The Really Useful TCM Thread

[3yearsttc]

I wouldn't dare do acupuncture but reflexology sounds good, can I do only this?

 

[muncho]

I wouldn't dare do acupuncture but reflexology sounds good, can I do only this?

you can do. i did both for a while. But there is a bit more evidence behind acu so suggest that it works. Reflexology will help balance your hormones and relax you. whils act improves your circulation hence helps your reproductive organs

 

[Laummatt]

Glitterqueen, Im so sorry to hear about your loss. Your right tho, that baby will arrive one day!!

 

[glitterqueen]

Glitter did you carry in acu whilst preg coz acu can prevent mc?

Also, please be careful about herbs and prep for IVF. My acu man didnt give me any herbs as he knew i was about to start ivf. Your body needs to be free of toxins and in quite a few books they recommend you do a detox prior to ivf. Im sure you know what you are doing, but just wanted to mention it.

That determination will be essential. xx

the good news however is that you know your eggs can fertilised and your embryos can implant as some people have issues with these xx

Muncho
I was still haveing the acu once a week- i reckon everything implanted ok but the embro didn't grow prob a chromosome issue. the problem i have now is my body is holding on so the process is taking a while and the hospital are not keen to do anything to hurry it along. I will speak to cathy about the herbs when i get a date to start ivf-the clinic want me to wait until i have had my second period after the miscarriage anyway so it could be a while.hope everything is ok with you-how long until you know ? xx

 

[muncho]

Glitter did you carry in acu whilst preg coz acu can prevent mc?

Also, please be careful about herbs and prep for IVF. My acu man didnt give me any herbs as he knew i was about to start ivf. Your body needs to be free of toxins and in quite a few books they recommend you do a detox prior to ivf. Im sure you know what you are doing, but just wanted to mention it.

That determination will be essential. xx

the good news however is that you know your eggs can fertilised and your embryos can implant as some people have issues with these xx

Muncho
I was still haveing the acu once a week- i reckon everything implanted ok but the embro didn't grow prob a chromosome issue. the problem i have now is my body is holding on so the process is taking a while and the hospital are not keen to do anything to hurry it along. I will speak to cathy about the herbs when i get a date to start ivf-the clinic want me to wait until i have had my second period after the miscarriage anyway so it could be a while.hope everything is ok with you-how long until you know ? xx

i dont know about testing, if i think about it too much it will become a big deal and i dont want a build up. Ill test sometime early next week.
Hopefully you will have icsi which will give you the best sperm and egg so that will reduce the chances of chromosone abnormalities.
good luck with cathy and fingers crossed everything works out well xx

 

[RebaRezzelba]

Hi all

I had my 3rd acup session on Tuesday. I thought I ov'd on monday (CD16) as thats my usual Ov'd day but had terrible pain on Tuesday night in bed (CD17) - couldnt sleep for ages. and i'm having weird twinges this past few days - also some CM noticed on tues and wed (CD18) - so im confused - we DTD yesterday just incase it was delayed oV.

I read in the Radine Lewis book about applying accupressure to certain points to help the ovaries etc - so on Tuesday (before my session) i was rubbing this area on my leg and after the acupuncture session that area was swollen (a big blue vein was sticking out - it went down thank god but left an almighty bruise) so might give the acupressure a miss incase im causing damage....

I got another weeks supply of herbs and tablets too - yuck!

 

[RebaRezzelba]

ok so went for acupuncture today.
He said from now on we will be working on norishing the blood. I asked 'is this because you think im pregnant?'
he said yes!

I said 'what if im not?'
he said 'then we go back to the needles and regulate the blood not nourish it'
TBH im a bit confused, im taking it with a pinch of salt, I know that they can tell by your pulse as its something to do with the circulatory system working harder.

well, i hope he is right!

Oh and Mucho - thats mental - I really hope you are - it must be so hard for you not to test etc.... fingers x'd for you.

 

[muncho]

ok so went for acupuncture today.
He said from now on we will be working on norishing the blood. I asked 'is this because you think im pregnant?'
he said yes!

