Since I haven't had any luck with IUI so far and my doctors can't find anything wrong, I thought I would expand my options and find an acupuncturist that specializes in Fertility. [Especially after reading the book "The Infertility Cure", which talks about using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in conjunction with Western medicine.] I found a place that is on my way home from work, and started going last week.
According to my Chinese doctor, I have a Ki Yan- (Kidney yang) deficiency and poor Qi (chee). This is also why I’m often so cold. Anyway, her treatment mimicked the fertility book I have, which was encouraging. I really don't know what my prognosis is, since she writes my treatment and lists the herbs I am to take in Chinese. (It's fun to watch her write though.)
The Dr. seems really nice, and the treatments aren't painful. Well the needles aren't that painful anyway... this is my first experience with a Chinese herbal treatment and it has been quite interesting. Behind the front desk is a wooden cabinet with drawers labeled neatly in Chinese. My doctor writes down my notes and the “prescription”, and then pulls out the applicable drawers a bit so she knows which ones to use. (I required quite a few drawers!) Then she gets out a balance scale, which consisted of an ivory "arm" with a flat copper "pan" that is suspended by three red strings and a “range indicator” on the end, and a brass counterbalance that dangles on the other side of the arm. It has a couple of red strings at the top that she holds to balance it.
It was very intriguing. She selects the herb needed—from slivers of roots, to berries, bark and leaves. Each time a certain amount is placed onto the pan and then she moves the weight down the arm until the load is balanced at the correct weight, adding or subtracting the ingredients until it is within range. After each measurement, the “prescribed” amount of herbs were poured into a brown paper bag, and I left with 4 bags worth of herbs (1 for each day between visits) and instructions to soak the herbs in a pot containing 5 cups of cold water and then simmer it down until I have one concentrated cup of herbal “tonic”.
She threw in something that looked like a dried date and some slivers of something soaked in honey to improve the taste… I wish she threw some more in, as the first night I made it, not only did the entire house smell of leaves and bark, the pot absorbed some of the smell. In fact even our coffee tasted of herbs the next day. (I felt like a little girl cooking mud pie ingredients of twigs and bark.) The tonic was VERY strong and drinking it coated my tongue with forest! But I did feel a bit more energetic the next day.
So we went out and purchased a special pot with strainer to boil my herbs, and hopefully this will help keep our good cooking utensils from absorbing any more tonic taste. (Although she said that often Chinese families cook the herbs with meat, to make it more palatable.) The funny thing is that the scent seemed to spike the coffee pot water next to it, as the next day our coffee tasted like tonic! So now I clear the stove when I boil my herbs which seems to help. (In fact the next time I tried it it wasn't as bad, so perhaps I just got a bitter brew the first time.)
I haven't given up on Western medicine yet and will do another round of IUI in a month or so, but I figure I might as well explore all options, and if getting my Qi in order helps me than I will be very happy!
2 oz Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
