IUI and IVF
Melanie’s story:
By the time I met Angela, I had been trying to conceive for 3&1/2 years. I had been to 3 acupuncturist prior to Angela.
I had gone through multiple rounds of IVF at different clinics and experienced 4 early miscarriages, one from natural conception and the other three through IVF. At 42, my doctors where asking me to consider donor eggs and to “draw a line in the sand” regarding how many more times we would go through IVF treatments before stopping. In addition to this stress, my mother had just passed away after a 15 year battle with Alzheimer’s and I felt the whole hope of my own family would never be realized.
Since Angela was located in my doctor’s office I decided to make an appointment. At this point I had just turned 40 and had 10 IUIs and tried IVF 5 times; 3 were cancelled cycles and 2 went to transfer but were unsuccessful, not to mention all the cycles I could not start because of either a cyst from clomid or a high FSH or the natural cycles with herbs or clomid.
I did not think acupuncture would get me pregnant but I did know I felt better after treatments. About 10 minutes into my first appointment I knew Angela was different from any other acupuncturist I had seen.
She had reviewed the questionnaire I had filled out and asked very specific questions about all different aspects of my life. I would not have been able to put it in words at the time, but Angela is not only an acupuncturist, she is also a healer.
I worked with Angela over the next few months and one of the first recommendations she made for me was adrenal support. I started the treatment and could not believe how good I felt. My mood improved and I was not weepy anymore, the difference was amazing. I had another IUI while I was waiting for a consult with yet another doctor who was recommended by friends as someone who checks for issues “outside the box”. The IUI failed and Angela was so supportive as I was deciding to soon end treatments and adopt a child - I had started the paperwork for adoption months ago and had already told the agency we stopped fertility treatment.
I had my consult and this doctor felt I had immune issues which interfere with implantation and recommended a course of treatment to coincide with IVF. I decided to give it one try!
Angela and I got right to work on preparing my body for IVF; acupuncture, gluten free diet, no alcohol and yoga. I was concerned about managing this cycle with the fertility clinic, consulting doctor and acupuncture and Angela gave recommendations and acted as my advocate. The cycle was awful, my estrogen was low and I only had 4 follicles (and 3 were small).
I emailed Angela after disappointing clinic visits and was always so relieved when she responded and gave me a recommendation of something to try. The IVF clinic wanted to cancel my cycle but I refused and went to retrieval. I ended up with only 2 eggs and now I was terrified that neither would fertilize and another disappointed email to Angela was sent and I got a response that of course made me feel better. Both eggs fertilized and 2 weeks later I had a positive pregnancy test!!