I am scared of needles and I know I’m not alone. That’s why I’m not sure if I could undergo acupuncture in order to get pregnant.
An Acupuncture fertility treatment is thought to increase blood flow to the uterus, relax the cervix and inhibit “fight or flight” stress hormones that can make it tougher for an embryo to implant, said Eric Manheimer, a researcher at the University of Maryland School of MedicineThe analysis pools results from seven studies on 1,366 women in the United States, Germany, Australia and Denmark who are having in vitro fertilization, or IVF. It involves mixing sperm and eggs in a lab dish to create embryos that are placed in the womb.
Women were randomly assigned to receive IVF alone, IVF with acupuncture within a day of embryo transfer, or IVF plus sham acupuncture, in which needles were placed too shallowly or in spots not thought to matter.
The odds of conceiving went up about 65 percent for women given acupuncture.
About a dozen needles are placed in the ears, hands, feet, lower legs, abdomen and sometimes the lower back. The procedure costs $500 a month for treatments twice a week, and patients typically go for three months.
If it came down to it and you really wanted a baby would you allow yourself to be a pin cushion for 3 months?
