Acupuncture for Fertility

Embarking on a journey towards parenthood can be filled with challenges and uncertainties, especially when faced with fertility issues. However, there is a medical practice with thousands of years of use known for its role in enhancing fertility: acupuncture. At The Fountain Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, located in the heart of Cary, North Carolina, we specialize in fertility-enhancing acupuncture, offering a holistic approach to your family-planning journey.

The Science and “How” Behind Acupuncture Reproductive Treatment

Acupuncture, a key component of Traditional Chinese Medicine, involves the insertion of fine needles into specific points on the body. This is believed to balance the body’s energy, or Qi, promoting overall health. Our approach at The Fountain Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is grounded in both traditional practices and modern scientific evidence. Modern research has illustrated the efficacy of acupuncture in enhancing fertility by:

• Regulating Menstrual Cycles: Acupuncture can help in regulating hormones and menstrual cycles, essential for natural conception. This is crucial for women dealing with conditions like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), for example, which is a common cause of infertility due to hormonal imbalances.
• Enhancing Blood Flow to Reproductive Organs: Improved blood flow to the ovaries and uterus can increase the chances of an egg being nourished and carried to term.
• Reducing Stress: Stress is a known factor that can negatively impact fertility. Acupuncture has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, creating a more favorable environment for conception.
• Improving Endometrial Lining: A healthy endometrial lining is essential for successful implantation of an embryo. Acupuncture can increase blood flow to the uterus, which may help in thickening the endometrial lining, thereby creating a more favorable environment for implantation.

Acupuncture for Fertility in Cary, NC and Raleigh, NC

For residents in Cary and Raleigh, North Carolina, The Fountain Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is your local haven for fertility-focused acupuncture. We understand the unique challenges faced by couples struggling to conceive and offer personalized treatment plans tailored to your specific needs.

What to Expect

When you visit our clinic, you’ll receive a comprehensive assessment of your health and fertility status from a Chinese medicine perspective. Our licensed acupuncturist will then develop a treatment plan that may include a series of acupuncture sessions aimed at enhancing your fertility.

Why Choose Us?

• Expertise: Our acupuncturist is not only skilled in general acupuncture techniques but also has specialized training in fertility treatments.
• Holistic Approach: We believe in treating the whole person, not just the symptoms, providing a comprehensive approach to improving your fertility.
• Warm and Welcoming Environment: Our clinic in Cary, NC, offers a peaceful and nurturing environment, ideal for relaxation and healing.

Ready to Start Your Journey?

If you are exploring acupuncture for fertility in Cary or Raleigh, NC, we invite you to contact us to learn more about how we can help you on your path to parenthood. Visit our website or call us to schedule your consultation today!

Greetings, wellness enthusiasts! Have you been saying to yourself, “I’d like to find good acupuncturist near me to get help with my health and wellness?” Are you on the lookout for a reliable and effective acupuncturist in your area? Whether you’re considering acupuncture for weight loss, fertility issues, or general well-being, finding the right practitioner is crucial. In this friendly guide, I’ll walk you through the steps to locate the best acupuncture clinic near you, focusing on quality, expertise, and personalized care. I am often asked how to find a good acupuncturist for my patients’ family members in other parts of the country, so I hope this can be of assistance!

Understanding Acupuncture and Its Benefits

Before diving into your search for acupuncture in your area, let’s briefly explore what acupuncture is and its potential benefits. Acupuncture, a key component of traditional Chinese medicine, involves inserting thin, often painless, needles into specific points on the body. It’s sought after for diverse reasons; people often use acupuncture for weight loss and pain relief, as just two examples, and another common example is when women use acupuncture for fertility enhancement. The right acupuncture clinic can provide tailored treatments to meet your unique needs.

Step 1: Research Local Options

Start your quest by searching for “acupuncture near me” or insert your local city name i.e. “acupuncture Cary NC” if you were looking in the Cary, North Carolina area. Make a list of nearby acupuncture clinics and check their websites. Look for information about the services that you need, and look for phrases such as “acupuncture for pain relief”, “acupuncture for weight loss”, or “acupuncture for fertility”, and read about the practitioners’ qualifications and experience.

Step 2: Check Reviews and Testimonials

Once you have a list of potential clinics, delve deeper by reading reviews and testimonials. This first hand feedback can give you an insight into the effectiveness of their treatments and the quality of care they provide. At The Fountain Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Cary, we have a whole page dedicated to patient testimonials that include quotes, photos, and videos (related: see our video for acupuncture migraine relief here); this is the most updated page of our website by far. It’s preferable to have some sort of idea of the effectiveness and professionalism of any practitioner you are considering before you do them the honor of choosing their office and services. 

