Taipei City Hospital

      Lin Lijia, the attending physician of the Department of Chinese Medicine in Taipei City Hospital, suggests that patients with infertility, male and female, can adopt acupuncture and moxibustion therapy to regulate the blood circulation and balance the body’s Yin and Yang, so that the physical condition can reach the optimal level for pregnancy and to increase the pregnancy chances.

      Lin Lijia expresses that acupuncture and moxibustion, the effective treatments approved by the World Health Organization, use needles or burned moxa to stimulate special acupoints on human bodies in order to regulate the blood circulation, clear and guide the clogged channels and network vessels, relieve muscle tension, reduce spasms of uterus and oviducts, release emotional stress and help sleep.

      Meanwhile, the acupuncture and moxibustion have no contraindications which occur with the interactions of some drugs, as well as relatively fewer side effects. Be careful of the safe depths on the chest and back; don’t treat patients who are too hungry, full or tired. In this way, acupuncture and moxibustion are safe, easy and quick-acting treatments.

      The study “The relationship between perceived stress, acupuncture, and pregnancy rates among IVF patients” carried out by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2010 showed that women receiving test tube baby procedures will have greater pregnancy rate and much lower stress if they also receive acupuncture and moxibustion on the same day of embryo implantation. Therefore, Lin Lijia thinks that patients with infertility should adopt the treatment strategy of integrated Chinese and Western medicines to increase the pregnancy success rate.

      Recently, a 35-year-old woman had tried to conceive for many years and had undergone two artificial fertilizations without success. In spite of her frustration, she came to the Department of Chinese Medicine in the Yang Ming Branch of Taipei City Hospital asking for help, with a glimmer of hope. Based on the patient’s physique and medical history of allergic rhinitis, Dr. Lin Lijia decided the appropriate acupoints and the treatments comprising acupuncture and moxibustion, auricular acupuncture, herbal fuming, cupping therapy, and so on. The acupuncture and moxibustion therapy is regularly administered 2-3 times a week. One month later, the patient came back for revisiting and informed staff with a big smile that she was pregnant.