How does long term use of the contraceptive pill affects female fertility? And how acupuncture can help.

Depending upon the length of time you have been taking the pill, and whether your period was normal ie between 25 – 30 day cycle, lasting 4 or 5 days, without pain or clots, once you have come off the pill, it can take from several weeks to a few months before regular periods resume.

This is due to the fact that because birth control pills affect the natural cycle of hormones and essentially keep your body in a state of pseudo-pregnancy, so that your body can take some time to readjust the hormone levels, and return to its normal cyclic rhythm.

If your period was not normal, it can be delayed further. Acupuncture can help balance the menstrual cycle, regulate menstrual flow and ease pain. With the added stress of maintaining work life balance, and the desperate desire to have a baby, ‘post-pill amenorrhea’, or complete lack of the resumption of the menstrual period, is a worrying issue.
TCM can definitely help in this area, by diagnosing each woman’s particular issues that may have led to this situation. (Results revealed through Western medicine blood tests and ultra sound examinations are also used to refine this diagnosis)

Regular acupuncture treatments, and herbal remedies, for at least 6 months, are designed to calm stress and nourish the blood among other things. In Western anatomical terms, acupuncture appears to improve the way that the hypothalamus, pituitary and ovary glands work together.

Food is also used as medicine – for example the simple idea of eating warm, cooked food is known to help re-establish and support the normal physiological function of the body. Other lifestyle ideas like doing yoga and meditating are now almost commonplace in the area of regaining one’s health, and thus fertility.