Brenda Ward Acupuncture Maynooth/Naas

14/01/2025

02/10/2024

IVF SCHEME
The Government’s free IVF scheme will be expanded in two areas next year.

Firstly, the scheme will include Donor Assisted IVF. Currently, couples who require a donor egg or s***m are unable to access publicly funded IVF because donor materials are not regulated.

However, with the passing of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act this year and a new regulatory authority being established (the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority), couples who need requiring donor assistance will now be able to access the free IVF scheme.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is also planning to amend the criteria to include couples experiencing what is known as ‘secondary infertility’. These are couples who have an existing child but then have fertility issues.

One element of the current criteria sets out that a couple accessing publicly funded IVF must have no living children together.

Publicly funded IVF was first introduced in September 2023 and so far, over 1,200 couples have availed of the initiative.

01/02/2024

********New Acupuncturist in AcuWellness********
Delighted to welcome Stephanie to the clinic. Stephanie started her career practicing law in London but has always been interested in the benefits of Eastern medicine having received acupuncture since she was a child.

The stress of the legal world, fertility issues and a desire to find a more fulfilling career eventually led to Stephanie taking her interest further by requalifying as an acupuncturist. She studied at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in the UK where she completed 3,500+ hours of training and was awarded a first-class degree in Acupuncture.

Stephanie regularly attends conferences and courses to continue her professional development, including completing training in Dr Tan’s Balance Method and Master Tung acupuncture. She treats a broad range of conditions from muscular skeletal complaints and chronic pain to digestive problems and emotional issues and has developed a special interest in fertility and women’s health. She has built on her knowledge and experience in this area by completing a post-graduate diploma in gynaecology and obstetrics with Dr Trevor Wing.

As a member of the Acupuncture Foundation Professional Association, Stephanie is fully qualified and registered, holds Professional Indemnity Insurance and is committed to abiding by strict codes of ethics and safe practice.
Qualifications
• BSc (Hons) Degree in Acupuncture – College of Integrated Chinese Medicine accredited by Kingston University
• Licentiate in Acupuncture – College of Integrated Chinese Medicine
• Post Graduate Diploma in TCM Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Acupuncture – Dr Trevor Wing, the Women’s Natural Health Practice

01/01/2024

01/01/2024

30/11/2023

Endometriosis can be very difficult to manage but not impossible. Nutrition, supplements & herbs provide fantastic results managing:
🎈Pain
🎈Heavy menstrual bleeds
🎈Anxiety
🎈Digestive issues
🎈Inflammation
🎈Fertility issues
🎈Low mood
To name but a few. You won’t hear about this in your Dr’s office. Empower yourselves to make small changes that will make a big difference to your quality of life 😊. You are absolutely amazing- your bravery and resilience every month should be shown overwhelming respect from everyone but especially every healthcare worker you seek help from. If you are not getting it move on.

19/09/2023

Just a quick post to update you that AcuWellness has moved from The Town Centre Mall. These rooms provided the opportunity to help so many people. For that I am very grateful. However, thanks to all of my clients and the word of mouth you have spread I have needed a bigger space to cater for you.
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The new location is :
Unit 6, The Glenroyal shopping Centre, Straffan Rd, Maynooth (Above Super Valu and beside the lovely Álainn Beauty rooms).
So a goodbye to this little premises and a big new start in my brand new space which I can’t wait to share with you all.
Photos to follow 💕💕

15/08/2023

390.0k Followers, 635 Following, 14.0m Likes - Watch awesome short videos created by 🥓🐷

25/06/2023

New evidence suggests inflammatory digestive issues could be causing your low AMH result !
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🎈AMH is a hormone secreted by antral follicles on the ovaries. Too often it is used to rate a females chances of conceiving. However we are learning more about different things that influence it namely digestive issues and malabsorption of some nutrients.
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🎈In a 2023 research article in Pubmed they have established there there is a strong likelihood that a suboptimal digestion system can effect this level.
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🎈Digestive issues cause inflammatory markers to rise which in turn has a negative impact on the ovarian environment. It also leads to malabsorption of critical vitamins such as Vitamin D.
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🎈Work at a holistic level to remedy these digestive issues before trying to conceive. Even if you do need to go down the IVF route your body will be in a much more receptive state for pregnancy.
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🎈Ref: PMID:36930072

07/06/2023

€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€’s and lots of them are spent on IVF cycles without properly checking the s***m scenario.

🚩In these cases the eggs or AMH gets the blame!
🚩Sometimes the term ‘unexplained infertility’ gets used.
🚩The clinic will say your s***m analysis isn’t good but we’ll overcome it with ICSI(a procedure where the best looking s***m is handpicked for fertilisation and injected into the egg).
🚩What if you did further s***m testing - a DNA fragmentation test- which actually looks at the genetic material in the s***m.
A normal s***m analysis cannot evaluate the genetic material in a s***m sample only a DNA fragmentation test can do this.
🚩A common scenario we are seeing is that the results of a s***m analysis are fine but on further testing ie. Getting a DNA fragmentation test done , the genetic material is sub optimal.
🚩Causes of high male DNA fragmentation tend to be : male age, alcohol consumption or smoking.
They may also have a low lying infection (won’t show up on normal bloods), a varicocele, s***matocele etc. Basically high DNA fragmentation would warrant a visit to a Urologist. It may be a very ‘fixable’ issue.
🚩Think how much time, emotional roller coasters and money this investigation could save!

I hope this information helps. If so hit the save button or share with a friend who might need it.

PMID: 31607800

05/05/2023

🎈The AMAZING egg. When an egg selects which s***m it will allow fertilise it - it then goes on a mission to ‘fix it’!! [Have you ever tried to fix your partner? Now we can blame our genes !!]

🎈It has now been shown that the egg possesses DNA repair genes to fix DNA fragmentation (broken DNA strands) in the s***m. This is an extremely important step in embryonic develop and ensures the embryo development doesn’t arrest.

🎈However, there are age limitations and it is likely that the capacity to do this is age dependent. The younger we are the more we are able to ‘fix’! In my opinion (not evidence based) this makes it even more important to check for s***m DNA fragmentation the older we are. The older our eggs are the more super healthy we need the s***m to be to fulfil healthy embryonic development.

🎈Hope this helps …

***mhealth ***mmatters