Met with acupuncturist

Last night, JB and I met with the acupuncturist. To our surprise, he is actually located a mere one block from our house. He is a very funny Indian man from Bombay, married to a Minnesota woman, fully certified in acupuncture. He even has his master's degree. He had an entire book on IVF & acupuncture that JB plans to read from cover-to-cover. We felt very comfortable with him and are going to give this a try.

I wanted to answer some questions that you might have on acupuncture. I have allowed people to follow every step of this journey so I want to make sure you are right there with me on this step as well.

1. WHY ARE YOU DOING ACUPUNCTURE? First of all, we are not looking at this as the "cure" or the "answer". At the end of our last failed cycle, John and I discussed that the battle that wages in my mind is the most difficult. It is very difficult to relax both on the weeks prior, the day of, and the weeks following the procedure. So we wanted to find some activities that helped me relax. We feel that this is one of those activities. We completely believe God is the "decider" of whether we have a biological child or not, however, if we can enjoy the process, and be more relaxed, we feel that can only help.

2. WHY DO PEOPLE USE ACUPUNCTURE? As my ancupuncturist said last night, if I came in with cancer, he would say "go see the doctor, and I will help treat the symptoms of the chemo and the pain you experience". Acpuncture helps with "effects". They do not promise healing from diseases.

3. IS ACUPUNCTURE SPIRITUAL? Some people discuss the "spiritual" aspects of acupuncture. Like yoga, it has spiritual aspectcs, however, many people practice yoga on a completely unspiritual level. We, however, are not looking this as spiritual at all. We are looking at the relaxing and scientific aspects completely. Last night the only thing spiritually we discussed was that he believed prayer and relaxation would help ease my relaxation level as well.

4. WHAT IS THE "PLAN"? I am going to go in for my first appointment on Tuesday of next week. I will do a few appointments in the weeks leading up to the procedure and the weeks following. The day of the transfer, I will go in before my hospital report time. Our acupuncterist then said we need to work to keep me in a "relaxed state" during the time I am waiting and in the room getting the transfer done. Hopefully, having the "cervical dilation" done this next Friday will help this transfer go more smoothly then the second one. Hopefully I can avoid the catheter as well. Then, as soon as we leave the hospital, we will return to his office for another session.

5. IS IT PAINFUL? It is not supposed to be painful at all, but I'll have to let you know. He said that he can thread his needle through the diabetic needles I use for my lupron shots. These shots do not hurt at all. So I can't see that this will hurt.

6. IS IT EXPENSIVE? Actually, it is very reasonable. It is comparable to the price of a massage or pedicure!

7. DO YOU KNOW PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE THIS? I actually first got the "itch" to look into this after an online friend used it in her last IVF cycle. Then, I posted a comment on Hannah's Prayer and was amazed at how many women had used IVF, some with success and some without.

Here are some questions ans answers from the National Institute's of Health (NIH) website.

What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is one of the oldest, most commonly used medical procedures in the world. Originating in China more than 2,000 years ago, acupuncture began to become better known in the United States in 1971, when New York Times reporter James Reston wrote about how doctors in China used needles to ease his pain after surgery.

The term acupuncture describes a family of procedures involving stimulation of anatomical points on the body by a variety of techniques. American practices of acupuncture incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. The acupuncture technique that has been most studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation.

Does acupuncture work?
According to the NIH Consensus Statement on Acupuncture, there have been many studies on acupuncture's potential usefulness, but results have been mixed because of complexities with study design and size, as well as difficulties with choosing and usings placebos or sham acupuncture. However, promising results have emerged, showing efficacy of acupuncture, for example, in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations--such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low-back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma--in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. An NCCAM-funded study recently showed that acupuncture provides pain relief, improves function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee, and serves as an effective complement to standard care. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.

For more information, you can visit the National Institutes of Health's website.

I hope this answers some questions for you. If you have additional questions, feel free to ask me. I don't know a lot, but I will be glad to help.