Magical Chinese Cure All?

I wrote here about the rash that cropped up practically the second I started this cycles birth control regimen. It was itching like crazy and I still have no idea what caused it - hormones? All the medications? Detergent in my sheets? something I touched? A yeast skin rash from the birth control? A combination of the above?

I asked my acupuncturist about it and she said that from a Chinese Medicine stand point, rashes like that are the result of damp heat or "wind" in the skin. She used several points to help clear out heat and dampness in my acupuncture session and gave me this herbal wash that she usually gives to her post postpartum patients to help with healing tears, hemorrhoids, yeast infections and a whole host of other things.

Yin Care

I've been using this stuff for two days and I have to say it's friggin' magical. It's like there's nothing this stuff can't treat.  The ingredient list is full of herbs and extracts, some I recognize and others I'm totally unfamiliar with: 

Extracts & Essential Oils of:

• Di Fu Zi - Kochia
• Yin Chen Hao - Artemisia
• Du Huo - Angelica
• She Chuang Zi - Cnidium
• Shi Chang Pu - Acorus
• Ai Ye - Artemisia
• Bo He - Mentha
• Jin Yin Hua - Lonicera
• Zhi Zi - Gardenia
• Huang Bai - Phellodendron
• Huang Qin - Scutellaria
• Ku Shen - Sophora
• Cang Zhu - Atractylodes
• Tu Jing Pi - Pseudolarix

The list of things this stuff successfully treats is unbelievable. You can use it as a compress, rub, rinse, douche, soak, spray, mix it with a compounding cream and even soak tampons in it. Depending on the ailment you're treating, you dilute it with different amounts of water but you can also use it at full strength.

Topically, Yin care treats:

• Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis, Rashes, Rosacea, Hemorrhoids
• Shingles, Cold Sores, Sty, Athletes Foot, Poison Oak, Poison Ivy 
• Fungal Infections in the nail, toe or skin, Insect Bites and Staph Infections 

 For Gynecological issues, Yin care treats:

• Yeast, Bacterial, Fungal, and Trichomonia Infections 
• Vulvitis, STD
• Cervical Dysplasia, Cervicitis

A herbal solution that treats everything from acne and hemorrhoids to poison ivy and yeast infections? How does this even exist? I can even use it on Milou's flea bite/lick granulomas. This stuff is insane, it's already helping to clear up some acne and a small rash E had.

OMG. Just this very moment I think I figured out what caused the rash on my groin. I'm fairly sure that the day I started birth control I also shaved my bikini line. With E's man scented shave cream. That I am obviously allergic to. Whoops.

I still don't know what caused the one on my stomach but that one is basically gone, so major points to Yin-care.  

Those little dots are the last remnants of the belly rash. Bye bye!

Go, Baby, Go!

IUI number 2 is complete and I feel super psyched and so hopeful about this cycle! It's been a long day for E and I, we had to be up early to meet the nurse at 8:30am to deliver our cryotank. She took my vitals, had me sign the consent form and then gave us about two hours to kill. Since we didn't want to sit around in the waiting room, we drove to the nearby coffee bean and had some breakfast. I'm absolutely in love with their chai latte with almond coconut milk, it's delicious :)

After breakfast it was back to the waiting room to wait some more. They were running really behind today and had a ton of patients to see. We finally went back to a room and Nurse C joined us with her  trainee nurse, Nurse M, who will be replacing Nurse C when she retires.  She's really nice and I enjoy her bedside manner a lot, but she's not quite as good as Nurse C. Nurse M put my speculum in wrong, OW, and Nurse C had to reposition it and take over the IUI later when Nurse M couldn't get the catheter in.

Before we got down to business, Nurse C asked us to confirm our donor number and make sure everything was labeled correctly. Our count this time was phenomenal, 148 million with 70% motility post thaw! Last cycle was only 50 million with 50% motility so I'm feeling much more confident about our swimmers this time. Come on boys (and girls!), you can do it!

Our tiny vial, this thing cost $850

Nurse M tried to insert the flexible catheter but seemed to have difficulty with the internal portion of my cervix. It was pretty uncomfortable, though not painful, to have her poking around and I was relieved and felt much better about Nurse C taking over. Nurse M had the speculum jammed straight in, instead of following the natural curve of your body, and I didn't realize how poorly it was positioned until Nurse C adjusted it down and my legs dropped like 6 inches. She swapped the catheter out for a stiffer one, popped it right in on the first go and said

"Here we go! There go your little guys, and gals!"

This time, we chose to inspire our swimmers with the classic 80's movie soundtrack of Look Who's Talking while I laid with me knees up for 30 minutes:

I hope they were inspired by the Beach Boys to follow the trail leading them towards all those eggs. I was a little worried about when I would ovulate and whether it had happened or not, I know many women say they can feel ovulation when they are releasing multiple eggs and I hadn't felt anything. Nurse C told me not to worry about it and she was right, as I'm typing this now at 6:30 I can feel definite uncomfortable cramping on the side where I have 5 eggs. It's starting to hurt so I'm hoping those follies are all rupturing and releasing their eggs!

After the IUI, E and I went and stuffed ourselves at The Smoke House. It's a decent steakhouse, not super high end, but full of that old school-red-booth-dim-lighting steakhouse charm. I had a little fillet with mashed potatoes, spinach and insanely delicious garlic bread while E had BBQ ribs and chicken with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. It was indulgent celebration lunch, a little off diet, and it filled the time gap between our IUI and my acupuncture appointment. We used to go all the time for celebrations when we lived in The Valley and now I drive past it on my way to acupuncture and long to stop and order that garlic bread. I was so glad I got my fix at last :)

With my tummy full to bursting and my eyes heavy, acupuncture was wonderful as usual and I slept from 2:00pm-3:30pm. S is feeling really good about this cycle too and told me that Dr. K called and asked her what on earth she was giving me to grow so many follicles so big! I love that my whole team is so supportive, it makes me feel well taken care of. While I was asleep with my needles in, E went down the street and treated himself to an ass kicking 60 minute massage where they bent and twisted him like a pretzel until he felt amazing. I'm going to have to go and try this place myself at some point, he gave it a glowing two thumbs up. 

