This content was created by Erica Hoke. This content was uploaded by Erica Hoke. This is a YouTube interview titled "Fertility Success with Acupuncture: WFLA Bloom Interview with Dr. Martha Huie & Erica Hoke" (recorded May 18, 2024). The excerpt is an English, on-air conversation featuring a host (SPEAKER A), Dr. Martha Huie (acupuncture physician/TCM expert) and fertility coach and author Erica Hoke. They discuss how traditional Chinese medicine—acupuncture, herbs, diet and lifestyle—can support fertility, the integration of Eastern and Western medicine, and personal patient experiences and success stories.
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Finding balance in life while trying to conceive isn't always easy, especially if you're experiencing infertility issues. That's why many people are turning to the ancient art of acupuncture for help. Joining me now with how traditional Chinese medicine can boost fertility is acupuncture physician Dr. Martha Huey and fertility coach and the author of her infertility success series, Erica Hoke. Ladies, thank you both for being here.
Our pleasure.
Erica, you credit Dr. Hoke for helping you conceive.
I absolutely do. You know, I was going about 3 times a week for fertility acupuncture before I conceived my first son, and I will say I was not a fan of needles before I started acupuncture, but I think that that's something that keeps people away from acupuncture, but I want to assure everybody that it's very relaxing and you can't really feel it as much as you you would imagine in your mind.
Yeah, you don't feel it at all, and I, I was sharing with Dr. Huey and Erica Hoke that I lost my first baby through an ectopic pregnancy, and this was recommended to me years ago, and I found it to be so beneficial. Doctor, how does it work and how does it help support fertility?
Well, this ancient medicine has a long history in working with all of the body's issues, including infertility. And the people ask, how does it work? It achieves balance. It reboots the computer so the body is able to receive and conceive. And so if there is an excess or a deficiency, the acupuncture and the Chinese herbs bring the body back into balance and reset the structure in order to achieve conception.
Now I know when you originally started, your business was called Acupuncture Anywhere. You're based out of Sarasota. It's because you would treat not just for fertility. It's great that you are an expert in this area, but you know, today we're talking about how whether you're trying to conceive a child or not, the journey to doing so will bring you into overall health, and acupuncture does that for so many people in so many different ways.
It boosts the immune system. It balances all the organic functions. The GI, the heart, the mind. And at this moment, I would like to say a very special thank you to my colleague and professor, Dr. Wei Lo in Sarasota, Florida, who is a fertility specialist, a Western OB/GYN, as well as a TCM doctor. And my success, I credit to her directly.
That is so beautiful. And I should say, you know, when I went through this treatment all these moons ago, it was a Western medicine doctor that was doing acupuncture on me, but she believed in that balance of East and West medicine because really this has been proven for thousands of years.
Thousands, millions upon millions of cases, and they wrote everything down. So we have the records, and that's the advantage. We live in a day and age where we have the banquet table. We can have East and West medicine. For the benefit of the patient.
And for you, Erica Hoke, Western medicine alone is not what got you pregnant. You had to go through your own personal healing journey, and throughout your series, you share the wealth of knowledge that you personally learned along the way.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I do not believe that without any one of the pieces, including acupuncture, that I would have been able to conceive. And I do just want to mention that many reproductive endocrinologists now either have an acupuncture doctor in their office office for both before and after procedures. But yes, we are now seeing, you know, with the fertility doctors that they are embracing both Eastern and Western medicine.
And Dr. Hoke, is it true you're, you're the godmother to one of Erica's beautiful boys?
Yes, one of the boys there.
So that must mean a lot to you that what you do helps people in such a way that they want to give you a piece of their child to overlook because you helped bring that child into this world.
Well, this is the joy of my kind of medical practice. I've seen babies before they were, you know, walking, coming in through the basket after we helped them be conceived and deliver. And I've seen some of them graduate from high school now. So it's been a joyful practice.
And we have just 30 seconds left, but I know you talk to your patients about acupuncture and some of the pure, you know, tinctures and vitamins and things that people can take.
Right, it is a holistic practice where we work with food therapy, exercise, massage, meditation, herbs, acupuncture, and sometimes surgery if there's an endometriosis issue. But these are some of the older varieties of medication as far as being in a liquid or tea presentation, and these are the newer presentations of pills. To help women conceive.
Dr. Hoke, thank you. It's such a pleasure meeting you.
My great pleasure to be here.
Erica Hoke, once again, thank you for the introductions today.
Thank you.
And we're gonna share this story on bloomtampabay.com.
