When you are planning for a pregnancy, you want to do everything you can to ensure a healthy and successful outcome. By working with both of our practitioners, Fiona Debtuch (Acupuncturist and Medicinal Herbalist) and Mary Dunne (Nutritional Therapist) you get the best of natural medicine both East and West.
Phone now for a
- Detailed history
- Nutritional advice
- Herbal Medicine
- Natural fertility education
- Acupuncture
- Co-ordination with Dr Rita Galimberti (Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology) at the complete women’s care clinic, femplus, for conventional fertility assessment and treatment as appropriate (Physical examination, Abdominal Ultrasound and Blood tests
Nutritional Therapy
Nutritional Therapy is based on the principle that we are all biochemically individual and therefore have different nutritional needs depending on our age, genes, diet, lifestyle and environment.
Our bodies are under constant barrage from environmental pollution, industrial chemicals, antibiotics, medicinal side effects, stress and inappropriate diet. Stripping our bodies of essential nutrients.
Good nutrition is the foundation of optimum health. Deficiencies in essential nutrients can compromise the body’s ability to reproduce and/or to maintain a pregnancy.
By taking a detailed case history, a nutritional therapist can identify any existing nutritional imbalances and can advise on how to address such imbalances through diet and nutritional supplements.
Each nutritional programme is individually designed and tailored to your needs. General well being, optimised health and increased fertility being the ultimate goal.
Ideally the health of both prospective parents should be optimised prior to conception to increase fertility and decrease associated risks to the developing foetus.
Contact Mary Dunne
Nutritional Therapist, Dip NT, MBANT
Phone: 01 8220522 085 1591810
Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine
Acupuncture, herbal medicine and lifestyle advice are employed to achieve the following:
Balancing the hormonal cycle
Regulating the menstrual cycle to a regular 28 to 30 day cycle with good quality fertile mucus, pain free ovulation midcycle, no PMS and a pain free period with efficient bleeding.
Enhance egg development.
A female has the greatest number of eggs that she will ever have when she is in her mother's womb at midgestation i.e. 20 weeks. She has approximately 7 million eggs at that time and the number of eggs declines throughout her life.
At birth, the number of eggs is decreased to about 2 million.
During the first days of the ovulatory cycle, the hypothalamus produces gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH travels to the pituitary where it stimulates the production of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). FSH stimulates the ovaries to "recruit" eggs and then supports their development.
As the eggs within the follicles mature, they begin to produce increasing amounts of another hormone, oestrogen. Oestrogen levels rise signalling the hypothalamus to reduce production of FSH as the eggs approach maturity. Oestrogen also stimulates the development of the endometrium (lining of the uterus) which must become thick and vascular to support a developing embryo.
Once the eggs mature, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary to produce a large surge of leutinizing hormone (LH). LH triggers ovulation, or the release of the egg, from the ovarian follicle. The egg travels through the fallopian tube to the point of fertilisation at the distal end.
Acupuncture treatments also appear to influence the integrity of the eggs released. This may be due to increasing the blood supply to the developing follicles or by increasing the nutritional supply to the egg via the fluids that surround and nourish it.
Improve the quality of fertile mucus
Fertile mucus appears several days prior to ovulation and is required to help nourish the sperm and guide them to the egg.
Around midcycle, the cervix opens in response to increased oestrogen levels and the glands of the endocervix respond by producing fertile mucus. The arrival of fertile mucus signifies the fertile time of the month. Ideally it should be evident for a number of days. This increases the chances of sexual intercourse occurring at a time when the sperm can survive the acidity of the vagina and be actively aided in breaching the cervix and traversing the uterus.
Regulate ovulation
Ovulation that occurs on day 13-15 of the menstrual cycle ensures that the egg is being released at its optional developmental time.
Promote an efficient menstrual bleed
In traditional Chinese medicine many questions are asked about the menstrual bleed, such as number of days bleeding, quantity of blood, colour of blood, appearance of clots etc. The menstrual bleeding reflects the quality of the uterine lining. This lining appears to be important for embryo implantation and women with poor endometrial development have an associated risk of miscarriage and of IVF failure.
After ovulation, the residual follicle develops into a structure known as the corpus luteum and begins production of progesterone. Progesterone also stimulates and supports the development of the uterine lining.
Chinese medicine aims to increase the thickness and quality of the uterine lining and it does this through promoting corpus luteal function. It also achieves this through its documented action of increasing blood flow to the uterus. (Human Reproduction 11:1314-1317).
Ideally menstrual bleeding should last for at least 3-4 days and the menstrual blood should be red in colour and without any clotting or flooding.
Enhance the internal environment of the fallopian tubes.
Stress can interfere with the free movement of the fallopian tubes and with the ability of female orgasm during sexual intercourse. Proper movement of the fallopian tubes is required to facilitate the passage of the egg into the uterus. Female orgasm during sexual intercourse lowers the cervix into the vagina allowing faster sperm transit to the egg.
Traditional Chinese medicine aims to improve the elasticity and the secretions of the fallopian tubes and Acupuncture has a noted effect of reducing stress levels and calming the mind.
Promote a viable pregnancy
Traditional Chinese medicine can be used in the early stages of pregnancy to help promote maternal and foetal well being. It can also be used for dealing with problems encountered during pregnancy such as morning sickness, babies that are small for their gestational age, breech presentation, blood pressure problems and muscular-skeletal pain.
Acupressure can be used during labour for pain relief and also to promote the labour. Acupuncture can be used to promote induction if required.
Promote embryo implantation
The success rate of IVF embryo transfer is increased through the ‘Depaulis’ technique, whereby acupuncture is performed pre and post transfer. Acupuncture has been shown in some studies to affect the levels of pituitary and ovarian hormones and may help improve blood flow in the uterine arteries of women. It has been used to "relax" the uterus and encourage blood flow around the time of the transfer.
A recent meta-analysis (Manheimer E) published by the British Medical Journal in February 2008, suggests that women undergoing IVF, who also have acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer, have a substantially higher chance of conceiving than those who have no acupuncture.
In April 2002, Fertility and Sterility published a study done in Germany showing that the use of acupuncture both pre and post transfer in an IVF procedure increases the success rate to 42.5% versus 26.3% when no acupuncture was used.
Contact Fiona Debtuch
Acupuncturist and Medicinal Herbalist BSc, Lic Ac, Dip Herbs
Phone: 087 7469885
