Holistic Care in Pregnancy Loss
No one ever thinks it will happen to them, but 1 in 4 women will suffer an early pregnancy loss which is just too high. Especially as we know of so many preventable factors and testing (which is frustratingly not being done due to ‘guidelines’ that are up to 18 years old!).
The emotional, physical, social and relationship impact pregnancy loss has, affects so many areas of women and families lives, and I wanted to share the support Chinese Medicine, early investigation and understanding your body can have on pregnancy loss prevention.
Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can offer support at multiple stages of pregnancy loss: when a pregnancy is threatened with bleeding and cramping, when a loss may be impending, in the healing period after loss and when preparing to conceive again.
Supporting a Threatened Pregnancy Loss
When a pregnancy is threatened in the first trimester, you may experience bleeding, cramping and anxiety. Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine have treatment approaches to reduce uterine cramping, attempt to stop uterine bleeding and calm the anxiety to do everything we can to prevent a pregnancy loss. We would do this alongside progesterone blood tests, bed rest and monitoring.
Acupuncture and herbal Support may focus on strengthening and uplifting your ‘holding energy’ – the energy to keep a pregnancy ‘in and up’ and prevent it from moving ‘down and out’, nourish blood to support uterine lining, stop bleeding, calm contractions in the uterus, alleviate inflammation and heat and calm the nervous system.
Clinical Goal: to provide stability, improve uterine environment, alleviate symptoms and support the body to hold a healthy pregnancy.
Disclaimer: Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can’t ‘make’ the body hold onto a pregnancy that is not viable. But we can manage symptoms until we know this for sure.
Supporting an Impending Pregnancy Loss
When a pregnancy is progressing towards a loss, the primary focus is not to save the pregnancy, but to support you so you can move through the experience with the least physical disruption and the most opportunity to grieve. We would do this, as well as monitor blood tests to see HCG decreasing.
Acupuncture and herbal support may focus on supporting the complete loss of pregnancy tissue, move what needs to move, alleviate pain, cramping and retention of tissue, calm the nervous system to support grief and shock and to keep blood flowing.
Clinical Goal: to honour the body’s natural process in completing the pregnancy loss, reduce distress, prevent complications and allow space for healing.
Supporting Women and Families after Pregnancy Loss
In the immediate days and weeks following a pregnancy loss, your body will go through a significant shift in hormones, blood flow and emotions. This is a really important window for care and treatment.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal therapy can support you in the months after a pregnancy loss by regulating menstrual cycles, replenishing your lost Blood and energy, support tissue recovery and blood circulation, alleviate associated symptoms like night sweats, insomnia and anxiety.
Clinical Goal: to restore your physical strength and hormone balance, to support you physically and emotionally after your loss and prepare your body for another pregnancy if that is your goal.
Preparing to Conceive again after Loss
Trying to conceive again after loss can be incredibly challenging. So much fear and anxiety. This is where I have a really hard conversation with you about pausing, breathing and doing some extra testing to learn more about egg health, sperm health and uterine environment as well as immune system function and blood flow.
There are blood tests, ultrasounds and other investigations I would recommend alongside Chinese Medicine so we can do what we can to ensure you don’t experience another pregnancy loss.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can nourish lost Blood and energy, improve ovarian blood flow, support hormone balance, treat underlying causes once known and support nervous system function as you prepare to conceive again.
Clinical Goal: Empower you to feel confident, supported and physically and emotionally ready to conceive again.
Pregnancy loss prevention is a huge reason why I talk to women and partners (if they’ll come along) about preconception health. Sperm health has a really big impact on pregnancy loss in female partners, dysbiosis in the uterus or vagina has an impact, poor hormone health does too. High stress and poor diet and lifestyles factors also play a big role in pregnancy loss.
Knowing more about your fertility health, can help you navigate early pregnancy with confidence.
Please reach out if you have any questions or feedback or if you’re in any of these situations and would like some support. I really would love to hear from you.
Paige x
