Cindy, a 40-year-old woman, visited us in October 2019. She was referred by her doctor because she had just failed one frozen embryo transfer last month. The implantation failure was unexpected and unexplained because the embryo had been tested and was of good quality. The endometrial lining was thick (8mm) and the texture was perfect. Cindy and her husband were very upset. They only had two embryos left and the new FET cycle started a week ago. They were afraid of failing again.  Her doctor was not going to change the protocol because all indicators before the transfer had been promising. Cindy and her husband did not know what they should do.

Cindy is 5 feet, 140 lbs. When she came to see me, she had a dry mouth and a swollen and dark red tongue with a thick white coating. According to Chinese medicine, analysis of these symptoms indicated some imbalance in her body. The patient had the pattern of accumulation of phlegm and blood.  This kind of condition suggested that her blood flow and metabolism were slow. It indicated that her digestive system was not performing well, which could be caused by a disruption of the bacterial microbiome in the gut. I found out she never drank enough water. She only drank two cups water a day. She liked to eat sausage and cheese, but she had no vegetables with her meals. Her unbalanced diet may have induced the inflammation that caused the implantation failure.

Cindy had been on estrogen for over a week for the second FET cycle by the time she visited me. I recommended that she change the diet including increasing her water intake. She additionally received some acupuncture treatment to create a better uterine environment for the embryo implantation. But her lining measurement this time was thinner than her last cycle, only  7.8mm on day 12 of estrogen. She was worried. I suggested that she take some herbs to enhance the quality of her uterine lining.

Over the past 20 years, I have used Chinese herbs and acupuncture to help many women who have had multiple FET failures. Most of these failures are unexplained. But these women have eventually had babies. My previous experience shows that Chinese medicine can improve endometrial acceptability. Combined with acupuncture, herbal supplements can balance the immune system and create more estrogen and progesterone receptors to further improve the likelihood of embryo acceptance.

Cindy was 40 years old.  I have mentioned that her metabolism and circulation seemed slowed.  But she might also have had immune system imbalance and hormone receptor deficiency.  She also had a history of FET failure and her endometrial lining the second cycle was even thinner that the first FET cycle. With the thinning of her lining, the possibility of failure had increased. Because of this reason, I highly recommended that Cindy combine her acupuncture treatment and increased water intake with Chinese herbs. She agreed.

With the help of acupuncture and Chinese herbal supplements, Cindy is now 12 weeks pregnant!