Step 3: Verify Credentials and Specializations

It’s important to ensure that the providers are actual licensed acupuncturists and have the necessary qualifications to practice Chinese medicine. For example, there is a big difference in the training between licensed acupuncturists and chiropractors practicing acupuncture. Chiropractors are often not actual licensed acupuncturists, they are licensed chiropractors that may undergo about 200 hours of acupuncture training. Contrast that to a licensed acupuncturist’s training: three to four post-graduate years of formal Chinese medicine-focused and acupuncture-focused training with years of supervised clinic shifts, personal mentoring, exit exams, then national board exams, board licensing, and dozens of hours of Chinese medicine and acupuncture-focused continuing education training each year! So now we know the difference.

Additionally, if you have specific needs, like acupuncture for fertility, check if they specialize in that area!

Step 4: Consider the Atmosphere and Location

Your comfort is key. When visiting, take note of the clinic’s atmosphere. Is it calming, welcoming, and clean? Also, consider its location and convenience, as regular sessions might be required for effective results. Again, consider using the phrase “acupuncture near me” to find one conveniently located for you.

Conclusion

Finding the right acupuncturist can be a transformative step in your wellness journey. By following these steps and narrowing your search to local options like “acupuncture Cary NC” or “acupuncture for x specific condition”, you can find a practitioner who meets your specific needs, whether it’s acupuncture for weight loss, acupuncture for fertility, pain relief, stress reduction, better sleep, or overall health improvement. Remember, the right acupuncture clinic is out there waiting for you to discover it! Take charge of your health today with the time-tested art and science of acupuncture! Over ten million acupuncture appointments are delivered each year in the United States alone; do not delay, vastly improved health could be just around the corner.

If you are in Cary and would like to schedule an acupuncture at our office, click the button below! We look forward to helping you on your healing journey!

Is Acupuncture Effective?

Two of the most common questions that I get as a licensed acupuncturist is: “Is acupuncture effective?” which is commonly followed by: “How does acupuncture work?”

To answer those questions, some background information may be helpful. Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and it has been practiced for several thousand years. Today, it is a widely practiced medicine with over 10 million acupuncture treatments delivered annually in the United States, and hundreds of millions more around the world. Acupuncture involves the insertion of extremely thin, and often painless, needles into specific points of the body that have been demonstrated to help with various health concerns. With acupuncture, we are seeking to help stimulate the body’s innate healing force to bring about more balance and less suffering for the patient. 

Along with the rest of the medical community we can never guarantee results, however, much research supports the benefits of acupuncture. Acupuncture is recognized as a safe medical modality by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization, in example, and is widely used in the Veterans Affairs Health Care Medical Center in North Carolina, and many other states. Experts at the NIH convened to prepare an official statement to the question “Is acupuncture effective?” According to the NIH, “promising results have emerged, for example, showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations, such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program.”

How Does Acupuncture Work?

Patients seeking acupuncture commonly use it to address various conditions such as pain (low back pain, neck pain, sciatica, and more), stress reduction, fertility, digestive disorders, insomnia and sleep issues, and many others. One of the ways acupuncture is believed to work is by stimulating specific points on the body which interact with the nervous system to regulate pain-relieving chemicals and hormones, which can promote overall wellness. Broadly, through stimulating the self-healing, self-regulating processes of the body, we can say that acupuncture potentially has a broad range of applications; acupuncture is utilized in many situations where we attempt to encourage the body to heal and function more as it’s intended to, creating more ease.

During an acupuncture appointment, the practitioner will select precise points on the body to carefully insert ultrafine needles. The needles at our acupuncture clinic The Fountain Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Cary, NC are made of sterile, surgical stainless steel, and they are disposed of after every use. 

While receiving acupuncture, the patient may feel a sensation of warmth, tingling, or a slight ache in the area being needled. Acupuncture should not be a painful process; many people find the appointments relaxing and report a sense of well-being afterward.

Each person’s response to acupuncture will vary depending on several factors, namely; the condition being treated, the severity of the condition, the amount of time the patient has had the condition, and the general health of the patient. It is important to seek out a qualified licensed acupuncturist who has undergone the proper training and credentialing to ensure the safety and well-being of the patient. If you are still curious to know, “Is acupuncture effective for my specific condition?” you are encouraged to contact licensed acupuncturists in your area to see if they believe they can assist you with your healthcare goals.

To schedule an appointment at The Fountain Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Cary, please visit www.fountainbooking.com. We hope to see you on your healing journey!

– Kristin ten Broeck, MSOM, L.Ac.