I said 'what if im not?'
he said 'then we go back to the needles and regulate the blood not nourish it'
TBH im a bit confused, im taking it with a pinch of salt, I know that they can tell by your pulse as its something to do with the circulatory system working harder.

well, i hope he is right!

Oh and Mucho - thats mental - I really hope you are - it must be so hard for you not to test etc.... fingers x'd for you.

I know apparently the humna body ahs baout 28 different types of pulses. In early preganancy the pulse becomes 'slippery' and thats how they know.
Apparently sometimes they can tell if you have cancer or tumours via your pulse. Amazing.

would live to think he was right but im not getting excited as i dont want to be REALLY upset if its a -.

Glad you enjoyed the acu, i agree about not doing the accupressure anymore!

 

[rubyloo]

well, looks like af is on the way. the worst thing? my lp has come down from a nice 15 days to 12 days. not happy. am still doing all the same stuff, suppliments, diet etc. and instead of af just coming on, i'm on my second day of spotting. don't know what to think now. its probably got more to do with a very stressful couple of weeks than the acu but feeling really down about it all. dh and i have decided regardless of wether i carry on with the acu or not, i'm not temping, using opks or anything else. six months of ntnp and six months of what feels like some sort of strategic mission......we've just had enough. sorry to winge but just so pi**ed off!

(and sorry to others on here who probably have more reason to be upset than me - glitterqueen - )

 

[yazzy]

I hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread but I am going for my first acupuncture session after work today.

After stopping the pill and 4 months later still no AF i'm ready to give anything a shot. Without having 'normal' cycles I just don't feel like me and OH are actively ttc. I am waiting on blood test results from the doctors - they are testing for hormone levels, thyroid and doing a full blood count but I want to go down the natural route if possible.

Not sure if I should wait for my results so I can tell the acupuncturist but hopefully I can start today.

Here's hoping to all our BFP's!

 

[RebaRezzelba]

I hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread but I am going for my first acupuncture session after work today.

After stopping the pill and 4 months later still no AF i'm ready to give anything a shot. Without having 'normal' cycles I just don't feel like me and OH are actively ttc. I am waiting on blood test results from the doctors - they are testing for hormone levels, thyroid and doing a full blood count but I want to go down the natural route if possible.

Not sure if I should wait for my results so I can tell the acupuncturist but hopefully I can start today.

Here's hoping to all our BFP's!

Hi - Good luck with your first acup session - Im sure you'll love it - its very relaxing. And i've heard that alot of people get AF in a matter of days after their 1st session so I hope you do too. Then you can get actively trying - hopefully you wont take too long.

 

[RebaRezzelba]

well, looks like af is on the way. the worst thing? my lp has come down from a nice 15 days to 12 days. not happy. am still doing all the same stuff, suppliments, diet etc. and instead of af just coming on, i'm on my second day of spotting. don't know what to think now. its probably got more to do with a very stressful couple of weeks than the acu but feeling really down about it all. dh and i have decided regardless of wether i carry on with the acu or not, i'm not temping, using opks or anything else. six months of ntnp and six months of what feels like some sort of strategic mission......we've just had enough. sorry to winge but just so pi**ed off!

(and sorry to others on here who probably have more reason to be upset than me - glitterqueen - )

Hi - im sorry your feeling so down about all this TTC carry on - it sucks I know. Maybe your body just needs to balance out and it might take another month or 2 of Acup (how long have you been doing it?). I hoping that when (if) my AF shows up that the spotting will be gone or be alot shorter than the 4/5 days it usually is - but I know if its not Im gonna be pretty p'd off but need to keep the acup up and hope that in the next 2/3 months the spotting will be gone completely and replaced by a BFP.....

Good luck - and chin up!

 

[rubyloo]

reba - thanks. i don't mean to come on here and be all grumpy and down about stuff. i've had four acu sessions so prob not really given it enough of a chance. i'm just upset about my lp - that was the one thing i'd managed to get sorted myself from 12 days back last april up to 15 days last month. anyway, will be having another acu session next week (had to miss this week as dh in hospital for an op.....) so will discuss that with my prac. i'm sure you're right, its just my body trying to get itself settled down.

