IVF and Acupuncture

kellym · Post by **kellym** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:49 pm

Has anyone combined an IVF cycle with acupunture and shown positive results? I have been through three failed cycles. I have read recently that acupuncture is suppose to assist women during IVF and I wondered if anyone has personal experiences they can share?
Thanks! I am also going to start stimming in mid-march so it is too late to start acupuncture?

wannababyIVF · Post by **wannababyIVF** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:55 pm

Hi Kelly,

I have had to cycles of IVF. The first one I got a negative pregnancy test. With the first cycle I did not do accupuncture.

With this cycle, I did accupuncture and I got a positive pregnancy test. Not sure if it's related or not. I also had better egg quality and more ferilized this time. I think accu is worth giving a shot. It couldn't hurt. Some people swear by it.

I had accu the morning of the ER. Then again twice on the day off ET. That's it. So possibly, it did help.

Good Luck to you whatever you decide.

emma123 · Post by **emma123** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:41 pm

Hi Kelly.
Personally Im not sure its worth trying, i am currently starting my 5th IVF. on my fourth I tried acupuncture as well as all the herbs recommended and spent a small fortune in the process! This cycle failed and didnt make me feel any better during the process, certainly didnt feel anymore relaxed. I just think if its going to work its going to work. I am one of the lucky ones falling pregnant on my second attempt and now having a beautiful 4 yr old daughter, ironically on that cycle they told me my chances were slimmer that they had ever been and felt very negative but it worked!! Having one child has made me determined to have another for her sake and feel positive knowing if im prepared to try several times maybe ill hit the jackpot again! All the best Kelly!

Emma

sassynlv · Post by **sassynlv** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:07 pm

Hi Kelly:
I did not do acu with my #1 and #2 cycles... both were BFN. So i tried acu with #3 (although I did not do the session after ET), and also had a bfn. Many ladies here feel that it has helped them, but i do not plan on doing it again. Also, if you choose to do acu, i don't think it is too late to start for this cycle, but you should do so soon (i understand it depends somewhat on your acupuncturist). Will you regret it if you don't do it? That is why i chose to do it... wanted to feel like i had at least explored some of the alternative treatments to see if they would be helpful for me. Good luck whatever you decide!

kellym · Post by **kellym** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:10 pm

Thanks for all your input. I guess I feel as though I need to do something different this cycle to keep the hope alive. Even if I do it and it doesn't work I'll feel like I at least tried. The cost isn't a big deal for me because it is something that is actually covered by my extended health coverage - thankfully something is!! So, my attitude is 'what do I have to lose'.

suzhan · Post by **suzhan** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:59 pm

I did acupuncture for the 3 months leading up to this third cycle, as well as chinese herbs until I started to down-reg (RE asked me to stop all supplements when I started Lupron.) Right after my bfn with cycle 2, I started with this Chinese medicine doctor and she put me on an herbal blend to help ease my period discomfort which, amazingly, it did. After two cycles on that blend, for the first time in my life I had a period that I didn't have to take 600-800 mg of ibuprofen every 4-6 hours - it was completely 100% painless! I don't know if if was the acupuncture or the herbs, but my Chinese medical doctor said it probably had more to do w/ the herbs than the acu. After that, the month leading up to the cycle, I used a different herbal formula that she said supported ovarian/uterine strengthening. I also religiously followed the dietary and other recommendations (no cold foods, no caffeine, no tampons (sorry if tmi), good multi-vitamin, added co-enzyme q-10 and EFAs in the form of flax seed oil.) I quit the supplements at the same time I quit the herbs but kept on the no cold foods actually until the 2nd trimester. I also did the acu treatment 1 hour before and 1 hour after embryo transfer. I also quit all alcohol about a week before starting down-regging (amazingly, my RE had NEVER told me to do this in my prior two cycles....grrrr.)

I have NO idea if any of this helped or if it was 'dumb luck' but I will say I had the best embryo quality of all three of my cycles by a substantial margin - meaning no fragmentation in 2 of the 3 embies transferred after all of my prior embies had fragmentation, many substantial. I also did lots of reading on this subject of complementary/alternative medicine support to IVF.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

shantala · Post by **shantala** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:06 pm

kelly - hi...i'm on my first IVF cycle and am having accupuncture. like you i figured at least if i get a BFN i can say ive tried.

i do have a question though and suzhan has sort of already answered it (thanks!) but i was just wondering how close before and after ET do you have your accu??

from what i can gather you are meant to have it 25 mins before and 25 mins after ET but thats impossible for me as my accupuncturist cant come to the hospital with me and the hospital is nearly an hour away from my accupuncturist....any ideas??

xxx

shantala · Post by **shantala** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:06 pm

suzhan - forgot to say congratulations by the way!!!

xx

catwhitfield · Post by **catwhitfield** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:03 pm

Hi Shantala, its certainly not too late to start acupuncture. I started the week I commenced down regulation and had a session every friday and then one between egg retrieval and embryo transfer and am due another two sessions before i do test on 17th march. I dont think it made me less stress but have been told it channels the blood flow to the womb and ovaries.

