Mike Berkley, Acupuncturist

Mike’s Personal Story

I developed an interest in acupuncture and herbal medicine due to a very personal and difficult reason – infertility.

My wife and I decided that we wanted to start a family soon after we got married. We tried and tried for two years before seeking the help of a reproductive endocrinologist.

My wife was diagnosed with a bacterial infection and an autoimmune marker. At our follow-up examinations, we were “cleared” of all obstacles to conception and told to go home and “try.” We tried for another six months without success.

At this point, my wife sought out the help of an acupuncturist/herbalist who had some basic knowledge of reproductive issues.

After treating with acupuncture and herbal medicine for six months my wife got nothing more than a regulated period. We were disappointed, then, the very next month, the miracle manifested!

She was pregnant and she carried to term without a hitch. We had a beautiful 7.5-pound little tiger who is now a young man, healthy, happy and productive!

I was amazed, humbled, and enormously excited and gratified by the result which was yielded by what seemed like some hocus-pocus newfangled type of medicine, but it really worked.

It was then that I started to explore acupuncture and herbal medicine on my own. I had a curiosity to learn more. I couldn’t believe it when I found out that this type of medicine had existed for 3,000 years and there are hundreds of medical texts dating back centuries on the subject of reproductive disorders and how to treat them.

I responded to an ad in a local New York City newspaper for an open house at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine’s New York campus and left almost six years later with a degree in acupuncture and a National Board Certification in herbal medicine.

With license in hand, I devoted every free moment to studying Western medical and Chinese medical approaches to treating infertility. After years of study and clinical experience, I have been fortunate in that I have been able to develop my own unique acupuncture protocols and proprietary herbal formulas.

There are many reasons for infertility. One of the most prevalent is caused by poor egg quality due to maternal ageing. As in every other system in the body, egg quality too, declines with age. This can happen at any age but most typically happens to women thirty-five-years-old and older.

Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and low level light therapy are the modalities we use in clinic. When these are combined (or used alone – but it takes longer), the mitochondria in the eggs start to improve. Mitochondria are the ‘power-houses’ of the eggs (and everything else in the body).  Older people have less mitochondria or reduced functioning of mitochondria than younger people.  When oocyte, or eggs can experience mitochondrial improvement one will see improved egg quality (not quantity), and pregnancy is much more likely to occur.

We believe in and fully embrace IUI, and IVF procedures. But remember, when a woman does an IUI or IVF she is using the material she presents with – old and poor quality eggs. If this were not the case, she wouldn’t be doing assisted-reproductive-medicine (with few exceptions. For example – if a woman has bilateral tubal damage, she can have great eggs but can’t get pregnant without IVF).

So, IUI and IVF are strictly mechanical procedures where eggs are developed, hormones are controlled, retrieval is done, fertilization next, and finally transfer – of an embryo that started with poor egg quality and thus, the cycle fails.

This is not to say that IVF doesn’t work. There have been more than five-million babies born as a result of IVF, but many more transfers didn’t end up with a successful outcome.

At The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness, we specialize in improving egg, lining, and sperm quality with the aforementioned protocols. Often, this results in success with intercourse alone but certainly if IVF or IUI is required, the chances of success are significantly elevated.