TTC with Traditional Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kristen Suzanne on July 31, 2009 at 1:56am

Hi Terra,

I used TCM and Acupuncture for a few months while TTC. I blogged very briefly about it here.

My overall impression and experience:
While I am no longer under that form of treatment because I've graduated myself to ART (Mini-IVF specifically) in a state on the other side of the country, I am happy that I used it in my journey. It was helpful in straightening out my period a little, and I can't help but think that the relaxed time spent during the acupuncture sessions greatly helped my overall emotional and physical well-being. And, who knows... perhaps the sessions helped increase blood flow to my uterus, thereby making it stronger, and therefore it might have increased my ability to have the "fresh" transfer that I had immediately after egg retrieval (as opposed to sitting out until the next cycle for a "frozen" transfer because my uterus was too thin for implantation from the drugs).

Additionally, I've read some great success stories with it. I think one way to tell if it's helping you is to gauge how you feel through the treatments... giving it a couple of months to see if helps your cycle. If you're feeling healthier and your periods are better, then there's a good chance that it's helping your overall fertility.

Good luck,
Kristen

Permalink Reply by Marci For Birth Choice on August 15, 2009 at 6:10pm

Hey Terra,

Just clicked on this discussion and thought "hmmm,.....some similarities!" I wrote a bunch about this on the general Trying to conceive page, but I was curious: did your doctor ever prescribe HCG injections (yup, the pregnancy hormone) for your luteal phase defect? Because I have the same thing, and this is what my doctor prescribed, and it has remedied the problem. I never needed the HCG to ovulate; just to fix my luteal phase defect. Right now my husband and I are trying to conceive, and the doctor has me still taking the HCG injections just until Peak + 9. At Peak + 17, I have to do a blood pregnancy test. If the test is positive, that night I'm to go home and put in a pure progesterone suppository (goes "down there" lol); I'm supposed to take this suppository daily throughout the pregnancy to avoid miscarriage. If I'm not pregnant, I keep taking the HCG and repeat this all the next cycle.

I don't know if you practice Fertility Awareness, but I use the Creighton Model of Fertility Care System/NaPro Technology. I had follow up sessions with a practitioner, who flagged the fact that I had a luteal phase defect. Who then referred me to a doctor who learned about the Creighton Method specifically and could read my charts and could then recommend treatments based on what she saw. This is really important: many doctors do not know about fertility awareness in depth (even fertility doctors; some predominantly prescribe drugs like Clomid and Invitro without first trying fertility awareness). It's important to speak to a doctor who truly understands the science of FAM. The Creighton method isn't obviously the only FAM out there, but I highly recommend it because they prescribe treatments that are more natural and are designed specifically to work with your body rather than against it. And I've heard that they believe in what they do so much, that if a couple doesn't have money to pay, they will provide their services free of charge. And they provide services to people of all faiths or who don't subscribe to a faith base (I'm not Catholic, and they were great. No preaching, just kindness). The big thing for me is that after you've charted a couple cycles and they've established what the problems are, they refer you to a doctor who is trained in the method and will strive to provide you with more natural, un-invasive options.

I'm in Canada, and go to a center in downtown Toronto called the Marguerite Bourgeoys Family Center to learn and follow up with the Creighton method. But if you're in the states, you're really lucky because the headquarters for this method and it's practitioners are down there!

You might be interested in these links:
http://www.mbfc.ca/(in Canada)
http://www.creightonmodel.com/ (more information links to the states)

I will definitely let you know if/when I conceive and how the treatment is going. I've never known anyone else who had this problem too, so I'm really eager to just share my experiences.

Cheers and loads of Baby dust!!!!!!

Permalink Reply by Terra Maroun on October 7, 2009 at 12:44pm

wow, sorry this took me so long to get back on! Life has been crazy busy. My hubby just got home from military deployment. We tried this past month to jump back on the "let's have a baby" bandwagon, and I've been receiving acupuncture now for 3 months. This cycle we did not coneive and I was a bit disappointed. My luteal phase is unexplainable. I am ovulating on day 13-14 every cycle but my luteal phase ranges between 9 and 11 days. I know I won't be able to get pregnant with this problem. I was using bio-identical progesterone cream from a compounding pharmacist that was seeing, but then found out that it is absorbed into your fat cells and released throughout the month even during your follicular phase. My acupuncturist recommended that I get off of it. I am lost. haha..I know I am not infertile...just some switch in my body is turned off. Thank you for the information! Very insightful!

Permalink Reply by tamara on September 1, 2009 at 1:01pm

Hi Terra,

I was doing acupuncture every week and I got pregnant within 3 months of going off the pill. I was a little shocked but now looking back I'm sure the acupuncture and herbs helped. I'm going to continue to go every week for as long as I can as I feel it will help with along the way plus with the birth.
Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Emily on October 8, 2009 at 8:41am

I am currently pregnant and see an accupuncturist for pregnancy related carpal tunnel. My accuman works exclusively with women TTC and pregnant women and has had wonderful success. I would also reccomend that you make sure your husband/partner is getting enough zinc. Zinc is to men as estrogren is to women and is very important in fertility. There are also vitamins that you may be lacking (although without pulling out my textbooks can't recall which) but they play heavily in conceiving and carrying to term. I'd suggest you start on prenatals as soon as you start TTC. You can also try Hypnotherapy as a natural means to reduce stress and resolve any negative emotions surrounding conceiving.

Permalink Reply by Chelsea on January 22, 2010 at 2:11pm

All,
I just made my first appointment with an acupuncturist that came highly recommended to me. My husband and I have been ttc for 7 months with a miscarriage in September. The practitioners I'm going to see seem to specialize in pregnancy and infertility, and claim that it can increase a couple's chances by 35-60%. You can read about them at: http://www.bitterrootacupuncture.com/ if anyone is interested.

I'll keep y'all updated on how it goes!

-chelsea

Permalink Reply by Chelsea on January 31, 2010 at 2:10pm

Well, I just found out I'm pregnant, so I canceled the appointment. Has anyone heard of using acupuncture to help balance or improve hormone production? I'm having my progesterone levels tested on Tuesday to make sure they are high enough to maintain the pregnancy.

Permalink Reply by Marci For Birth Choice on February 25, 2010 at 4:18am

I've heard some women say it helps, so if you're interested, I'd go for it. They really can help to balance hormones with acupuncture, and it seems like a really holistic approach to take. Good luck with the progesterone levels and the pregnancy :)