Fertility Acupuncture in Boulder, Colorado.
Acupuncture for Fertility in Boulder, Colorado
Trying to conceive can become overwhelming quickly, especially when your cycle doesn't feel quite right, you've been diagnosed with PCOS or endometriosis, or you've been told that everything looks “normal” but you're still not getting pregnant or staying pregnant. Here fertility care is personalized around your menstrual cycle, symptoms, health history, and conception goals.
Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, nutrition, and lifestyle support can be used to help support healthy ovulation, menstrual cycle regularity, healthy blood circulation, as well as reduce stress, and support overall reproductive health whether you're trying to conceive naturally or working with a fertility specialist.
You don't have to choose between Eastern and Western medicine. Acupuncture can be integrated alongside IUI, IVF, and other fertility treatments when appropriate.
Acupuncture may help boost fertility by:
Increasing blood flow to the reproductive organs (uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and endometrium), which may support implantation and a healthy lining and, over time, support egg quality.
Decreasing inflammation which can often be a driving factor in infertility.
Regulating your menstrual cycle which helps to balance hormones and help you accurately time ovulation.
Calming the nervous system which helps to lower our stress hormones. By reducing stress, acupuncture may also increase progesterone levels which is needed to maintain a healthy pregnancy.
Why Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is extremely safe when provided by a board certified, Licensed Acupuncturist. It is also effective, natural, stimulates relaxation, and addresses the underlying root cause of infertility from a Chinese Medicine perspective such as poor blood circulation, chronic inflammation, low egg quality, high stress couples with low progesterone, high estrogen, liver stagnation and more. There are several studies that support the use of acupuncture for improving fertility, and I’ve seen its effectiveness firsthand by helping women to both conceive and support healthy pregnancies.
Additional Tools for Fertility Support
Nutrition and lifestyle factors are extremely important for fertility outcomes as well. In addition to Acupuncture, I also utilize modern and eastern nutrition knowledge, as well as customized herbal medicine to address chronic, longstanding hormonal imbalances which often cause fertility struggles. I often work with patients for several months (a minimum of 3-4 months) during the pre-conception period to help prepare their body for a healthy pregnancy when there is hormonal imbalances we need to address first. Acupuncture can also be used alongside IVF to help increase the chances of conception.
How We Work Together
We first evaluate your cycle and associated symptoms (how many days is your cycle? Which cycle day are you ovulating? Do you have breast tenderness, pain, cramping, ovulation cramps, etc?) as the menstrual cycle is considered a “fifth vital sign” and a huge indicator of your overall health. Then, we start tracking ovulation to see how long your follicular and luteal phase are, how many days of fertile cervical mucous you have, we monitor for digestive changes, fatigue, or headaches associated with different parts of your menstrual cycle and depending on your conception goals and what your cycle health looks like I will either prescribe once weekly or bi weekly acupuncture, as well as custom herbal medicine prescriptions, and personalized nutrition and lifestyle advice to improve your cycle health and fertility.
Time Commitment
Note that using acupuncture for fertility and conception usually involves a time commitment of 3-4 months to get the body as healthy as possible to prepare for conception and to improve and regulate any cycle imbalances (such as short luteal phase, short follicular phase, clotting, cramping, heavy bleeding, pain, etc.) When preparing the body for pregnancy, your egg health is very important for fertility as well. Your eggs for ovulation are already pre-selected for the next 3 months- so acupuncture can have positive effects on egg quality during the third to fourth month.
Check out this clip from Dr. Andrew Huberman about how acupuncture improves Fertility & Hormone Health
Fertility Acupuncture Studies & Sources:
https://www.upmc.com/services/womens-health/services/obgyn/obstetrics/fertility/acupuncture
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6276442/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6918533/
https://www.fertilityiq.com/fertilityiq/articles/how-acupuncture-impacts-ivf-success-rates
Testimonials
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After several years of miscarriage and infertility- Samantha helped me get pregnant and stay pregnant with TWO babies! She always has a recipe ready to share to help with whatever ailment you may have and has immense knowledge around what herbs or supplements may be able to help. I felt sooooo much better while I was in the care of Samantha after trying two other acupuncturists. She’s simply amazing!!!
E.C.
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after having a few miscarriages, Samantha helped me prepare my body for my pregnancy and keep my baby. I am now expecting my second baby. she is very kind and sweet.
L.H.
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Samantha is kind, attentive and passionate about health and wellness. She helped change my mindset and body from the inside out with her holistic approach, commitment to truly understanding her patients and her immense knowledge in Chinese Medicine. Through regular acupuncture, nutrition guidance and her calming energy, Samantha was able to help regulate my hormones and cycle so I could achieve a successful pregnancy (which I did!). Seeing Samantha each week was something I looked forward to because I knew I would learn something, feel better and have enjoyable conversations! I believe in what Samantha is doing and am forever grateful for the impact she had on me and my family.
E.C.
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I had never tried acupuncture before due to a fear of needles, but after struggling to get pregnant I wanted to explore some natural approaches before getting into medications with a fertility doctor. I found Samantha mostly due to convenient location and was pleasantly surprised with how amazing she is! Our first appointment was so in depth and she really got to know me, my struggles, and my goals in order to make a custom treatment plan. After going off birth control (used for 15 years), I had an incredibly light period, leading me to believe that was part of my issue conceiving a child. Samantha adjusted her approach at each session to work with my monthly cycle as well as my weekly goals (we also worked on my gut health and allergy issues). In addition to feeling wonderfully relaxed after each session (bye-bye needle phobia), I saw improvements in my allergy reactivity, more regular bowel movements, and most excitingly, my period went from 3 days to 4 and I started needing more than just a liner! I know for some this may be TMI, but working with Samantha really did increase the blood flow to my uterus and thickened my endometrial lining. While I did still end up seeking out fertility treatments (the waiting was affecting my mental health still), I firmly believe that the 4 months I worked with Samantha leading up to my fertility appointments directly contributed to the success of my IUI on the very first try (the clinic told us we had a 10% chance of an IUI working and tried to convince us we would almost certainly need to take the next step to IVF). Samantha also helped me through the first trimester that was full of nausea and anxiety. Now I am 34 weeks and planning to go back for more sessions to help me through these last few weeks! In addition to the success of getting pregnant, it was just really nice having Samantha as my provider. She is so kind and such a good listener. I always relaxed even more when she left the room and gently whispered, "enjoy your rest". Thank you, Samantha, for all that you do!
K.M.
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Most people find acupuncture incredibly relaxing and stress reducing, and many patients fall asleep. However, some points might feel slightly “spicy” upon insertion but any discomfort subsides in 1-2 seconds.
If you feel any lingering discomfort after 2 seconds feel free to let me know and I can always adjust things to make you more comfortable!
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Absolutely, In general acupuncture is very safe when provided by licensed and board certified practitioners. Acupuncture needles are always single-use and sterile. They are NEVER reused.
Acupuncture has very few incidents reported with the most common side effect being occasional bruising, local soreness, or fatigue after a session.
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Every patient is different. Some women begin acupuncture while actively trying to conceive, while others choose to work together for several menstrual cycles beforehand to address cycle irregularity, painful periods, PMS, stress, digestive concerns, egg quality or other health factors.
If you're preparing for IUI or IVF, we can also work within your fertility treatment timeline.
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Absolutely! I work with patients prior to the egg retrieval process to help enhance egg quality by using acupuncture to help with blood flow to the ovaries and reproductive organs. If eggs have already been retrieved, acupuncture can also help before and after the embryo transfer process. Many patients also find that acupuncture benefits their endometrial lining.
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