Tony and I are gearing up to meet face-to-face with the reproductive endocrinologist tomorrow. As much as I'm hoping that he will be able to provide some answers to my questions, I'm not holding my breath. I am holding out for the magic words that will allow us to move forward with the next steps in our journey. We are praying for the go-ahead to move forward with our third IVF cycle.
I'm finding more and more that those who practice Western Medicine are separatists. They do not really want to hear about alternative treatments that are being sought, and are even less inclined to believe anything I come up with based purely through my own searches. Even though I know my body. Even though I have seen more progress using Traditional Chinese Medicine than I've seen with Western Medicine in a long time.
My recent discussions with my acupuncturist Tony and I have decided to make some dietary changes. Actually, I have been doing these things for almost six weeks now. Tony just made the decision within the last two weeks.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, I'm to avoid dairy products, white flour, refined sugar and gluten. I find the two easiest of these things to do is to avoid dairy and gluten. I'm not perfect, and I haven't followed this 100% for the last six weeks, but I have made some pretty major modifications to my diet. I haven't had ANY milk since I started. In fact, I've fallen in love with chocolate almond milk. Not a fan of the regular, but I'm all about the chocolate. It tastes just like regular chocolate milk, only has 120 calories per serving, AND has double the calcium. Win, win, win in my book. I have to give my reproductive endocrinologist credit. When I announced these dietary changes to him, he supported my decision to give up dairy. In fact, he'd recently attended a conference in which they learned that research supported the fact that dairy has an adverse effect on egg quality. Does this mean he agrees with my alternative treatments? I wouldn't go that far. It just means that research finally caught up to what the Chinese have been practicing for thousands of years.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there is not a diagnosis for infertility. Isn't that interesting? There are diagnoses that can help a women become more fertile, that will make her womb more open to receiving a child. I've known this for awhile, but I find myself filled with renewed hope. I've read that it takes approximately 90 days to make improvements to egg quality. Now, if you ask my science-based, Western Medicine, doctors about this they may disagree that any changes can be made. I disagree. I have already seen changes in myself that lead me to believe these dietary changes are having a positive effect. If nothing else, I feel better and more energetic (definitely less congested) on a daily basis. I like my doctors, and I know they're doing what they think is best for me. I sure am glad I have my acupuncturist in my corner though -- she's been able to do more for me at crucial times than they have. And, I feel good working on things in a natural manner, without drugs and medicine doing all the work.
Please don't think I'm bashing doctors; far from it. I know there are many who are doctors and nurses of Western Medicine out there who will accept and work with alternative treatments and their practitioners. I've just found more of a wall between my current reproductive endocrinologists and the alternative treatments I'm also utilizing. It makes sense -- their entire business is rooted purely in science and scientific research. There is, however, a lot of research to indicate that a mixture of reproductive endocrinology and acupuncture can be very beneficial in the realm of fertility.
Well, now there I go again. This has gone from being "short and sweet" to long enough. :) We've decided in our family to go the Traditional Chinese Medicine "route" and refer to our problem as a fertility problem, not an infertility problem. We need all the positive thinking and prayers we can get! Believe it into being. Think positive. These are all my daily mantras. In closing, I will share our latest daily inspiration. It was sent to me by a dear friend; +Megan Karabon thank you! I have it as my background on my phone, so I see it thousands (no, I'm not kidding) of times a day. And I love it. Every. Time.
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