Acupuncture for Asthma?

Are you aware that 7.7 percent of adults and 8.4 percent of children suffer from asthma? That is about 25 million Americans and asthma is still on the rise, becoming more common each passing year. Today we’re discussing asthma and how acupuncture treatment in Clearwater can help. If you have questions or would like to schedule a free telehealth consultation, please contact Dawn Potter Acupuncture.

About Asthma

Asthma is a condition which causes a patient to produce extra mucus, experience swelling, narrowing and inflammation of the airways and have difficulties breathing. Asthma often causes wheezing, coughing and chest pain. Asthma can be a minor hindrance or something that impacts daily activities. Some patients could even have a life-threatening asthma attack. The most common treatments in America are rescue inhalers and controller inhales which can treat or even prevent symptoms. For more severe cases, longer-acting inhalers and steroids may be used.

Asthma Acupuncture?

Acupuncture can be a wonderful treatment for asthma, helping patients to breathe better and avoid attacks. A study that was conducted by the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care in the University Hospital of Vienna showed the acupuncture can actually reduce the severity and frequency of asthma attacks, with 70% of the patients in the study having a significant improvement following acupuncture treatment.

Starting Acupuncture for Asthma

Interested in starting acupuncture treatment for your asthma in Clearwater? You can contact Dawn Potter Acupuncture to schedule a consultation. During your consultation, Dawn Potter will discuss your health history and determine the best treatment options for your asthma.

Schedule Asthma Acupuncture in Clearwater Today

Think you may need acupuncture for asthma? Schedule your appointment with Dawn Potter Acupuncture today, we are always accepting new patients and would be delighted to add you to our schedule.

Acupuncture for Pregnancy, Childbirth and Beyond

Though, at first, you may not think to put acupuncture on your “to do” list when you find out you are pregnant, it is actually a valuable and natural way to help ensure a healthy pregnancy, a smooth delivery, and a quick postpartum recovery. At Dawn Potter Acupuncture we have decades of experience working with pregnancy.

Why Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine?

If we look back through Chinese history and the ancestral worship that is part of it, we see a very strong cultural commitment to having healthy children.  As a result, throughout the centuries, Oriental Medicine has developed effective treatments to help couples conceive and to promote healthy pregnancies and uncomplicated deliveries.

Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine focuses on re-establishing and maintaining a healthful natural balance and flow of vital energy (or Qi “chee”) within the body.  Qi is the basis for the proper functioning of all of our organs and physiological processes, including reproduction: it provides structural integrity and stability, physiological efficiency, and the potential for life, health, and healing in general.

Qi circulates in pathways throughout the body, known as meridians.  In Oriental Medicine, one is said to be in perfect health when this Qi is balanced and flowing unimpeded, in the correct direction, and in an adequate amount throughout the body. When this energy becomes imbalanced, blocked or deficient, we experience pain, discomfort, and disease.

Acupuncture needles, placed properly, directly access and regulate the flow of the energy in the meridians and correct imbalances, thereby creating healing and harmony within the body.

Acupuncture is a safe, effective, and natural way for women to reduce their symptoms of pregnancy.  Moreover, it does this without the risks and side effects of pharmaceutical medications, most of which are contraindicated during pregnancy anyway.

Acupuncture for a Healthy Mother and Baby:

Acupuncture treatment once or twice a month during pregnancy is valuable for both mom and baby.  It will help ensure optimal health of the mother and the fetus at different stages of development, cell differentiation, and growth.  It can also prevent and treat pregnancy-related symptoms.

One popular acupoint used during pregnancy is Zhubin (K-9) known as “the beautiful baby point”, located on the inner part of the lower leg above the ankle bone.  It is said to calm the mind, relieve anxiety, build blood, and benefit the fetus.

During the final 4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy, weekly treatments are recommended, to help prepare for labor.  Typically, a session lasts 30 to 45 minutes, and women usually only feel a mild pressure or heaviness sensation at the site of the needle insertion.

Some women have pre-existing medical conditions that may worsen during pregnancy but can be safely addressed with acupuncture. This is a great option when pharmaceuticals are contraindicated or the mother just wants treatment as natural as possible.