Hello, Dear Reader! I wanted to pen a brief blog post to highlight a few important considerations for viral infections as we move towards winter in 2022. I’d like to highlight some wisdom that ancient Chinese medicine can impart to us in order to stay as healthy as possible during these times. One of the more important cold/flu preventive measures that happens to be extremely easy is to wear a thick scarf in the cold, and especially in cold and windy weather. The Chinese have found that leaving the back of one’s neck vulnerable to cold and windy weather makes the likelihood of an infection much more probable. I can confirm that this is very likely based on the energy palpation techniques I have been practicing for the past ten plus years. You will never catch a (knowledgeable) Chinese medicine provider with their neck exposed in the cold wind. How do you think the Wu Tang Clan knew to tell people to “Protect ya neck!?”

One hugely important symptom in the initial stages of a virus that has been written about for at least 1800 years in China is an alternating sense of feeling warm/hot and chilled/cool; this is a very important sign that is often unnoticed or overlooked in the beginning when someone encounters a pathogen. Modern medicine does not make a big fuss about this symptom, but in Chinese medicine, this is a major diagnostic criterium of a possible pathogenic encounter. In the Chinese and East Asian medical diagnostic canon, this not only tells us that we may be encountering a pathogen, but also tells us which acupuncture channels are responding to a potential infection.

You don’t need to be experiencing a very noticeable sense of fever and/or shaking chills to be able to detect this – sometimes it is subtle. You might notice something where you think to yourself, “It’s 76 degrees in here and I feel slightly chilled, where I usually do not feel this way in this temperature.” If I notice this with myself, I start using preventive measures immediately. Either feeling hotter or cooler than one normally would, or both, can be a sign that the immune system is responding to an invader.

There are a few more tell-tale signs of infection; runny nose, fatigue, and slight sore throat are all possible, however I’d like to mention that with COVID-19, people can be infected even in the absence of a fever.

Also notable as a symptom of infection is unusual headaches. COVID-19 is a very inflammatory virus, and it is known to potentially cause some neurological inflammation, even though it is categorized as a respiratory virus. Please follow up with an acupuncture appointment if you have experienced a headache with any COVID-19 infection you may have had. Also, acupuncture can be useful in helping patients get rid of the cough that sometimes lingers after a COVID-19 infection.

Stay home if you are sick and wait until you are fully healed before you go back out. This is so you don’t infect other people. Not waiting until you are healed fully can also delay your recovery and drive a virus deeper into your system.

According to Chinese medicine, it’s important to note that if someone is about to experience a monthly menstrual cycle, there may be more risk of contracting a virus. This is commonly accepted in the Chinese medicine community as being a reliable assumption as a potential risk.

At the first sign of illness, I will take a hot bath AND drink a warm/hot cup of water or take custom-to-me herbs. Then, I will get under the covers while wearing two sweaters, pants, and socks, and sweat as much as I can for 1-2 hours. This works for me. Sweating to ward off an illness has been written about since at least the Han Dynasty in China. This is not medical advise, because people with certain health considerations should not attempt to sweat in this manner. However, you can feel free to schedule a telemedicine visit with me to get suggestions that are tailored directly to your situation. If you need herbs, we can arrange a pick up for you. Email me at info@fountainacupuncturecary.com to arrange this.

It is a good idea to keep up with regular acupuncture so that your body will be more resilient in the face of any challenge you may face. If you’d like to schedule an appointment, please visit: www.fountainbooking.com.

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Best,

Kristin ten Broeck, L.Ac.

Guest: Ross Rosen, L.Ac.

Host: Kristin ten Broeck, L.Ac

Ross Rosen is a licensed practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. He is a direct lineage holder and senior certified instructor of Shen-Hammer Pulse Diagnosis, a board member of Dragon Rises, Inc., and a long-term student of Dr. Leon Hammer and Jeffrey Yuen. He is the founder of the Center for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Westfield, NJ. Ross is an ordained 23rd generation Daoist Priest in the Quanzhen, Longmen tradition at the Jian Fu Gong on Qingcheng Mountain, and a 25th generation Daoist Priest in the Quanzhen, Longmen tradition at the Qingyun Daoguan. He is one of the teachers at Parting Clouds Daoist Education.

In this talk, Ross spoke with us about Heart Shock as seen in the Shen-Hammer system, C.19, and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.) To learn more information about Ross, please visit www.rossrosen.com You can find Ross’ book referenced during our talk here.

If you are a licensed East Asian medicine provider, please join us in our facebook group for more discussion on infectious and post-infectious disease from an East Asian medical lens. We also have a Club on Clubhouse called SHANG HANG, WEN BING, WEN YI – please join us!

For North Carolina POTS and dysautonomia patients: To inquire about how you can utilize Chinese medicine treatment for POTS in Cary, NC please Send an email or call 1-919-230-2456 x 4.

For more information on the basics of Classical Chinese herbal medicine please visit http://www.fountainacupuncturecary.com/herbal-medicine

Guest: Dr. Heiner Fruehauf, PhD, L.Ac.

