Stagnant & Chaotic

I am officially grumpy after a week on the pill. Grumpy and nauseous, a winning combination. I know the only thing to do is just try not to think about it, but my stomach is practically twisting itself into a nifty balloon animal - not so easy to ignore.

This month is, predictably, going very slowly. The excitement - Needles! Follicles! Fentanyl! - won't really kick in for a while. And my natural cycle coincided with the October cycle at my clinic in such a way that I have almost four weeks of this holding pattern. So, I'm doing what I can to make the most of this time, and that includes a visit with a new acupuncturist.

My former acupuncturist moved last year, and I haven't managed to bother finding a new one. It just hadn't ever really made much of a difference. Nice to relax in the middle of the day, but I never felt it was much of a remedy for anything. But I have read so much about acupuncture and fertility, and this is my go-for-broke cycle, that I figured I'd find someone who really specialized in IVF treatment support, and see what happens.

This practitioner will work directly with the RE to optimize the cycle. She did find the same general problems that my last practitioner found - apparently my liver channel is stagnant and chaotic. Seems contradictory, but here's the thing: when she put the needles in for those areas, I felt a sizzle zip through my body - I can't deny she was onto something. I have had acupuncture for pain after a car accident, for allergies, and for migraines - but I have never felt partially carbonated before.

She also told me that migraines and infertility are significant in Chinese medicine. My migraines are few and far between, but I do get partial loss of vision and severe nausea and vomiting. In some ways, it would be easier to explain my infertility in terms of blocked chi . I've always been "unexplained", and as the years went by "advanced maternal age". The idea that my stagnant liver is the problem - that stagnant liver can be fixed, more to the point - sounds just dandy to me.

Other than acupuncture, I am trying wheat-grass juice, restorative yoga, and Cheyzn - a zinc-iron-copper supplement that I get from my chiropractor. Kinda moonbeamy, right? But, after all, I am doing high-tech IVF with all the synthetic femininity modern science has been able to concoct. I figure if a shot-glass of oozy green sludge might help, why not?