Acupuncture approach to regulate menstrual cycles

Condition analysis:
Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) provided by reproductive medical specialists are designed to override menstrual cycle difficulties by artificially controlling a woman’s cycle by administering cycle-altering hormone drugs. Acupuncture does not directly alter the female hormones; rather, it is considered to influence the hormonal regulation centers in the brain and autonomic nervous system such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian/gonadal  (HPG) axis and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.  As a result, a woman’s menstrual cycle can be better regulated over time.

Instructions:
Acupuncture for PCOS: In other research, investigators concluded that acupuncture was able to improve "menstrual frequency and decrease circulating androgens in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)." Infertility is an unwanted complication associated with some forms of PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and acupuncture showed significant clinical improvements in the women studied.

Another study published in the American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism concludes that low frequency electroacupuncture improved menstrual frequency and balanced sex steroid levels in women with PCOS. The study measured improvements in a wide range of endocrine variables such that the researchers concluded that electroacupuncture may help induce ovulation in women attempting to conceive since participants showed significant improvements in monthly menstrual frequency. There are similarities in the acupuncture point selection in this study with the study of women with anovulatory infertility.