Maya Abdominal Massage?

wishiwaspreggo

Hello friends!  So I'm on CD 2 now and next cycle is the Big One: Follistim and Femara.  Benched this cycle and trying to prepare my body as best I can with a health diet and exercise routine, stress reduction, and focusing on making the next cycle happen.  I'm researching all kinds of holistic therapies because... what the hey, right?  They can't hurt.  Well, some can - I'm not touching any weird potions or chemicals that claim to enhance pregnancy, but I think there's something to be said about lifestyle modifications and cleaning up the ol' diet.

ANYway... I live in a hippy town and I found a massage therapist/doula who does a fertility massage called the Maya abdominal massage.  Has anyone tried it before?  I'm curious to see how it would work and I think I'm going to try it this month.  I'm not one to try alternative medicine so I'm a little skeptical, but at this point I have one vial of sperm left and whatever I can do to make this happen, I'm gonna do it.  But I'm curious to see if others have tried this, too

wishiwaspreggo

I think the goal is blood flow and organ alignment.  She'll teach me how to do it myself but I go in three times to get the massage before my next cycle.  *shrugs* If nothing else, massage is relaxing, right?  Not sure how I feel about having my stomach pushed on (I'm ticklish there) but... yeah, same principles as acupuncture, I imagine I tried to do acupuncture but I couldn't get into the office for a couple months.

I'll post about it if others are curious after my appointment!  If I do get my BFP next cycle, though, I'm pretty sure I can thank the combo of Follistim and Femara... these add-on therapies I'm trying are more for peace of mind and feeling like I have a bit of control over the situation in general.

haloform

I have had this done.  I did it back in November.  It was a strange experience... I'm kind of ticklish in my stomach region too, so I thought that might be uncomfortable, but I found that the pressure was firm enough that I didn't notice ticklish feelings much.  It certainly does feel weird to have someone massaging your stomach and abdomen fairly firmly.  I have scoliosis so I thought maybe the misalignment of my back was also causing my organs to be misaligned.  The massage practitioner did move my organs around a bit, and she showed me how to do the self-massage at home.  

In all, it was okay.  I didn't love the experience and didn't hate it.  I did find my abdominal muscles were sore like I'd been doing sit-ups for a few days afterwards. One thing that was strange, and could be coincidence so I don't want to blame it on the massage necessarily, is that later in that same cycle, I had an ovarian cyst burst.  It was extremely painful.  I've never had a cyst burst before, so it definitely freaked me out at first.

I feel like I might try the massage again at some point, but I enjoy things like acupuncture and regular massage a lot more.

airidh80

My experience is probably different from yours, since I've done IVF rather than IUI, but if anyone had pressed on my stomach during stim I would have straight-up punched them in the face. Hell, I'm two weeks post retrieval now, and when my husband accidentally squished my stomach the other night, I'm pretty sure I growled at him. 

I know your drug regimen will be significantly less harsh than mine, but still... something to keep in mind

Best of luck to you! And to everyone here!

EDIT: Just realized you're talking about doing this BEFORE stim. Reading is hard, y'all.

JadziaDax

This definitely seems worth looking into. Thanks for posting.

ddvj79

I have been thinking about the Maya Massage as well & just made an appointment for Friday *5/16, after CD12 scan! This is IUI#3 for me, not holding my breath or anything about this one succeeding but thought I'd give the Maya massage and acupuncture a shot!

wishiwaspreggo how was your experience with the massage at the end of it ?

Anyone else with experience with the Maya massage &/or acupuncture ? would be great to hear about others' experiences. I will update with mine on Friday!

wishiwaspreggo

The soonest the massage therapist could get me in her schedule was July 2nd.  What the hell?  That doesn't help me.  I wanted to do massage because 1) I love massages and 2) I hate needles, which is why I thought maybe this would be better than acupuncture. 

Well, I'd seen an acupuncture facility next door to my RE in the same medical office so I looked at their website.  They do acupuncture specifically for IUI therapy so I figured since it costs the same as the massage series and I can get it this cycle, I'd give it a shot.

@ddvj79 - I'm enjoying the acupuncture so far, much to my surprise!  The needles along my spine feel really good.  Kind of like they release tension with each stick.  I lay on my stomach during that part and usually fall asleep.  Then I move to my back and he sticks the needles in my belly.  That doesn't feel so good but it's tolerable.  Then I lay there and wait for 20 minutes and he'll come in and take them out.  Then when I get to my car I notice mild cramping.  Not sure if that's placebo or what but I think it's doing something, at least

I go in for another treatment tomorrow, just before my IUI.  I've been on Follistim and took my trigger shot last night.  If I get pregnant this cycle, maybe acupuncture has helped me out... or maybe it's just the drugs, I don't know.  Anyway, that's my experience so far!  I go in for one more treatment a week from tomorrow for implantation.

theholmanherd

I would try it! I hope it will work

ddvj79

I had my 2nd acupuncture apt today, she mostly sticks the needles on my belly, foot & hand. Some of them are painful when they go in. I don't see any particular effects post acupuncture except for the parking ticket that the city of Seattle gifted me with!

I was asking my acupuncturist about the Mayan massage and she said she had it years ago and its extremely uncomfortable because they are trying to shift your organs around & she also said that it should be done pre-IUI and not once the sperm is in!

I have an appointment on Friday for acupuncture again and the Mayan massage that afternoon. The mayan massage lady said the same thing that it needs to be done before IUI.

I'll update the thread once I've had the massage! DH thinks I have most definitely lost it now that I am trying the acupuncture, mayan massage and yoga for fertility...well, when you live in Seattle, what do you expect right ?

ddvj79

UPDATE:

I went for another acupuncture appointment today and the Mayan Massage.

- I've had 3 appointments with the acupuncturist & looks like it is helping with the bloating. She said she wont see me until next Friday when the implantation time frame starts

- The Mayan Massage was uncomfortable as someone else mentioned but it felt like a work out to the uterus area. The cramping and other general discomfort is replaced now with muscle soreness (like the one you get after a decent work out, not debilitating or unbearable just that good work out soreness). I cant explain it but I had a pretty good feeling about it & think I will go back if this IUI doesn't work...