Women Add Acupuncture To Fertility Treatments
As reported by: Meryl Lin McKean, FOX 4 News
www.myfoxkc.com 15 Feb 2008
The urge to have a baby can be very strong and some women undergoing fertility treatment are adding a therapy to hopefully "point" them toward pregnancy.
Michelle Smith and her husband have dealt with a very sticky issue for more than three years.
"I was constantly hearing everyone I knew was getting pregnant. I was having a hard time," Michelle said.
Last fall, the 37-year-old decided to get stuck after seeing a brochure in her fertility doctor's office. She combined eastern medicine, acupuncture, with western medicine, in vitro fertilization. Michelle had acupuncture in the weeks before and after she had
the embryos placed in her womb.
Acupuncturist Mary Zhang said a woman can have trouble getting pregnant when the body's out of balance.
"I use acupuncture treatment to rebalance the system so your body start working properly again," Zhang said.
And in those having in vitro fertilization, the body may be more receptive to the embryos. New research points to some benefit: a 65 percent increase in the odds of becoming pregnant for those who had acupuncture, but researchers caution that's not a hard and
fast number since it's pooled data from various studies.
Michelle said the needling calmed her as she went through stressful in vitro treatment. And now Michelle is pregnant.
"In my heart, I believe the two working together really is what worked for me," she said.
Some women trying to conceive naturally are also turning to acupuncture and more fertility doctors are open to it as an add-on treatment. Some said the jury is still out, but acupuncture likely won't cause any harm.
Zhang said the acupuncture fertility treatments cost $650 to $750 a month and it's generally for three months.
-- Meryl Lin McKean, FOX 4 News