I start my most hated Endometrin on Thursday and thus begins the dreaded two week wait. My blood test is scheduled for Sunday July 6th and I can already tell I won't be able to wait to test this time. I have acupuncture again tomorrow to help the egg and sperm find each other and then another session on Friday to help encourage implantation. I'm trying to focus on work to keep myself busy while also being careful not to stress or overexert myself. The gym is off limits, I'm not supposed to lift heavy things and I've already been tested today when I went to move a piece of furniture and realized it fell under the category of "things I shouldn't be doing" ugh. 

It's going to be a long two weeks to find out that this cycle was a success. I really think we did it this time!

IUI Take Two, The (Second) First Injection

This mornings injection, the first one of our second cycle, went pretty well. Mixing everything up was second nature at this point, and it was nice to only have to mix 4 vials at once. E is off work today, his first off day in forever, so he was able to keep me company while I did it. It was a really wonderful change.

The injection itself wasn't too bad, but I did feel a little out of practice. I felt that edgy sense of panic rise up for a second right before I stuck the needle in, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. I need to try and remember how I sat last time for the most comfortable injection, the needle was a little uncomfortable in my skin and I couldn't tell if I was sitting wrong or just needed to desensitize myself a bit. It burned going in as usual, but like before it's nothing unbearable if I go slowly. I'll probably try a different position for my injection tonight to see if it helps.

4 Days of Menopur, so many vials!

To try and limit skin irritation, I'm going to trade off sides in the morning and evenings. This morning I injected on the right side, so I'll do tonight's injection on the left. Last cycle I did one side per day to give the skin time to heal, but that won't be possible with two injections daily instead of one.

I'm also unnecessarily concerned that I'll forget to do one of the injections. Last cycle I was so strict and focused it felt like tunnel vision. I'm trying to be more relaxed about this one. I'm "cheating" on the acupuncture diet, although I'm still faithfully taking my supplements and drinking my tea, and I'm trying not to stress about things. Tomorrow I have acupuncture and I go in for my E2 ultrasound and labs on Monday morning.

Jinx

At my ultrasound appointment yesterday, the nurse asked me if I was having any side effects from the Menopur I've been taking. Apparently it can cause cramping and a whole lot of other unpleasant side effects in many people. I was happy to report back that I felt just fine, no cramping, and the injections *didn't even hurt OMG yay!* as long as I did them slowly! I felt like I could ride off into the sunset on a rainbow shitting unicorn on because I felt great! *insert some rainbows, sunshine and glitter shit here*

Ha Ha. Not.

Yeah. Because that's not painting a big huge target on my back for fate.

So, naturally, the second I left the doctor's office I started to feel sick. Then I remembered that I had had some digestive upset when I woke up that morning, but I'd attributed it to nerves. I sucked it up, blamed nerves again, and went to my acupuncture appointment. I told my acupuncturist, S, all about the insurance woes and my low estrogen and she told me she'd already received a call from my RE, Dr. K, that morning.

Dr. K actually called S, personally, because she believes in what she does. Even though S sees Dr. K's patients and is a Nurse Midwife at Kaiser, S said she's never had a doctor personally call about a patient before. Dr. K asked her to please do whatever she could to help me, to try and get as much blood flow to my ovaries as possible because we have to help my follies develop and get my estrogen up or this wasn't going to work. This really choked me up, I don't know how my chances are looking for this cycle but I really love my infertility team. I couldn't ask for better, more supportive doctors.

With specific marching orders in hand, S began my treatment to clear out the cold and phlegm and get my blood flowing. I also told her about my weird stomach pain so she added on a stomach treatment for that. And for the first time ever, those needles hurt. She put the first one in my foot and my leg nearly jumped off the table. "I'm sorry," she said, "you're much more sensitive today. The Menopur can do that, make your skin much more sensitive". Ow.

This was the 4th time I've done acupuncture and the first time it's ever been uncomfortable. Each needle hurt a bit going in and was sore during my hour, although I was able to ignore it and focus on visualizing all my energy going to my ovaries. S strongly believes that you need to put positive energy out there so I'm sending every positive thought I've got down to those follies. Afterwards, the points in my left wrist and left foot were actually too sore for me to put my watch or sandals back on, another first. I usually feel relaxed and refreshed after a session, not sore.

Before I left S also told me that she had a patient who might have some extra Menopur. She had been planning to donate it to another woman who ended up not needing it so it might be available for me! This would be so, so wonderful, with the increase to 5 vials a day, I don't think the stash I just bought is going to get me through this entire cycle. I might also be one of those people who are slow to stimulate and require a couple extra days of injections, which would mean I'd definitely be short.  I should know on Monday if she still has the Menopur available.

As for the side effects, they continued for most of the day. S's stomach treatment worked for a couple of hours, but the general stomach pain eventually came back. I didn't feel nauseous, crampy, and I didn't have ovarian pain, my stomach just hurt. The injection was also much more painful last night, the needle itself was really uncomfortable for the first time and it took me a good 5 minutes to inject all the liquid. Even though the acupuncture hurt, I somehow wasn't expecting my injection to hurt and was completely surprised when I stuck the needle in and my skin went OWWWW. I hope this is a temporary side effect because I have at least 5 more injections to go.

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.