First Acupuncture Appointment

Yesterday, I had my first acupuncture appointment. George went with me even though the appointment was mostly for me. His swimmers are above average, hehe, so not much work needed there! (thankfully!) Still, he's always so supportive and tries to go to as many appointments with me as possible. The appointment was an hour and a half long and we started out by talking about basics like nutrition, my cycle, our plan moving forward, etc. I really liked the guy. He seemed very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. He wasn't pushy or judgmental in any way, which was also good.

It's no secret that my eating habits need to change. I typically skip breakfast and only eat twice a day. He was telling me that is a huge no-no. I should definitely be eating a healthy breakfast and then eating at least every 3 hours to keep my blood sugar levels stable. I have heard this before, but hearing it again just makes it sink in more. He also gave me some herbs to take that he said will help control my blood sugar levels. It's called Gymnema leaf extract and I'm supposed to take it 20 minutes before my evening meal. What's exciting about this for me is that he said I should be able to stick with just the 1,000 mg. of Metformin I'm taking now without going back up to the 2,000 mg. This is very good news for me. My stomach tolerates the 1,000 mg. pill just fine right now. It's the 2,000 that literally kills my stomach. He said that while metformin is good for regulating the blood sugar levels, it also works to keep some other minerals from being absorbed properly into my body. I'll do whatever I can to minimize my metformin intake but still get the benefit of the controlled glucose levels. Yay! Good news there.

After we talked for a bit, he gave me my first acupuncture treatment. I laid on my stomach, face-down on the table. He put needles near my ankles somewhere and in my calf, then in several spots on my lower back. I was nervous about how the needles would feel. Sometimes it pinched a little going in, but it didn't hurt, which was good. Then, he hooked up these little wires to the needles and put 15 herz through them, making them vibrate. He said this is good for getting the blood moving. He explained how this will work to bathe my ovaries and send blood flow to the uterus, stimulating the follicles to grow and mature the eggs faster. With PCOS, one of the major problems is that eggs take so long to mature and cycles are so long, by the time the egg is ovulated, it isn't any good anymore and pregnancy can't happen. He hopes to get me ovulating a little bit early and make the eggs stronger and more mature. Do I really feel this is possible through acupuncture? I'm a little bit skeptical, to be honest. Clomid seemed to do the same thing, but it still didn't get me pregnant. On the other hand, I would be beyond thrilled to get pregnant naturally before we start IVF!

After about half an hour, he came back in, took out those needles and had me turn over. Then, he put needles in my ankles, feet, arms, hand and one in the center of my forehead. He felt my "kidney pulse" and at first said it was a little bit weak, then after about twenty minutes, he said it was much better. I didn't really feel particularly different, but I'm going to trust the process and hope for the best. I go back next Monday afternoon for another follicular treatment and to discuss a total plan for my health coming up.

One thing he did say that gave me pause was that he recommends at least 3 months of acupuncture for me before we move on to IVF. Right now, there are only two months planned before we start. I really don't want to put it off any longer, to be honest. Still, I want to give this the best shot, so I feel torn. Who's to say one more month of acupuncture would make the difference? There's no way to know that. On the other hand, I want to come through IVF knowing I did everything I could to make it successful. No regrets, you know? We'll see what his plan is for me when I go in on Monday. Overall his fees are very reasonable, so I should be able to do whatever he thinks is best as far as continuing treatments and herbs. I'll keep you updated! It just feels good to be getting started and moving in the right direction for our miracle baby!