Pregnancy Acupuncture Care - Midwife Acupuncturist

31/10/2023

Anxiety in Pregnancy

What is anxiety? Tommys state that “Anxiety is a feeling of unease, worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. Everyone feels anxious sometimes, but some people find it hard to control their worries” and these feelings may become overwhelming.
Pregnancy can be an emotionally difficult time, when people around you expect you to be happy. You may have stopped taking a prescribed medication or be suffering a new, pregnancy related anxiety or depression, as a result of all those hormones in pregnancy.

Symptoms that suggest your emotions are becoming more than a usual response to pregnancy hormones could include:

Exaggerated mood swings or irritability
Sleep disturbance
Loss of appetite
Lack of interest and pleasure in doing things

If you feel this relates to you, you should speak to your doctor or midwife, they will offer you support and advice.

Acupuncture can offer an additional therapy to help relieve symptoms. From a traditional Chinese medicine viewpoint, treatment of specific organs through acupuncture points can achieve a more balanced emotional state. Specifically the Heart, which houses the mind or spirit and the liver. When these organs are strong there will be normal mental activity, balanced emotions, clarity of thought and memory and allow better sleep (Betts D 2006).

I will select different acupuncture points following discussion and dependant on symptoms, so that treatment is unique to you. Treatment itself should offer you time to relax.

If you think acupuncture could be of benefit to you, please contact me for more details.

References:

Betts D (2006) Acupuncture in Pregnancy & Childbirth China: The Journal of Chinese Medicine Ltd

Tommys Anxiety and panic attacks in pregnancy available at https://www.tommys.org (accessed 31 Oct 2023)

30/10/2023

Hello, my name is Karen Ringshall. I qualified as a midwife 15 years ago following the birth of my second child. I am a practising NHS midwife, at a stand-alone, midwifery led Birthing Unit. I also have many years’ experience as a community midwife and feel very privileged to have been part of the pregnancy and birthing experience of so many wonderful families.
I have always had a keen interest in alternative therapies and following an introduction to the use of acupuncture within my job as a midwife and finding it immensely beneficial for relaxation, pain relief and encouraging the progress of labour, I completed a Foundation Course in Acupuncture with Breeze Academy. This gave me more insight into its use for some common pregnancy conditions and further research has also led me to understanding its benefits for preparing the body for labour.
I use acupuncture regularly for care during labour and now want to be able to share its benefits in pregnancy, to the wider community.
I am a registered midwife with the NMC and belong to the Royal Collage of Midwives. I am insured through “Balens” for professional liability and hold my Acupuncture licence through Gravesham Borough Council.
If you have any questions about acupuncture, or wonder if acupuncture can help you, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

27/09/2023

Pre-Birth Acupuncture: One or more sessions as required:

Initial consultation and acupuncture £45 / 45 minutes
Subsequent appointments £40 / 30 minutes

Please feel free to message, email or call me for more information

20/09/2023

https://acupuncture.rhizome.net.nz/acupuncture/research/prebirth/

An App and DVD/download featuring Debra Betts and Tom Kennedy is now available which demonstrates acupressure techniques for labour. Perfect for pregnant women and their partners, as well as health professionals working with pregnant women. More info