New Statistics on IVF Success and How Acupuncture can help

According to the New England Journal of Medicine (The New England Journal of Medicine, Jan. 15, 2009; vol 360: pp 236- 243.) In Vitro Fertilization Has Highest Live Birth Rates in Younger Women.

This new study sheds light on the likelihood IVF results in a live birth. Traditionally many statistics on in vitro fertilization focus on the number of resulting pregnancies , but not necessarily resulting on a live birth.

Doctors from the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, examined the medical records of 6,164 female patients undergoing IVF at a large IVF center in Boston from 2000 to 2005. The researchers analyzed the cumulative live birth rate for up to six IVF cycles.

By the end of the research period, 3,126 babies were born out of 14,248 IVF cycles. Seventy-one percent of these were single children, 27% were twins, and about 2% were triplets.

After six IVF cycles, the "conservative analysis" estimated a live birth rate of 51%, and the "optimistic analysis" was 72% for the entire group. Patients who were 35 years of age or younger had higher estimates -- 65% to 86%. The rate decreased as the patients age increased.

For women 40 years or older, live birth rates ranged from 23% to 42%.

How Acupuncture can change the statistics

Numerous studies have proven that women who have received acupuncture treatments leading up to an IVF cycle had a significant improvement in success rates - by about 40%. Here is a link to many acupuncture IVF studies ivf success long island

There are many reasons why acupuncture may help improve IVF results. One way acupuncture helps is by reducing stress and the harmful side effects stress can create.

Another way acupuncture may increase chances of success in an IVF is improved blood flow to the uterus and ovaries. By improving circulation a more receptive environment is created.

These are just a few examples of how acupuncture works to balance the body and increase overall success of IVF.

The Huntington Wellness Center works very closely with many of the IVF centers on Long Island and NYC providing acupuncture to many couples preparing for IVF.

The Huntington Wellness Center

1789 E Jericho Tpke, Huntington, NY 11743

www.MyFertileHealth.com

WebMD recommends Acupuncture for IVF & Infertility

Acupuncture certainly is gaining popularity lately. It's been featured on Oprah and Sex and the City, and currently acupuncturists are featured as main characters on shows such as Private Practice and Eli Stone.

Now the medical establishment is acknowledging it's effects on fertility and IVF.

The following came right from WebMD, the internet's leading source of medical information:

Acupuncture for In Vitro Fertilization?

Getting Acupuncture May Improve the Odds of IVF Success

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News

"Feb. 7, 2008 -- The odds of getting pregnant and having a baby through in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be higher if women get acupuncture right before or after IVF.

That's the bottom line from a new review of seven studies on the topic.

The findings are "significant and clinically relevant" but "still somewhat preliminary," write the reviewers, who can't promise IVF success from acupuncture.

Together, the reviewed studies included 1,366 women in four Western countries.

In all of the studies, some women got traditional acupuncture right before and/or right after receiving the IVF embryo transfer. For comparison, other women got sham acupuncture or no acupuncture.

Among women who got acupuncture and IVF, the rates of getting pregnant were 65% higher and the rates of live births were nearly twice as high than among women who got IVF with sham acupuncture or no acupuncture."

With information like this, no wonder more and more people are turning to acupuncture to help them conceive naturally or to improve their IVF success.

Research Shows Caffeine Linked to Miscarriages

Study Shows Caffeine Linked to Miscarriages

New research suggests drinking more than a few cups of coffee or other caffeinated beverages a day may increase a pregnant woman's miscarriage risk.

According to the study, women who consumed more than 200 mg of caffeine a day -- the amount found in about two 8-ounce cups of regular-strength coffee -- had twice the risk of miscarriage as pregnant women who consumed no caffeine.

The new study included 1,063 women followed from early in their pregnancies until up to 20 weeks of gestation by researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.


The women were interviewed at study entry about their caffeine consumption and other factors known to be risk factors for miscarriage.
A total of 631 women (79%) reported reducing their caffeine consumption after becoming pregnant, while 152 (19%) said they did not change their habits.
Overall, 172 women (16%) in the study ended up having miscarriages. According to the March of Dimes, about 15% of diagnosed pregnancies end in miscarriage.
The researchers concluded that consuming more than 200 mg of caffeine a day doubled the risk of miscarriage, compared with consuming no caffeine at all.


Researchers cited their attempt to control for the confounding effect of caffeine aversion during pregnancy as a major strength of the study.
Early-pregnancy nausea and vomiting has been linked to lower miscarriage risk, according to the researchers. Nausea and vomiting may also contribute to caffeine aversion.


So women who are more likely to have a miscarriage might also be more likely to continue drinking coffee, and this could explain the link between caffeine and miscarriage seen in earlier studies.
And the women who consumed the most caffeine were also more likely to have other risk factors for miscarriage, including being over 35 years old, having a history of miscarriage, having no morning sickness symptoms, and smoking and drinking alcohol.



"The fact is, the vast majority of pregnancies that miscarry do so because of chromosomal abnormalities," she says. "From a clinician's standpoint, it is nice to be able to tell a patient that limiting caffeine just may positively impact their pregnancy."

