Trying to conceive at forty?
Many women are trying to conceive in their forties. The chances of success are limited and even if conception is achieved, the miscarriage rate is high. The reason it is difficult to conceive is because the forty-year-old woman has (generally speaking) a decreased ovarian reserve and a reduction in the quality of her eggs.
After several unsuccessful IVF cycles, the usual next step is the donor egg. Egg donation has a success rate of between 60 and 70 percent.
Factors limiting the frequency may include, but are not limited to, poor uterine lining, poor sperm quality, and disease (autoimmune attack of the embryo or poor permeability of blood flow that does not nourish the embryo or placenta).
Acupuncture and herbal medicine cannot increase ovarian reserve, but they can improve the quality of the egg, lining, and sperm in many cases. The mechanism of action is the improvement of blood flow to the ovaries and tests. A “perfect” 10 millimeter liner is not necessarily “perfect”. Many 10mm liners do not have adequate blood flow within the liner and this compromises the liner’s ability to maintain an implantation. The eggs of a woman in her forties can always be improved. Sperm in a forty- to forty-year-old man is often deficient and can often be improved with acupuncture and herbs.
I don’t think, for example, that acupuncture and herbal remedies can make a pregnant woman.
The end result desired and often obtained from the inclusion of acupuncture and herbal medicine when trying to conceive is an improvement in the quality of the egg, lining, and sperm. An IVF embryo transfer is a “mechanical” procedure: the eggs are retrieved, mixed with the sperm, the embryos develop and are placed in the uterus, and the rest is pure luck.
IVF or IUI do not influence the improvement of the chances of conception and an ongoing pregnancy through the mechanism of improvement of the components of an embryo: egg and sperm. Acupuncture and herbs often fill this void. If the quality of the egg, sperm, and lining can be improved even a little, this can significantly improve pregnancy outcomes.
Our expectations are not unreal. I do not believe, for example, that acupuncture and herbal medicine can make a pregnant woman more than IVF can make a pregnant woman, although pregnancies occasionally occur as a result of both interventions. Pregnancy occurs as a result of the relative health of the woman harboring the embryo, as well as the quality of the embryo and uterine lining. Many things can go wrong resulting in failed cycles.
So at the end of the day, IUI, IVF, acupuncture, and herbal medicine can help a woman conceive, but they cannot guarantee success. The key is this: You have the power to use additive media that are at your disposal today more than ever to help increase your chances of a healthy and continued pregnancy. Acupuncture and herbs are just two. Psychotherapy, diet, exercise, biofeedback, yoga, tai chi, and meditation can also be helpful.
Did you know that pregnant women who are highly stressed are more likely to give birth prematurely? This is a fact. Acupuncture, in addition to its action on the testicles and ovaries and the lining, is also known to help reduce stress.
Repeated donor egg failure
Why do some women with “good” lining and access to “good” sperm fail to conceive with donor egg transfers? There are several reasons: 1) chromosomally abnormal eggs; 2) undiagnosed poor coating quality; 3) disease (as mentioned above). Most of these cases are considered “idiopathic”, which means that your doctor does not understand why you are not pregnant. Idiopathic means ‘without known cause’. Just because the cause is ‘unknown’ does not mean there is no cause.
Acupuncture and herbs are probably not necessary for the egg donor unless she is over 35, but keep in mind that even 16-year-old girls have some number of chromosomally abnormal eggs. So if your cycle fails due to a chromosomally abnormal egg, it’s certainly bad luck, and usually shouldn’t happen again.
However, if you’ve repeated failed donor egg cycles, it’s probably not about the quality of the egg, but rather the quality of the sperm, the quality of the lining, or the disease. Acupuncture and herbs can help improve sperm lining and quality, and in some cases even reduce the effect of autoimmune problems or blood clotting problems that can contribute to repeated pregnancy loss. However, I firmly believe that the best and most effective way to treat autoimmune disorders or blood clotting disorders that can cause miscarriage is with Western medicine.
Stress and reactive-oxidative species negatively affect sperm quality. Herbs and acupuncture can reduce both and stimulate increased blood flow to the testicles, improving the supply of hormones, oxygen, electrolytes, and nutrients and enhancing the excretion of dead cells.
This is the same mechanism of action by which the quality of the ovum in the ovary is improved. Acupuncture cannot positively affect a man without sperm. This is called aspermia. Acupuncture also cannot improve sperm count due to genetic abnormalities (y-chromosome microdeletion) or anatomical abnormalities of the testes (vericocele).
East meets West in reproductive medicine: the new gold standard
The smartest approach for the couple facing difficulties conceiving and / or staying pregnant is to combine Eastern and Western medicine. These two modalities, although decidedly different, are nonetheless complementary and work synergistically. This means that when combining IUI or IVF or a donor egg with acupuncture and herbs, you should expect better results than when using one of these modalities alone.
In the world, most things manifest themselves in pairs: marriage, day and night, summer and winter, exercise and rest, work and vacations, food and wine, joy and sadness, etc. This is the yin and yang of life.
The ‘pair’ or yin and yang of reproductive medicine is accepted recognizing the benefit of combining Eastern and Western medicine.
What You Need Most When You Are In Your Forties And Trying To Conceive
1. Improved Egg Quality – Acupuncture and herbs often make this easier.
2. Improved coating quality – Acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.
3. Possibly Improved Sperm Parameters – Acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.
4. Stress reduction: Acupuncture and herbs often facilitate this.