acupuncture {for PCOS, fertility and other things}

Gosh it feels like a long time since I talked about our ttc journey…I was busy socialising and drinking wine.  Tough life!

And incase you are new to the blog there are a lot of acronyms for all things fertility related, if you want to know what any of them are have a browse through my abbreviation’s page which lists them all.  If I have missed any let me know and I will update the list.

My main {in}fertility issues are:
excessively long cycles…the two natural cycles I had pre-pregnancy we 56 days long!
which means we can pretty safely assume I don’t ovulate with any regularity, showstopper alert
I am overweight and unfit which is made worse by PCOS and makes PCOS worse {that’ll be a vicious cycle right there}

Our game plan is:
to try to tackle the above without using western medicine.  I don’t want to go on metformin and would prefer to take some time to try to get my body ‘behaving’ before going down the fertility assistance route like clomid etc.  It was also important to us to try to not lose ourselves into the battle that fertility can be whatever that ends up meaning.

Ok enough already, you called the post acupuncture for PCOS
but you haven’t mentioned acupuncture yet?!!

I had been having regular reflexology and was a big advocate of it, in fact I even attribute my first pregnancy to it.  But I had a bit of a run in with the lady {don’t ask} I was seeing and so bit the bullet and looked into acupuncture.  Lots of people had recommended acupuncture but my fear of needles had always put me off.  Fortunately over the last few years I have got much better with needles…needs must basically.

So what is acupuncture?
The overall aim of acupuncture is to restore the body’s equilibrium.  The focus is on the individual and not the illness, all symptoms are considered as a collective.  The underlying principle is that illness and pain occur when the body’s vital energy source, qi, cannot flow freely.  Until the 1940s there was no uniform approach which has led to many different forms of acupuncture as the skills were passed down through families.

I have also been receiving electro-acupuncture where a very low frequency electrical current is passed through the points to increase blood flow, relax the muscle tissue and clear stagnant qi.

How did I set up the appointment?
First I researched acupuncturists…it is important you choose the right person – I mean you don’t just want some random sticking needles in you.  Plus I really think that with a lot of these alternative medicines are grounded in the person, not just the technique – so to me aura and all that sort of hippy-esque stuff is important.  The British Acupuncture Council has a great website which includes information about the history of acupuncture, styles of acupuncture and what to expect from your first treatment.

I used their ‘find a practitioner near you’ feature to locate a few different options.  Then I researched those individuals to see who I thought would be a good fit for me.  And that is how I got to Jody Ragg of Well Being Acupuncture.  I chose her because of her location, she is affiliated with Zita West and specialises in acupuncture in fertility.

Does it hurt?

Short answer = No

But you know me, I will always be 100% honest.  I have had one point bruise badly but I bruise easily because of my aspirin and it wasn’t painful at all.  Plus I have on average around 10-15 needles per session and have had about 8 sessions so 1 bruise in all that time is pretty minimal.  My wrists itch a little after having needles in there but I think that is from the heat generated by it being at an energy point.

There have been two occasions when I wasn’t able to tolerate the needle at a specific point, one made ‘sense’ because I had a sinus infection and it was a sinus point but the other occasion was very random as it was in my wrist and the same point on the other wrist was totally fine.  On both occasions Jody was quick to respond when I told her it was sore, as she tells me acupuncture shouldn’t hurt.  I always think you should be reassured by the fact that I normally have the most amazing spaced out nap during it although I didn’t totally relax into the process until 2-3 sessions in.

What ‘results’ have I seen?
The two cycles before I was pregnant were 56 days each.  After the surgery for my miscarriage I had a cycle of 46 days.  I have had one cycle with acupuncture and it was only 36 days long.  36 days people!!!  That was soooooo exciting to me – a cycle should be 25-35 days to ensure ovulation.  My period was also lighter and painless {this coming from the girl who normally doses up on ibuprofen and paracetamol and still gets pain!}  I may have seen more changes if I had been religiously charting but as part of my mission to not get obsessive {plus I was ill for 2-3 weeks with a horrible temperature, have been in different time zones and late nights/late mornings thanks to a boozy girly weekend hehe} I have taken a very relaxed approach to it.

NB: Relaxed does not equal me being ok with my weight being seemingly uncontrolible despite eating healthily and exercising plus despite the shorter cycles I don’t seem to have ovulated again this month {although I’m hopeful this will happen over the next three months as the shorter cycles bed down}.  So I have booked an appointment with my Doctor to discuss everything incase I need other treatments alongside the acupuncture – I really want to stress that my acupuncturist suggested this to me and hasn’t pushed acupuncture as being the only way to do things which I think is great!

How much does it cost?
It isn’t cheap, let me warn you now.  It was £85 for the first appointment and £45 for 45 minutes since then.  The first appointment was really thorough, I had to fill in a questionnaire before hand and we talked through the answers.  It was actually Jody who suggested I try counselling.

~~~~~

I really hope that was useful.  I am really enjoying the acupuncture and
think it is a therapy that I will try to include in my life long-term.
I definitely plan to still have regular treatments once I achieve a pregnancy.

If you are interested in acupuncture specifically for fertility
I would highly recommend the baby making bible by Emma Cannon.
I found it really interesting and informative without being scary or unachievable.