Acupuncture for Pregnancy-Related Symptoms:

Acupuncture significantly relieves fatigue, anxiety, migraine headaches, bleeding, and, of course, the morning sickness that can be common during the first trimester. An Australian study published in the journal Birth reported that of nearly 600 women suffering from morning sickness, (all of whom were less than 14 weeks pregnant), those who received acupuncture treatment reported having less frequent and shorter periods of nausea than those who did not get acupuncture.

The second trimester can bring stress, sinus congestion, heartburn, constipation, and hemorrhoids which acupuncture can help to alleviate. Other second-trimester symptoms that acupuncture can assist are edema, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, or excessive weight gain, but these conditions are potentially dangerous, and should also be monitored by a Western-trained physician or midwife.

Sciatica, back pain, pelvic pain, joint pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome can be common during the third trimester. Acupuncture treatment is known to bring relief to these symptoms, and it can bring this relief quickly, without any medications. In fact, a recent study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that acupuncture in combination with standard treatment was more effective at relieving mixed pelvic/back pain during pregnancy than standard treatment alone.

If symptoms are particularly severe, weekly treatments may be necessary to get you through a particular period of time during the pregnancy.

Beginning around 32 to 34 weeks, special acupoints will be included during treatment to encourage the proper head-down positioning of the baby for birth. Also at this time, acupuncture treatment frequency will increase to weekly to help optimize childbirth.

Acupuncture for Labor Comfort & Childbirth:

Acupuncture is a great way to safely and encourage the body to go into a natural labor. Acu-points that could stimulate uterine contraction are deliberately avoided during the 40 weeks of pregnancy, and at about the 36-week mark, we use these, as well as points to help turn the baby into the correct head-down position, are used freely. Acupuncture for labor comfort will also help to nourish the mother’s vital energy as well as calm her anxiety. This helps her to relax, which also facilitates a healthy delivery.

Acupuncture during labor itself is used to reduce pain and boost energy, but can also be used to strengthen weak contractions. In China this is a common practice because birth is seen as a natural process that is to be interfered with as little as possible; acupuncture facilitates the natural process, it doesn’t force anything to happen.

Acupuncture for Post-Partum Recovery:

After delivery, acupuncture assists in the normal recuperative process.  It can help stop bleeding and discharge, relieve backache, and ease pain in the perineal area.  It can also help to hasten recovery from a C-Section surgery.  Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine help to restore the mother’s vital Qi energy and Blood, support milk production, and normalize the Qi and Blood flow through the abdomen.  It is also ideal for preventing and treating post-partum depression.  So, even though the new mom will be busy tending to her newborn, it is important that she still gets her acupuncture treatments.

It is clear to see that all women would benefit from receiving acupuncture throughout their pregnancies.  Acupuncture is valuable to ensure a healthy mother and fetus and to address pre-existing and pregnancy-related symptoms during pregnancy.  It is also a wonderful alternative to pitocin or C-section for inducing labor.  In addition, acupuncture can facilitate the labor process and assist in post-partum recovery.

Schedule Acupuncture For Pregnancy, Post-Partum & Beyond in Clearwater

Expecting a child? Interested in acupuncture? Dawn Potter would be happy to help. We offer acupuncture and a wide range of other treatment options that can help.

Sources:

Chao AS, Chao A, Wang TH, et al. Pain relief by applying transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on acupuncture points during the first stage of labor: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Pain. 2007 Feb;127(3):214-20. View Abstract.

Crocker, Walt. Acupuncture May Be a Safe Alternative for Inducing Labor: Chinese Method Has Been Used Thousands of Years. Accessed on 5/25/08 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/19749/acupuncture_may_be_a_safe_alternative.html?page=2

Maciocia, Giovanni.  Obstetrics and Gynecology in Oriental Medicine.  Churchill Livingston, London, 1998.

Rabinowitz, Naomi, MD, Dipl.Ac., Acupuncture and Pregnancy, accessed on 5/25/08 at http://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/ACUPUNCTURE+AND+PREGNANCY

Dawn Potter, AP, Dipl.OM

Published in Select Magazine, Mar-Apr 2009

#laborinduction #childbirth #morningsickness #vomiting #acupuncture #nausea #postpartum #pregnancy #orientalmedicine

Is Acupuncture for Fertility in Clearwater Right For You?

If you have been trying to conceive a child for at least 1 year without success, most doctors would diagnose you with infertility. You are not alone; infertility currently affects about 6 million people in the U.S., at the time of this writing.

