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Hi Stef, I have heard many great thing about acupuncture, many girls on the TTC with elevated fsh levels board have had great success. Some have had their babies already and others are half way there! if anything it will help relax you and I think that is a HUGE factor in this baby making business. Good Luck and I think it is great that you are doing this. They say it brings forth good eggs!

accupuncture works miracles, my mum had it done when she had me, a lady next door told her that she could help get her pregnant, take note my mum had been trying to get pregnant for 2 and a half years. she went to this lady next door and BAM that month she fell pregnant with me :)
xx

Thank you denise and anna! I'm feeling optimistic about this even if I think of it as a "back-up" plan if the doctors can't find a reason for my recurrent miscarriage issue. The woman I spoke with seemed very confident that my problem is easily fixed. I'm kind of wary when I hear that because I tend to lean heavily on the doctor's advice. I just don't know if they will find anything. This woman also does eastern/oriental herbs, etc. and asked me to bring in all of my previous charts and my lab results. She thinks my temperatures in the luteal phase might not be high enough because the baby's growth always lags and seems to stop around the same point. I think progesterone earlier (before bfp or AF) would take care of that, but she said she mixes up a tea or something that works wonders. Who knows? I am going to go to a consult and first treatment and just go with the flow. I'm still going to get all the testing done medically, but again I just don't know what they will find. I'll definitely keep you posted on my progress. Oh! The only thing she said that kind of caught me off guard was that she thinks I should start trying right away because I'm good and cleaned out fromt he d&c....my dr. said to wait at least 6 months due to 2 m/c's since Jan. I feel trying again is not a good idea, but of course when she said that it starts eating at me because of course I'd want nothing more than to be pregnant again!

I was very skeptical about acupuncture, but after already spending $30k+ on infertility treatments, I figured I should give it a try. My acupuncturist also specializes in reproductive health. Initially I made an appt with him because I was pregnant from an IVF and I was hoping he would help me sustain a healthy pregnancy. Well, in the mean time I found out I was 8 wks, no heartbeat. I wanted to miscarry naturally so I waited about another week and half, but it was not starting so my dr. scheduled a D&C. My acupuncture appt was 2 days before my scheduled D&C. I told him I really didn't want to go through a D&C and he said he could help me. Minutes after my first appt with him, I started spotting and I miscarried on my own the next day! I kept seeing him for the next 4 months (I was planning to start another IVF cycle in about 6 months) Within those 4 months I got pregnant on my own...for the first time in 2 years! That pregnancy ended in a blighted ovum, and I got pregnant again 3 months later, which ended in an early miscarriage... So I did some testing and found out I am hetero MTHFR. I believe my acupuncturist helped me get pregnant on my own and I am praying he can help me carry to term (along with the MTHFR medications) When I told him I tested positive for a MTHFR mutation, he said I should be happy because it's a very treatable condition, and every patient he has had with it carried babies to term. So there is hope for us! And I think seeing an acupuncturist is a good idea :)

That is so reassuring!!! I am hetero MTHFR too (I posted on your thread earlier) and am on all the usual stuff for it except for heparin. We may try that if there is a next time but I also want to do this acupuncture and at least give it a shot in early pregnancy to see if it might help maintain it. Thank you again for sharing your experience!

Hi stef. I did acupuncture for other reasons, not related to pregnancy, but I want to let you know that acupuncture is a very good adjunctive treatment - meaning that it's not the main treatment, but a good supplement. It doesn't have any side effects, and it doesn't hurt to try. I don't know about the herbal teas, though, since I am skeptical of anything that's not FDA-approved. If you are interested in taking herbs, etc., check with your doctor to make sure that it doesn't interact with any medications that you're taking already. I do know several couples with infertility problems who got helped by acupuncture, although I know that infertility is not really your problem.

What LanaK said is very true - Acupuncture may not "cure" but it can improve your overall chances (as you've probably read in all the studies done recently). The basis of Chinese medicine is stimulating blood flow around the reproductive organs (which can only be a good thing for us MTHFRs), and the teas they make us drink improves egg quality which might decrease the likelihood of miscarriages due to chromosomal abnormalities. My cycles were a little wacky too, but acupuncture helped balance my hormones and now I have picture perfect BBT charts, haha!

