Lilypie

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I have a yin deficiency???

Well, I had my first acupuncture appt. yesterday. It went pretty well. It definitely wasn't as painful as I had feared. The needles hardly hurt at all going in, and none hurt once they were actually in. She put needles in my ears, on my head, on my wrists, on my legs and feet and told me to relax and find my "center". I couldn't seem to locate it (but I really tried!!). Maybe I'll find it next time...

One of my favorite shows is Sex and the City. One episode that has hit close to home for me was near the end of the show series. Charlotte, who was desperate to have a baby, decided to try Eastern medicine on the Upper West Side with Dr. Rao, an acupuncturist miracle worker who seemed to be able to get a cactus pregnant (lol). As I tried to find my "center" yesterday, all I could do was crack up thinking about that episode where poor Charlotte couldn't find her "center" either and ran out of the room looking for Dr. Mao to help her locate it and learn how to relax. She had needles sticking out of her face and looked so funny. I wondered if I looked that weird, too. Okay, I'll get back on topic...

I didn't know much (actually nothing) about yin and yang. I don't believe in Eastern medicine yet, but I'm trying. According to the Chinese, yin is supposed to represent the mind while yang represents the body. My acupuncturist said that I had a yin deficiency/yang dominance for a few of the following reasons: 1) I have a geographic tongue (she thinks this could be linked to stress?) 2) I have oily skin 3) I have very vivid dreams (I'll save these funny stories for another blog entry!) 4) I had pretty bad hot flashes/night sweats last time on Lupron and 5) I have sleep distubances (get up at least once per night thanks to either Steve, Sonny or Cher waking me up--lol). These all point to a "hot" imbalance, which I find interesting since I'm cold all of the time. She had no answer for me (which is partly why I'm still skeptical). She also checked my pulses, which were pretty rapid before, but slower after, acupuncture. Anyway, her goals are to correct my yin deficiency ASAP and hopefully establish balance before IVF#2 starts. I am also taking Chinese herbs for about a week, but plan on discontinuing everything when I start Lupron shots. My RE does NOT want me on anything when taking IVF meds other than PNVs, so I'll just be doing acupuncture alone at that point. I will plan on weekly appts. until my ER/ET week and then I will have acupuncture on the day of ET (either shortly before or after ET). I will also have another treatment I think a couple of days following ET.

So what exactly can acupuncture do for IVFers like me other than cause relaxation and reduce stress? Well, it is supposed to improve the function of the ovaries to produce better quality eggs and ulitmately better quality embryos, increase blood flow to the uterus, increase the thickness of the uterine lining, strengthen the immune system and decrease chances of miscarriage. Umm, I'll take all of that to go please...thanks!

While still very skeptical, if IVF works this time, I'm sure I won't stop singing the praises of acupuncture and Eastern medicine! I just want to be pg and will do anything to be successful...I'll take a Christmas baby, New Year's baby, Halloween baby, hell, I'll even take a Leap Year baby. I don't care. Please God, just give me a baby.

5 comments:

Christi said...

While I'm skeptical if it works being that I did it for both cycles that I did transfers, I will say that it definitely decreased side effects for me!! The second fresh I started acupuncture sooner, the lupron SE were not bad like the 1st two times. GOOD LUCK!!

Ariella said...

I had my fist accupuncture yesterday and I have a "liver Blad Deficiancy, liver Qi Stagnation AND a KD Qi (yang) deficincy"!

Crap no wonder I can't get pg!

Katie said...

So funny about Sex in the City-- I remember that episode. I did acupuncture this cycle-- I wasn't sold on it until last week's appt when I told my acu I was having jaw pain (TMJ), so he stuck a needle in my jaw and one in a specific toe where the energy starts (?) and it was gone the next day!

sarah23 said...

Hi, I just found your blog via a comment that you left on Jen's blog. Anyway, we are going to be starting Lupron on the same day (4/8) and will possibly have the same ER and transfers! How exciting! I'm going to add you to my blogroll (tell me if you don't want me to.)

This is IVF #1 for me. Fingers crossed for both of us!!

Mommyvana said...

I just tried my first accupuncture appointment on Monday and have been told I likely have a yin deficiency as well. She actually explained the cold during the day/hot flashes at night thing and said that is very common of yin deficiency (in fact it was her first sign of it). Apparently yin is a female/cooling/night function so it relates to hot at night.

I also have constipation and insomnia (waking during night and difficulty sleeping and bad dreams on meds) and the pulse thing so sounds at least consistant