Many couples turn to the latest medical technologies to assist them, such as ovulation-promoting drugs, intrauterine insemination (IUI), and in vitro fertilization (IVF). These are collectively known as Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART).  In vitro fertilization is an incredible technology that has led to many successful pregnancies.

However, IVF is not an easy path to choose: it is a very complex procedure, it is quite expensive, and most find it emotionally difficult. In addition, the success rates are still relatively low (generally 10% to 35% at the time of this writing).  If you decide to invest your time and money into these therapies, you want to be sure you are giving yourself every advantage possible.  Adding acupuncture to your ART can significantly increase your chances of success.

If ART is not for you, due to financial, medical, or other reasons, or if you wish to try something less invasive/expensive first, acupuncture is, again, very valuable, for both female and male factor infertility.

Acupuncture with ART:

Growing numbers of research studies in medical journals are demonstrating impressive results when acupuncture is combined with ART.  A landmark study published in April 2002 in the Fertility & Sterility Journal caught the attention of many reproductive specialists:  women undergoing IVF embryo transfer who received acupuncture had a 42.5% success rate, compared with the 26.3% success rate of those who did not get acupuncture.

A study published in May 2006 (Fertility & Sterility) found that acupuncture more than doubled the pregnancy rates of IVF procedures.  Because of this and other research, many infertility doctors refer their patients for acupuncture.

Acupuncture for fertility, without ART:

Acupuncture has been treating infertility for over 2000 years.  Consider that throughout history in Chinese culture the inability to have a child (especially a son) was considered the worst kind of tragedy.  When infertility afflicted a couple, there was a great deal of motivation for Chinese physicians to develop effective treatments.

Only recently has Western science begun to conduct studies on acupuncture by itself for infertility: one study compared women with endocrine dysfunctional infertility:  one group was put on the common infertility drug that begins with “C” (that Google will not allow me to spell out) and the other was treated with acupuncture.  The result was 45% pregnancy in the “C” drug group, and 65% in the acupuncture group.

Other studies show that acupuncture can stimulate ovulation, reduce the impedance of blood flow to the uterus, and normalize the hormone communication cycle in women.  It also reduces stress hormones and increases endorphin levels, both of which positively affect hormone levels.

And there are numerous studies citing the benefits of acupuncture for male factor infertility.  Acupuncture increases the number and ratio of normal-form sperm; significantly decreases the number of anti-sperm antibodies (in male immune infertility), and increases the quick sperm motility.

Why Does Our Clearwater Acupuncture For Infertility Work?

From an Oriental medicine viewpoint, acupuncture is effective for infertility because it helps to relieve stress, correct imbalances and ensure proper communication in the body.  It increases the circulation of energy, blood, and nutrients to the necessary organs and glands, so that they are healthier, work better, and communicate with each other more effectively.

Recommended Protocol:

In general, I recommend acupuncture treatments weekly for at least 4-6 weeks followed by twice monthly, combined with Chinese herbs, until pregnancy. The more treatments initially, the quicker the results. For those patients whose MD’s have requested that they not take herbs during their ART, I recommend once or twice weekly acupuncture treatments.  These protocols are the same for both men and women.

For the best chances of success with ART, acupuncture treatment should begin 3 months prior to any major procedure.  If this schedule is not possible for you, aim to get treatments for as many weeks as possible before the procedure begins.

What to expect from Acupuncture for Fertility:

In my clinic, I have found that acupuncture can:

1. Regulate menstrual cycles:  Often infertility is associated with irregular menstrual cycles or endometriosis.  With acupuncture and herbs I have seen women without regular periods start cycling regularly again, women with heavy bleeding normalize, and significant or complete reduction of endometriosis.

2. Increase ovulation rates:  Related to irregular menstruation, some infertility patients simply are not ovulating regularly.  With only acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, one specific patient has been ovulating consistently for 7 months, after more than 12 years of negative ovulation test readings!

3. Increase the number and quality of eggs that are ovulated:  After 2 months of acupuncture, one IVF patient produced 15 healthy eggs that were extracted; that is nearly double her first IVF cycle, without acupuncture, when she produced 8 healthy eggs.

