urgent fertility question

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure who is qualified to respond as a senior practitioner. I have only

been practicing for five years. In any case, I think Al is right too. But, in my

experience the anxiety is well treated by acupuncuture before and after the IVF.

Particularly if the woman has tools at her disposal to relax with. If not I

share breathing techniques, a simple beginning Tai Chi posture, body scanning,

etc etc and give cd's of these to assist the learning process. You can treat

leaf and branch at the same time for fertility enhancement. While it is true

that many women give up on the herbs " after about a week or so " as Al says,

there are also many women who believe the herbs will help. I have had anynumber

of women spend 4 cycles with me, acupuncture and herbs - to regulate and restore

before going forward with IVF if still necessary. I believe alot of what pts do

is tied up with your care, how you frame the alternatives, how empowered they

are with knowledge

(that you may have to give them, in the right doses in the best order).

Regarding herbs, there are actually a few docs who allow pts to take herbs

during the IVF process.

 

Pamela Zilavy, L.Ac.

chexin

http://www.change-exchange-interchange.com

415) 279-8376

 

>>I think Al is right - this is such a common complication / symptom

related to / infertility. Some say the Heart controls the opening of

the cervix via the bao mai, IIRC. It puts you in a hard position.

When people are dropping $15-20k per IVF cycle, they think a $60

acupuncture visit is easy to blame if things go wrong. If you charged

$600 a visit, they might think you're great and would not question

what you are doing... but since you charge little, they don't think

you know what you're doing. Crazy, eh?? Oh, and the herbs, I'm sure

you're going to find that they have estrogenic effects, but I would be

very surprised if there was any evidence that it had any effect on the

IVF... but still, it might just be wise to CYA or just stick with

acupuncture pre transfer since most are convinced it can't do anything

bad (then it couldn't do anything good either, vis a vis yin / yang,

right?).

 

I had a similar situation with a young MD who sought me out when she

had a IVF cycle scheduled. She came in and her hair was thin, dry,

falling out, and she had 2 days of scanty menses. I suggested she

postpone the IVF until things were regulated, but she was anxious, did

the IVF, and didn't have good results. It may have not worked even

with regular cycles, but from our standpoint, it was not wise to try

yet. It's real frustrating when you hear all the stories about the

people who try for years and then decide to adopt, and then promptly

become pregnant. If any of the more senior practitioners here have

any advice, I'd love it if you wouldn't mind sharing!

 

Geoff

 

> You know, the most difficult condition to treat is anxiety. Not

because the

> problem is symptom is difficult to resolve, but because the patients are

> flighty and noncompliant. They're good for about a week, but then

they get

> (you guessed it) anxious about the formula and stop taking it. So

good luck

> on this one.

>

> --

> , DAOM