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written by PAULA GOODYER |
Can traditional Chinese medicine help restore fertility in women with polycystic ovary syndrome?
PCOS,
as it's called, is a problem that plays havoc with female hormones, often
disrupting ovulation. But a handful of studies has found that acupuncture can
help, including recent Swedish research that
found it improved ovulation in women with PCOS and boosted their chances of
pregnancy.
If acupuncture does prove
effective it has the potential to help a lot of women. Around 12 to 18 per cent
of women of reproductive age are now thought to have PCOS. Its exact cause is a
mystery but likely to involve genes and lifestyle. A family history of type 2
diabetes increases the risk.
So how can tiny needles
inserted under the skin have an impact on a woman's ovaries?
"We don't know for sure
how it works but one theory is that the needles act on the sympathetic nervous
system which in turn affects the hormones that control ovulation," says
Jane Lyttleton, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner specialising in
infertility. Lyttleton uses acupuncture in her Sydney clinic to help treat
women with PCOS and other fertility problems.
"It's still early days but
we have evidence that acupuncture, and in particular electro acupuncture, has
good success - electro acupuncture involves passing a low frequency
electric pulse through fine wires attached to acupuncture
needles such that the patient feels a gentle vibration."
Underlying the symptoms of PCOS
that can include excess hair and acne as well as disrupted ovulation, is a rise
in levels of male hormones produced by the ovaries. The cause of this is
insulin resistance which is common in women with PCOS and which often increases
production of testosterone. But although acupuncture shows promise in improving
ovulation there's been little research on its effects on other symptom of PCOS
- although, anecdotally, acne often improves probably because acupuncture
helps lower testosterone levels, Lyttleton says.
Although some branches of
complementary medicine arouse scepticism among conventional medical
practitioners, attitudes towards the use of acupuncture in female infertility
are more open says Dr Caroline Smith, Associate Professor in Complementary
Medicine at the University of Western Sydney. Smith is working on a study
of more than a thousand women undergoing IVF - some of them with PCOS -to see
if acupuncture increases their chances of a live birth.
"There's already some
evidence that when acupuncture is used around the time of embryo transfer it
improves the chances of pregnancy," she says. "It may be that
acupuncture increases the blood supply to the uterus which may improve the odds
of the embryo implanting itself successfully.
"The fact that we have 12
IVF centres involved in this study shows there's significant interest in
establishing an evidence base for acupuncture and reproductive health."
Acupuncture may also help cool
hot flushes at menopause, says Melbourne GP Dr Caroline Ee who's involved in a
study of the effects of acupuncture on hot flushes by a number of research
centres including the University of Melbourne, Jean Hailes for Women's Health,
RMIT University, Southern Cross University and Monash University.
"Most studies so far have
been small and inconclusive - but two have shown that acupuncture can make a
difference," says Dr Ee. "I've seen a lot of women with hot
flushes in my practice and when I go through the treatment options
with them they're very resistant to using drugs so I've tried acupuncture and
it has helped some of them."
Hot flushes happen when the
body's thermostat goes haywire, and one treatment that sometimes helps is
the use of anti depressants, she explains - one theory is that raising
levels of the brain's ' feel good' hormone serotonin helps regulate body
temperature.
"We know that acupuncture
also raises serotonin levels so it may work in a similar way," she says.
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Sydney Morning Herald