Bruised

After telling my acupuncturist about the crappy week I had feeling exhausted ALL week and experiencing allergy/mild asthma throughout the week, and after looking at my charts for the past several months, she decided that the focus will be on building up my immune system. So instead of focusing primarily on the abdominal massage, she worked on my back. Instead of doing "skin rolls" which feels like pinching up my spine, she tried to work out the knot on my left shoulder. After doing that, she did cupping. She explained that this technique helps draw the toxins to the surface so that it may be easily released from the body. It was painful mainly because she primarily massaged my shoulder areas with it and parts of my back. My back is so purple, it scared dh. He had to take a picture of it. I had to explain to him that the bruising is normal after cupping. He had heard of it but never saw what it looks like right after. She assured me that the bruising should go away after a few days. I hope so. It does look rather scary, especially on my shoulders. It is also especially tender and kind of feels like a cut and a bad sunburn. It hurts to wear anything on my shoulders.

After working on my back, she did acupuncture on my front side (left ear, abdomen, both hands, both feet, and both legs). Once all the needles were inserted, she did moxibustion at different points on my body before finally placing some moxibustion material on the needles in my abdomen and lighting them. She asked if I felt the heat since lighting the moxibustion material would heat the needle. I didn't feel the heat, but I could feel something going on in my abdomen.

My next appointment is scheduled for next week Saturday. I'm hoping that this week will be better. With the exception of the bruising and painful shoulders, I feel pretty good. I wasn't as tired as I had been post-treatment the past three weeks, which was nice. She recommended that I continue taking the Chinese herbs but gave me a new one that is similar to the one she gave me last week, but this one is stronger. She also suggested that I exercise. When I asked her about the types of exercise I was doing before this (i.e. lifting free weights, running, and walking) she said that running is not good. Walking is okay and I really need to focus on movement and stretching to get my blood circulating, so yoga, tai chi, and qigong would be good forms of exercise for me. I'll have to look for some good DVDs to try.

Three Months

Today was my second visit with my acupuncturist and I'm happy that I felt much better than the first visit. I think I'm getting used to the treatment and I've experienced a difference in the way I feel, so the discomfort was worth it. Since my last visit, I've been following her recommendations of staying away from dairy products and drinking the PMS herbal tea twice a day. Because of this, I haven't experienced breast tenderness or been retaining water as much as I normally would prior to AF showing.
We started the session with discussing changes that I've experienced or not experienced, concerns, and our conception plans. She suggested that we take a three month break from trying so that she could help get my body balanced. She feels that this will give us a better chance of conceiving. We've waited this long to have a family. Three months won't be that bad.
Like the last session, she started with the abdominal massage which wasn't as uncomfortable as last week, and acupuncture w/moxibustion. Because I complained about my allergies, she also massaged some oil into my breastbone area and told me to continue doing this at home to help with building up my immunity. What was pretty interesting was after she removed one of the needles from my left inner calf, I felt a weird sensation in the area and then on the left side of my abdomen. I asked her if those two areas were linked and she said they were. I also felt some movement in my abdomen as I lay resting with the needles inserted. Altogether I counted 20 needles - 4 in each ear, 1 on the top side of each hand between my thumb and forefinger, 2 on the top of my left foot, 1 between my eyebrows, 2 on each inner calf, 3 on my abdomen.
Since AF started this morning, she said I could stop drinking the tea. She explained that although my tongue looked a little better this week, my pulse is weak, and I have a lot of stagnation, so we need to build up my immunity and chi. She sent me home with a bottle of chinese herbs - Women's Precious Teapills "Nu Ke Ba Zhen Wan" to take. I'm supposed to take 8 pills, 3 times a day. I thought it was a lot, but they look like tiny bb's or beads that are easy to swallow, so it's not so bad. I looked them up on-line and realized that all the things I've experienced for a long time and complained about are supposed to be addressed with this herb mixture. I'm hopeful it works and brings me back to some kind of normal again.

