Category: Women’s Health

Acupuncture, Infertility, Women's Health

Good News for Infertility Patients with low AMH Levels

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With our acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatment, we’ve been able to help many patients ranging from ages 40 -45 to conceive naturally as well as countless younger couples aged from 25 to 39. However, our biggest achievement in infertility treatment was in aiding a fifty-one year old patient in conceiving and delivering two now healthy four year old identical twins at age 52. 

This was not accomplished in brevity however. 

The patient approached our office six years prior. In consulting both with the patient and spouse, the methods chosen to help induce fertility were acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. As directed, she faithfully followed suit and saw progress multiple times naturally but without result, as she unfortunately miscarried at ages 45, 46, and 49. The consistent incident of loss was soon discovered to be attributed to fibroids, which we did not realize until then. Regardless, she still pursued a child. With that, an IVF specialist was consulted and discovered her eggs were of poor quality and  recommended she use a donor’s egg, which led her to have twins.

But if the above story happened today, the patient may not have needed to use the donor’s egg but her supposedly failed eggs instead. Dr. Renwang Xue, a professor at Stanford University, published an article in the Journal of American National Science Institute on September 30th, 2013 that explores a new method–In Vitro Activation (IVA) in treating patients with infertility issues between the ages of 40-45 as well as ovarian failure.

Generally speaking, each woman has 800,000 primary follicles in their ovaries from birth. However, only about 400 are fully developed within ones lifetime. Typically once a women has hit her 50’s, or as soon as menopause occurs, the development of these follicles will almost cease completely. The same odds are also a reality for those dealing with ovarian failure, as reproduction is highly unattainable, which is why most women cannot or don’t attempt to bear children post menopause. What they found was if they treat the ovary with a special procedure and then the primary follicles can continue to develop until it is fully capable of fertilization.

As previously stated, there are a vast amount of follicles located within the ovaries, however only a specific number are selected during the reproductive cycle. This limitation is caused by an enzyme known as the Phosphatase and Tensini Homolog (PTEN) gene, which acts as an inhibitor, causing the remainder of primary follicles to lay dormant. Liu etc. realized in order to increase the number of follicles selected, the PTEN gene must be genetically removed. Once the gene is terminated, discrimination among the selection of primary follicles is gone and the rate of fertility drastically increases.

Dr. Xue, building upon this discovery, figured instead of applying a genetic method of removing the PTEN gene, the same enzyme’s inhibitor can be manipulated to increase the amount of the primary follicle selected and still receive the same results. In this way, more matured follicles can be developed.

Based on the tested animal results, Dr. Xue then applied this idea to the human body. This new found method included activating the primary follicle and then placing them back into the ovaries, allowing them to grow for six months. After this, the fully matured follicle is taken out, and the method of IVF is applied. So far there has been a successful story.

Of course, the procedure is still very much so at the beginning stages. Nonetheless, it’s a promising start and a great hope for those formerly limited by their conditions and age.

Acupuncture, General TCM, Women's Health

No Breast Milk or Too Much Breast Milk

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Do you have a breast milk problem after having a baby? We’ve seen it before. In modern society, the stress of work can of overwhelm people. When a woman becomes a mother, there are more things than usual to be worried about, specifically at the beginning when you have a newborn. It is a good idea to breastfeed even with the wide variety of formula available. On one hand, formulas are good for mothers with too much work and those that cannot see the child too often. On the other hand, the new mothers may have opportunities to breastfeed their baby but do not produce enough milk. There are many reasons for not producing enough breast milk, such as stress and imbalanced hormone levels. If the mother lost a lot of blood during childbirth, her body will be focused on making more blood, not breast milk. In China, there are many natural ways to facilitate breast milk production such as fish soup (carp fish preferred), pig feet soup, vaccaria seeds, etc. For most women, this will help greatly. For some other women, this may not be enough. In that case, it is necessary to have acupuncture for help. Ancient Chinese doctors found a specific spot on both pinky fingers two to three millimeters away from the edge of the nail on the outer portion of the finger. It is called shaoze, the first point on the small intestine channel (in Traditional Chinese Medicine). What you need to do is acupuncture the points and some adjacent points on or around the breasts/chest after sterilization for twenty five minutes once a day for a week or once every other day for two weeks. It is highly recommended to combine this treatment with the foods mentioned above for the best results. Another issue for new mothers is sometimes they find themselves lactating too much, and it is annoying, or they want to stop breastfeeding for some reason. You can use herbs like barley sprout/malt to inhibit lactation. If you combine the pair of acupuncture points, Zulinqi, the results will be better. In the past years, we have seen quite a few patients like we mentioned above for help. So far, we have helped every body.  The patient will definitely get better  results if they combine acupuncture and herbal and/or diet changes together. One of the patients in particular (which is listed in Complex Cases under New Mothers) did not have enough breast milk for four months after her child’s delivery. She went to different specialists for help. After six sessions of acupuncture treatment, she said she finally had enough milk. This is still new in the USA. We hope that more and more people realize that many problems and conditions can be helped easily by Chinese medicine or acupuncture or a combination of both. In this way, more people can get benefits from an easier method.