I think what perplexes me more about the losses is that ever since I started charting in November 06 I've had totally normal "textbook" charts. Average ovulation on day 14, about 29 day average cycle, good thermal shift and very definite cm changes (ewcm, etc.) I feel that at least if my cycles were screwy then I'd be able to point the finger somewhere, lol :-) I've never had a long cycle and the only time I had a very short one was after coming of bc pills quite some time ago. Agghhhh, some days I wish I had something wrong with me that the dr. would find just so I can know what's up. I guess before the last pregnancy I was focusing on the MTHFR, but when the treatment didn't work I started to lose hope. I know there is more aggressive treatment though and I may just have to try again. I just get angry about this all because conceiving is not a damn science experiment!!! It frustrates me.... *sigh*

hi, I posted all about this on the clean slate thread, but I got my genetic testing back from the fetal tissue and was shocked to actually find something wrong this time (last time genetics came back as a girl with normal chromosomes). This time it was a boy with trisomy 2. My dr. had never in her 12 years practicing seen this particular trisomy. It kind of helped me though in knowing that the MTHFR treatment might have worked if it weren't for this --so all is not lost now. I also know that I didn't do anything wrong. I don't know yet if it was a fluke or if the father has a genetic issue. We are seeing a genetic counselor next week to begin testing. Just wanted to share!

Stefkay,
I've had 3 recurrent m/c's all between 6 and 9 weeks. I never had trouble conceiving. I had every test under the sun and was diagnosed with elevated FSH levels. (Did you have that test done???) I was a 13 and they like you to be under a 10. I went to acupuncture for about a month before I conceived for the 4th time. (He wanted to see me while I was ttc and during ovulation). I continued weekly acupuncture until I was about 10 weeks along. I also took an herbal tea from the acupuncurist for 14 days after I got my positive pregnancy test. The happy ending is that I gave birth to my daughter on 3/26 of this year. Acupuncture is believed to bring healthy eggs to the surface for conception and a healthy pregnancy. I wish you lots of luck! ***********P.S. Hi Denise!!!

I forgot to add that I was told I am hetero MTHFR A1298C BUT two OB's concurred that it wasn't the cause of my m/c's. Just to be on the safe side they prescribed 4 mg's of folic acid daily after my 3rd m/c. I always wonder of it was the added folic acid or the acupuncuture (or divine intervention) that gave me my baby girl today.*********There's lots of debate about how long to wait to ttc after an m/c. Many women on these boards have not waited a certain period of time (6 months for example) and they've gone on to have healthy pregnancies. You have to go with what's in your heart. After my 3rd m/c, we decided to wait until all my testing was done to ttc. That took two cycles.

Hi Kristine! thank you so much! I swear, I don't know what I'd do without all of you on this forum. Just when I start to get down I read your story and it gives me hope. After my m/c in January I had all of the blood work done where the MTHFR was found and I begged my OB for an FSH test on day 3 of my first cycle after the m/c (3rd day after first AF after m/c). I also was to have an endometrial biopsy and a HSG, but she cancelled the last two things and I never got them done. The FSH test came back as a 4.8 which she said was good/normal (I'm 31). I've read it should be tested more than once because it can fluctuate month to month....my question is if it can fluctuate a great deal? I may ask to have it done again. I also heard that the FSH test tells quantity of eggs, but not necessarily the quality of what is there. I am afraid I may just have bad quality eggs, hence the acupuncture could still work for me. The acupuncturist I spoke with told me they should have checked my estradiol for egg quality along with the FSH. I looked at my labs and they never did that. The only treatment I am doing and have been doing since Jan (even through the pregnancy and miscarriage in April/May) is 4-5mg folic per day, a prenatal, B6, B12, baby aspirin and omega 3. The last two pregnancies I was on progesterone also from the beginning, but not prior to confirmed pregnancy. I do hope and pray this next one is the one and CONGRATULATIONS on your baby girl! That is so wonderful :-)

Thank you Stefkay. I'm pretty sure FSH is the quality because how could they know the quantity??? Ask your OB to be sure. I do not know how much it can fluctuate but your number is great. If anything the acupuncture will bring your body into balance. When is your appt.? Will you have a treatment that day?

Sorry one more thing I remembered. The RE (reproductive endocrinologist) who treated me after my 3rd m/c had me start progesterone 3 days after ovulation in case we conceived. We idd as you know and that was successful. I took progesterone for my 3rd pregnancy but only AFTER getting a positive pregnancy test. Some doctors think it's too late at that point to maintain the pregnancy. Something else to talk about with your doctor.

Stef...Did you have your appnt yet??? Curious to see how it went!! Hope your feeling better :-)

No, not yet...I rescheduled it for mid July because I wanted to have all my doctor's results back before I got ahead with this so I don't waste any money. It is like $60 per session, so I want to be sure I really want to do it before forking it over :-)