Unfortunately, 25% of women who conceive experience a pregnancy loss.
This can be a devastating event, particularly if it follows a long period of infertility and the sense of loss can be exacerbated by societal and cultural taboos surrounding miscarriage.
The most common cause of miscarriage is a genetic abnormality, but other causes include abnormalities of the mother’s uterus or cervix, infections in the mother or baby, hormonal causes and immunological issues.
For a very small percentage of women, pregnancy loss can become recurrent. This is typically diagnosed after a woman has experienced three consecutive losses.
I would not claim that I can “prevent” a miscarriage. However, I do see many women following a pregnancy loss and use acupuncture to regulate their cycles and help them cope with the emotional shock. You might find it interesting to read this paper from 2012 on “Acupuncture as a therapeutic treatment option for threatened miscarriage” by Debra Betts, Caroline A Smith and Dahlen G Hannah, which discusses the beneficial role that Complementary and Alternative Medicine may have for women presenting with threatened miscarriage. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3342918/
I also have many patients who are trying to conceive following multiple pregnancy losses. In most cases women in this position have undergone a raft of biomedical tests to ascertain a cause for their recurrent pregnancy losses (if not, then I would certainly recommend that they do so). As a result, my treatment may complement any biomedical treatment that the patient is receiving, or, if there is no known cause of the recurrent pregnancy loss, Chinese Medicine may be the only modality that the patient accesses while trying to conceive.
“I came to see Olivia at a point where I’d had three miscarriages. I had several conditions which made it difficult for me to get pregnant and carry a baby to term, including a uterine anomaly, adenomyosis and low ovarian reserve.
At our first session, Olivia asked lots of questions about my fertility journey and took a detailed note. She also asked questions about my general health / medical history, diet and lifestyle. She recommended some supplements for me to take and began treating me with acupuncture once a week.
At the point when I began seeing Olivia I had been suffering with terrible headaches for months. They had got increasingly worse and more frequent, to the point where I had a headache when I woke most mornings. After 2 or 3 sessions with Olivia, the headaches stopped.
About 2 months after I began receiving treatment from Olivia, I fell pregnant. Of course I was pleased, but I knew the challenge for me wasn’t so much getting pregnant, but staying pregnant. Happily, however, this pregnancy worked out – I carried the baby to term and my daughter is now 6 months old. I have no doubt that the treatment I received from Olivia, both before and during my pregnancy, played a huge part in this.
As well as providing treatment, Olivia was incredibly supportive and very knowledgeable about my conditions. Olivia has a very caring, calm manner and is extremely professional. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone dealing with infertility or recurrent miscarriage.” Mrs P, Surbiton