If anyone can recommend a good acupuncturist I would really appreciate it!
Thank you.
I have done a search here as well as Google for a good fertility acupuncturist in (or around) Zurich but I can't find any (only for one in Geneva).
To be blunt, it's not a needle that you need inside you to get pregnant.
Oh, that is so funny and clever, young man! What grade are you in?
OK, any adults out there with appropriate suggestions?
I am a great fan of acupuncture and the only suggestion I can make is that you go to someone who practices Chinese acupuncture not western . It really does make a difference.
The training needed with western is not the same as with chinese traditional as you are normally offered western from someone who practices lots of different treatments and does western as an add on.
I have read that it can be successful - lots of luck and get back and tell us if it has worked!!
My ex-wife was a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) acupuncture practitioner, she didn't specialise in fertility but as she liked to say, she 'got lots of women pregnant' so I guess any practitioner could help.
I remember she used to say the best thing you could do is keep your feet warm.
I'm sorry I can't give you any suggestions regarding acupuncture, but I can tell you that a very close friend of mine did artificial insemination, and it worked the very first time.
Artificial insemination isn't an option for some couples fertility issues. Tom also the traditional method isn't an option for many either.
Anyway on topic I tried acupuncture for one of my cycles and then haven't bothered since. I have heard mixed views and i think if a cycle works after acupuncture it could be for many other reasons than the acupuncture, I just felt it sa another unnecessary expense and hassle during an already expensive stressful time
But who knows, maybe it could act like a placebo? I wouldn't rule it out again - but I'd find a proper trained fertility acupuncture specialist. I went to a lovely lay who was in her last year of training
I realize this is off topic , but for fertility issues, please be sure your thyroid is functioning correctly. I know first hand that it can cause issues. Once that was regulated I had 3 uneventful pregnancies. Good luck with your search and stay positive, which I know is not always easy in these circumstances!
I've heard of couples going down many avenues and failing (and getting stressed out in the trying), giving it all up and then finding shortly afterwards, that the woman gets pregnant.
I'm sure the pressure and stress has a lot to do with the problems and I'm sure that some of these alternative methods work, as a placebo, as they give time for calmness and relaxation which undoubtedly is important.
But, the key is in the relaxation and not in the needles.
My Biology degree covered and entire semester of maternity, and there are a huge number of enviromental and personal factors that have proven affects on fertility.
Accupunture wasn't one of them, and it's effect is very probably placebo, as Tom suggests.
The top obstacles to becoming pregnant are (in no particular order):
- Age
- Weight
- aerobic fitness
- whether you are heavy smoker or drinker
- whether you are diabetic
- whether you have high blood pressure (genetic or environmental)
- how long you took the pill, and how long ago you stopped. It can take many months for the affects to wear off to allow viable eggs to survive.
- Diet
- family history of "plumbing issues"
- hormonal/lymphatic imbalance
- whether you already have children (children = improved fertility)
- poor timing (you only have a small window)
- poor sperm quality (affected by most of the above as well)
- use of certain lubrications...these can damage sperm
- presence of carbon monoxide in elevated levels
Only one i see accupuncture helping with is blood pressure, through stress reduction. And if that's the only thing reducing your fertility...you're extremely lucky.
This is believed to be a common cause of miscarriage too, funnily enough, with many woman reporting successful pregnances once levels are corrected.
I understand where you're coming from and have known couples like this too... BUT
Please don't ever say such a thing to someone that is struggling with fertility issues. There are so many factors involved, and sometimes people have truly unexplained infertility. It is minimizing and almost trivializing their struggle to imply all they have to do is "just relax."
I never said that. I said some couples give up trying, relax and then the woman gets pregnant.
Of course, a problem of a more serious nature won't get fixed by relaxing alone but neither will acupuncture fix it.
We've had a full thread about it, actually. It's too emotional a subject to try to apply reason and logic to. The people who are doing it wrong won't admit it even to themselves.
Sorry, not implying you personally. Just a general comment because so many people use the "just relax" as an answer.
Thanks for the link. Not trying to go OT or get people crazy. Just a comment based on what one of my college friends told me when she was trying to conceive. I didn't dare tell her to relax. I knew her too well and wanted to preserve our friendship!
Unfortunately many people think that "just relaxing" is trivial. Actually being unable to relax in our society is a major problem and causes many of our sicknesses. Relaxing can be very difficult. People even become more unrelaxed when they try to relax. Much of the problem is due to tension when we "try" too hard.
It has to do the the autonomic nervous system. When this nervous system is over activate, say for example to stress, our bodies(muscle) tense and our insides do not function normally. It is an automatic reaction and has nothing to do with how intelligent one is.
Yes, I worked with a lady who had some miscarriages and after learning ow to relax no more problems.
Aha - so she was over stressed.
I am an Acupuncture student in Winterthur an i know of a fairly well know acupuncturist for fertility and gynecology in Zurich. I believe she only treats conditions regarding pregnancy, fertility, and Gynecology. Her name is Esther Denz. I have herd many good things about her from my teachers. She also speaks English. Her website is http://www.tcm-estherdenz.ch Good luck!
I wish it were as easy as 'just relaxing' for some people relaxing has nothing to do with their issues. So as someone pointed out please be carful what you say to couples. If I had a frank for every time I was told this i'd be very wealthy
Just to let you know, if a woman wants/ wanted to have a baby she will NEVER give up. She's a woman, and it will always be lodged somewhere in her consciousness that she wants a baby.
Maybe it was her husband who relaxed in the end and allowed the Olympic swimmers out!