In this Video:
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How Traditional Chinese Medicine views fertility problems
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How Chinese medicine looks at imbalances in specific organs like kidney, spleen, liver and how they impact infertility
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How an acupuncturist will remove blockages to assist fertility
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Advantage of Chinese medicine when dealing with infertility
How does Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) view infertility or any kind of fertility problems in male or females? The theory of Chinese medicine is that you have meridians or pathways in your body, and when these pathways become blocked, or stagnant, or stuck, you're not happy, you're not healthy, you're not fine. Diseases can manifest, things can happen. Also, it's all about the organ system. When we're looking at an organ, or when we're talking about an organ, it's not as in the fact that it's not functioning properly. That's “Western Medicine.” We're looking at it, in an aspect of balance. For example, a diagnosis could be liver blood and Qi stagnation, with kidney yang deficiency and spleen Qi deficiency. That, in western terms, can mean infertility, but the way we're looking at it, we're delving much deeper into different organ systems of the body that are affected. Essentially, if anyone came into the office, we're looking at it the same way. However, for fertility, there seems to be some consistency with irregularities and imbalances that we look deeper into.
For example, the kidneys in Chinese medicine; when we're talking about
balance for the kidneys, the kidneys are responsible for creating the ovum and also creating a substance called Jing, which gives you peak performance in your body and keeps your body balanced and fine-tuned. Both body and mind, but also spirit. So, with an imbalance of the kidneys, it's very important to get them balanced, because they're behind this very important area here (points to the ovaries), that many people get pregnant with. A very important organ in the scheme of things.
The next organ we look at, is the spleen. In Chinese medicine, spleen has to do with blood transportation, or transporting the fluids in the body. A lot of times, if you were to just hit your arm and bruise very easily, we would say the spleen isn't doing their job, because it also contains the blood in the vessels. When you think about blood, that's all about nourishing the uterus, and building the lining of the uterus, and getting that supply of blood, so the uterus can help hold the baby.
Finally, the liver, which we shouldn't say finally because the liver honestly, anyone who walks into this office has liver issues. It's just lifestyle, diet, stress level, but when the liver Meridian particularly is blocked, the liver Meridian starts at your feet, goes right up through your ovaries and uterus and right through your breasts. It has a ton to do with hormones, and cycle, and balancing that, and emotions, and when that is blocked, or out of balance, you're gonna have anxiety, depression, and potentially fertility issues just because of all the stress and the blockage. The liver, in Chinese medicine, looking at it from an order to conceive, and have a healthy pregnancy, it's very important to have that free flow of Chi in that meridian, especially.
Your acupuncturist, when you go to them, should be wanting to open all the meridians and keep all the blockages unblocked. There are other organs, the lungs and the heart, and again remember we're not looking at how it dysfunctions, we're looking at balance! The heart has to do with your spirit, or your emotions, so again, that can be affected based on how emotional, and how daunting it can be to go through [infertility], which it is. If you don't have a great support system, if it's gone on for a very long time, it can be very stressful, and then the
lungs have to do with the emotion of Grief. You can see where grief can play a role in the whole fertility issue, as well.
An advantage of Chinese medicine is that we're treating your body as the whole entire body. In saying that, we're not only treating infertility, we're also going to ask; how do you sleep at night, how's your stress level, and how are your bowel movements? All of these factors, and more, can indicate that your body is imbalanced. What we want when you're preparing to be pregnant and carry a baby for that nine-month period is for your body to be at its peak potential. So, if we're just focusing on one aspect of your body such as stress, cortisol levels, hormones, or other imbalances you might have going on, the other factors need to be addressed as they also play a role in the body as a whole.
