Adding IVF Acupuncture To Improve Pregnancy Outcomes

Acupuncture During Stims, Transfers, And More.

If you’re going through IVF, you already know how physically and emotionally demanding the process can be. At Hawthorne Acupuncture & Integrated Medicine, we provide targeted IVF acupuncture support to improve outcomes, ease stress, and support you through every stage of your fertility journey.

Many of our patients come to us while working with leading fertility clinics such as CCRM Denver, CCRM Lone Tree, Shady Grove, and Conceptions. Whether this is your first cycle or your fifth, we understand the timeline, the medications, and the physical and emotional rollercoaster. Our job is to help your body and mind stay balanced, supported, and ready. 

 How Acupuncture Supports IVF Success

Research shows that acupuncture may increase blood flow to the reproductive organs, reduce inflammation, regulate the nervous system, and improve implantation and pregnancy rates.

We use a combination of traditional acupuncture and electroacupuncture to support your IVF cycle at each stage:

• Before stimulation: Treatments help regulate your cycle, calm the nervous system, and prepare your body to respond well to medication.

• During stimulation: Electroacupuncture twice weekly is used to support follicular growth and improve ovarian blood flow. This is supported by findings from this pilot study on electroacupuncture and oocyte maturation.

• Before and during transfer: Acupuncture promotes uterine receptivity and helps manage stress and hormonal fluctuations. Benefits in endometrial lining and pregnancy outcomes are discussed in this RCT on endometrial receptivity.

• Post-transfer: Gentle acupuncture can support the luteal phase and improve your sense of calm and connection during the two-week wait.

Our protocols are informed by research and clinical experience, including recommendations from IVF specialists like Dr. William Schoolcraft’s book, which outlines the benefits of integrating electroacupuncture with IVF treatment.

Preparing Your Body For IVF Using Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine

When it comes time to start the process of IVF, it feels like a “hurry up and wait” situation. Between scheduling doctors visits, getting labs done, waiting for results, then deciding what the best course of action would be for the round of IVF, months can be eaten up while you wait to begin.

As you anticipate beginning the IVF process, it is an excellent time to get started using acupuncture and herbal medicine to get your body prepared. and balance hormone levels. Much like our fertility acupuncture process, we put together a plan on what we can do on our end to help your body be prepared for IVF success. For example, some of our patients struggle with digestive issues. Under the umbrella of traditional Chinese Medicine, digestion is an important bodily process to correct in order to sustain a pregnancy. and balance hormone levels. Other patients of ours struggle with fatigue and low energy, which also be linked to hormone imbalances. Finally, acupuncture as a treatment is very effective in calming down the nervous system, and stabilizing the mood. This , which can help balance hormone levels and prepare individuals mentally and emotionally for their IVF journey. 

IVF Acupuncture Protocols

We love getting patients in and getting treated before they start medications. But what if your round of IVF is just around the corner? No worries, we have you covered. We want you to know right off the bat, that the number one difference between preparing for a round of IVF, and actually starting a round of IVF is the use of herbal medicine. Our clinic adheres to guidelines set by our local fertility clinics. When IVF meds are introduced to the body, we stop using herbal medicine. We take that oath seriously. 

When you start a round of IVF, we may not use herbs, but we guide you in a different way. We recommend more dietary and lifestyle changes. Our clinic will look at each patient individually, and suggest foods that would be best for them. Because some of the medications cause digestive issues, we also focus on the preparation and frequency of certain foods to make sure that the digestive process is working correctly. We will always keep any lifestyle and dietary changes easy to understand and simple to implement. 

Once medications begin, we use specific IVF acupuncture protocols to help enhance the effect of the medication. Again, the main goal during these IVF phases is to shunt the medications to specific areas of the body. Now, it is important to understand that we are focused on specific protocols to help the IVF medications. Additionally, we add acupuncture points to enhance the treatment for each patient in our office, providing a non-surgical infertility treatment option for women with endometriosis. Headaches from lupron? Painful bloating from estradiol? Constipated from progesterone? Stressed out and dealing with insomnia because going through IVF is a lot? We have you covered in all of these scenarios.

IVF Acupuncture During Stims

As you may already know, the follicle stimulation phase of IVF is crucial to the success of IVF. We are here to help! During the stim phase of IVF, we work with information from your IVF clinic. Specifically we look at your follicle counts in each ovary, which is a key factor in egg development and ovulation. This will determine the frequency and type of treatment you will receive from us to increase follicle quantity and growth. If you are new to this process, the stim phase (and sometimes before) is usually the time that you receive acupuncture sessions, specifically including electroacupuncture.

Electroacupuncture is the addition of frequency specific electrostimulation to certain acupuncture points on the body. This helps increase vasodilation of the vessels to either the ovaries, or the uterus. In the case of IVF, we want to make sure your stim meds are saturating your ovaries, and our treatments do just that. Additionally, IVF procedures often require a woman to take medications to stimulate her ovaries and induce multiple follicular development, making acupuncture during this phase even more crucial.

Pre And Post Embryo Transfer Acupuncture Protocols

You’ve gotten through retrieval, and then you wait to see how many eggs are successfully fertilized which takes a few days. You and your family may decide to genetically test the embryos which can take another few weeks. In the end, the successful embryos are frozen until it is time for the transfer. Although each IVF protocol is different, in most instances, there is a month off period before you head in to the transfer. This is another opportunity for acupuncture to jump in and get your body ready for the important second part–a healthy endometrial lining for implantation and a high success rate. Our job is to move medication where it needs to go, and there are a few protocols to do so leading up to the day of ET, including ovulation induction.

Once you arrive on transfer day, we enjoy seeing your pink and/or blue nail polish and your pineapple socks. We have one last opportunity to help you–pre and post transfer acupuncture. We will have you come in to get treated before you head to the clinic, then again after the transfer. The pre transfer acupuncture protocol focuses on moving oxygenated blood towards the uterus, relaxing the cervix, and relaxes the body and mind during a stressful and exciting day. Here is a small study showing the increase in implantation after adding acupuncture prior to the transfer.

After the transfer, we get you cozy on the table once more for the post transfer acupuncture protocol. This treatment does not move blood to the uterus–we don’t want that at this point! The treatment sends blood to the digestive system, calms down the nervous system, and makes you feel relaxed.