Acupuncture for Infertility?

Oct2bride2be

Hi ladies. I'm part of the Secondary Infertility board, but I wanted to ask my question here since I'm looking for success stories. Hope you don't mind me coming over with a question!

I was wondering if anyone here tried acupuncture while dealing with infertility? What was your experience? Did it work?

I found a couple places in my area that look like they offer the service, but I'm sure my craptastic insurance won't cover any acupuncture treatment, so I'm debating if it would be worth the cost to give it a shot.

Thanks for any info you can provide!

Dr.Loretta

I went for a year and half and loved it. I saw my cycles start to regulate after 2 sessions. My acu was like my therapist--my first 10 minutes of each appt were her just letting me talk about stuff.

It did not work in the sense that I had a successful pregnancy, but I enjoyed it while I went.

na24

I did acupuncture with an acupuncturist who specializes in infertility treatment.  I feel like it definitely helped.  My insurance didn't cover anything, either, and it was expensive (~$80/session once a week for several months) but worth it.

samk213

I really think it's one of the major things that helped us.  I didn't do routine sessions while on stims or in prep for IVF, but I did a session immediately before and immediately after ET and I've been going every week since then. If we ever need to do another IVF cycle, I will do acupuncture during it.  We did get a BFP this cycle, and I think the acupuncture may have helped that.  I'm still going once a week through 1st tri to help with m/s symptoms and to reduce the chance of a m/c.  Make sure you get an acupuncturist who specializes in fertility treatments.  My insurance doesn't pay for it either and I pay 75 OOP for it, but you can write it off on your taxes if you qualify for the med deduction based on how much you spend OOP for fertility treatments.  GL to you!

EmilyAnne

I did acupucture.  My insurance didn't cover it either.  I think I paid $50/session.

I strongly feel that acu. combined with my IF treatments is what did the trick.  My acupuncturist had me change my diet quite a bit.  Change to organic foods, more veggies and fruit, less dairy.  He wanted me to cut out coffee completely.  I reduced the amount of coffee I drank and switch to half-caf.

One thing that stuck with me that he said was that I was trying to grow something inside me, so I needed to eat things that grew into something.  So he had me eat a lot of eggs and nuts.  I ate eggs 2-3 times a week and had a handfull of almonds 1-2x's/day.

If anything, acupuncture was very relaxing.  I did feel my body change/shift a bit.  Everything just felt like it ran a bit better.  My skin, hair and nails got better too.

howleyshell

If you get a chance try checking this book out from your library:

The Infertility Cure by Radine Lewis.

It's all about the way that traditional chinese medicine views infertility as an imbalance in the body and what it recommends for treatment of different diagnoses.

My acupuncturist recommended it to me and encouraged me to follow some of the diet changes but I'd already read it and begun the changes.

My advice is this.....  if you plan to try acupuncture find someone who specializes in IF.  My RE recommended mine to me.  She had been an OB in China. 

skoorbnibor

I have blocked tubes, so no pregnancy resulted but it sure helped my cycles! :  )  I have PCOS and it really made a difference with cycle length, and my follicle growth was also improved

alchris

Yes, I paid OOP for over a year while TTC DD then another 9 months while pg!  Unfortunately I don't know of any insurance in this part of the country where acupuncture is covered, though it is is some states in other parts of the country.  A combo of acupuncture and herbs was 98% of my treatment that led to my DD.  In fact, I'll be starting acupuncture next Tuesday to try for #2 since it's looking to be definite that I'll need help again.  I wish you the best -- we should stay in touch on 2nd IF!!!

mybobble

I tried acu while under going i/f treatments. While it didn't help me get pg I found it helped in other areas.

It was 100% oop for me and he didn't even bill insurances as he said very few actually paid for it.

Temp848906437505510

I personally know many people who swear that acupuncture helped them, but, for me, it was an absolute disaster.  I have had my period since I'm 9 and have had completely regular cycles for probably 20 years before trying acupuncture.  I began it in December '06, paying out of pocket to go twice a week, as I was getting ready to start IVF #3.  Suddenly, no ovulation and no period.  For 3 months.  Every week, for 3 months, I schlepped to the RE for bloodwork to see if I ovulated.  I finally did, after 12 weeks.  Then, I went on to have the worst IVF cycle of all of them (the only one that was canceled outright).  I promptly stopped acupuncture and my cycles went back to normal.

Acupuncture = a complete body shut down for me........

trish80

My dh and I truly feel we got pregnant so quickly - I mean after the years of trying on our own (just our 2nd IUI and only the 1st with the acupuncture) because of the acupuncture.  I was diagnosed with PCOS and she specialized in infertility treatments (she herself had been diagnosed with PCOS) and my husband had low morphology. We both went weekly for about 4 months and my husband also took some chinese herbs.  I agree with pp that the first 10 minutes were always like a therapy session and I truly appreciated all the time she would spend with us.  When we went in for the IUI my dh's count was soooo much higher than it had been previously and she also gave me something to thicken up my lining - goji berries, dates and something else to drink for the whole day before the IUI.  She also had me come in for a treatment the day of my IUI (I had b2b but as long as I saw her one of the days, she was happy).  We then got pregnant and are five months along now.  I really felt like if I was willing to do some medical interventions that I should try the "natural" methods as well.  We also paid out of pocket but it was well worth the money!!  Good Luck!