Female
Patient is a 33-year-old female complaining recurrent miscarriage x 3, all occurring before the 6th week of pregnancy due to translocated chromosomes. She characterizes her menses as painful, clotty, accompanied by PMS and dark brown discharge. Other complaints include chronic lumbosacral pain, constipation, heartburn, migraines and insomnia. One month before commencing acupuncture treatment, the patient also had a cancelled IVF cycle due to poor ovarian response in which only 4 follicles were retrieved. PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) was recommended by the patient’s reproductive endocrinologist due to findings of chromosomal abnormalities.
1st treatment: 12/18/04 P: weak, thready T: fissured, deep cracks in midline, pale dusky color. TCM diagnosis: Chronic kidney deficiency with blood stasis and liver qi stagnation. Started oral contraception for 2nd IVF cycle.
2/18/05: IVF chemical pregnancy resulted in 4th miscarriage. Procedure resulted in the retrieval of 8 follicles, only 2 of which matured. No PGD was attempted due to poor response to meds. Pt. will try to conceive naturally.
5/19/05: Menses arrived, clots, cramps and brown slimy discharge. Recommended Mind Body Fertility Handbook by Niravi Payne to cope with miscarriages, along with osteopathic manipulations for alleviation of chronic lumbosacral pain.
6/10/05: Patient saw D.O. for manipulation; said sacrum was titled and anteriorly rotated. Also did exercises in fertility book recommended and stated her anxiety was improved.
6/17/05: Positive beta HCG: 350 first reading! 5 weeks pregnant with slippery pulse on right. Patient also taking progesterone suppositories since ovulation as recommended by her R.E.
6/24/05: HCG 1700, heartbeat detected on US.
02/06: Patient delivered healthy baby girl.
Conclusion: This case demonstrates the need to address mind and body through different modalities to achieve positive results. Although fertility drugs can be most helpful in many circumstances, this was not the case for this patient. Interestingly, the month that she addressed her feelings about the 4 miscarriages she experienced, along with addressing the position of her sacrum a healthy pregnancy was achieved. No herbs were used in the month preceding the pregnancy and acupuncture was utilized weekly since December of 2004, focusing on opening the Ren and Chong through the extraordinary vessels. The patient was seen throughout her pregnancy in which treatment was aimed at alleviation of heartburn, nausea and lumbosacral pain.
Acupuncture and miscarriage
Hi Farrar
Thanks for making that point – it is an important one in practice that we have a lot more to offer than just working with physical aspects of conception ( which is given so much media attention with embryo replacement treatment )
You might be interested to know that there was some research on 53 women who had 3 or more unexplained reoccurring spontaneous miscarriages. On becoming pregnant
44 women had what they termed formal emotional support through a miscarriage unit at the hospital and 9 women acted as a control (they were referred to their GP for normal care)
Of the women who were given the support ( weekly visits to a special room at the hospital, contact with the same Dr and Nurse who would answer questions at any time, weekly scans, relaxation session, daily relaxation tape to listen to) 86 % went on to have a successful pregnancy. Of those sent back to visit their GP for normal care
33 % gave birth.
The unexplained miscarriage rate in the support group was 5% and in the control 56%
It was also interesting that the Dr in the study stated
“it is of interest that 40 % of our patients with successful pregnancy experienced threatened miscarriage, usually bleeding for several weeks”
So although practitioners often seem reluctant to want to treat women in early pregnancy – or women who are bleeding and at risk of having another miscarriage I think we can make a real difference in these women’s lives with acupuncture which e at the very least provides this emotional support through calming the shen….
Liddell H. Pattison N. Zanderigo A. Recurrent Miscarriage – Out come After Supportive Care in Early pregnancy. Aust NZ J Obstet Gynaecol 1991:31:4: 3210
d betts
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