Women's Health NYC, Wellness | The Yinova Center

Supporting you during all of life's stages

From puberty to menopause, bodies go through many transitions. We are here to help you navigate them smoothly.

Puberty

We’re skilled at supporting teens as they start their reproductive life and offer solutions for acne, eating disorders, PMS, menstrual cramps, stress, & more.

Preparing for Pregnancy

Our 3-month “Making Babies” program is based on Jill’s book and uses acupuncture, Chinese herbs and dietary advice to increase your chances of conceiving.

Pregnancy

Whether you’re dealing with fatigue, nausea, muscle pain, or stress: our team is here to support and guide you through each trimester.

Parenthood

We use nourishing herbs and balancing acupuncture to get your body back on track after the demands of pregnancy and labor.

Perimenopause

We treat hormone imbalances, mood swings, fatigue, and weight gain. Our “Sex Again” program is based on Jill’s book and can help with low libido.

Menopause

Chinese medicine offers gentle solutions for hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, low libido, weight gain, cloudy mind and more.

We use the Yinova Method to treat a range of health conditions.

Explore some of the conditions we treat:

Amenorrhea
There are many reasons why you might not be getting your period. Amenorrhea can be related to over-exercising, nutritional deficiencies, PCOS, and hormonal imbalances, some of which affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. Our experienced team of acupuncturists provide customized treatments and herbal formulas based on each specific case to help you ovulate and your cycles to become regular. Your practitioner may also suggest some dietary and lifestyle changes to support your treatments.
How to Help Yourself
Limit your aerobic exercise to 30m 4x/week until your cycle has been reset.
Include plenty of protein and healthy fats in your diet. Limit raw and cold foods and prioritize warming foods such as soup.
Take an essential fatty acid supplement to promote hormone balance.
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Endometriosis
Endometriosis is one of the leading causes of pelvic pain that we see at Yinova. It can seriously affect your ability to conceive and can also cause uncomfortable, heavy or irregular periods. Sometimes there are no symptoms associated with endometriosis and it is only discovered when a patient is seeking treatment for infertility. We use a combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbs aimed at improving blood circulation, clearing inflammation, relieving pain and treating the patient’s underlying condition associated with their endometriosis. Patients with this condition may also benefit from making specific dietary changes to reduce their symptoms.
How to Help Yourself
Regular exercise promotes blood flow and in our clinic we have noticed that our endometriosis patients who exercise frequently respond better to treatment and show marked symptomatic improvement.
The liver is responsible for metabolizing excess estrogen and so supporting good liver function is an important part of a holistic strategy to treat endometriosis. Because of this we advise our Yinova patients with endometriosis to limit their alcohol consumption and avoid caffeine.
Adopting a low fat, high fiber, mostly plant-based diet can also help to relieve some of the symptoms associated with endometriosis.
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Hormone Imbalances
Diet, lack of sleep, and stress-filled lifestyles can very easily wreak havoc on our hormones in multiple ways. Stress can lead to chemical changes in our bodies, and can divert blood away from organs, included those associated with the digestive and reproductive systems. Since many hormones are dependent upon one another to remain balanced, over time, excess levels of stress can lead to imbalances in reproductive hormones, potentially affecting fertility. Acupuncture has been shown to offset the effects of stress on reproductive hormones and to increase blood flow to the reproductive organs. In conjunction with Chinese herbs, it can help your body to regain hormonal balance.
How to Help Yourself
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, turnips, mustard greens, kale, and the like contain a phytonutrient called diindolylmethane (DIM), which helps us to metabolize estrogen better.
That means that cruciferous veggies help combat the estrogen dominance that can lead to everything from PMS to irregular periods or menstrual cramps.
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Irregular Menses
Periods that come irregularly each month are very common and can make it difficult to conceive. Even if you are not trying to have a baby, Chinese medicine considers a regular menstrual rhythm to be an important sign of good health. Irregular menses can be caused by an imbalance that results in hormone fluctuations throughout the month. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs have been used for hundred of years to balance hormones, restore rhythm, and encourage a more predictable ovulation, which helps regulate the menstrual cycle.
How to Help Yourself
Follow a diet that won’t stress your liver with too many synthetic compounds by prioritizing whole, unprocessed foods and eating plenty of fiber.
Aim for 60 percent vegetables and fruits, 30 percent complex carbohydrates, and 10 percent protein (lean meat, oily fish, low-fat cheese, nuts, and seeds).
Ovarian Cysts
Ovarian cysts can cause pelvic pain and interfere with a your ability to conceive. They can occur naturally or as a side effect of some fertility treatments. As Jill explained in her book Making Babies Chinese herbs can help to reduce cysts and are combined with acupuncture to treat the underlying causes, whether they are related to PCOS or other structural issues or hormone imbalances.
How to Help Yourself
