FIT FOR FERTILITY

Our ‘Fit for Fertility' programme is designed to improve and optimise your natural fertility. Acupuncture treatment is used to support both men and women in preparing for conception. Specifically, we do this by:

•  Promoting a balanced energy system in both men and women which will support them in achieving conception.

•  Reducing the effects of stress and helping relaxation.

•  Targeting specific health problems which might interfere with conception.

•  For women - regulating and harmonising the menstrual cycle.

•  For men - optimising sperm production and motility.

Promoting a balanced energy system in both men and women which will support them in achieving conception.

In Chinese medicine we see your body as an integrated energy system. We can detect subtle disruptions and anomalies in this system which may not produce obvious symptoms. You feel normal and well. However, these energetic problems may have an effect on your fertility. We can correct these disruptions and anomalies and in this way help to promote fertility.

Reducing the effects of stress and helping relaxation.

There is now much evidence that stress and anxiety can adversely affect fertility in both men and women. We can use acupuncture to help to induce relaxation as well as reduce your susceptibility to anxiety and the depleting symptoms that accompany it, such as insomnia and tiredness.

Targeting specific health problems which might interfere with conception.

You may have specific health problems which acupuncture can address. These will mainly be covered by the treatment programmes for women and men below. However, you may have other health problems which may be impacting on your energy system as a whole, and therefore indirectly on your fertility. We will address these with acupuncture if this is appropriate or, if acupuncture is not suitable, refer you to another practitioner.

For women - regulating and harmonising the menstrual cycle

click here for Acupuncture and Female Fertility .

For men - optimising sperm production and motility

click here for Acupuncture and Male Fertility .

Diet and exercise

Diet and exercise are important in Chinese medicine because we can use them to support and enhance the therapeutic effects of treatment. They are significant and important aspects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in their own right. Our advice addresses your specific energetic problems.

Diet

As food goes directly to the interior of your body in order to give you nourishment and energy, the quality of that food can affect the internal environment of your body either adversely or beneficially. Thus, too much of one type of food can have an adverse effect on you; or, if your body is already unbalanced in a particular direction, the wrong type of food can help to maintain that imbalance.

We can suggest foods, and ways of eating them, that we think will enhance your qi energy system. We can also list foods that we think will be unhelpful to you so that you can avoid them and your body can begin to return to normal balance. This does not mean that you can never again consume those foods that you are avoiding. You may need to avoid them while you are preparing to conceive. Once your body has returned to balance, these foods might be re-introduced into your diet, although often at a reduced level.

Exercise

Exercise has a direct effect on the qi energy in the body. With exercise you can help to circulate sluggish qi or, relieve an over-stressed energy system. If you over-exercise, you can weaken your qi . We will advise you on what type of exercise would best benefit your energy pattern. We may also prescribe specific exercises for your condition.

Treatment programme

As part of your initial assessment, we will recommend a preparation period during which we will suggest you avoid pregnancy. This may be as little as one month, but may be as much as six months. During this time, you will have weekly or bi-weekly acupuncture treatment.

We may also use Chinese herbal medicines, usually in the form of pills, in conjunction with acupuncture, to enhance the effects of treatment.

If you have not already done so, you will be asked to complete a temperature chart (BBT chart) in the first month as this can be invaluable in helping us to determine the correct acupuncture treatment for you.