Why IVF alone often isn't enough

Posted on January 13, 2012 Julie Chang, L.Ac.

The journey from the time you decide to have a child to conception, then pregnancy, and hopefully a beautiful, healthy baby is a process. For some, this is a relatively brief trip because everything happens as it should. For others, this can seem like an interminable and exhausting marathon lasting years. Who knows why so many women and couples have fertility issues? Many factors come into play such as stress, inadequate nutrition, lack of exercise, and poor lifestyle habits. These are some that you have control over and account for over 95% of infertility issues. The other 5% is due to genetic factors that cannot be changed so require western medical treatment.

Because fertility issues are a result of many controllable factors contributing to a sub-optimal environment which allows a healthy pregnancy to thrive, encouraging this process in a natural way is better in every way than an artificial one.

The process of conception is so complicated that even with the technology we have, the entire process in its minutiae is still unclear. What we do know is that it requires the perfect balance and function of many components all working in a coordinated and harmonious fashion. One misstep and pregnancy will not occur or miscarriage will ensue.

With an overall average success rate of about 30%, IVF’s failures far exceed its successes for the very fact that IVF cannot replace the natural process which is necessary to occur for conception and a baby to take home 9 months later.

The alternative

Chinese medicine uses acupuncture and herbal medicine as the main therapeutic modalities to bring the body back into a state as balanced as possible. Picture a seesaw. Now imagine loading on one side all your stresses including emotional stress, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, poor lifestyle habits. On the other side, put everything that you’re doing to help yourself become a healthier and more vital person. What are you doing for stress relief? Eating organic? Exercising regularly? For 95% of people, the seesaw is tipped very heavily towards the stressed side. Acupuncture and herbal medicine are used to help provide the balance you need to offset the stresses you’re exposed to. This is why, in many cases, acupuncture and herbs work to help one achieve pregnancy when IVF fails. Because the more balanced you can be physically and emotionally, the more likely that you will be able to conceive.

The best case scenario for a woman or couple undergoing IVF is to utilize it in conjunction with acupuncture and herbal medicine. The reason for this is quite simple. When the reproductive endocrinologist retrieves eggs and fertilizes them with sperm the resulting embryo is as good as its constituent components, egg and sperm. Most IVFs that fail do so because of poor egg quality and/or poor sperm quality. The reproductive endocrinologist cannot improve egg or sperm quality; acupuncture and herbs frequently can.