Cycles
Acupuncture alongside your reproductive clinic
If you are working with a reproductive clinic, in a medicated cycle, an IUI or an IVF, your clinic sets the plan. My visits sit around it. I ask for your calendar, plan visits on days that suit your appointments and your body, and never suggest a change to what your clinic has prescribed.
What people come in for is usually a calm hour in a stretch of waiting and appointments: rest, sleep, tension in the shoulders and jaw, and someone who is not in a hurry. I can't promise a result, and I don't quote numbers.
I ask for your clinic's calendar
With your written permission, I write to your clinic
No change to your medicines
Visits on your schedule
A visit, in order
What a visit is like
A visit takes about 50 minutes after the first.
- 01
Step 1: We talk
I ask who your clinic is, where you are in your cycle and everything you take, including anything your clinic has prescribed.
- 02
Step 2: A plan around your calendar
We choose days around your monitoring visits and procedures. I never schedule over them.
- 03
Step 3: Needles, then rest
A few fine needles, left in for about 20 minutes, while you rest under a blanket.
- 04
Step 4: A note to your clinic, if you want one
With your signed permission, I send a short note on what I did. Your clinic decides what to do with it.
Before you book
A few things to know
What you may feel afterward
Most people feel sleepy or calm. Some have light soreness where a needle was, or a small bruise. Tell me if you feel light-headed and I will help you up slowly.
Tell me first
Please say if any of these apply, and tell me about everything you take.
Where you are in your cycle, or if you might be pregnant
Blood thinners, or a bleeding disorder
A pacemaker, if electro-stimulation is suggested
Lymph node removal on either side
Fear of needles: say so and we go slowly
How many visits
Many people come weekly while a cycle is under way, and pause when their clinic does. It is my plan for you, never a promise, and it changes when your clinic's plan changes.
Being honest
What it doesn't do, and when to see a doctor instead
Acupuncture does not replace your reproductive clinic. I can't promise a pregnancy or any other outcome, and I don't read your lab results or scans. If your clinic tells you to avoid something, follow your clinic.
Call your clinic right away for heavy bleeding, severe pain on one side, or fainting. In an emergency, call 911.
Ready for a first visit?
Tell me who is in your care and when you are free.