined from the process of making babies.

Opponents argue that it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life and warn that the advances taking place to tackle infertility risk distorting and damaging relations between family members.

The U.S. government-funded research centres on stem cells, widely seen as a repair kit for the body.

Scientists at Stanford University in California found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into becoming eggs and sperm.

The sperm had heads and short tails and are thought to have been mature enough to fertilise an egg.

The eggs were at a much earlier stage but were still much more developed than any created so far by other scientists.

The double success, published in the journal Nature, raises the prospect of men and women one day ‘growing’ their own sperm and eggs for use in IVF treatments.

The American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but
hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin.

The skin cells would first be exposed to a mixture which wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs.

Starting with a person’s own skin would also mean the lab-grown sperm or eggs would not be rejected by the body.

The science also raises the possibility of ‘male eggs’ made from men’s skin and ‘female sperm’ from women’s skin.

This would allow gay couples to have children genetically their own, although many scientists are sceptical about whether it is possible to create sperm from female cells, which lack the male Y chromosome.

The U.S. breakthrough could unlock many of the secrets of egg and sperm production, leading to new drug treatments for infertility.

Defects in sperm and egg development are the biggest cause of infertility but, because many of the key stages occur in the womb, scientists have struggled to study the process in detail.

Dr Allan Pacey, a Sheffield University expert in male fertility said:

‘Ultimately this may help us find a cure for male infertility. Not necessarily by making sperm in the laboratory, I personally think that is unlikely, but by identifying new targets for drugs or genes that may stimulate sperm production to occur naturally. This is a long way off, but it is a laudable dream.’

29/10/2009

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