Today was my first fertility acupuncture session. We started out with a consult. She went through my fertility history. Then she told me all the things I've done wrong. IUD? Bad for the lining! D&Cs? Terrible idea, guaranteed to have lining issues after 3 D&Cs. Should have managed a natural miscarriage after my first loss, even though my body hadn't miscarried 5 weeks out. Egg quality? Likely poor. Exercise habits? Bad - wasting my life energy on exercise. Should avoid sweating. Feeling stressed when pregnant? Terrible for me and baby. She also noted that some people have actual problems to fix, some just have symptoms. I fall into the actual problems category.
She summarized: "you have bad soil."
Fair, I guess. I say 'my lining sucks', you say 'bad soil.' Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
She wanted me to take 3 months off from trying (100 days) and focus on weekly acupuncture sessions and 24 herbal pills a day, with the intent of helping egg quality. I indicated that if CD1 falls early enough in April, I will start fertility treatments. She said most patients don't want to wait, so we'd do one month of pills and treatments once a week. Once I start injections, I stop the pills, but try for twice a week and try to schedule on ovulation day.
We'll give it a shot. I mean, hey, it's only hundreds of dollars more and additional unpleasant poking and prodding, right? And hey, the placebo effect produces results, and all I really care about is the results, not the methodology!
First acupuncture session was . . . not terribly pleasant. She placed needles in my hands, feet/lower legs, abdomen, and one in my head. She focused a heat lamp on my abdomen, and did electrical stimulation of two of the abdominal needles. The heat was nice, the electrical stimulation went from being unnoticeable to unpleasant and back over the 20 minutes I was there. I didn't feel most of the needles during the session, but my hands and feet are sore now. I've taken my first 12 pills (6 Shao Fu Zhu Yu Pian and 6 Wen Jin Pian, twice a day). She said I might have more bleeding as a result of the treatment, but so far, nothing.
Back again next Thursday. We'll see what that this month brings.
I’m a firm believer in acupuncture. But someone who starts the first session telling you you’re doing everything wrong gives me pause. Trust you gut with this one. If you feel like it’s working, run with it. But if not, don’t hesitate to leave.
ReplyDeleteI’m actually getting a recommendation from my old acupuncturist. Will ask if she has someone she recommends for MN and can pass on that information if you like
If your provider had a recommendation here, that would be great! I did read as many reviews of local providers as I could find, and this one had great feedback. I suppose the important thing is the outcome!
ReplyDeleteEarlier in the day, I'd been at a work event that discussed the importance of focusing your development on your strengths. There was an executive panel, and one senior exec noted that she came from the typical Asian family: as a kid, when she got a 98 on a test in school, the first question from her parents was 'what two things did you get wrong?' (My uber-caucasian parents were the same). She has a hard time focusing on strengths as a result. I had to laugh with the acupuncturist, because she clearly was focusing on what was wrong, and it made me think of the earlier comments about Asian stereotypes!
From my provider (who I love!):
ReplyDeletehttps://aborm.org/find-a-practitioner/?zoom=15&is_mile=1&directory_radius=0&sort=title&keywords=&address=Minneapolis%2C+MN%2C+USA&directory_radius=0¢er=44.977753%2C-93.26501080000003&address_type=&category=0
Awesome, thank you!!!
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