A leading cause of infertility, (or sub-fertility) PCOS has been slowed or reversed with the help of Chinese herbs and Acupuncture.
Of the many successes in our clinic, one that consistently sees improvement in pregnancy outcomes and over all health has been Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, (or PCOS as it is commonly referred to) with Acupuncture and Chinese herbs.
I have been treating women with PCOS for a number of years now and I find it one of the most rewarding conditions to treat; it responds extremely well to Chinese medicine and the pregnancy rate is higher than is usual for most other common causes of sub or infertility.
Take as an example, a 34-year-old Philipino woman, small in stature, of normal to slightly under, weight, who only had four to five menstrual periods a year. Let’s call her Michelle. She came to us in the Spring of 2008 with her husband, who also had some treatment (but more for “stress” as he had nothing abnormal about his fertility markers, either from a Western point of view or Eastern). Michelle started menstruating every 35-40 days with the help of acupuncture and Chinese herbs. She took her basal body temperature every morning and started to see a marked improvement in her temperatures, beginning regularly to see the classic bi-phasic pattern that indicates ovulation. Along with the herbs and acupuncture, she changed her diet to a low GI one, switching to Basmati rice and cutting out most simple sugars (she couldn’t bear to give up white rice altogether as it was such a strong part of her culture).
After several months of treatment, she still was not pregnant even though her temperatures were more “normal” and her periods were coming more regularly. Turned out, she wasn’t following her diet quite as well as she should have been and again was reminded that sugar needed to be CUT OUT! Not only was it impinging on the ability of her ovaries to sense and respond to hormones, it was making her more acidic and her uterine lining more “slippery”, thereby lessening the chance of implantation if conception did occur. She owned up to me (and her husband) about her sugar consumption and as we all agreed the baby was the most important goal in her life at that time, she did stop eating sugar. She became pregnant the next month! It was the last piece in her puzzle and now they have a beautiful daughter, who’s photo hangs in my office.
Another woman with a more “classical” presentation of PCOS was Helen, who was 37. Helen was overweight with not very good muscle definition, nor did she have very clear skin. (another common symptom – acne, especially around the chin and jaw). She only menstruated every 60 -75 days, sometimes more regularly, but her basal body temperature charts were clearly not showing ovulation, regardless of frequency of menstrual blood. Helen responded better to the herbs than to the acupuncture, as she had a hard time feeling Qi on the needles. From a Chinese medical point of view, Helen had a lot of “dampness” and stagnation which needed to be cleared before her hormones could function properly. PCOS almost always has a component of dampness and stagnation but Helen had a more serious case than many.
After four months, her basal body temps were showing signs of improvement and her skin cleared significantly. Now she only got acne in the week leading up to her period (quite normal for many people without PCOS) She was following a low GI diet as well to help increase her ovaries’ response to oestrogen and exercising three to four times a week for half an hour a day. Her sex drive also improved – an added bonus! and after three more months of treatment, she became pregnant, just before her name came up in the queue at the IVF clinic. She now has a beautiful, healthy boy.
There are many more examples of women with PCOS coming to my clinic and leaving months later happily pregnant but I won’t bore you with the details unless you want them, in which case, all you have to do is ask. Ring me for free consultation today.