FRIDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Acupuncture and exercise may help women better handle the symptoms and risks that come with hormone imbalances caused by certain ovarian cysts, Swedish researchers report.

A review of the medical literature on acupuncture and female fertility published in the journal Fertility and Sterility has shown that acupuncture can help reduce stress, increase blood flow to the reproductive organs and normalise ovulation and the menstrual cycle. As such, women struggling to get pregnant may want to add acupuncture to their roster of fertility-boosting treatments, according to study author Dr. Raymond Chang of Cornell University.

"I would like to spread the word about acupuncture at Pinehurst Healing Arts in Washington Heights to those women who are trying to conceive. After about 8 IUI attempts and one unsuccessful IVF treatment, I was open to anything that may improve my chances.

I read dozens of articles about acupuncture and fertility and asked my doctor at my fertility clinic for his advice. He was surprisingly positive about studies that have shown acupuncture to increase the chances of conceiving. So, I decided to try acupuncture even though I had never gone for acupuncture before.