 

[bernina]

Rubyloo, I am so sorry to hear you are feeling blue. Just remember that a luteal phase of 12 days is still normal and you can conceive with that length. I also know how very frustrating spotting is, at any time during your cycle. I started spotting several months ago and haven't stopped since. Really frustrates me because I function in a very logical way and I just can not make any sense out of why all of a sudden this happened. Spotting can totally be due to stress and hopefully when the stressful period ends your cycles will return to normal. The stress could also be behind the shorter luteal phase. I really like your idea of NTNP for 6 mos and wish I had the willpower to do it. I have so many friends who had trouble ttc and as soon as they stopped "trying" boom they fell pregnant. I wish I could just let go like that and trust, it is one of the things I struggle with every day (in ways other than ttc). to you and hope DH is doing well.

Welcome Yazzy! Sounds like you're on the right path. Once the results from the blood work comes back you'll be able to pinpoint what needs to be worked on. This information will help your acupuncturist as well so make sure to share it with them. Best of luck with the appointment today and please let us know how it goes. Are you in the States?

I had my follow-up appointment with the DR who performed the uterine septum removal surgery. Hope you don't mind but I'm just going to cut and paste from my journal:

I thought he'd do an ultrasound to confirm healing, but instead we just met in his office and he said the surgery went great and the cervical polyp they removed was totally benign. So that is good news but I really wanted an ultrasound to just make sure I healed properly.

I told him I've been spotting for months between cycles and he said the next step is Clomid. He wants to start me on 50 mg (lowest dose) for 5 days or whatever on cd 5 of my next cycle (prob will be around mid March I'm guessing).

So now I'm totally confused and have no idea what to do. I'm continuing with acupuncture in hopes that maybe it will fix my hormone imbalance naturally, but I am also feeling very impatient and just want this to happen now.

I guess over the next few weeks I'll do lots of research on Clomid and hear what other ladies have to say. I trust their experiences and opinions more than I do the doctor's. What a sorry state that is.

I also have an appointment for my annual pelvic/breast exam in a few weeks with my regular OB/GYN. I'll ask her opinion on the Clomid as well as asking my acupuncturist who I'm sure won't be too happy about it.

I also found it interesting that the DR said that taking an expectorant is an old wives tale and if you react to Clomid by having a thin uterine lining and hostile cervical mucus, then an expectorant won't fix that. I get that it won't fix the thin uterine lining but have heard from many women on these boards that expectorant helped create fertile quality cervical mucus. So it really kind of pissed me off when he said it.

So this cycle we'll continue ttc naturally. I'll keep up the acupuncture, and will probably keep it up next month as well through the Clomid.

 

[Britt11]

Hi Ladies, just wanted to stop by and say hello. I have my first apt with Acu and TCM on Monday- yeah!! Have heard great things. My biggest problem seems to be stress and trying to relax while TTC, hoping this will help. I have temped and used OPK's and my cycle is normal and definitely O'ng but was on BCP for many, many years. Hoping for success soon. All the best to the rest of you as well
Cheers,

 

[abster]

Was a bit stressed when i turned up to see Quing today becasue after my original guess that i was ovulating on CD12, last sunday, today is CD17 and yet again my temp hasn't gone up - in fact it's at the bottom of a 2-day trough at 35.81. SHe told me not to stress too much about my temps - I had use my 4:20 temp today as waking up at 7 means I had no choice. (I temp whenever I wake up and use the latest viable one). She confirmed that a temp taken that early might be quite inaccurate, and I quite often seem to wake then. Am going to stop drinking water after about 9pm and just drink plenty during the day in the hope this helps. Also going to take another look at my charts and not take very early temps so seriously. Checked my pulse and tongue a few times during the session. Some very good news!!! As I'd begun to suspect, my spleen deficiency seems to be pretty much cured - the phlegm has all but gone. In its place I have a ton of ewcm (about 4 days now; I seem to remember getting lots of ewcm in the dim and distant pre-#1). She said that once the spleen is better the kidneys can start to improve. Maybe my later ov is a sign of a longer cycle and LP... but enough of the dreaming!