This is my second and last try at IVF and I want to know I have tried the best I can. I have been taking co-enzyme Q10 which is recommended to start on the day of egg collection until outcome is known. In addition I have been eating five portions of fruit and veg a day and have given up alcohol, tea, coffee and anything that contains caffeine including chocolate and cola. Hopefully it will be all for the best!!!

hhb · Post by **hhb** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:40 pm

This was my first IVF cycle and I did to acupuncture (my blood test is on the 10th). I also went to a Chinese Medicine Dr. He recommends 6 visits prior to IVF, which I did in 6 weeks, mostly due to it being too hard to get in more than twice a week (I was also seeing him for back/foot issues). I also did the herbs but stopped them a few days prior to the egg retrieval. My RE's office actually offers acupuncture but mostly for the day of ER and transfer. I am hopeful that it will work (I'll try anything at this point). He did say that it allows for more blood flow to the uterine area. If anything, for me it was very relaxing, so if that was the only benefit it was worth the money (and it did alleviate some back pain, which is nice because I had back surgery 9 years ago and have not had a whole lot of relief). I am not one to relax easily.

Good luck and I hope it works for you.

-Heidi

WISCONSINGAL · Post by **WISCONSINGAL** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:05 pm

HI THERE, JUST THOUGHT I'D ADD MY 2 CENTS ON THE SUBJECT.....I HAD 2 FAILED IUI'S AND 1 FAILED IVF AND SINCE THIS WAS MY LAST TRY....(I'M 41) I THOUGHT I'D DO ACUPUNCTURE AS A LAST DITCH EFFORT AND LIKE SOME OF THE OTHER GIRLS SAID, AT LEAST THEN I WOULD FEEL LIKE I TRIED EVERYTHING. I DID (4) ACUPUNCTURES BEFORE MY ET (ONCE A WEEK) AND THE LAST ONE WAS THE DAY BEFORE MY ET. DID I FEEL IT HELPED, YES, I THINK IT DID. HOW??? I DON'T KNOW, BUT SINCE IT'S THE ONLY THING I DID DIFFERENT, BESIDES THE FLARE PROTOCAL THE DR. DID......I FEEL THE COMBINATION OF THE 2 WORKED.

I HOPE WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO HELPS......BEST WISHES!

suzhan · Post by **suzhan** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:19 am

shantala wrote:kelly - hi...i'm on my first IVF cycle and am having accupuncture. like you i figured at least if i get a BFN i can say ive tried.

i do have a question though and suzhan has sort of already answered it (thanks!) but i was just wondering how close before and after ET do you have your accu??

from what i can gather you are meant to have it 25 mins before and 25 mins after ET but thats impossible for me as my accupuncturist cant come to the hospital with me and the hospital is nearly an hour away from my accupuncturist....any ideas??

xxx

If you can believe it, my ET was on Thanksgiving, so needless to say, my acu could not do it herself. But, the day before, I went in and she trained me and DH on how to place the needles (SUPER EASY, BTW!) She then put dots with a permanent marker (sharpie pen) throughout my body - red dots for the pre-ET session and black dots for the post-ET session.....DH did it for me and it all worked out great....

Otherwise, my acupuncturist was about 5 miles from the RE, so her normal routine was to have clients come in right before their ET appointment and right after their ET appointment. I'm sure your acu has a plan that might work for you. Otherwise, I was told up to 1 hour before and after is okay.

Thanks, also, for your congratulations. Good luck to you!

- suzhan

beca · Post by **beca** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:03 pm

hhb,

Are you in MA? I am surprised that your RE's office offers accupuncture on the day of ER and ET. Could you tell me which RE? Thanks.

hhb · Post by **hhb** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:25 pm

I go to Boston IVF, the Quincy office, but the acupuncture is offered in the Waltham office. I didn't research it alot because I was going to someone on the Cape (so I didn't do it the same day). Good luck!

IVF and Acupuncture

IVF and Acupuncture

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