Friday, November 12, 2010

Emotions, Infertility & Acupuncture

Chinese medication puts a heavy emphasis on our emotions as a main driver our physical self.  This is virtually always the case when it comes to internal medication and even more so when dealing specifically with fertility. 



An emotion, irrespective of how strong and of what type will have some kind of physical effect on the body.  This may either be won how we feel or maybe on the underlying organ systems that governs our function and health.  Depending on the strength of the emotion we might or might not feel its effects. 
This is normal.  The body responds to what occurs in our lives.  It only becomes a problem when our body over reacts physically to the emotion, or

- the emotion is overwhelming or

- we are worn down over a time period leading to emotional and physical inequality. 

If our feelings are a main driver of out physical self, and I regularly explain this as kind of like having a rear seat driver who keeps poking us and won't get out of the automobile, what happens is that the emotion incites a physical reply.  That's's all hunky dory except that what tends to happen is that the physical reply feeds back and further incites the emotion. 

This kind of feedback loop is not useful and is the foundation for psychological well-being issues, especially when there's a sense of curving although the primary cause has been removed.  An excellent example of this is in post dire stress disorder ( PTSD ) where long after the stressor has gone the physical and emotional symptoms remain.  This is as that pattern of feedback between the emotion and the physical signs and symptoms has never really been damaged. 

So the apparent questions is...well how will we break that cycle? 

Truth be told it is not straightforward, but there are some things that I find work fine in several cases.  I should note here that breaking this cycle is always a case of taking a multi-disciplinary approach.  I do not accept that any one system or strategy has all the answers.  However , I've found that acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be a useful part of the treatment, helping to break that cycle. 

I suspect what occurs during treatment is that the push from emotion to physical gets slowed down, its more like putting a thin barrier up than a concrete wall, you can't disconnect the mind and the body, but you can scale back the impact of one over the other. 

When you can slow that down it gives us a chance to work on the physical side...which gives you a chance to feel better physically.  As an example, if sleep has been a problem if we can wind down the push from the emotions, then sleep and so energy and so inducement improve, leading to a greater sense of welfare.  This helps to build resolve and resilience and to start to see that there are numerous possibilities and different outcomes.  One of the toughest parts of my job is to help patients change their attitude, to get rid of self-limiting sentiments about their own health or situation to help help the change they are looking for. 
It is fantastic how many patients come to me feeling defeated.  No longer actually believing that change is possible for them. 

that is the reason why slowing down that cycle of emotion vs physical is so critical.  That's the start to the social proof, the physical evidence that things CAN change. 

the interesting thing is that while the cycle of push from emotional to physical and vice versa is slowed we have got the chance to also work on the emotional side.  Chinese medicine frequently talks about calming the mind when it comes to emotional health.  By calming the mind, reducing stress or anxiety or worry or fear you not only feel better emotionally, but that feedback loop we talked about earlier begins to point the other way.  Physically feeling better, emotionally feeling better and all of a sudden the possibility of change becomes real. 

The emotions play an enormous role in our general health and wellbeing.  When you look for help with Chinese medication whether it's for fertility, psychological health issues specifically or something else, your Chinese medication doctor must take into consideration your feelings, stressors and their effect on your fitness. 

Fertility treatment whether by trying naturally or with assisted reproductive technologies can be an emotionally trying experience.  By addressing our emotions we will be able to go a long way to improving our reproductive as well as our general health.

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