Male Infertility and Acupuncture

by Lisa
(Rhode Island)

I started seeing Amelia Hirota at the Center of Balance in July. My husband and I had stopped using birth control about one year prior and I was interested in ways to maximize our chances of conceiving. I was interested in both female and male infertility and acupuncture.

I had also been recently diagnosed with Raynaud's Syndrome, a condition that causes decreased blood flow resulting in feelings of numbness and coldness in the fingers and toes, by my family doctor and was looking for a more natural treatment to help increase blood flow.

My first appointment with Amelia was 2 hours long. She took a detailed medical history and spent a great deal of time explaining how Chinese Medicine could help increase my chances of conceiving and treat the Raynaud's symptoms.

I started going to weekly acupuncture appointments, taking herbs and charting my cycle using a BBT thermometer. Amelia gave me "homework" at the end of each appointment that consisted of a few simple things I could incorporate into my diet and lifestyle such as meditating, soaking my feet nightly and eating more warm foods to increase blood flow.

Making changes was a lot easier than I expected because Amelia broke them down into manageable steps for me. I began to feel better within the first few weeks of starting treatments. Another nice side effect of the treatments was that I felt more centered and found myself better able to handle stressful situations.

Since I started acupuncture, I have seen a lot of really positive changes in my cycle. My temperatures have become less erratic during each phase of my cycle and I have learned to read my fertility signs to predict ovulation.

My husband started seeing Amelia in September to help improve his sperm quality and quantity. We had sought the help of a urologist who ran a few tests and ordered 3 semen analysis during August and September. The results of his hormone tests came back normal and it was determined that my husband did not have a varicocele.

The results of his semen analysis were quite erratic. His counts ranged from 2-30 million and his motility and morphology were both below normal. Even though the highest result of 30 million was still considered low, the urologist said there was really not much he could do to help from a Western medical perspective.

We saw some wonderful results very quickly. At the end of November we did back-to-back IUIs. We were pleasantly surprised that my husband's pre-wash counts were 80+ million on both days with over 50% motility!

My husband and I are very pleased with the results we have seen over the short time we have worked with Amelia. We are very optimistic that we are on the right path and will continue to see results in the future.