I am 39 and blessed with a pretty blissful married life, except the part about having a crappy uterus and being barren. I've been living with painful endometriosis since my mid-20s and spent the first 6 years of our marriage idiotically trying NOT to get pregnant, only to realize through the next 4 years that we couldn't anyway. Now into our 5th year of TTC, I've recently been further diagnosed with adenomyosis, fibroids and hormonal imbalance as well. To add to this mix, hubs also has crappy sperm with low motility, morphology and sperm count. With mainstream western medicine offering us little hope, hubs and I are currently pursuing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to help us conceive despite our horrible odds. I feel optimistic as I have experienced positive changes and have managed to get pregnant once with TCM. Even though it ended in a painful miscarriage, I'm hanging on to the fact that something in my body is still working and a baby is still a possibility in our lives. Meanwhile, I am a fur mommy to our cat Zoey, who provides much needed comic relief in between. This blog will chronicle our ups and downs and progress, or not, while trying to remain zen through it all...
This book gave me hope and set me on the course to healing my endo and infertility with TCM. A must-read for all women trying to conceive naturally or through ART/IVF
Oct 20, 2008--1st consultation w TCM doc. Diagnosis: blood stasis, cold condition, cold uterus, hormonal imbalance, wind, low kidney ying and yang. Started acupuncture & herbs right away. Continued with daily herbs, and acupuncture twice weekly. Husband also treated for low sperm morphology. We decided to have break from TTC for a few months
Nov 19, 2008--1st period after starting TCM. Miraculously no pain!
Dec 20, 2008--2nd period after starting TCM.Again no pain, but unusual bleeding for 19 days.
Jan 28, 2009--3rd period after starting TCM. Mild ache for 1 day, heavy flow. Started TTC this cycle.
Feb 16, 2009--Ovulated naturally
Feb 26, 2009-- Last TCM session before vacation
Mar 1, 2009--Departed for vacation
Mar 10, 2009--Discovered I was Pregnant! Jaw dropped! Hit jackpot right away after resuming TTC for only 1 month!
Mar 14, 2009--Spotting started, off and on for 2 weeks
Mar 25, 2009--Miscarriage. Coupled with severe gastritis. Thought I was going to die!
April 20, 2009--Resumed TCM treatment w daily herbs and acupuncture twice weekly
May 11, 2009--1st period after miscarriage. Pain from hell for 3 days. Cramps, heavy flow, clots.
June 15, 2009-2nd period after miscarriage. Excruciating pain for 3 days but 30-40% less than previous period. Clots, flow moderate. No ovulation detected this cycle.
July 26, 2009--3rd period after miscarriage. Pain for 3 days but 30% less than previous period. Clots, flow moderate.
Aug 19, 2009--Ovulated naturally
Sep 2, 2009--4th Period after miscarriage. Pain for 2 days, 50% less pain. Clots, flow moderate. TCM doc's conclusion - progress slow due to wind & obstruction of channels still present from miscarriage.
Sep 7, 2009--1st Moxibustion for more aggressive treatment. Continued for 5 consecutive days. Significant increase in heat levels in body. After 3-day break, had 6 more moxibustion sessions.
Sep 19, 2009--Ovulated naturally and earlier on CD19
Oct 4, 2009--5th Period after miscarriage. 1 day of pain only! Woohoo! Pain intensity less than previous month and no clots-Getting better! Completed total of 12 moxa sessions this past cycle.
Oct 12, 2009--Started moxa for current cycle. Eventually completed 10 moxa sessions. Qi and heat levels good. Hand injury on Oct 15 had minimal effect on my general condition. Had a round of anti-biotics and tetanus shot for hand.
Nov 6, 2009--Treated yeast infection with Canesten 1-Day pessary which caused significant bleeding. Consumed 2x150ml of cultured milk for 3 days to build up good bacteria that anti-biotics destroyed.
Nov 9, 2009--6th period after miscarriage. Horrible relapse in pain that lasted 5 and 1/2 days, although pain intensity same as previous month. Heavy flow, clots even on CD6, gastritis, lower back pain. Disappointed is an understatement.
17 Nov, 2009--Started 1st moxa for new cycle ie:7th cycle since miscarriage. Completed 8 moxa sessions almost consecutively. Did not even ovulate this cycle.
11 Dec, 2009--Started spotting for 9 days. No sign of red flow. Can we even call this a period? If so it would be my 7th period after m/c
Jan 2010--No idea if I ovulated because we went on vacation in Boracay and did not care.
10 Jan, 2010--Crap! Period came during my last 2 days of vacation in Boracay. Took painkillers at the first sign of pain (2 days). Flow was a little heavy at first, then moderate and was over in 7 days. Red fresh flow. No clots. Yay!
22 Jan, 2010--1st visit with new acupuncturist ie 2nd TCM doc. Only medicine prescribed.
25 Jan, 2010--1st acupuncture session with new acupuncturist. Nearly died from pain.
27 Jan, 2010--My elusive egg reappeared! I finally ovulated naturally again for the 1st time since Nov 09.
5 Feb, 2010--New acupuncturist claimed there was a 90% chance I could get pregnant this cycle. Yeah right!
11 Feb, 2010--Got my 8th period after m/c. Usual awful AF-cramps, heavy flow, clots, but finished efficiently within 7 days
15 Mar, 2010--After obsessing about my egg being MIA again, the OPK finally turned positive on CD 33.
29 Mar, 2010--Another BFN. AF brought 2 days of pain but the flow is more normal and with occasional clots.
26 Apr, 2010--New TCM fertility specialist-TCM doc No3. Diagnosed with adenomyosis and 3cm fibroid from u/s. Started new herbs right away taken in capsule form, daily. No acupuncture prescribed.
3 May, 2010--10th period after m/c. No sign that I ovulated. Fibroid swelled to 4.8cm on u/s on CD 1. Two days of pain but was greatly minimized by TCM herbal cramp medication. Amazed that herbs work for pain! The flow is normal. I think TCM has helped regulate the blood flow.
22 June, 2010--11th period after m/c. Ridiculously long 50-day cycle with ovulation on CD40. Two days of AF pain but was greatly minimized by TCM herbal cramp medication. Blood flow good and moderate. Gastritis was awful though.
1 comment:
zengirl,
I too posted about Allison's heartbreaking news.
Very sad! :(
Jeanne
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