Harvard Finally Proves Link between Diet and Fertility

For many couples struggling with infertility, the best hope for having a baby often comes from expensive high-tech medical procedures coupled with sometimes unpleasant drugs.


Chinese medicine has always known the importance that diet plays in health and fertility.

Now Harvard has proven what Chinese Medicine has already known: there's a safer, natural, and virtually free way to improve fertility that's available to all couples: ten simple changes in diet and lifestyle.

In The Fertility Diet, Harvard researchers Jorge E. Chavarro, MD, and Walter C. Willett, MD, along with writer Patrick J. Skerrett, offer a plan that:
• improves ovulation and fertility
• offers a healthy start to a pregnancy
• is good for the heart, bones, and the rest of the body throughout pregnancy and beyond


There are several fertility how-to books on the market and heaps of often conflicting advice on the Internet. These are scattershot approaches based on little more than wishful thinking. The Fertility Diet stands apart. It is based on solid scientific data — an eight-year study of more than 18,000 women that is part of the landmark Nurses' Health Study.

Key recommendations from The Fertility Diet include:
• Avoiding trans-fats, the artery-clogging fats found in many commercial products and fast foods
• Eating more vegetable protein, like beans and nuts, and less animal protein
• Drinking a glass of whole milk or having a small dish of ice cream or full-fat yogurt every day; temporarily trading in skim milk and low or no-fat dairy products for their full-fat versions
• Getting into the "fertility zones" for weight and physical activity
This advice isn't just for couples seeking an alternative to IVF, GIFT, ICSI, and the rest of the alphabet soup of assisted reproduction technologies. It can be used by any woman who is trying to get pregnant. There's even some advice on diet and lifestyle for men trying to become fathers. The Fertility Diet can work on its own or help turbocharge assisted reproduction technologies.

At the Huntington Wellness Center for Reproductive Health we incorporate diet and nutrition in all fertile wellness programs in addition to acupuncture, chinese herbs, yoga and qigong.

The Huntington Wellness Center
Fulfilling Dreams and Changing Lives
1789 E. Jericho Tpke
Huntington, NY 11743
631-424-8601

Here is a recent article showing proof that Chinese Herbs may be better than drugs for period pain...

"HONG KONG (Reuters) - A study involving nearly 3,500 women in several countries suggests that Chinese herbs might be more effective in relieving menstrual cramps than drugs or heat compression.

Australia-based researchers said herbs not only relieved pain, but reduced the recurrence of the condition over three months, according to the Cochrane Library journal.

"All available measures of effectiveness confirmed the overall superiority of Chinese herbal medicine to placebo, no treatment, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), OCPs (oral contraceptive pill), acupuncture and heat compression," said lead author Xiaoshu Zhu from the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at the University of Western Sydney.

Period pain affects as many as 50 percent of women of reproductive age and between 60 percent to 85 percent of teenaged girls, leading to absences from school and work.

While the cause is still under debate, it is believed to be linked to an imbalance in ovarian hormones.

Chinese herbal medicine has been used to treat the condition for hundreds of years and women are increasingly looking for non-drug treatments.

The survey involved 39 trials -- 36 in China, and one each in Taiwan, Japan and the Netherlands.

Participants given herbal concoctions were prescribed herbs that regulated their 'qi' (energy) and blood, warmed their bodies and boosted their kidney and liver functions.

Some of these include Chinese angelica root (danggui), Szechuan lovage root (chuanxiong), red peony root (chishao), white peony root (baishao), Chinese motherwort (yimucao), fennel fruit (huixiang), nut-grass rhizome (xiangfu), liquorice root (gancao) and cinnamon bark (rougui).

In one trial involving 36 women, 53 percent of those who took herbs reported less pain than usual compared with 26 percent in the placebo group.

But the researchers said more studies were needed because of the relatively small numbers of participants in each of the trials."

I Can Save Martha Stewart's Daughter $27,000

I Can Save Martha Stewart's Daughter $27,000

Did you see Oprah this week? Martha Stewart's daughter, Alexis Stewart, was on Oprah this week discussing her issues with infertility. She discussed how at the age of 41 her eggs were "old and crusty" and that she spends up to $27,000 a month on IVF medications and procedures. She already has had several failed IVFs and is continuing for more.

Her dilemma is not new. In this day and age, many women are turning to IVF in the face of infertility. Only problem is, depending on the individual, the chances for a successful pregnancy can range from 5% to 20%. And unless all the numbers are perfect, many doctors won't even proceed with the procedure. The couple is left hopeless, with the last words from the doctor being "you should adopt".

Here is how I can save Alexis $27,000.

Studies show that thru the miracle of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, women like Alexis are improving their reproductive health, balancing out the hormones, reducing stress, improving blood flow to the uterus, improving egg quality and greatly improving chances for a successful IVF.

If Alexis were to take a few months off the IVF meds and take the time to improve her "Reproductive Health", she would greatly increase her chance for a successful pregnancy on her next IVF. And if THIS were to happen, she wouldn't need to spend another $27,000 on another failed cycle.


So, if anyone knows Alexis, have her call me.


The Huntington Wellness Center
1789 E. Jericho Tpke suite 200
Huntington, NY 11743
631-424-8601

www.IVFLongIsland.com
www.MyFertileHealth.com