Many women are trying to conceive when they are in their forties. The chances of success are limited and even if conception is achieved, the miscarriage rate is high. The reason it’s difficult to conceive is because the forty-year-old woman has (generally speaking) a decreased ovarian reserve and reduced egg quality.
After several failed IVF cycles, the usual next step is the donor egg. The donor egg has a success rate of between 60 and 70 percent.
Rate-limiting factors may include, but are not limited to, poor uterine lining, poor sperm quality, and disease (autoimmune attack of the embryo, or poor permeability of blood flow that does not nourish the embryo or placenta).
Acupuncture and herbal medicine cannot increase the ovarian reserve, but they can improve the quality of the egg, lining, and sperm in many cases. The mechanism of action is to improve blood flow to the ovaries and tests. A “perfect” 10-millimeter coating is not necessarily “perfect.” Many 10 millimeter liners do not have adequate blood flow within the liner and this compromises the ability of the liner to maintain an implant. The eggs of a forty-year-old woman can always improve. Sperm in a man in his forties is often below average and can often be improved with acupuncture and herbs.
For example, I don’t think acupuncture and herbal medicine can get a woman pregnant.
The desired and often obtained end result of the inclusion of acupuncture and herbal medicine when trying to conceive is an improvement in the quality of the egg, lining and sperm. An IVF embryo transfer is a “mechanical” procedure: the eggs are retrieved, mixed with sperm, the embryos develop and are placed in the uterus, and the rest is sheer luck.
IVF or IUI has nothing to do with improving the chances of conception and an ongoing pregnancy through the mechanism of enhancing the constituent components of an embryo: egg and sperm. Acupuncture and herbs often fill this gap. If the quality of the egg, sperm, and lining can be improved even slightly, this can significantly improve pregnancy outcomes.
Our expectations are not unrealistic. For example, I don’t think acupuncture and herbal medicine can get a woman pregnant any more than IVF can, even though pregnancies occasionally occur as a result of both procedures. Pregnancy occurs as a result of the relative health of the woman harboring the embryo as well as the quality of the embryo and the uterine lining. Many things can go wrong resulting in failed cycles.
So, at the end of the day, IUI, IVF, acupuncture, and herbal medicine can help a woman conceive, but they can’t guarantee success. The key is this: you have the power to use additive means that are available to you today, more than ever, to help increase your chances of a healthy and continued pregnancy. Acupuncture and herbs are just two. Psychotherapy, diet, exercise, biofeedback, yoga, tai chi, and meditation may also be helpful.
Did you know that pregnant women who are highly stressed are more likely to give birth prematurely? This is a fact. Acupuncture, in addition to its action on the ovaries and tests and lining, is also known to help reduce stress.
Repeated donor egg failure
Why don’t some women with “good” lining and access to “good” sperm conceive with donor egg transfers? There are several reasons: 1) chromosomally abnormal eggs; 2) undiagnosed poor coating quality; 3) disease (as mentioned above). Most of these cases are considered ‘idiopathic’, which means that your doctor does not understand why you are not getting pregnant. Idiopathic means ‘with no known cause’. That the cause is ‘unknown’ does not mean that there is no cause.
Acupuncture and herbs probably aren’t necessary for the egg donor unless you’re over 35, but keep in mind that even 16-year-old girls have a certain number of chromosomally abnormal eggs. So if your cycle fails due to a chromosomally abnormal egg, it’s definitely bad luck and shouldn’t usually happen again.
However, if you have repeated failed donor egg cycles, it is probably not about the quality of the egg, but rather the quality of the sperm, the quality of the lining, or disease. Acupuncture and herbs can help improve the quality of the lining and the quality of the sperm and, in some cases, even reduce the effect of autoimmune problems or blood clotting problems that can contribute to repeated pregnancy loss. However, I strongly believe that the best and most effective way to treat autoimmune disorders or blood clotting disorders that can cause miscarriage is Western medicine.
Stress and reactive-oxidative species negatively affect sperm quality. Herbs and acupuncture can successfully reduce both, as well as stimulate greater blood flow to the tests, improving the supply of hormones, oxygen, electrolytes, and nutrients, and improving the excretion of dead cells.
This is the same mechanism of action by which the quality of the egg in the ovary is improved. Acupuncture cannot positively affect a man without sperm. This is called aspermia. Acupuncture also cannot improve sperm count due to genetic abnormalities (y-chromosome microdeletion) or anatomical testing abnormalities (vericocele).
East meets West in reproductive medicine: the new gold standard
The smartest approach for the couple facing difficulties conceiving and/or staying pregnant is to combine Eastern and Western medicine. These two, although decidedly different, are nevertheless complementary and work synergistically. This means that when combining IUI, IVF, or donor egg with acupuncture and herbs, you should expect better results than when using just one of these modalities.
In the world, most things manifest in pairs: marriage, night and day, summer and winter, exercise and rest, work and vacation, food and wine, joy and sadness, etc. This is the yin and yang of life.
The ‘pair’ or yin and yang of reproductive medicine is adopted in recognition of the benefit of combining Eastern and Western medicine.
What You Need Most When You’re In Your Forties And Trying To Conceive
1. Improved egg quality: Acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.
2. Improved lining quality: Acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.
3. Possibly improved sperm parameters: Acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.
4. Stress reduction: Acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.