luckypenny,
thx for your reply(s)
Have you ever heard of the Hunyan Method for Fertility: The
Chinese Medicine Cure? by Yaron Seidman, LAc and he seems to be working wonders for women at his clinic in CT!
whe you have time check out Dr. Seidman's patient video testimonials,
http://www.hunyuan.org/
i'll post his lecture if anyone is interested. It really is a 2-hour lecture. The book covers pretty much the same content, i find the lecture preferable.
After viewing the lecture by him, my opinion of my IF was totally changed. He believes in women's bodies and doesn't necessary believe in old eggs, advanced age, etc. He is all around hopeful. He is convinced that woman over 40 who is truly healthy is more likely to conceive and bring to term than an unhealthy one of 32 years. Also he doesn't love western ART. At this point, I think most of us don't want to hear anything of the sort and turn away from TCM.
Dr Seidman, via TCM views the entire life cycle as a cycle and not in a linear sense. I have to say, sounds pretty spot on to me. During the lecture, I feel my IF was being explained to me. To put it in his words, I've used up all my Pre-Heaven essence with my lifestyle, diet and stress. This would help explain my IF: early to rise, late to bed, stress, stress, work, achieve, stress, drive and stress. drink after work friday to excess. These few actions do nothing but exhaust my kidney, liver, not to mention throw my hormones out of balance. that was part of my lifestyle, and it affected my fertility. I used to think staying off bcp would manage my reproductive health. it's possible, but it didn't seem to give me the advantage I thought it would. That was linear thinking. Now I realize that less stress to keep my hormones in balance may have been a better idea.
In the book, he does mention that herbs are the more effective for improving conception but used w/acupuncture to increase positive results. Also he notes that a skilled LAc makes the all the difference for the patient as there are many ways to use these powerful herbs.
with that I sought out a mature fertility LAc who is trained/educated in China. there is a tiny language culture gap and, I always feel like a loud westerner in her office but she cured my 4 years of night sweats and painful AF cramps. I am still early in my treatment, but I've seen positive results.
good luck with the herbs. if you can afford it i'd continue the acupunture. i think there are studies that say acupuncture can help improve ART. But I'm sure the acupuncture did do wonders for your health and will increase your chances with ART protocol. were you charting as well? did you notice any changes in your cycle while trying acupuncture?
BFP! 4/09 (to be cont.)
Maria (34) stage II endo
