Chinese herbs and acupuncture

[muzzy]

So I haven't posted on here for a while now, myself and hubby have been taking a break from ttc. So our journey has been 3 years so far and as u can imagine a long 3 years we have done 1 stim round of Ivf and 2 thawed cycle and none have been successful. I have endometriosis and dh has low motility we are overseas at the moment and are trying to decide if we jump in again an do a Ivf cycle or do we wait and try some natural ways like herbs and acupuncture when we get back. My question is have many of u had success with acupuncture and herbs alone? I am afraid to do Ivf because of the horrible roller coaster of emotions but I want to be a mum so much!

[Rozzie1976]

Hi Muzzy,

I can't speak for everyone but will share my experience. Long story short we have a 3 and a half yr old boy who was conceived naturally (not sure how! bit of a miracle), and have been TTC for 2.5 yrs for #2.

I highly believe in Acupuncture and chinese herbs as I had hyperthyroidism after giving birth to my son, and instead of taking medication (that the Dr's suggested was the ONLY way I could fix it), I researched and instead took the route of acupuncture and chinese herbs. In 2 months my thyroid levels were back to normal. So I truly believe acupuncture and chinese herbs have their place.

However we were told IVF would be our only option at that point to conceive again as we discovered DH had terribly low sperm count. We continued to try naturally for around a year, and I kept up the chinese herbs and acupuncture but still no pregnancy. Now we are doing our 1st IVF cycle in November.

I guess I am saying if you have time on your side (I don't know how old you are, I am 37 and DH 40 so don't want to wait any longer) but if you are on the younger side maybe you could try acupuncture and herbs for 6-12 mths? If no luck you can then try IVF??

I still do acupuncture weekly and will continue to do so throughout the IVF cycle and if we get a BFP at least through the 1st trimester as I have really grown to love it. I hope that helps some and good luck on your journey

[happygrl]

We didn't go through ivf so I hope it's ok to post here. We were TTC for 10 months following the SMEP.

In September I decided to talk to a Chinese herbalist and acupuncturist and had one round of acupuncture and we conceived that night.

It might be coincidence, but we didn't do anything differently.

[muzzy]

Hi Muzzy,

I can't speak for everyone but will share my experience. Long story short we have a 3 and a half yr old boy who was conceived naturally (not sure how! bit of a miracle), and have been TTC for 2.5 yrs for #2.

I highly believe in Acupuncture and chinese herbs as I had hyperthyroidism after giving birth to my son, and instead of taking medication (that the Dr's suggested was the ONLY way I could fix it), I researched and instead took the route of acupuncture and chinese herbs. In 2 months my thyroid levels were back to normal. So I truly believe acupuncture and chinese herbs have their place.

However we were told IVF would be our only option at that point to conceive again as we discovered DH had terribly low sperm count. We continued to try naturally for around a year, and I kept up the chinese herbs and acupuncture but still no pregnancy. Now we are doing our 1st IVF cycle in November.

I guess I am saying if you have time on your side (I don't know how old you are, I am 37 and DH 40 so don't want to wait any longer) but if you are on the younger side maybe you could try acupuncture and herbs for 6-12 mths? If no luck you can then try IVF??

I still do acupuncture weekly and will continue to do so throughout the IVF cycle and if we get a BFP at least through the 1st trimester as I have really grown to love it. I hope that helps some and good luck on your journey

Thank you for replying!! We are a bit younger so I'm thinking we will try the acupuncture for 6 months and am hoping I won't have to go through Ivf again it's such a roller coaster

[muzzy]

We didn't go through ivf so I hope it's ok to post here. We were TTC for 10 months following the SMEP.

In September I decided to talk to a Chinese herbalist and acupuncturist and had one round of acupuncture and we conceived that night.

It might be coincidence, but we didn't do anything differently.

Thank you happy girl this really gives me hope :-)

[muzzy]

My specialist said we really need to do Ivf again, so thinking we will do acupuncture and herbs for few months while we save then onto our next Ivf cycle!

[dancingbutterfly]

Having both of you doing some herbs, accupuncture and maintaining a really healthy lifestyle (super clean eating and exercise) for a few months while TTC without assistance sounds like a great idea.

We didnt concieve naturally (100% abnormal sperm) during our time however spending the time being healthy and losing some weight put us in great place when we had to do another cycle

Fx that you dont need to cycle again Muzzy!

[rose2207]

I started on the Chinese herbs & acupuncture 6 months before my ivf journey started, I highly recommend it - it addressed a lot of issues I didn't know I had therefore putting my body in a much better place to deal with all the needles etc!! I also went gluten & dairy free with my diet.

We have not got our BFP yet, we have had 3 transfers but we have found out the reason and it has nothing to do with me.

Wishing you the very best!!

[me+he&she=three]

My hubs count motility and morphology improved significantly after just one month on Chinese herbs and acupuncture (we had him tested before and on egg retreival day) so it does help a lot!

[muzzy]

Ohh thanks for your replies!! Yeah hubby is doing acupuncture and herbs and we been on them for nearly a month now and I'm doing my temp each day as our acupuncturist seems to think we have a chance naturally so we may aswell give it a good crack!!!!!! Fingers crossed