Acupuncture!

Last Tuesday I had my first acupuncture appointment. I've been indecisive about acupuncture as a treatment for a while, live in a rural are where finding an acupuncturist, especially one who treats infertility is difficult and I've always made excuses about money or commitment or whatever, until now. There couldn't be a better time to try acupuncture and Chinese medicine than when F and I are apart and thus, not trying, and I'm in a city with many choices for practitioners, many of whom specialize in fertility.

I didn't know what to expect and here's what happened (for comparison, for those interested in acupuncture):

She asked many many questions, many more than my RE and any ob/gyn or CNM I've ever been to. Questions about PMS symptoms: I usually get achy legs, from my hip flexers to my toes, more so in my left leg, a couple days before my period, especially when it is cold. Previous responses by medical practitioners have always been, "hmm, that's odd, I'm sure its nothing." With my acupuncturist, I felt like it was a real symptom of something, not nothing. The same with clots on the first day of my flow. Sometimes it seems like there are more clots than fluid. I know this means something to my acupuncturist and reducing the clots is one of our treatment goals for this cycle. I have cold hands and feet. I must have had a weak pulse because she put a needle in each arm above my wrist. While I was lying there I imagined that my hands were curling up and my arms were getting shorter, a resistance. I looked down to check my hands but they were still palms up. When she removed the needles my forearms felt tired.

We talked about everything from diet and digestion, including all forms of excrement to my emotions and relationship with F and finally to my IF treatments so far and what I wanted to accomplish with acupuncture. I cried.

She also placed needles near my groin (yep, underwear came off and I got a paper gown to remind me what I was there for) in line horizontally with my pubic bone and vertically with my hip bones, in my calf and above my ankle. I think these last two points were liver points?

Acupuncture for unexplained infertility makes sense to me, because as my acupuncturist explained, I'm only unexplained by western medicine, not Chinese Medicine and not based on symptoms we talked about (symptoms that are not really symptoms to my RE). Josey recommended The Infertility Cure for anyone thinking about acupuncture and Chinese Medicine for Infertility. Not that I view acupuncture or Chinese Medicine as a potential 'cure' or even a treatment that results in a pregnancy and birth. Its just that the statistics are so low for treatments like IUI and even IVF--meaning NO treatment is a guarantee. F was feeling a bit skeptical about my weekly appointment schedule and herb prescriptions ($$) and I gave my opinion that if no treatment is a guarantee and some carry with them a very low chance of pregnancy per try, why value one treatment over (until its clearly not working and time to move on)?

At the end of the session, I really didn't feel any different or relaxed, other than my tired forearms. I felt a little movement in my bowels. My goal is to do more research about the points being used, Liver Qi and blood stagnation and some other imbalances she mentioned. During the next session I hope to talk about what she is focusing on that session and ask more questions about what points are being worked. On Monday she will have my herbs prepared and I will start those and then we'll see if I notice any improvements in PMS symptoms and blood flow the week after.

It's nice to have something positive to focus on during our break. Feel free to share any experiences with acupuncture, what your practitioner says about PMS symptoms and blood clots during menstruation, or any questions you have about trying acupuncture/Chinese medicine.


P.S. She said to give up coffee, even decaf. This is a dilemma I wrote about in my Fertility Diet post.