While some couples are avoiding pregnancy and into birth control pills and expensive methods, for other couples, it is still important to have their own baby. In fact, some couples have been using the latest technology the modern medicine has been offering. According to the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC), five percent of infertility treatments involve in vitro fertilization (IVF) or other kinds of assisted reproductive technologies. It is a method in which a laboratory is used to try to help a couple become pregnant. More than 70,000 babies have been born in the United States using assisted reproductive technologies, including 45,000 born as a result of in vitro fertilization. IVF makes pregnancy possible for more than half of the couples who pursue treatment.
Techniques like IVF made news since the 1970s, however, they are still something of an inexact or inaccurate science. The success rates for each therapy range from as low as 1% to as high as 50%, and a successful pregnancy depends on a variety of factors. It can include the age of the woman, the cause of infertility, and the skill of the technician performing the procedure. One natural procedure that is still very popular today and has said to increase the chances of a woman to become pregnant.
Although modern medical science has failed to conclusively explain just how it works, acupuncture is said to help a couple have a baby. Acupuncture is based in the Chinese belief that a balance in the energy flow known as qi and chi through the body is needed in order to stay healthy. When a blockage or imbalance occurs in that flow, one's health is negatively affected. There are 20 major pathways that qi is believed to travel along and these pathways, or meridians, are accessible through 400 different acupuncture points.
Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicines believe that a variety of energy patterns can interfere with becoming pregnant. Acupuncture works for infertility by increasing the production of endorphins in the brain, which helps people de-stress and relax. The traditional treatment can help stabilize hormone levels for the couple. This can mean increased in sperm production for men and can improve the blood supply in the uterus and the ovaries among women. Doctors believe that integrating acupuncture helps relieve some stress and anxiety that patients may face.
Acupuncture can be used in combination with other Western Medicine treatments for infertility when trying to get pregnant. Acupuncturist Jin Jin Hua claims that the 4,000-year-old practice of using hair-thin needles to penetrate and stimulate organs can work alongside IVF to create a successful pregnancy. It has a surprising success rate of sixty percent among infertile women. And there is some scientific evidence to back this up, said Ms Jin. A German study published in April 2002 showed that 42.5 percent of women who underwent acupuncture, once before and once after the transfer of the embryos in the uterus, became pregnant.
The desired effect of acupuncture is to harmonize the body and bring the body and its systems to an optimal state of wellness. In contrast, using acupuncture as birth control would run counter to those desired effects. Most acupuncturists do not have the level of mastery needed to ensure that acupuncture would be as effective as birth control pills and other traditional forms of birth control.