Ultrasound showing mother is Pregnant with twins!

Wholistic Approach to Pregnancy Complications and Miscarriage

Pregnant with twins!

Pregnancy complications and miscarriage

So you’ve decided you’re ready to start a family… all begins well, you fall pregnant easily but sadly you have a miscarriage. You prepare yourself and start again, understanding that sometimes maintaining a pregnancy can be difficult.

This is Simone’s* story. A 35-year old university lecturer, living a busy but healthy and active lifestyle.

Pregnant with twins

Simone and her partner had been trying to have a baby for 2 years. Following recurrent miscarriage her doctor ordered blood tests which diagnosed Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome (APS). Just days later, they were advised they were 7 weeks pregnant with twins.

Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome (APS) is an auto-immune disorder of the blood. It is sometimes called Hughes syndrome or sticky blood. 

In early pregnancy the anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL) can cause early miscarriages because they prevent the pregnancy from embedding properly in the womb, and they inhibit the growth of fetal cells.

Simone was immediately concerned about the potential for miscarriage. Querying what she could do to take this pregnancy to full term, she began to search online… What natural pregnancy support is available? Can acupuncture provide pregnancy support?

A wholistic approach to health and pregnancy support – TEAM

Simone came in for an initial consultation seeking pregnancy support. We discussed her medical history, current condition and doctors’ approach and treatment to address APS and her pregnancies. Her doctor had prescribed administration of daily Clexane injections and aspirin medication to thin the blood and prevent her blood from clotting.

Further to this, we discussed eastern medicine – primarily the use of Japanese and Chinese acupuncture, moxibustion (moxa) and Chinese herbal medicine in pregnancy support. Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM) considers one’s outlook, the current state of day-to-day health, looking into clinical signs, symptoms and results to determine a diagnosis – using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or traditional Japanese medicine (TJM) paradigms. The TCM diagnosis guides the acupuncture and moxa treatment and any herbal medicines to work alongside and complement other medical treatment.

Thus, at each consultation we would work as part of a wholistic health and pregnancy support team: comprising of doctors, obstetricians, physiotherapists, specialists, midwives and her doula.  Information from medications, blood tests, urine tests, ultrasound scans, baby positions, baby weights, physical exercises and recommendations would determine the TCM diagnosis and adjust the acupuncture and moxa treatment to her changing needs as the pregnancies progressed.

Natural Pregnancy Support with Acupuncture

Diagnosis of her health from a eastern medicine perspective indicated that constitutionally she had a life-long blood deficiency. Her blood was always working hard, generating extreme heat especially with her love of bike riding and 5-10 km jogs.

Given Simone’s constitution, pregnancy, APS presentation and medications, I recommended the following TEAM plan including acupuncture treatment and some lifestyle changes to reduce the heat in her blood, generate blood and promote blood circulation. The acupuncture treatment involved weekly consultation until she reached 12 weeks, follow-ups every 3 weeks until approximately 32 weeks, then fortnightly to weekly after that depending on her needs. The lifestyle changes involved reducing and changing her sport activities and making some dietary changes.

I worked together with her through the duration of her pregnancy for constitutional, APS-related and common pregnancy symptoms until the birth.  Her blood work at 15 weeks showed there were no traces of anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL), suggesting APS remission. She gave birth at almost 37 weeks by caesarean due to pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure) and the babies descending into the birth canal.

Following birth, one baby spent the first night in a humidicrib with both babies in the special care nursery monitoring for 2 weeks. Post nursery care they remained healthy and well and at 18 months reached the 50th percentile for weight. The babies have continued to be average weight for their age.

To understand more about how TCM treatments may assist you in your fertility journey please continue to read through our other fertility stories or contact us to book a consultation.

*Name has been changed

By Rebecca Bau – Acupuncture, Japanese Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Traditional Japanese Medicine (TJM), Lohan Qigong. 

Many of the WHolistic Medical Centre practitioners use traditional and western herbal medicine

Where are we up to with medicinal cannabis?

 

Is it legal?    

Medical practitioners in Australia can legally prescribe medicinal cannabis through regulated pathways such as the Special Access Scheme Category B and the Authorised Prescriber Scheme. These pathways are typically used by doctors for unapproved medicines.

Dr Vicki Kotsirilos, Victorian GP and Integrative Medicine Practitioner, became Australia’s first authorised GP prescriber of medicinal cannabis in May 2018. She said recently that GPs currently have ‘a large demand’ for knowledge about the use of medicinal cannabis. Dr Kotsirilos says there is a lack of knowledge about the clinical usage of medicinal cannabis which stems from a lack of formal education and upskilling available to GPs.

‘We need regular top-ups of education because the science actually changes every day and there’s new studies that come out all the time,’ she said. ‘Because it is a plant medicine, it’s not part of our curriculum, so all the learning is self-taught.’

 What is it currently prescribed for?

The main medical conditions for which medicinal cannabis is prescribed in Australia to date are:

  • chronic non-cancer pain
  • epilepsy
  • multiple sclerosis
  • palliative care including cancer pain management
  • cancer-related nausea and vomiting.

Is it available at Wholistic Medical Centre?

We are very fortunate that Dr Nick Bassal, who had already begun upskilling in the use of medicinal cannabis, has been invited to participate in a conference in Montreal, Canada, taking place as this newsletter goes to ‘print’. So, watch this space if you believe that you have a need for medicinal cannabis.

Medical cannabis for period pain? Would you like to have your say?

Development of a clinical trial on medicinal cannabis for primary dysmenorrhoea: Co-Design.’

Researchers from NICM Health Research Institute would like to invite women who suffer from ‘primary dysmenorrhoea’, that is period pain not due to endometriosis or adenomyosis, to participate in an on-line focus group to have your say in how clinical trials should be designed to be relevant and well-structured. Read the participant information at https://nicm.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1615795/Participant_Information_Sheet_MC_and_Period_pain_V2.pdf

Or ask our wonderful Reception Team at the Wholistic Medical Centre for more details.