Prenatal Acupuncture and Chinese medicine
​
Congratulations! You’re pregnant! Pregnancy can be an amazing and life changing journey in a woman’s life. However, this journey to motherhood is not only filled with happiness but also with challenges. Once pregnant, a woman goes through dramatic physical and emotional changes. Besides helping patients achieve pregnancy, Ruth provides prenatal care or embryo enhancement for mother-to-be who wants to prepare her body for the changes and acquire the know-how in maximizing her own health and that of the fetus.
What are the common pre-natal symptoms?
​
-
Nausea: Around half of pregnant women suffer from nausea and vomiting at the first trimester but a small percentage will have a prolonged course with symptoms extending until delivery. These symptoms can triggered by strong odor or benign smells and sometimes emotional stress can also increase the level of nausea and vomiting. If appetite is adversely affected, the growth of the embryo will be hampered and even endangered.
​
-
Depression: Up to 14 percent of pregnant women have depressive disorder, feeling dreadful, gloomy and hopeless, and lose interest in normal pleasurable activities. Stress, fatigue, low energy and insomnia are also reported by many others.
-
Circulatory changes: It is not uncommon to see water retention, varicose and spider veins amongst pregnant women, especially towards the later stage of pregnancy.
​
-
Frequent urination: Increased urinary bladder pressure and discomfort can occur due to enlargement uterus linings. It also will affect the sleeping quality if you have to get up to pee in the middle of the night.
​
-
Constipation: Due to hormones that relax the intestinal muscle and by the pressure of the expanding uterus on the intestines, constipation often happens at some point during pregnancy.
​
-
Pain: back pain is typically observed in the area where the pelvis meets your spine, at the sacroiliac joint. The most common causes are weight gain, posture changes and muscle separation.
-
Leg Cramps: Leg cramps during pregnancy might be caused by fatigue, the uterus pressing on certain nerves, or decreased circulation in the legs from the pressure of the baby on blood vessels.
How does TCM support pregnancy?
​
For thousands of years, WS-TCM (Whole System Traditional Chinese medicine) has been used to relieve symptoms and complications during pregnancy. Acupuncture, moxibustion, tuina massage and Chinese Medicine are time-tested methonds to manage symptoms ranging from nausea and vomiting to constipation, preventing pre-eclampsia, common cold and coughs, back pain and insomnia. There are also Chinese herbal treatments which are safe and effective for prevention of miscarriage, low fetal weight, and other complications which are more commonly seen in older expectant. In the case of breech that happens during the last month of pregnancy, a simple and safe procedure involving acupuncture and moxibustion on an acupoint Zhiyin(B67) near the small toe, has resulted in an over 90% effective rate in studies done in China, thus averting cesarean section.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​