PRECONCEPTION CARE
The last thing patients typically want to hear when they’re awaiting their first second, third, or fifth round of IVF is to use the next 100 days to optimize their fertility. But those 100 days of pre-conception cate have the potential to make an enormous difference in your IVF results.
IV NUTRIENT THERAPY
Adequate stores of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are crucial for the ovarian follicles to receive nutrient-rich blood to allow healthy growth. A series of IV nutrient therapy can be a great way of ensuring you are topped up on all of the crucial fertility nutrients necessary to reach your peak fertility potential. IV nutrient therapy is especially important if there are digestive concerns (loose stools, bloating, gas, IBS, Crohn’s disease, etc) that may interfere with proper nutrient absorption via food and supplementation. Read more
IMPROVING SPERM HEALTH
Yes, healthy eggs are important, but sperm health is just as important. More and more research is finding that sperm quality has an impact on fertilization and blastocyst rates in embryos retrieved via IVF. Clinical Director, Dr. Lorne Brown, recently interviewed Paul Turek, a reproductive urologist, on how poor embryo development can be related to the guy in about 50% of cases. Check out the link above for more information on how we support sperm health. Regular acupuncture, diet and lifestyle changes, nutrient IV’s, and proper supplementation including Chinese herbs can make a difference in sperm health, and thus the health of the fertilized embryos.
ACUPUNCTURE
Regular acupuncture treatments (2 per week) prior to an IVF help regulate hormones, decrease stress, and increase blood circulation. Acupuncture has also been shown to decrease the chances of biochemical pregnancy or miscarriage, reduce uterine contractility, improve follicular microenvironment, improve uterine receptivity via immune modulation, and decrease side effects of prescription medication-related to assisted reproductive technology procedures (IVF, FET, IUI). A 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis posted in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine took a look at 27 studies of acupuncture that consisted of 6,116 patients. The results showed the “benefit of acupuncture for IVF outcomes in women with a history of unsuccessful IVF attempts.” They even went so far as to state that the number of acupuncture treatments is a potentially influential factor. Read more
LOW-LEVEL LASER THERAPY (LLLT/PHOTOBIOMODULATION)
Low-level laser therapy is a wonderful tool for improving blood flow to the uterus and ovaries, decreasing inflammation, and improving egg quality. A 2018 study on mice examined the local effect of low-level laser therapy on ovarian follicles, AMH expression, progesterone levels, and ovarian reserve. Results showed an increase in follicles in irradiated ovaries compared to the control group as well as improved egg quality. The study deemed laser therapy, “a novel and used tool in the treatment of…female reproductive disorders.” Read more about LLLT for fertility.
ADDING CHINESE HERBAL FORMULAS TO IVF/FET CYCLES
Chinese herbal formulas, particularly the formula Zi Shen Yu tai Wan, has been shown to be effective in the treatment of threatened or recurrent miscarriages and well as shown to improve implantation rates in patients undergoing fresh embryo transfers. Read more
The two video clips below include discussions with reproductive endocrinologists about when and why they recommend adding Chinese herbs for patients planning an IVF cycle.