Wirral Complementary Clinic  

Hypnotherapy can help increase the likelihood of conception either naturally or in partnership with medical fertility treatments, and has been shown to increase conception by up to 30% .

In particular, studies have shown that acupuncture definitely increases the rate of pregnancy in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Article in Daily Mail - 'Hypnotism gave me the baby I longed for'

Fertility issues and stress
Couples experiencing fertility difficulties often feel the effects of increased stress. This can make it more difficult to conceive by: .

• Suppressing luteinizing hormone • Increasing serum cortisol levels • Inhibiting hypothalamic Gnrh function • Preventing implantation of a fertilised egg • Reducing egg quality • Delaying release of eggs • Elevating prolactin levels

How can hypnotherapy help?
Hypnotherapy can help reduce the levels of stress and anxiety by increasing relaxation, removing emotional blocks, and by teaching couples to work together to keep stress and anxiety to an absolute minimum before, during and after medical treatment.

What the experts say
In an article by Suzy Greaves entitled Can Hypnosis Help to Make You Pregnant? Dr. Elizabeth Muir, a clinical psychologist working with hypnotherapy for infertility explains that hypnosis affects the hypothalamus—the neural centre at the base of the brain linked to the pituitary gland—and controls the flow of hormones in the body. The hypothalamus is sensitive to stress and acts as a bridge between the emotional and physical, turning emotional messages into physical responses that affect hormone levels. Muir believes that the psychological issues surrounding pregnancy are not sufficiently well addressed for many women with fertility problems.

Studies conducted by Alice Domar, PhD, director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Behavioural Medicine Program for Infertility in Boston support Muir's theory that unresolved issues about having a baby can be removed with counselling and mind/body techniques such as hypnotherapy. In the first study published in 1999 in the Journal of the American Medical Women's Association 42% of 132 infertile women in the program conceived within six months of completing it. In the second study, published in 2000 in the journal Fertility and Sterility, 55% of the previously infertile women who met regularly in a mind/body program conceived, compared with 20% of the control group who used no mind/body techniques and who did not attend meetings.

Dr. Christiane Northrup in her book Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom says: "The mind/body approach to fertility is based on the premise that knowledge is power and that a change in perception based on new information is powerful enough to effect subtle changes in your endocrine, immune, and nervous systems. Regardless of what you’ve been told about your fertility, you need to know that your ability to conceive is profoundly influenced by the complex interaction among psychosocial, psychological, and emotional factors, and that you can consciously work with this to enhance your ability to have a baby."

Niravi Payne, a psychotherapist and pioneer of mind-body fertility therapy in America, believes that stress is only one of the factors that can prevent conception. "Our endocrine, immune and nervous systems are all intimately connected and influenced by every thought we think and every emotion we feel," she says. "When something significant happens in our lives, the emotionally charged experience gets stored in our brain. Memories and experiences are also simultaneously stored biochemically and electromagnetically in various organ systems. Negative emotional experiences can throw off the finely tuned hormonal balance necessary for ovulation and sperm production"

Can acupuncture be used to treat infertility?
On its own, acupuncture can be seen as an alternative way of treating fertility problems. It is also often seen as a complementary therapy to modern fertility treatments. When used alone, though, acupuncture is probably most effective for those couples who are experiencing a functional problem, like irregular ovulation, rather than a structural problem, like a blockage in the sperm ducts.

Acupuncture seems to help some women because it improves circulation to the ovaries which makes for healthier eggs — and to the uterus, which increases the chances that the lining will be strong enough to hold those eggs to full-term. Acupuncture provides better circulation and better blood flow to the womb. It will give a better chance for the eggs to be nourished and therefore carried.

There's also the fact that acupuncture can be a stress-reliever during an emotional time.

Most practicing acupuncturists say that acupuncture helps by regulating your body’s system. This aids in blood flow to the reproductive organs and stabilizes hormone levels. This in turn will increase ovarian function in women as well as sperm production in men.

Used as a complementary form of therapy for women undergoing other fertility treatments, acupuncture has been proven to be especially beneficial. Some believe that acupuncture works by helping women stay more relaxed through stressful fertility treatments.

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