For three weeks now I've been seeing an acupuncturist. And for seven weeks I've been on a new diet to support the work my acupuncturist is doing to promote my fertility through Traditional Chinese Medicine. The quote above is actually an edited photo I took of a wall hanging in my acupuncturist's office. It really inspires me and helps me to look at my situation differently and helps me to take on this new challenge head on.
So, as I've alluded to in previous posts, I'm basically trying to incorporate some holistic Eastern healing methods in with our Western medicinal approach. We've been down the route of IUI, surgery, diagnostic testing and Western Medicine has left us infertile for over three years and with a frustrating diagnosis of "unexplained infertility." The doctors say we have a 3% chance of conceiving on our own and that our best hope of achieving the family we want is to do IVF, which costs $13-23K and is not covered by health insurance.
We decided to try something completely different as kind of a last ditch effort before financing IVF next year, so based off high recommendations from other women in our infertility support group, we decided to read The Infertility Cure and I scheduled an appointment an acupuncturist in our area who specializes in infertility and actually collaborates with Dr. Randine Lewis, the author of The Infertility Cure, as a member of The Fertile Soul group.
The Fertile Soul is a body, mind, spirit program of deep internal healing based upon Taoist and Chinese medical practices. They treat infertility by integrating Western expertise with Eastern acupuncture, dietary modifications, traditional Chinese herbal medicine, and healing movement such as fertility yoga. This blend of therapies helps you heal and strengthen your body and reproductive system by overcoming obstructions to the creative life force, helping people take control of their lives, recognizing causes of imbalance, and obtaining inner peace and harmony.
As I said above, I've been on the new diet for seven weeks and have had weekly acupuncture appointments for three weeks now. So far I'm really enjoying the program and looking forward to sharing my thoughts about this experience in a series of future blog posts. Topics I would like to cover include:
- The book and TCM philosophy
- The diet and weightloss, and how it effects fertility
- How acupuncture can help fertility
- The herbal treatments
- Charting your cycle
- Changes I've observed in my body and outlook
- Getting the support you need
- Fertility yoga
- Meditation, relaxation, and mindfullness
- Financial considerations
- Our modified plan for TTC & ART
It's going to be a busy Fall with work and personal life events but I'll do my best to check in as often as I can and chip away at this list of topics I'd like to explain as I explore this exciting new approach to our infertility journey!
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