Infertility Acupuncture

In addition to our infertility treatment, E and I decided that I should give acupuncture a try. I'd never had acupuncture treatment before, but I had read several good things about it online and many people seem to have excellent success with it improving fertility.

Super Skinny Needles

I'm not sure how much it can help with my FXPOI, but there is scientific proof of increased blood flow to the uterus and ovaries, improved ovarian environment, lower FSH, more balanced hormones etc. I need to get my estradiol and AMH up, my FSH down and help convincing my body it has eggs and isn't 40. So, I put the question to my RE and was pleasantly surprised with her response.

Since many infertility patients are interested in pursuing acupuncture, my RE refers her patients to a wonderful acupuncturist. She is a Certified Nurse Midwife with a degree in nursing, a masters in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, and something like 6 years of Acupuncture training. Because she understands fertility from both an Eastern and Western perspective, my RE is okay with me taking herbal supplements throughout my infertility treatment.  If you have any experience with infertility treatment, you will know what a high endorsement that is.

Fertility Points

I started acupuncture once a week and have had three sessions thus far. I generally feel more relaxed after after each session, and I can feel all sorts of tingly things happening during a session but I can't pinpoint what it's doing without testing. The needles are so thin you can barely feel them, and often times it's the tap of her fingers that lets me know she's put a needle in.  The other day she accidentally poked my foot with the plastic packaging the needle comes in and I was struck by how the plastic package hurt way more than the needles.  There are a couple points that twinge or ache a little when she puts the needle in, but the ache means the needle is placed correctly.

I also just finished my first week of herbal supplementation, the acupuncturists prenatals, and the acupuncture diet, and from that, I can Definitely feel the difference. It only took about 24 hours of the powdered herbal tea twice a day for me to be insanely hungry. I used to be able to go all day without eating and not notice it, but the past week I've been ravenous. I wake up hungry, I'm hungry in between being hungry, and I go to bed hungry. Basically, I've felt like shoving food into my face at all times, with both hands, and a side of more food.

As to what I'm allowed to eat, that gets a little tricky. My rules are:

• No cold food, ice, ice water, cold anything 
• No dairy 
• No cheese - this gets it's own category. I loooove cheese :(
• No raw vegetables 
• No white flour, bread, pasta, etc 
• No sugar or artificial sugar 
• No juice 
• No caffeine

This leaves me with whole wheaty options, cooked veggies, lean protein, fresh fruit, beans, and a whole lot of soup. Basically, I've been eating soup, eggs or oatmeal for breakfast, soup for lunch, and some sort of protein, veggie, and brown rice/some carby thing for dinner. Even my corn chex with almond milk are considered cold food, so while I've been pretty limited, I haven't let it stop me from shoveling food in my face.

Breakfast

When I told my acupuncturist about my need to be eating at all times, she was thrilled. Apparently my metabolism has been functionally shut down due to my lack of hormones, and the fact that I'm crazy hungry means it's turning back on. I've also been back at the gym 6 days a week, so it's a double whammy.

In addition to my weekly appointments, I have to go in more frequently around my IUI. We'll probably do the procedure around the middle of May, and I'll have to go in a day or two before, the day of, and the day after. Between the Menopur injections, the trigger shot and the acupuncture needles, I'm essentially a human pincushion.

The only downside to Acupuncture is the cost. Without counting the special appointments around my IUI, acupuncture is essentially like a car payment every month. I'm hoping that it will improve my fertility and our chances of having a healthy baby enough that we won't need to do IVF, which will should save us money in the long run. It should also make me healthier, which is always good, and which will hopefully contribute towards some weight loss, balanced hormones, and a healthy pregnancy.