16485 Laguna Canyon Road, Suite 105, Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 646-4325

Natural Integrative Fertility & IVF Support

Enhancing Fertility with Acupuncture & Natural Medicine

At Coastal Acupuncture and Natural Health Center (CANH), we are passionate about supporting women through all phases of their life and providing optimal emotional, hormonal and nutritional balance from preconception and pregnancy to postpartum.

Coastal Acupuncture and Natural Health Center provides patients with compassionate, comprehensive, and individualized care. At CANH you will receive acupuncture and naturopathic treatment from university trained licensed acupuncturists and naturopathic doctors who have specialized training in women’s health, natural and integrative fertility protocols. These protocols have been scientifically shown to increase natural fertility and IVF success rates.

Enhance Your Fertility and Increase Your IVF Success Rate with Acupuncture

Acupuncture can improve follicle growth and development:

  • By stimulating acupuncture points that can increase blood supply to the uterus and ovaries
  • A study published in 1996 in Human Reproduction concluded that electro-acupuncture treatment can increase blood flow to the uterine artery which led to thicker endometrial lining an increased implantation and pregnancy rate.

Acupuncture promotes fertility by:

  • Stimulating the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovarian Axis to balance hormone levels and promote ovulation.
  • Regulating menstrual cycles and improving blood flow to the uterine artery, uterus, and ovaries.
  • Assisting in the production of progesterone to maintain a healthy luteal phase. Progesterone builds the uterine lining to support implantation and maintain healthy pregnancy.

Acupuncture improves IVF Success Rate:

  • A randomized study in Germany was conducted on 160 patients undergoing IVF ages 21 to 43. The acupuncture group received 25 minutes of acupuncture before and after embryo transfer. Control group received no acupuncture.
  • Results: 34 of 80 patients (42.5%) in acupuncture group were pregnant. 21 of 80 patients (26.3%) in control group were pregnant.

Acupuncture can enhance male fertility factors:

  • Male fertility factors account for 40% of all infertility cases.
  • Acupuncture along with healthy lifestyle and dietary changes, Chinese herbs and supplements can help increase sperm count, enhance sperm motility and morphology, and increase semen volume.

Acupuncture reduces stress & anxiety:

  • Stress can disrupt ovulation, cause irregular menstrual cycles, compromise the immune system, and affect the digestion and absorption of nutrients.
  • Studies suggest that acupuncture can reduce stress and anxiety levels by increasing serotonin and endogenous opioid peptide levels (“happy hormones”) in the blood stream and decreasing cortisol levels (“stress hormones”) in the blood stream.
  • Reducing stress and anxiety is essential to promoting fertility, having a healthy pregnancy and a happy baby. We time your treatment according to the phases of your cycle or IVF protocol to enhance follicular growth, ovulation, and implantation.

Acupuncture supports all phases of the IVF cycle:

  • During the stimulation phase, acupuncture helps improve blood flow and drug delivery to the ovaries and uterus while reducing stress levels and side effects.
  • After egg retrieval, acupuncture alleviates abdominal cramping and bloating which may be due to the high hormone levels and the empty follicles filling up with fluid again. This tends to quickly subside with acupuncture treatments, reducing any inflammation and tissue trauma, preparing a nice environment for the embryo implantation
  • During the transfer and implantation phase, acupuncture is shown to directly increase vascular response and suppress the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight response”) at the spinal-cord level, which increases blood flow to the uterus and ovaries, reduces any uterine contractions which can inhibit an embryo from successfully implanting. This leads to a higher rate of implantation of embryos and an increased rate of successful pregnancies.

Support is also provided for the following phases:

  • Preconception
  • Prenatal/Pregnancy
  • Post Partum