What are the benefits of using acupuncture when treating a patient with PCOS?
PCOS is both an endocrinologic as well as a metabolic disorder. The patient can present with polycystic ovaries, hyperandrogenism, hirsutism, and hyperinsulinemia. Furthermore, PCOS patients have a difficult time conceiving. One of the reasons is anovulation. Also, the egg quality is very often compromised as there is too much testosterone in the follicle.
PCOS is both an endocrinologic as well as a metabolic disorder. The patient can present with polycystic ovaries, hyperandrogenism, hirsutism, and hyperinsulinemia. Furthermore, PCOS patients have a difficult time conceiving. One of the reasons is anovulation. Also, the egg quality is very often compromised as there is too much testosterone in the follicle.
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This acts as an anti-estrogen and therefore, the eggs lack proper nourishment. In fact, the PCOS population experiences miscarriage more than the non-PCOS population.Acupuncture and herbal medicine are 'regulators. They reduce that which is in excess and supplement that which is diminished.
In the PCOS patient, we want to reduce the testosterone milieu, increase the follicular estrogen, regulate the menstrual cycle and help facilitate conception. Acupuncture and herbs often accomplish this goal.Another goal of the practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine is to council patients about life-style. If a PCOS patient is morbidly obese, she may face gestational diabetes, preeclampsia or eclampsia.
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This can cause serious health issues for mom and baby. Through lifestyle counselling, it is often possible to help this type of patient lose weight.Obesity will also elevate estrogen levels which can, over time, contribute to cancer as well as contribute to infertility. The hormones must be balanced. Too much estrogen is as detrimental as not enough.
Via the regulatory effects of acupuncture and herbs, weight can be lost, hormones can be rebalanced, menses can regulate, and conception may occur. I am not suggesting that acupuncture and herbal medicine is the holy-grail. It can help some people, sometimes; just like IVF.
Even though endometriosis is a disease which occurs outside of the uterus, the inflammatory processes make their way into the uterine cavity altering the lining and the environment.
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This in and of itself is the main biological factor of infertility. There are physical issues as well. For example, tubal adhesions can occur which makes conception via intercourse or IUI impossible.IVF is a must in those cases. Many patients with endometriosis also have activated Nk cells. These cells are meant to attack cancer cells in the uterus. But in endometriosis patients, these Nk cells often mistake the embryo for a cancer cell and attack and kill it.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10201771