Acupuncture for miscarriage

On this page

1. Overview
2. Symptoms
3. Causes
4. Treatment
5. Self-help book

1. Overview

Early pregnancy is a nerve racking time for most women. Getting to 12 week milestone can feel like a big hurdle. This hurdle can be bigger for when the maternal age of the woman is older.

2. Symptoms

Reoccurring miscarriage is the repeated loss of a foetus during pregnancy. Sometimes it's difficult to tell if you are having a miscarriage or if it's an early signs of pregnancy.

In the UK, any pregnancy loss before 24 weeks is termed a miscarriage, whilst after 24 weeks it's known as a stillbirth. Recurrent miscarriage seems to be on the increase. Reasons for this are unknown and unfortunately the NHS will not investigate the causes until a woman has had three miscarriages.

Miscarriage can be devastating, and can take time to recover emotionally. Counselling, as well as acupuncture, is important during this time as it gives support and helps the body find its hormonal balance again.

3. Causes

The causes of a miscarriage is either:

1. Quality of the egg
2. Quality of the sperm
3. The receptability of the uterus lining

Roughly 20% of pregnancies fail in the first trimester. This rate increases by 10 in women 40 years of age compared to those of 35. In about half of all first trimester miscarriages (12 weeks), chromosomal abnormalities are present.

In such cases, it is best that these abnormalities miscarry early on rather than go on and develop any further. In the second trimester, the chance of chromosomal abnormalities drops to 20% overall.

In traditional Chinese medicine, chromosome abnormalities are related to a jing deficiency, where the amount of jing contained in the embryo was too low. This can be due to a deficiency from either parent's sperm or egg. The incidence of this occurring is often greater in IVF cycles where the woman’s ovaries have been forced to produce multiple eggs and the egg quality is then reduced.

In such cases, it is advisable to prepare the body before undergoing another IVF cycle.

4. Acupuncture for miscarriage

Acupuncture has been shown in research to reduce the risk of miscarriage by increasing blood flow to the uterine lining and aiding implantation.

As acupuncture helps to regulate blood flow to the uterus it helps to nourish and feed the embryo, as well as regulate immune factors that could be preventing implantation, thereby reducing the risk of a threatened miscarriage. The stimulation of acupuncture points can help to prevent miscarriage and offer emotional support to the woman.

5. My Fertility Guide

Read more on how to reduce the chances of miscarriage and improve fertility in my self-help book My Fertility Guide.

References

Stener-Victori et al. (2003) Ovarian blood flow responses to electro-acupuncture stimulation at different frequencies and intensities in anaesthetized rats. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical 108, 50– 56.

Kim, et al. (2010) Acupuncture and immune modulation. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical 157, 38–41. doi: 10.1016/j.autneu.2010.03.010.

Song et al. (2008) [Clinical observation on acupuncture for treatment of infertility of ovulatory disturbance]. [Chinese] Zhongguo Zhenjiu. 28(1): 21-3

Betts D, Smith CA, Hannah DG. Acupuncture as a therapeutic treatment option for threatened miscarriage. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2012 Mar 22;12:20. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-12-20. PMID: 22439880; PMCID: PMC3342918.