Today, women over 40 or women of childbearing age have faced serious fertility issues: they are infertility either, or they had to induce labor due to problems with the fetus, resulting in “stillbirth”, although they got pregnant successfully. Desprise the challenges and difficulties, it is not close to a dead end for pregnancy after the age of 40.

In this article, we’ll discuss the main factors contributing to fertility difficulties for women who try to conceive at their 40s, what IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) is and how to increase IVF success rates with Chinese herbs and acupuncture.

Couple troubled by fertility issues, what is the reason?

In the waiting rooms of fertility clinic, it is common to see a large number of couples anxiously waiting for pregnancy report. They are all struggling for reproductive problem. Nowaday, infertility rates are rising worldwide. According to the WHO, one in four couples fails to conceive after one year of unprotected sex.

You may be confused: along with the progress of modern medicine, what’s up with rising infertility rates? Here are the top 3 reasons why infertility is on the rise:

• Changing life choices affects fertility. The status quo and attitudes people towards reproductive health have a certain impact on infertility. For example, the rates of induced and medical abortions shows rising trend. The more induced abortion you took, the worse the uterus and fallopian tubes got.
• Delay marriage and first birth. The increasing age of marriage and childbearing makes the phenomenon of male and female infertility become more obvious.
• Other factors
  The increase in infertility can be mainly related to work pressure, environmental deterioration and bad living habits. As we all know, due to the environmental pollution caused by industrialization and the a large quantities of industrial chemicals, it has impacted increasing number of such male reproductive issues as azoospermia, oligospermia, and asthenozoospermia. female fertility problems covering irregular menstruation and ovulation disorders has increased significantly.

There was voices from couples with infertility problem. Some said: “I had missed the chance of pregnancies twice due to work. Now I want a baby, but I can’t get pregnant anymore in old age.” Others said: “we had no problem the infertility test, but we were not able to conceive.” Another said: “I was pregnant, the fetus stopped in three months, and the heartbeat was not be dectected.”

The cause of infertility can exist in the male, female, or both. Usually, female infertility is when a woman can’t get pregnant after at lease a years having sex without using birth control methods. Male infertility means a man is not able to start a pregnancy with his female partner or leads to abortion or fetal death due to poor quality sperm.

When the above problems occur, IVF is not the first option in the treatment of infetility. Instead, it is recommended to turn to conventional treatments, including western medicine, surgery, Chinese herbs and acupuncture, according to the causes. IVF can be considered upon the failure of the mentioned treatments.

Who needs IVF treatment and who doesn’t?

IVF is a method of assisted reproduction in which a man’s sperm and a woman’s eggs are combined outside of the body in a laboratory dish. One or more fertilized eggs (embryos) may be transferred into the woman’s uterus, where they may implant in the uterine lining and develop.

IVF may not work for everyone, condition that may interfere with IVF success include:

Female: blocked fallopian tubes, ovulation disorder, polycystic disease, unexplained infertility, infertility after artificial insemination treatment, endometriosis infertility, advanced age, etc.

Male: oligospermia or Weak sperm, no sperm.

Both: Immunity, privacy, and hereditary infertility in both men and women.

Who may not be eligible for IVF:  Both parties suffer from severe mental illness, genitourinary infection, sexually transmitted diseases; drug addiction and AIDS; excessive doses of radiation, drugs are in effect. The party does not have the conditions for pregnancy or cannot bear pregnancy (such as tumor chemotherapy period, etc).

8 factors affecting IVF success rates

• Sperm quality:  It is mainly due to the imbalance of kidney yin and yang, resulting in the partial prosperity and decline of kidney yin and kidney yang. Such as testicular disease, poisoning of various reasons, malnutrition, mycoplasma and sperm abnormalities caused by radiation.
• Egg quality:  Egg quality depends on the age of the woman. It is reported that the IVF success rate: 45% and above for aged 25 to 34; 26% to 30% for aged 35 to 40; about 20% for aged 40 to 45; Embryos are prone to abnormal chromosomes over 45.
• Whether the ovarian function is damaged:  The worse the ovarian function, the fewer eggs and the worse the quality of the eggs. The lower the pregnancy rate and the higher the miscarriage rate. Ovarian surgery (especially ovarian cystectomy, ovarian electrocoagulation) can seriously damage the structure and functionof the ovary. For non-pregnant women, it should preserve as much ovarian tissue as possible during ovarian cystectomy to avoid oophorectomy. It is recommended that when ovarian problems are found, operation need to be treated with caution. The combination of Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine with acupuncture should be considered to improve ovarian function.
• Whether there is hydrosalpinx:  The pregnancy rate for a woman with hydrosalpinx is significantly lower than that of those without hydrosalpinx. The incidence of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy will be greatly increased.
• Uterine function:   It may cause the embryo to fail to implant and affect the success rate, including endometrial injury, adenomyosis, endometritis, uterine malformation, endometrial polyps or other endometrial lesions.
• Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis:  For couples with primary infertility or a history of adverse pregnancy, some them have normal chromosome variants.
• Technical factors like ovulation-stimulating drugs, dosage or time:  Individualized ovulation-stimulation program, regular IVF diagnosis and treatment center, high-quality ovulation-stimulating drugs, type of embryo culture medium, technical proficiency, instrument stability, etc.
• Pregnancy mental state: High-quality embryos require a good uterine environment, endocrine conditions and skilled embryo transfer techniques. The combination of Chinese herbs with acupuncture, the five elements of music therapy, psychological counseling, aerobic exercise and short-distance travel, all of which can promote peace of mind for preparation of pregnancy.                 

