Staying Healthy in Winter

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Ask Mary Beth

Q. Does acupuncture hurt?
A. Many patients report that their experiences range from feeling almost nothing at all to a brief ache, or sensations of energetic activity near the needle. Many people who have been fearful of acupuncture also report being amazed and surprised by the pleasant experience of complete relaxation. The needles, being the width of a human hair, are the finest needles and only shallowly inserted into the body.

Fertility Treatment Support

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine offered in the context of holistic treatments have been highly effective in supporting fertility in women and men. Rather than treating this work as another procedure, it is instead a time to take stock of your total wellness and your lifestyle. I not only treat the signs and symptoms, but I offer treatments that activate the body’s healing potential and self-regulating capacities. Any source of stress to your body-mind-spirit can negatively impact the continuously circulating hormones and self-regulating body system. Conversely, effective treatments and interventions can positively affect all of your body systems and therefore your reproductive capacities.

Serving billions of people, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine have been practiced for over 3000 years in China. Their benefits are clearly recognized and well-documented in western medical journals and medical institutions throughout the world. It has been my pleasure and honor to be present to women who have conceived during their course of treatment. I am happy to do this work with you, too. Because I offer acupuncture and herbals within the context of holistic treatments, I always focus first on the optimal health of the mother and her partner.

Emotional well-being and the mother’s overall wellness (and the health of her partner)

Stress hormones have proven to negatively impact all phases of reproduction—everything from ovulation to luteal phase defect and appropriate uterine and endometrial environment. Our work together always involves stress relief. We are always paying attention to your sleep, vitality, outlook, peacefulness, and your overall well-being.

Nourishment

Because you are choosing to bear life, we want to ensure that you are nourishing yourself with the best nutrients available. Our goal is to offer the highest form of life-giving blood that is nourishing every cell, tissue, organ of your body and soon, your own child’s. We determine the right weight for you, as underweight and overweight can negatively impact your fertility. This also applies to the father’s health and nourishing practices. We also focus on the volume of water that you take in daily, as well as alcohol, caffeine, and any pharmaceuticals that you are taking.

Is your life rhythmic or chaotic?

These issues were addressed in ancient Chinese medical texts over 2000 years ago. As a practitioner, I am always bringing forth these timeless chronobiological methods of diagnosis and treatment. What are your daily or solar/cyclical patterns? Waking? Working? Resting? Daily biorhythms? Lunar cycles? Monthly cycles? Do you live in accordance with the relationship to the earth’s seasonal biorhythms?

Do you experience the appropriate amount of movement?

Are you sedentary? Do you travel often and cross time zones? Do you spend many hours commuting? How many hours do you spend sitting at a desk working on the computer? Each and every facet affects your overall wellness.

Acupuncture and herbals can increase the blood flow to the uterus, which improves the chances of the ovum implanting on the uterine wall. They can reduce stress and anxiety, which produce hormones that decrease the chances of fertility. They can positively affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis, which plays a key role in fertility; and can regulate the menses; thereby increasing the chances of fertility.

If you desire to support IUI or IVF treatments with acupuncture, studies have shown that acupuncture significantly enhances the success of IUI and IVF.