By Carmel Dooley
Having a baby is the most natural thing in the world…or is it? As Ireland’s baby boomers reach child-bearing age, one couple in six is seeking help to have a baby, making infertility a very widespread problem. Doctors estimate that in the next 20 years, infertility will affect one person out of five – an increase of 15 per cent.
One reason for this growth in infertility is that Irish couples are now starting families older than in previous generations, a trend which is set to continue. Long working hours and financial and career aspirations mean that many women are putting off having a family until their late 30s/early 40s. According to the CSO figures, the average age of women giving birth for the first time increased from 29 years of age in 1980 to 31 years of age in 2009.
While Western medicine has been slow to embrace the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine has a long and successful history in reproductive medicine. Recent studies reveal that traditional Chinese medicine, specifically acupuncture, can improve blood flow, enhance the immune system, and boost male and female fertility. Acupuncture has also been shown to be a valuable complement to Advanced Reproductive Technologies (ART) such as IVF, helping to substantially improve the chances of success.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can also help treat underlying conditions such as PCOS, endometriosis and irregular cycles. They are also good for relieving stress and for treating hormonal imbalances, both of which are frequent contributors to fertility problems.
A growing number of acupuncturists now specialise in fertility acupuncture, which has the advantage of ensuring they are up to date with drug regimes used by fertility doctors, as well as their specialised experience in this area. Acupuncture practitioners offer a holistic approach to infertility treatment where the emotional needs of a couple are supported in a trusting and caring environment.
An experienced nurse and midwife, Maura Farragher is an acupuncturist and Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner based in Galway. She has a herbal pharmacy in her clinic on the Tuam Road, from where she prescribes a tailor made formula of tablets, powders, loose herbs and tinctures for each individual condition. “Chinese herbal medicine is a gentle, more organic response to fertility problems. It affects many different parts of the reproductive cycle by triggering the body’s own natural processes and rhythms,” says Maura. Infertility rates are lower in China than in the Western world and Maura, who is a member of the Zita West Network, puts this down to the types of food that Chinese people eat.
“Because fertility and pregnancy are whole-body events and not just something limited to the reproductive organs, good nutrition is important. For many couples, correcting underlying nutritional deficiencies, improving digestion and balancing the diet, perhaps with the inclusion of nutritional supplements, can bring significant health benefits,” she adds. With the right nutrition, suggests Maura, hormonal problems can be stablised and menstruation can be regularised. It can also have an impact on problems such as polycystic ovary disease. And it’s not just important for women, utritional therapy can be an effective way of improving male fertility, too.
Maura recommends that a couple trying to conceive should start making dietary changes about three months before they start trying. She advises that couples cut down on alcohol, spicy foods, meat and dairy during this time and recommends that women avoid alcohol from day 10 to day 21 of their cycles when trying to conceive, as this is the crucial stage for ovulation for most women. For the best results, she suggests a combination of Chinese health medicine with a course of acupuncture treatment.
Fertility Acupuncturist and qualified nurse, Brenda Dooley’s own personal and successful experience of using acupuncture to improve fertility provided her with the inspiration to specialise in this area. Having spent over 15 years working in the Pharmaceutical sector alongside the medical community, Brenda believes that traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture should be closely integrated with conventional western treatments to achieve the best results.
She recommends acupuncture to support infertility treatment programmes such as naprotechnology, as well as assisted reproductive techniques (ART), where various medications are used to improve follicular development and help ovulation to occur.
“By improving blood flow to the reproductive organs and balancing key hormones such as progesterone and oestrogen, acupuncture can help the treatment to be successful and lead to a pregnancy,” says Brenda who has recently opened Genesis Acupuncture at the Elmtree Clinic in Oranmore. She recommends weekly treatments whereby different acupuncture points will be used for each week of the women’s monthly cycle to work in tandem with the body’s natural changes.
Fertility acupuncture before and after IVF treatments has also been shown to have a beneficial effect on pregnancy rates in clinical trials.