Acupuncture, Diet, General TCM, Wellness, Women's Health

Acupuncture for PMS

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Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is one of the most common complaints for many females. Most females will experience this in their lifetime once or more times. However, about 5% of them will need to seek help due to very intense symptoms. According to modern medicine, the cause is still unclear. Therefore, the treatment is basically for complaints – in other words only to relieve the symptoms. Traditional Chinese medicine and Acupuncture (TCMA) uses natural phenomena and principles to describe our body in both physical and pathological ways along with the treatments. The treatment for diseases in TCMA is according to pattern differentiation. The pattern differentiations for PMS in TCMA are: cold/yang deficiency, liver stagnation, poor circulation/blood stasis, etc. The concepts of “cold/yang deficiency,” “liver stagnation,” and “blood stasis,” are very different from what people understand nowadays. For example, “cold/yang deficiency” here means the PMS sufferer does not like the cold (i.e. cold environment, intakes, food/drinks that naturally make the body cold, or our reaction to them is cold), for this reason you can see some of these patients have an onset of PMS or make their PMS worse if they are in a cold environment, or when they eat something cold. The “liver stagnation” type means PMS sufferers will have an emergence of symptoms if they are too stressed, or the stress will make their PMS worse. If the “liver stagnation” or “cold/yang deficiency” are not treated, eventually they will turn into “blood stasis.” The “blood stasis” type means poor circulation or blockage in the vascular system. This type is basically the utmost development of the previous two types or it can occur on its own without the previous two. The symptoms of “blood stasis” will be a very painful and darker period with many clots. Sometimes, the pain can feel like needles or knives cutting into you, some people even faint and end up in the emergency room. Any factors that affect the “liver stagnation” or “cold/yang deficiency” type can affect this type in the same way too. A patient can suffer from one or two types or even a combination of all of them. In addition, there may be some other types such as: Qi deficiency or kidney deficiency etc. These types mean the patient was either born like that or it could be something else. The acupuncture treatment we need to do for “cold/yang deficiency,” is to eliminate the coldness or tonify yang. Meanwhile, patients need to avoid cold environments or cold food/drinks, and instead take warm drinks/food, etc. The treatment for this type is usually acupuncture with TDP/moxibustion or tonification methods. For “liver stagnation,” we have to regulate and soothe the liver Qi, and eliminate the stagnation. For “blood stasis,” we need to regulate the blood and eliminate the blood stasis, and promote circulation. If it is two or more types combined you will need to mix the treatments described above accordingly. In terms of Chinese medical herbs treatment, it is very similar to acupuncture, but using herbs instead. There are different herbal formulas for each type. Most of the time, the formulas need to be alternated to fit the patients pattern better, and in this way, the patients will get the most benefit from the the herbal treatment. Overall, TCMA is the simplest, best and easiest method to treat PMS. The combination of Chinese herbs and acupuncture will give patients maximum benefit and quick results. Additionally, with a diet and lifestyle change, etc. the results will be better. We have helped many PMS patients from the age of 15. We know we helped because we have many new PMS patients referred by their friends who were cured in our office before.