                                                       IVF Process

The conditions for IVF and embryo transfer are as follows:

• The ideal age for women IVF is less than 40 years old, healthy and capable of pregnancy.
• The woman’s uterine cavity is basically normal, and the endometrium has physiological cycle changes.
• Both men and women have no history of mental illness.
• Laparoscopy should be done for patients with inflammatory adhesions in the pelvis, and at least one ovary can be used for egg collection.

Preparing your body with Chinese medicine conditioning before IVF

The IVF child may inherit the quality and personality of their parent. That is to say that IVF parents with poor or good physical health can affect their child. Before IVF treatment, it is recommended to prepare your body with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) conditioning. TCM & acupuncture can improve the IVF success rate.

TCM Conditioning on men abnormal sperm: abnormal sperm include semen volume, sperm count (sperm density per milliliter), sperm motility rate, low sperm motility, etc. By dialectical relationship between essence and viscera, TCM adopts personalized internal and external therapy to treat abnormal sperm based on clinical examination.

TCM Conditioning on women preparing for pregnancy during period: Menstruation is mainly related to women’s liver and kidney functions as well as redemption and renunciation. When there was a problem with the viscera and meridians, it results in abnormal menstruation (irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, menstrual leakage, menstrual collapse). Therefore, pre-pregnancy menstrual adjustment for IVF-pregnant women can not only eliminate menstrual problems that affect pregnancy, but also improve the quality of fertility. If you are interested to know more, here is the article about “Fertility over 40? Chinese Medicine make it possible“. 

In the late period, it can use Chinese herbs foucuing on nourishment of kidney yin, blood and softening the liver. In the intermenstrual period, it can warm the kidney and activate the blood to promote ovulation. In the premenstrual period, it can use kidney-nourishing and essence-enriching herbs considering ovulation. During period, it can use herbs which is beneficial to regulation of Qi, promotion of blood circulation to remove blood stasis, for the purpose of regulating the liver and kidney and regulating menstruation.  

Acupuncture clinics for fertility near me 

In summary, timing is of the essence in this situation as the body clock is ticking all the time. It is important to find an expert who has extensive experience with fertility issues and can give you personalized treatement plan. Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic is one of the oldest Chinese medicine and acpuncture clinic in Dubai, specializing in Chinese medicine and acupuncture treatment. 

Dr. Wang Xiaozhong have been working on the Chinese medicine for more than 40 years, he has expertise in the treatment of infertility and various pains with Chinese medicine. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at our phone number +971 43434811. 

Can you do IVF when you were infertile?

Definitely. Comparing with other Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) , IVF success rates are higher than any other fertility treatments such as Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and Intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI). It has become the gold standard of fertility treatment options, not only providing the highest pregnancy rate, but also the possiblity of preserving extra embryos for future attempts.

Therefore, if IVF is not successful after several cycles and egg quality is believed to be a likely cause, your will be recommended using other alternative treatments like Chinese medicine and acupuncture.  

Does acupuncture and TCM really help with IVF?

Yes. A considerable number of clinical studies have shown that Chinese medicine can significantly improve egg quality and acupuncture can help women conceive through IVF. The curative effect of Chinese medicine on infertilty is shown clearly: it does not damage the righteousness and privde infertile women a hope of getting pregnant by timely conditioning. Moreover, the process of TCM treatment is also the process of body conditioning and restoring healthy.

Judging from the clinical experience at our clinic, most of couples who were diagnosed as infertile and requested to do IVF can be resolved through TCM. During IVF, TCM can reduce the side effects of drug used in IVF, balance yin and yang, dredge blood, and make pregnancy naturally.

When should you do acupuncture during IVF?

Timing is important when choosing acupuncture for ivf. There are four key time to start acupuncture for IVF Cycle:

In the early stage of IVF: It can make the physical condition get better through body conditioning, tonifying the kidneys and nourishing blood, soothing the liver and regulating qi.

Ovulation induction: it can regulate Chong and Ren, regulate Qi and blood, improve ovarian function, promote the development of follicles, and improve egg quality.

Early stage of embryo transfer: it can nourish the kidney and the liver, promote blood circulation and menstruation, improve the intrauterine environment, enhane endometrial receptivity, and increase the success rate of embryo transfer.

After embryo transfer: it founce on tonifying kidney for preventing miscarriage.

How often should I have acupuncture for IVF?

The acupuncture treatment varies from person to person. For people with sufficient qi and blood, acupuncture can be performed 2-3 times a week.

For people with weak qi and blood or having a history of repeated abortion, it should not be too frequent, 1-2 times a week. It is recommended to carry out treatment under the guidance of a doctor according to individual circumstances.

What is the benefits of TCM & acupuncture for IVF?

Compared with other TCM therapies, acupuncture has obvious advantages in the comprehensive effect of local and systemic. It restores its homeostasis by mobilizing the body’s own response, and there is no toxic reaction of exogenous drugs. Therefore, it is especially suitable for ART people, including especially women over 40s, repeated ART failures, coexistence of multiple pathological states, and obvious functional disorders.

Acupuncture is applied to assisted reproduction, Chinese herbal medicine has marked effect in regulating the endocrine status of patients and improving ovarian reserve function. Acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine, it can enhances the blood filling of the uterus, improve the internal and external environment of the pelvis, and increase the receptivity of the endometrium. Based on the environment, in vitro fertilization(IVF) and embryo transfer can be  performed smoothly. It Improve the embryo transfer success rate and clinical pregnancy rate of infertile women. 

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