ACUPUNCTURE AFTER MISCARRIAGE
Acupuncture After Early Miscarriage
Dealing with an early miscarriage can be emotionally taxing, and the ripple effect it has on your body's hormonal balance is not something that should be overlooked. Your emotional and physical well-being are deeply interlinked, a harmony that Traditional Chinese Medicine has acknowledged for thousands of years. As a fertility support-trained acupuncturist and herbalist, I want to share how acupuncture can help in recovery for women navigating the challenging path after an early miscarriage.
How Acupuncture Can Help
Acupuncture isn't just about inserting needles into your skin; it's an intimate understanding of the body's Qi (life force) and how to cultivate it for wellness. When it comes to fertility and hormonal balance, this ancient technique does wonders.
After a miscarriage, your body's natural rhythms can be severely disrupted. Acupuncture aims to restore this balance, focusing on specific acupuncture points that align with the meridians, or channels, that influence your reproductive system as well as your emotional health. Scientific studies have shown that acupuncture can significantly reduce stress, a key factor affecting fertility. Stress hinders the flow of Qi and destabilizes hormonal balance, which acupuncture can help alleviate.
What to Expect During Treatment
If you've had acupuncture before for something like neck pain, the depth and calm that fertility acupuncture can bring is quite different. While acupuncture for pain relief focuses on specific areas where the pain resides, fertility acupuncture considers the whole body. In essence, it focuses on creating a healthy blueprint of your monthly menstrual cycle, optimising each phase.
Menstruation Phase: During this phase, the treatment aims to cleanse the body, making sure the uterine lining is shedding completely.
Pre-Ovulation Phase: Here, the focus is on priming the body for ovulation, nurturing the follicles and womb lining, and ensuring the uterus is a welcoming environment for a potential embryo.
Ovulation Phase: Acupuncture at this time seeks to assist the release of a mature egg, creating the best possible conditions for conception.
Post-Ovulation Phase: This treatment targets the luteal phase, encouraging implantation and nourishing the embryo if conception has occurred.
Depending on your condition, I might use around 10 needles in different acupuncture points.
Number of sessions
For a nuanced understanding of your cycle, I recommend weekly sessions for the first few cycles we work together. This allows me to adapt your treatment as you move through different phases of your menstrual cycle supporting your hormonal rhythm.
How You Might Feel After Treatment
People find they usually feel immediately relaxed, almost as if a weight has been lifted, it is also common to feel a wave of emotions following an acupuncture session. Others can feel tired but in a way that feels restorative. This is all because your Qi begins to move towards homeostasis, you may even find yourself feeling a newfound sense of joy and vitality.
Scientifically-Backed Evidence
Numerous studies corroborate the effectiveness of acupuncture in fertility treatment. A study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research indicated that acupuncture could improve the quality of life and emotional well-being for women experiencing infertility, particularly following stressful events like a miscarriage.
Moreover, a review published in Stress and Health found that acupuncture significantly reduces stress, known to be a crucial factor in fertility and hormonal balance.
Conclusion
In my years of experience as a fertility practitioner, I've had the privilege to support countless women through diverse journeys of miscarriage recovery. I understand that each woman's path to healing is as unique as she is and therefore offering compassionate, individualised care is at the heart of my practice.
I like people to consider acupuncture as a deeply personal and emotionally enriching pillar of support, designed to lift both mind and body helping to find your way following miscarriage.
ABOUT KATE FREEMANTLE
I am an acupuncturist and herbalist with over 17 years of clinical experience supporting fertility. I work online and from my Dorset clinic.
I am a Fertility Support trained expert. To find out more about my expertise or another expert near you click here.
If you would like to find out more please get in contact here or call me on 07880545943.
References
Chan, C. H. Y., Ho, R. T. H., & Chan, J. S. M. (2015). Effects of Acupuncture on the Recovery Outcomes of Women Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization: An Overview of Systematic Reviews. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, 41(4), 545-563.
Cochrane, S., Smith, C. A., & Possamai-Inesedy, A. (2019). Acupuncture and women's health: an overview of the role of acupuncture and its clinical management in women’s reproductive health. Stress and Health, 35(2), 131-143.