Acupuncture and IVF Archives

It’s Pointless Charting Your Ovulation Cycle

January 16, 2010 By Carol Leave a Comment

Over the last few weeks and at the insistence of my Chinese Herbalist, I have desperately been trying to chart my basal temperature in the hope that I will be able to tell when I am ovulating. My efforts have been pretty pitiful. It seems that when I am on holidays my routine just flies out the window. Instead of getting up at 7am to take my temperature, I’ve been getting up at 8am or 9am or even 10am. Not a great effort when you are supposed to be taking your temperature at the same time every mornings. Even worse, some mornings I have just plain forgotten to do it.

I guess for me it doesn’t matter. I am resigned to the fact that IVF is really my only option of getting pregnant. The anti-bodies in my husbands sperm pretty much guarantee that. So given I am not undergoing any IVF cycle, it’s pretty hard for me to rationalize that I should be charting. Its also nice actually having a break and not charting a damn thing.

Of course my herbalist sees it differently. She wants to make sure that I am actually ovulating so she can treat what conditions I might have. Trouble is – I already know I ovulate – I know that it usually happens a bit later than normal. I am also pretty well versed in detecting when I am about to ovulate . Of course, my herbalist doesn’t see this so she would want to see a chart! Proof! Personally, I think she is going to have more luck in getting me to do this when I start back at work on Monday. I am also a bit embarrassed by it as I have been so lazy in recording the damn thing.

Even worse every time I see her I forget to bring her my chart so she can see how things are tracking. Somehow I don’t think she is going to appreciate looking at it when there are lots of gaps in it. I think she might just have to wait until next month for an accurate chart – at least it will coincide with when I am planning to have a couple of my embryos transferred and I know my motivation levels will be significantly higher. By this time, it will be two months since my last IVF failure. I am probably a bad client. I suppose that is the frustration of IVF. The more you do it, the more blase you become about certain aspects of it. You treat it seriously but not too seriously as more than likely, another failure could be just around the corner and this is not an easy thing to have to face.

Antagonist IVF Cycle and Acupuncture

November 12, 2009 By Carol 3 Comments

Today is Day 7 of my cycle and the 6th day of follicle stimulating injections. I had my first ultrasound and blood test for cycle 9 yesterday. Goodness my IVF cycle count is getting on the high side.

The ultrasound was interesting – they spotted 16 follicles in the right ovary and 14 in the left – the largest follicle was getting close to 16 but the rest were much smaller 11 and 12 and some still unmeasureable. Its really all meaningless at this point because the follicles have a lot of growing to do before egg collection.

As a consequence of one follicle being slightly larger, I had to take my first antagonist injection this morning to prevent ovulation. I had wanted to do a photo blog of it this time but I got camera shy. I thought it might be a novel twist. Maybe another time. Although I am not sure I want to expose my belly that is starting to bloat and become bruised from the treatment to the world. This injection is not too bad, relatively painless but it takes a bit more pressure to pierce this particular needle into my belly and the injected area tends to be quite itchy for an hour or so. I’ve done my second injection for stimulating my follicles tonight and will be back to the clinic tomorrow for another ultrasound and blood test.

Once I have a date set for egg collection, I will be ringing my acupuncturist for some treatment before egg collection and plan to have some more treatment around embryo transfer time. I didn’t do this treatment the last few cycles – mainly due to the fact that I developed an aversion to needles and that I had to drive for an hour in peak hour traffic just to get treatment. I figured the stress of the journey worked against me. However, acupuncture seriously is about the only other thing that has been documented in studies to assist in conception. My new acupuncturist seems quite capable too and specialises in gynaecology of Chinese Traditional Medicine from Beijing University.

Acupuncture Increases IVF Success Rate

September 21, 2009 By Carol 1 Comment

Over the past few years, there has been much debate over whether acupuncture is effective in improving the success rates of IVF.

A review of seven clinical trials of women who had acupuncture while undergoing embryo transfer suggests that acupuncture may increase your chance of pregnancy. The studies covered over 1366 women and compared acupuncture, given within one day of embryo transfer, or no additional treatment.

The trials revealed that acupuncture given as a complement to IVF increased the odds of achieving pregnancy. In this study, one in ten women or an additional 10% achieved pregnancy, however other studies claim success rates of 65%.

An approach such as this, would mean that acupuncture could be seen as an alternative method that may help improve the success rates. Acupuncture has been used in China for centuries to help regulate the reproductive system. The earliest books on acupuncture date from 2500BC.

Further information on the study can be found at Science Daily. Alternatively, readers might be interested in viewing a Catalyst transcript on the ABC which features the benefits of acupuncture and IVF.

Readers interested in learning about acupuncture and acupressure can also visit Pathway2Pregnancy.

IVF, Acupuncture and Male Infertility

August 11, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

I spoke to our Chinese herbalist today. She has been a great source of support to both me and my husband. My husband sees her to help his sperm. His sperm count and motility have improved quite dramatically. However, his sperm morphology and the antibodies in his sperm are still a problem.

I have also been seeing her and have had acupuncture on a regular basis but this is the first time during treatment that I haven’t had it. There were a number of reasons for this.

The first was that I have developed an aversion to needles. I am so sick of needles, blood tests and injections that I just couldn’t face seeing any more. Whilst acupuncture does not hurt, I just couldn’t do it.

The second reason was that my transfer happened on Wednesday. Having acupuncture would mean that I would have to commute for a couple of hours after work in peak hour traffic three times in that week for treatment. I decided, probably selfishly, that my time was better spent relaxing at home rather than stressing out in traffic. Maybe I am trying to make myself feel better about not going, but it sure feels like all her good work is undone when I get back into the car and stress out in the traffic.

On a positive note, my lovely IVF nurse has arranged for me to have my pregnancy blood test on Friday which will be Day 14. So with a bit of luck or misfortune, I will get to find out if I am pregnant… or not.

Normally, the clinic asks you to have a blood test on Day 16 but that happens to fall on a Sunday but the clinic is closed on Sundays. I also think my nurse is feeling sorry for me and does not want to keep me in suspense. Mind you, my period is as regular as they come so I don’t think I will waiting the whole weekend to have an answer any way.