Another patient, with a history of repeated miscarriages, was told by her infertility specialist that she could never use her own eggs to have a baby.  It was his professional opinion that her eggs were too poor quality for her to get pregnant naturally and keep the child; she would have to do IVF with donor eggs.   After 3 months of acupuncture and herbal medicine, she became pregnant naturally, and, at the time of this writing, is due to give birth in 2 weeks.

4. Increase the chances of implantation:  Acupuncture helps to increase circulation to the uterine wall, creating a more optimal lining condition.  It also helps to relax the uterus, so that implantation is more likely.  Often, in IVF, the embryo transfer process stimulates uterine contractions, which can make implantation difficult.  This is why studies find that acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer increases success rates significantly.

5. Increase the chances of a healthy, full-term pregnancy:  Continued acupuncture treatment for at least the first 12 weeks of pregnancy is highly recommended to decrease the chances of miscarriage.   It’s also useful for morning sickness, fatigue, and mood swings.

The journey to overcome infertility can be a very difficult one.  It makes sense to be sure that you are giving yourself every advantage.  Whether you choose to receive ART or not, you can feel confident that including acupuncture in your plan will increase your chances of having the baby you want.

Start Clearwater Fertility Acupuncture Today

Are you having trouble getting pregnant? Interested in a more natural approach to infertility treatment? Contact Dawn Potter Acupuncture today. We'd be happy to schedule a free telehealth consultation to discuss your situation.

Sources:

Berkley, Dr. Mike, Treating Infertility using Acupuncture.  American Pregnancy Association.  Accessed from http://www.americanpregnancy.org/infertility/acupuncture.htm

Chen, By, Acupuncture normalizes dysfunction of hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis.  Acupunct Electrother Res. 1997;22(2):97-108. PMID: 9330669

Dieterle, S., et al.  Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a randomized, prospective, controlled clinical study. Fertil Steril. 2006 May;85(5):1347-     51. Epub 2006 Apr 17. PMID: 16616748 .

Dong, C, et al. Clinical observation and study of mechanisms of needle-picking therapy for primary infertility of abnormal sperm. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2006 Jun;26(6):389-91. Chinese. PMID: 16813177

Fu, B et al.  Effects of the combined therapy of acupuncture with herbal drugs on male immune     infertility – a clinical report of 50 cases.  J Tradit Chin Med. 2005 Sep;25(3):186-9. PMID: 16334720

Gurfinkel E, et al.  Effects of acupuncture and moxa treatment in patients with semen abnormalities. Asian J Androl. 2003 Dec;5(4):345-8. PMID: 14695986

Mo X, et al, Clinical studies on the mechanism for acupuncture stimulation of ovulation. J Tradit Chin Med. 1993 Jun;13(2):115-9. PMID: 8412285

Paulus, Wolfgang, MD, et al., Influence of Acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy. American Society for Reproductive Medicine / Elsevier Science Inc (Fertility & Sterility, April 2002, Vol.77, No.4).

Robinson, Kathleen and Tracy Hickenbottom, Acupuncture has numerous potential fertility boosting benefits according to New York Weill Cornell physician-scientists.  Cornell News. New York, April 2003.  Accessed from www.news.cornell.edu/releases/April03/fertility.html.

Song, JJ et al.  Progress of integrative Chinese and Western medicine in treating polycystic ovarian syndrome caused infertility. Chin J Integr Med. 2006 Dec;12(4):312-6. Review. PMID: 17361532

Stener-Victorin E, et al. Use of acupuncture in female infertility and a summary of recent acupuncture studies related to embryo transfer.  Acupunct Med. 2006 Dec;24(4):157-63. Review. PMID: 17264833

Westergaard. LG, et al.  Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial. Fertil Steril. 2006 May;85(5):1341-6. Epub 2006 Apr 5. PMID: 16600232

Yang, JR, et al.  Controlled study on acupuncture for treatment of endocrine dysfunctional infertility. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2005 May;25(5):299-300. Chinese. PMID: 16320739

Zhang, M, et al.  Influence of acupuncture on idiopathic male infertility in assisted reproductive technology.  J Huazhong Univ Sci Technolog Med Sci. 2002;22(3):228-30.  PMID: 12658811

Dawn Potter, AP, Dipl.OM

Published in Tampa Bay Wellness, Sept 2007

#fertility #IVF #invitrofertilization #complementarymedicine #acupuncture #complimentarymedicine #assistedreproductivetherapy #infertility