Host: Kristin ten Broeck, L.Ac

Heiner Fruehauf, PhD, L.Ac. is a world-renowned Chinese medicine practitioner and scholar, most well-known for his research into Gu Syndrome. Gu syndrome is conceptualized as disease that is severe, chronic, hard to diagnose, hard to treat, and co-indicated with an insidious systemic infection, whether parasitic, viral, supernatural, or contagious in nature. On February 28, 2021, Heiner Fruehauf was gracious enough to make time for this interview about his thoughts on Gu Syndrome and its crossover with Pestilential Qi. Please listen to the audio recording above.

To learn more information about Heiner Fruehauf and his exhaustive research into Gu Syndrome, please visit www.classicalchinesemedicine.org and www.classicalpearls.org. There are many resources provided in these two websites to help practitioners arm themselves with information and tools to help their most vulnerable patients find relief as the mainstream medical institution continues to struggle to help them.

If you are a licensed East Asian medicine provider, please join us in our facebook group for more discussion on infectious and post-infectious disease from an East Asian medical lens. We also have a Club on Clubhouse called SHANG HANG, WEN BING, WEN YI – please join us!

For North Carolina residents: To inquire about how you can incorporate Classical Chinese herbal medicine into your life as a patient here at The Fountain Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, please Send an email or call 1-919-230-2456 x 4.

For more information on the basics of Classical Chinese herbal medicine please visit http://www.fountainacupuncturecary.com/herbal-medicine

What is Cupping?

Cupping is a Chinese medicine modality that has been used for millennia to treat pain and remove toxic substances from the body. In this instance, the “toxins” are a build up of waste materials in the connective tissue (fascia, muscles, and blood) that result from sports or traumatic injury, hypertonic and hypoxic muscles, poor posture, illness, and lack of physiologic function of the body and it’s energetic channel and blood pathways. Cupping can be beneficial during and after a cold or flu to help the body expel wastes and clear out the lungs and chest. Patients who have had documented toxic chemical exposure may also benefit from this therapy. As we have seen recently in the Olympics, cupping is commonly utilized by athletes to help them recover from injuries and perform at the best of their ability with natural medicine!

Where It Originated

Cupping has been used around the world for millennia. It has documented use for thousands of years in China and East Asia, Greece, North Africa, and Egypt.
In fact, the Ebers Papyrus (circa 1550 BCE), one of the oldest medical texts in the world, describes the use of cupping in Egyptian medicine.

What It Does

Cupping pulls on your connective tissue, activating a natural chemical cascade that releases nitric oxide and causes your blood vessels to dilate. When this happens, old “dead” blood can be released from your vessels that formerly might have pathologically closed or tight. Also, it pulls this blood out of your tissues and into the blood stream so it can be flushed out of your system. Cupping can take hypoxic, or blood and oxygen-starved, muscle tissue that is stuck together and releases the muscle fibers so that they can move freely. This enables your capillaries to nourish the muscle fibers with blood so they can expand and contract as they were intended. I like to tell my patients that cupping takes internal stagnation out to the surface to be released. This will very commonly help people with pain when their body is indicating that this therapy would be appropriate for them constitutionally and symptomatically.

Why To Go To An Acupuncturist For This Therapy

Acupuncture and licensed Chinese medicine providers are thoroughly trained, supervised, and tested in cupping to be able to provide you with the most benefit, and the safest application, of this holistic therapy. When the Chinese and East Asians developed and refined Chinese medicine, they wove everything, including cupping, acupuncture, and herbal medicine into a holistic system which requires diagnosis for treatment. So, when an acupuncturist is determining whether or not this treatment is appropriate for you, they are checking several things, namely:

1. Your constitution – Your constitution largely determines how appropriate cupping is for you. Some constitutions do great with it, and some we would not recommend for cupping.
2. Your pulse – When a Chinese medicine practitioner is checking your pulse, they are looking for patterns of energy and blood flow to your organs and different regions of your body, which help determine if moving blood on the surface of your body is appropriate, and to what degree.
3. Your symptomology – Cupping might not be the most effective and efficient treatment for you at that time based on your symptoms and presentation. It’s possible that acupuncture will be better for you, or acupressure, or moxibustion.
4. Your medical needs – Cupping is contraindicated for certain medical conditions.

To sum it up, acupuncturists are experts in cupping, and you can count on them to provide this high-quality therapy for your healthcare needs. When looking to add cupping into your healthcare toolkit, you can ask your practitioner how much training they received, how much clinical supervision they have had, and if they are trained in the medical handling and cleaning of cups.

Call 1-919-230-2456 now or schedule your free consultation here to see if cupping, acupuncture, or Chinese medicine might be beneficial for your health and well-being. The Fountain is easily accessible from Cary, Raleigh, Apex, and surrounding areas in the beautiful North Carolina research triangle.

In Health,
Kristin ten Broeck, MSOM, L.Ac.