# Acupuncture 'may cut IVF chances'



## Edna (Mar 19, 2005)

Saw this on the BBC website and thought it was very interesting:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7047431.stm

Certainly counter to everything I thought. I wondered about your experiences and whether acupuncture helped you...?

Edna

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## wishing4miracle (Sep 7, 2006)

hmmm so who are we to believe now a??i had one before et and a week after et and got a bfp for the first time ever.ive just started doing it again now.but shouild i??

hayley


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## Miranda7 (Feb 12, 2007)

I think it's simple - women who have had lots of tx's will be the ones having things like acupuncture to improve their chances. They are women with statistically less chance anyway, no?

Therefore the Beeb -   - come up with the daft suggestion that the acu itself is responsible for the tx failing.

It's a question of skewing statistics to make them say what you want them to say.

It's just a fact that women for whom tx works first time are unlikely to have heard of acupuncture for fertility. It's only after a BFN or two we investigate what we can do to help the process along.


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## nacknick (Sep 20, 2007)

As if life isn't complicated enough....I have been having fertility treatment since 2003, just starting my first round of IVF and have opted for acupuncture to assist (fingers crossed). I had read a lot about it prior to starting out. Ironically here is an article the beeb featured in 2002.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1933901.stm

I am am currently under a fantastic acupuncturist who only specialises in fertility and has worked at the Acupuncture College in London. I am sure many of you have heard of Zita West (a well known fertility consultant in London) and she speaks highly of acupuncture in her books and when being interviewed on TV. I am not going to let the BBC article on the 16th Oct deter me as I have tried FSH injections for numerous cycles plus all the other gubbins and feel I have nothing to loose (except more pennies!)

Bye for now. 
Nacknick.

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## Betty M (Dec 6, 2005)

It is a pity they dont link to the research paper itself so we can see what the study actually says - it should tell us how many women they studied, whether they were first timers, what treatment they were having etc etc. We can then compare and contrast to the German study which is the one with the positive effects of acupuncture - providing you stuck to their schedule. The headlines from the Fertility conferences dont tell us enough we need the science .

I had acupuncture at Zita West for 2 cycles - I got pregnant with my DS on one of those. I didn't have acupuncture for my first cycle or my FET - I got pregnant on both those (and had my DD). So for me acupuncture didnt make the difference - I did find it very relaxing though and for that I think itt was worth it.

Interestingly there was a recent major study on back pain and acupincture that showed that acupuncture was way better than conventional medicine but also that sticking needles in any old where had the same effect as acupuncture as long as you had the "ritual" and "ceremony" (http://www.badscience.net/?p=542#more-542) .

Betty

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## chandelle (Mar 28, 2007)

Betty - too right, we really need to see the study to understand what this means. That's the problem with medical journalism - it just raises more questions most of the time!

I had acupuncture on and off (with two acupuncturists, including a fertility specialist) for the past 15 months, including during my two injecting cycles (one cancelled, one BFN). To be honest I don't think it did anything for me at all - the follicles seemed to slow down growing after the acu sessions, no joke! some people say it really relaxes them but i didn't feel it and it didn't help with my night waking either that they were also trying to treat. 

Frankly i reckon i wasted a lot of money. After seeing the first practitioner for about 12 sessions and feeling it was having zero effect, even she conceded i might be one of the 10 pct or so it just doesn't seem to affect. I only started up again with the other person because i was having IVF and wanted to cover every base.

I'm not going to bother again ...

Incidentally one of my natural BFPs came right after I'd had a couple of reflexology sessions. I haven't tried again but it's a thought.

The bottom line is acu helps some people and not others. Just believing it can work may make a difference too so I'm not saying it shouldn't be tried.


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## Edna (Mar 19, 2005)

Thanks for your replies guys, I am looking into acupuncture and before I came across this article everything was positive.

Its useful to hear your views and experiences. I totally I agree that without reading the full study it is hard to understand what exactly is going on.  

Needs some more thought.


Edna


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## Morvern (May 16, 2005)

I do medical research for a living and in my humble opinion this study is far too small to be telling patients that they shouldn't have acupuncture. The study is based on 46 women who had acupuncture against 43 women who didn't. From what I can gether 28 out of 43 who didn't have acupuncture got pregnant versus 18 out of 46 who did have acupuncture. 

This sounds like a big difference but there could easily be big differences between the two groups of women.They were supposedly randomly assigned but with such small numbers it could be that a handful of the most difficult, complicated cases got assigned to the acupuncture group. That would then account for the difference in results.

I have not been able to find the original study in a peer reviewed journal (which is odd because I have access to all medical journals) and the fact that it has been reported that the study is based on 97 women when 8 of them haven't even been followed up yet is pretty sloppy. Those 8 women could make a difference.

I certainly wouldn't be put off acupuncture by this study.


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## mrsaligee (Apr 4, 2007)

Hi Ladies
I too read this article in the paper a couple of weeks ago.  I had acupuncture for my first IVF cycle and unfortunately it was a BFN.  

My womb lining was thin, at 3.5 mm and I had acupuncture the following day.  Two days later it shot up to 7.5mm then unfortunately stayed at 5.3 for the actual IVF process.

Either it was the acupuncture that had an effect on my lining or the fact that I went out that night and had a real laugh with some friends, which might have lowered my stress levels.  But I have felt very positive effects after the treatment which kind of skews me in favour of giving it another go, and it does seem to have a reputation for bringing down FSH levels (my problem).

Bank balance is still recovering from the last time however!

Mrsaligee
xxx


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