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Highland House
165 The Broadway
London SW19 1NE
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Highland House
165 The Broadway
London SW19 1NE
By improving male and female natural fertility potential, the achievement of spontaneous pregnancy is our aim.
Our main therapeutic modalities make use of historically established treatments such as acupuncture therapy, herbal fertility formulations and the latest nutrition/diet and functional medicine.
Our treatments, not only restore natural fertility, but promote long-term health and wellness, exerting an anti-ageing effect. We incorporate the best of the methodologies developed in integrative fertility clinics and teaching hospitals in Seoul, Korea in our treatments.
Dr Ryu is a low carbohydrate practice which prioritises the restoration of metabolic health to men and women. We advocate the ancestral health movement incorporating a real-food-based paleo diet.
Feeding the body the right fuel
This is a diet naturally selected through evolution, a diet that best suits our digestive system, energizes and repairs the body and brain. This nutrition-dense stone-age diet is our ammunition against the assault of modern life, the incessant stress, premature hormonal decline and enables recovery from synthetic hormone exposure and the ensuing nutritional deficiency.
When women ask what they can do to improve their chances of becoming pregnant, Dr.Ryu’s answer is clear. Whether they are trying natural conception or starting assisted reproduction, getting the body weight and composition as close to the normal range as possible will improve their chances – not only of getting pregnant but of having a safe and healthy pregnancy.
WEIGHT LOSS FOR FERTILITY OPTIMIZATION, IVF SUCCESS
Weight (body compostition) and fertility are intrinsically linked. Being an unhealthy weight can affect a woman’s fertility by causing hormonal imbalances, interfering with ovulation, affecting her menstrual cycle and the quality of her eggs.
Being overweight can also reduce the quality of a man’s sperm and cause erection problems. It can also affect men’s and women’s libido. If either is overweight, it can take longer to conceive.
Male factor is a common cause of infertility and the male partner must be systematically evaluated in the workup of every infertile couple. Male infertility in recent years has been attracting increasing interest from the public due to the evidence in the decline in semen quantity and quality. Low sperm count is the most common cause of a couple’s fertility problem although most of the recipient of fertility treatment are women. In fact, male factor is also the common cause of women undergoing IVF treatment. Improving male fertility first hand is often the most cost-effective way to become parents.
RESTORING HIS FERTILITY
Recent research and clinical studies of herbal medicine in treating male infertility show that herbal medicine treatment improved sperm motility, semen parameters and rebalanced inadequate hormone levels, and adjusted immune functions leading to the increased number of fertility. Further, herbal medicine treatment in combination with conventional therapies improved the efficacy of conventional treatments.
If you choose to take advantage of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in your journey to creating a family, Eastern medicine will remain an important part of your treatment plan here.
Eastern medicine is known to improve ART outcomes in many ways
Acupuncture and herbal medicine treatment used in conjunction with IVF are associated with more live births and fewer adverse outcomes.
Endocrine and metabolic disorders, including obesity and ovulatory dysfunction, have been treated with acupuncture throughout history. In the past decade, advanced modern technology has been introduced into acupuncture research for helping understand the central and peripheral mechanism of acupuncture.
Acupuncture is clinically proven to help fertility
Research into acupuncture as a medical treatment has grown exponentially in the past 20 years, increasing at twice the rate of research into conventional biomedicine. Over this period, there have been over 13,000 studies conducted in 60 countries, including hundreds of meta-analyses summarizing the results of thousands of human and animal studies. A wide variety of clinical areas have been studied, including pain, cancer, pregnancy, stroke, mood disorders, sleep disorders and inflammation, to name a few.
The use of acupuncture as an adjunct to IVF treatment has gained momentum after the publication of a systematic review by Manheimer and colleagues.
We provide support to couples having fertility treatment using specialist acupuncture protocols that have been shown in clinical trials to improve IVF outcomes.
As well as helping you prepare for IVF by calibrating the body’s stress response and brain-ovary connection, there is mounting evidence that integrating acupuncture into your IVF cycle may offer you a greater chance of success.
Preparing for IVF treatment
In order to obtain the greatest benefits, we recommend planning ahead and starting treatment at least 3 months before your IVF cycle is due to begin. Oogenesis and spermatogenesis cycles are approximately this long and it is desirable to begin treatment at the start of these cycles. Acupuncture treatment over this period of time optimizes the signalling system in the body and realigns the HPO (Hypothalamus-pituitary-ovary) axis, the invisible network of hormonal relationships governing our reproductive status.
Endometrial receptivity results from an orchestrated interplay between the fertilized ovum and the maternal uterine endometrium. Its receptive status, known as the window of implantation, is reached only briefly in the mid-luteal phase and it is now recognised that the failure of the endometrium to achieve receptivity and the timing of the receptive period are important issues in the success of IVF. It has become evident that ovarian stimulation, although a central component of IVF, may itself have detrimental effects on endometrial receptivity, embryonic implantation and perhaps also pregnancy outcomes.
Herbal medicine treatment for Endometirial Receptivity
Studies have demonstrated that herbal medicine treatment can increase the success rate of in-vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) outcomes by promoting uterus receptivity.
Historically in the East, herbal medicine was a principal measure for women’s health issues and important part of fertility enhancement. Combining herbal medicine with IVF is commonplace today in integrative fertility clinics in Korea, Japan and China. It is less common in the western world, although continuing research is demonstrating herbal medicine can raise IVF success rates.
Thin Lining Problem
Most common indication for herbal medication use at Dr Ryu’s has been the problem of Thin Endometrium which can impair implantation and cause recurrent miscarriage. Herbal medicine traditionally used to improve implantation and prevent miscarriage are thought to work by mechanisms including improving uterine receptivity, hormone receptor sensitivity and angiogenesis.
The adult vascular endothelium is generally quiescent apart from during tumour growth and wound healing. The notable exceptions are within the female reproductive system; in the ovaries, uterus and placenta. Female reproductive function is dependent on rapid, cyclical and controlled angiogenesis, the ability to develop new blood vessels.
Can you make new blood vessels?
The normal processes of follicle formation (folliculogenesis), ovulation and ovarian change (corpus luteum function) following ovulation, the control of menstruation and implantation in the endometrium and the development of embryo and placenta are profoundly influenced by angiogenesis.
In countries where traditional medicine is popular and widely used, fertility issues are approached by whole system medicine and are rarely treated with acupuncture alone. To fit current research models, researchers often resort to a single intervention in a carefully controlled experimental world, but this is an unfortunate price to pay.
Traditional Asian pharmaceuticals were discovered by trial and error, on the basis of what made the patient better as a whole. This trial-and-error approach to the development of therapeutics has been inefficient and has taken centuries to establish but it is paradigm blind.
People often discover during their fertility treatment that they already have a menopausal range of hormones or that they do not respond to any fertility treatment. When assisted reproductive techniques (ART) are considered, there are at least three groups that represent major challenges in reproductive medicine. Naturally many of our patients belong to these groups.
DOR, POF and POR
Having gained much experience in this field over the years Dr. Ryu has developed protocols to mitigate the effects of reproductive ageing in those in the transition to menopause and she has worked with patients to enhance their natural fertility, focusing on those challenging cases which have been characterized to have poor fertility outcomes.