On my front: needles in the normal places either side of the base of my skull. She pinched hard in several places on my lower spine and then inserted several needles. She also did some quick in-and-outs on my upper and lower back. Blankets, heat lamp, deep relaxation (was in the warm, quiet room, lying next to the radiator again).

On my back and I had needles in my abdomen (could feel some this time) and both hands. Several on my lower legs and one in my right foot. Heat lamp, blankets and lots of relaxation. AT the end she also did some rubbing on my inside ankles and knees.

Herbal balls in my right ear again - and instructions to really work on the painful ones and find the painful spots by wiggling them around a bit (painful = needs some work!). Instructins also to keep keeping my feet warm and heat on my back, as ov may possibly have happened.

Another bottle each of Er Chen Wan (spleen - just to really kick out the jams) and You Gui Wan (kidneys). Going back next friday morning - off to the Brecons on friday so need an early start.


Hey Yazzy and Britt11 - welcome to TCM! Hope you really enjoy it. Look forward to reading your posts on here.
Hope what you've read here already has been helpful. I can recommend Randine Lewis's book The Infertility Cure. Awesome.

Abi x

 

[muncho]

Af arrived last night so im out . I had afeeling yesterday it was coming
i know i did everything i could have, it wasnt meant to be. im gutted but want to move on.
im going to give BNB,TTC and acu a break now til my next cycle. im going to start at the gym after a 3month break

Thanks for everyone's support and i wish you all lot sof luck xxx

 

[Laummatt]

Muncho, Im really sorry to hear that. I think taking some time out is good for your mind and body. I havent been on the net much lately and haven't temped and its honestly been lovely. I even checked what CD I was on the other day and only roughly know till I look in my diary. I throughly recommend it.

Rubyloo - as I have just said above after stressing and becoming obsessed the last few months I havent temp'd or OPK this month, have just gone by CF/CP and it has been lovely. Had a high cervix the other day and some pains which would have been a few days early for me but I dont know. Its kinda nice, DH and I are actaully having more and its more fun cos Im not saying 'Im fertile, impregnate me!' I think its just taken the pressure off. I did originally stop because #1 is being a nightmare at nights the last couple of months so wasnt getting a good nights sleep, but have found that I am more chilled. Its def handy when your having bloods done so when I get refered in April I may have to start again. But give it a go and enjoy!!!

So it seems to be a wek of bad news, why does it always go like that. Hoping someone out there can tell us something positive soon.....

Abs - great news on the spleen!!!! Just get the cycles sorted and you'll soon be fat!!!

 

[rubyloo]

muncho - i'm sorry to hear your news. fingers crossed some time out will give your mind and body some space.

af arrived full on this morning. kind of a relief because it means i can start again, so to speak.

this cycle - thermometer is in the bin; no pee sticks of any sort just good quality sex with my DH! goodness knows if it'll work but i'm tired of being so fixated on it all. i'd rather find i was pregnant as a surprise as opposed to sitting during the 2ww trying not to obsess. will continue with the acu because i did notice a big difference in both energy levels and ewcm last cycle, so its worth it for that alone.

on a final note, DH has offered to go and get his swimmers checked, of his own volition! yes, i did nearly fall off my chair.....he's a honey.

 

[yazzy]

Just wanted to say thanks for the welcomes

I spoke to my doctors before acu and they said all blood test results came back normal and need no action - although I am booked in with the doctor to talk this over anyway. So went for my first acupuncture yesterday....after taking all the details and checking my tongue and pulse the only thing that might be slighly amiss is weak kidneys. The needles were put in my abdomen, elbows, knees, ankles (some of these were for the kidneys) and I had music and a heat lamp. After the acupuncture I had a really good back/leg massage and given some green tea.

During the acu I didn't feel a huge amount but gradually after getting home I became really energised and felt so much lighter and clear headed - really difficult to explain but good enough to want to keep going back for more.

So all good so far and I will keep you all updated to see if this brings my AF back. I look forward to hearing about your journey to all of your bfp's.