Research shows that cows deprived of beta-carotene develop ovarian cysts and are slow to ovulate, and their fellow mammals—humans—work much the same way. You get beta-carotene in your diet from yellow and orange foods (including carrots, cantaloupe, and sweet potatoes), as well as from broccoli and leafy greens such as spinach.
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Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
PCOS is the most common anovulatory disorder and the single most common hormonal cause of infertility. Anyone with ovaries can develop PCOS, and in fact an estimated 10% of women have been diagnosed with this disorder. In PCOS, a hormonal dysfunction results in the ovaries not being able to fully mature an egg. Follicles begin to develop and build up fluid, but do not progress to the point where they release an egg. As a result, ovulation is either absent or intermittent. Because of this, some of the semi-developed follicles turn into little fluid-filled sacs known as cysts. Without the progesterone that matured follicles would make, menstruation is irregular or perhaps stops altogether. On top of that, the cysts make androgens (masculinizing hormones, although they exist in all people in different proportions), which can prevent ovulation. It can be a vicious cycle.
How to Help Yourself
Lose some weight if you need to. Studies show that losing just 10 percent of body weight can result in normal ovulation in patients with PCOS.
Cut down on animal fats and increase essential fatty acids (EFAs). Eat a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat protein such as chicken, fish, and beans. Get plenty of antioxidant nutrients from foods and supplements. They fight inflammation, which can exacerbate PCOS.
Balance your blood sugar by limiting your carbohydrate intake. Don’t cut out carbs altogether, though, as that can lower serotonin levels and leave you feeling depressed. Instead, eat healthy carbs such as whole grains.
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Decreased ovarian reserve
Our ovarian reserve decreases naturally as we age but this condition can also affect younger women, either when the supply of eggs runs out ahead of schedule or the eggs don’t respond to FSH and so don’t mature. Either way, estrogen levels drop because the follicles stop releasing the hormone. When estrogen levels fall, symptoms usually associated with menopause result: no menstrual period, hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems, mood swings, vaginal dryness, and low sex drive. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can help a patient with decreased ovarian reserve by balancing hormones and helping each egg live up to its potential.
How to Help Yourself
Include some flax in your diet because it contains phytoestrogens, protein and healthy fats, which will support your hormonal balance.
Try ground flaxseeds on your breakfast cereal or flaxseed oil in your salad dressing (whole flaxseeds are not easily digested, so you reap less benefit).
Elevated FSH
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is a hormone released from the pituitary gland that tells the ovaries to start preparing an egg to ovulate each cycle. As you approach menopause, the hormones regulating the menstrual cycle begin to change. As we age, it can become elevated and higher levels are associated with decreased fertility. FSH levels fluctuate each cycle and can respond very well to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Most fertility clinics require FSH to be within a certain range in order to proceed with reproductive treatments, so regulating this hormone can be very important for fertility and the success of treatments like IVF.
At home tips for relief:How to Help Yourself
If your FSH is high, establish whether you are ovulating and, if so, keep trying for natural conception
Use meditation and visualization techniques to reduce stress and help normalize FSH.
Avoid low calorie diets and limit coffee and alcohol.
Uterine Fibroids
Uterine fibroids are benign growths in the uterus and are often associated with heavy periods, cramping, bleeding, or spotting between periods, abdominal swelling, and sometimes pain during intercourse. They can also interfere with the ability to conceive. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can be effective as treatment for fibroids or as an adjunctive treatment with Western medical interventions when fibroids are advanced in size.
How to Help Yourself
Many of our patients find that adopting a low fat, high fiber, mostly vegetarian diet is helpful. If you are overweight, losing a few pounds could help as excess fat increases the amount of estrogen in your system and that in turn causes fibroids to grow.
For the same reason avoid hormonally treated meat and dairy and eat as much organic produce as you can.
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Acupuncture offsets the effects of stress on some reproductive hormones, according to clinical research.

Source: Fertility and Sterility.

Research has shown that acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic pain.

Source: American Academy of Family Physicians.

There is a measurable increase in pregnancy success rates when IVF is used in conjunction with acupuncture vs without.

Source: Fertility and Sterility.

82% of women with Endometriosis saw their symptoms mostly or entirely alleviated with acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

Source: Cochrane Library.

Chinese medicine creates the ideal conditions for healthy egg development by maintaining the delicate balance of hormones and increasing ovarian blood flow.

Source: Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

Locations

We tailor our treatments to the needs of people through all of life’s stages and transitions to create a unique response to each phase of life.

Supporting you during all of life's stages

Puberty

Preparing for Pregnancy

Pregnancy

Parenthood

Perimenopause

Menopause

We use the Yinova Method to treat a range of health conditions.

Related Resources

Fertility

Pregnancy

Menopause

Cycles

Cancer Care

Teenagers

Chinese Medicine

Teenagers

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