Positive Experience

I had my first acupuncture and body work treatment this morning. It all began with filling out a form that gave the acupuncturist initial information about my history, areas of concern, and my goals for treatment. She went over her training and background which made me feel more confident about choosing her to treat me. After I explained all that I had been through with my health and all the treatments we had undergone with fertility, she gave me an idea of her plan of treatment to begin with. The reason I say begin with is because based on my feedback, she will adjust my treatment accordingly. She explained that I have dampness which is important to address along with building up my immune system, and once I become pregnant, she will want to focus on my kidneys.
The session began with her looking at my tongue, feeling my pulse in three places on both wrists. Then she performed Chi Nei Tsang which is an ancient form of abdominal massage that is great for fertility. It was rather uncomfortable to say the least. She explained that my abdominal area was extremely tight which doesn't give much room for a baby. She could also tell that I felt bloated. The goal is to work the area to become loose. She really worked that area today. Right now it feels like I did some major ab crunches. Next, she worked on my spine. It felt like she was pinching my spine from the base all the way up to my neck. She massaged my shoulder area and commented that I am rather tight there too. It's where I tend to hold all my stress and tension. She did this twice before doing moxibustion along that same area. Finally she did the acupuncture treatment using at least 15 needles in my feet, legs, abdomen, hands, arms, right ear, and forehead. I tried to remember all the points so I could look them up in my "Infertility Cure" book to see what those points targeted. Sure enough it was all the necessary areas we discussed. After inserting the needles, she did a round of moxibustion on some of the areas - feet, abdomen and legs. I felt a wave in my abdomen and a burning sensation from my left hand and right lower leg. I rested there for about 15 minutes before she removed the needles. After she removed the needles from my right ear, I felt a tingling sensation going down the section behind my right ear. I felt very relaxed. She explained that even after removing the needles, I will feel the effects of treatment for at least the next few days.
After the treatment, she gave me some water to drink and advised that I continue to drink lots of water and take it easy. We scheduled my next appointment for Saturday. She recommended that I continue to work on my deep breathing and drink PMS tea twice a day as I am expecting AF in the next week or so.
I ate a light lunch, took my vitamins, and drank a cup of tea. All of a sudden I felt tired. I ended up taking a 2 1/2 hour nap! I never take naps which was interesting. What will be equally interesting is if I'll be able to fall asleep tonight since I took such a long nap. The few times that I have taken an afternoon nap, I had difficulty falling asleep at night. But, as I sit here drinking my second cup of tea, I find myself getting tired again.

Something New

So last week I was on-line looking at some message boards and then began researching acupuncture and fertility. I had tried looking for an acupuncturist who specialized in fertility here but wasn't able to find one that actually listed it in their specialties. Low and behold last week, I found someone who specializes in it and scheduled a consultation and possible treatment starting today. I am excited about trying something that may actually worked since there's a lot of evidence of it working when couples are trying naturally and with assisted reproductive technology to conceive, but at the same time I'm wondering how it will affect me. Will it be the thing that will actually work? Will it make this or other things worse? Keeping my fingers crossed.

Revelation

I'm happy to be on spring break as it proved to be a time to relax (a little), catch up and prepare (for the last quarter of the school year), and time to get things done. This time has also given me a lot of time to think since I'm home alone while dh's at work.
We're still on our quest to start a family. I'm on my third cycle with the Clearblue Easy Digital monitor hoping that each time it will be the last time I'll need to use it. I've also gone back to the TCOYF message boards to lurk and learn. I've been reading about soy isoflavones and decided to try it this cycle. I can't say I've noticed any results yet because it's way too early. The only thing that seems to be different are the pinches in my abdomen (ovulation?) and lower than usual temps in the morning (yesterday was 96.9). I've read about good results, bad results, and no results. I'm hoping that I'll be one of the good results. We'll see.
Early last week, I heard from a former colleague who shared that someone we know has stage 4 lung cancer. I was devastated. Granted we were never close friends, but she was always such a pleasant, genuine, and good person that I respected. To hear the news about her health, just hit me hard because something as tragic as this could happen to anyone. It also reminded me of my own mortality which I was faced with when I was diagnosed just 3 years ago with IgA nephropathy. Things like this I think are God's way of reminding us to be thankful for what we have and the time that we have here on Earth.
I stopped thinking about what I don't have..children with dh and started thinking more about how thankful I am for what I do have...my parents and family, a stable job as a teacher (especially in this unstable economy), a beautiful new home equipped with all that I dreamed of, and of course a life partner who treats me with unconditional love, respect,and support. Although I have been dealt the cards of infertility and kidney disease, it has also encouraged me to take better care of myself, to be healthy. Since I've been lifting weights and running/walking, I have noticed a difference in the way I feel mentally and physically. Maybe this is what I need to do to make sure my body is prepared to grow another life and to maintain the one that I am living with now.