We are experienced acupuncturists in Sale, south Manchester and Stockport. We can assist you with fertility, IVF, digestion, pain and more.
The joy of pregnancy is often disturbed by threatened miscarriage. While professionals from conventional medical background hold ‘wait and see’ approach, acupuncture has been found surprisingly effective in the attempt to stabilise and save the pregnancy.
Signs of threatened miscarriage:
- Vaginal bleeding
- Lower back ache
- Abdominal cramps
- Signs of pregnancy, such as morning sickness, may disappear
Note: Not all vaginal bleeding indicates a potential miscarriage. Light bleeding in early pregnancy is fairly common, so is bleeding occurs when the woman would have expected her period. Having said that, do make sure that all vaginal bleeding during pregnancy should be checked.
Causes:
More than often the cause of a miscarriage remains unknown. Normal work and exercise won’t cause miscarriage although overwork and excessive exercise may pose danger to pregnancy. But some conditions can make expectant mothers more likely to have miscarriages, including:
- Hormonal problems such as low progesterone
- Immune reactions
- Infections: acute or chronic, viral or bacterial
- Chromosomal or genetic abnormalities
- Age 35 or older
- Chronic health problems: diabetes, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism, etc.
- Assisted conception: IVF
- Alcohol and drugs
Chinese medicine perspective
The main reason of the occurrence of a miscarriage is that Kidney qi is deficient that can not hold up the fetus.
Kidney qi deficiency is the underlying factor here, which may be caused by others factors including qi or/and blood deficiency, blood heat. And those factors are often found intertwined in practice.
Acupuncture
We have a set protocol that we have found useful in practice. About four points are chosen.
Chinese herbal medicine
We’d like to say something about herbal medicine here. It is understandable that most women don’t want any herbs during their pregnancies. Chinese herbal medicine has been used to treat fertility problems for thousands of years, some herbal formulas are extremely effective in pacifying the fetus and saving the pregnancy, especially in cases of recurrent miscarriages. Therefore, we feel that we have the responsibility to inform every patient such an option. The choice is yours.
Clinical experience
- The most important rule in treating threatened miscarriage with Chinese medicine is not to exhaust qi, or move qi too quickly, or quicken blood. Therefore, the number of needles should be kept minimal yet effective. Also, any points, manipulations or herbs that might cause miscarriage should be avoided.
- We have found that calming the mind/heart is very important in practice. In the context of Chinese medicine, there is a close relationship between the kidney and the heart, and they both play pivotal parts in pregnancy. Without treating the heart/mind at the same time, a practitioner may find his work ending in vain.
So, there is another solution for threatened miscarriage, although it must be stress that acupuncture will not guarantee the continuances of pregnancy in spite of its effectiveness.