Acupuncture 101

I have alluded to this in past posts, and since I’m not very private about this topic, I’ll just lay it all out. Dustin and I have been trying to get pregnant for about 18 months now. There doesn’t seem to be anything really wrong with either one of us. It certainly has been frustrating and depressing at times over the past year, but we have wonderful people around us (both friends and family) that provide a lot of love and support. I am always looking for something new to increase my fertility so April sent me an article with 10 ways to increase fertility. A lot of it was the same old stuff, until I cam across acupuncture. That was one I hadn’t heard before. I have never in my life tried acupuncture. Most of what I have heard about acupuncture has to do with pain management. My dad used to do it when he had a lot of back problems. Anyway, I did some research on the internet and found that there were acupuncturists that specialize in fertility. So I thought… why not? So, here is what I learned today.

I did some research and met with Linpin at Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs. Once we got through the hour of Q&A about my body, treatments for fertility, tests, etc, she had me lie on the table and stick out my tongue. Apparently you can tell a lot about what is going on in somebody’s body by the color of the tongue (could be liver related), the texture of the tongue, or if there is a layer of film/coating on the tongue (spleen/digestion related). She mentioned that if you look at a terminally ill patient’s tongue you can tell that they are sick just by looking at their tongue. Who knew that you could tell so much just from looking at somebody’s tongue?

Next, she took my pulse. This wasn’t like getting your pulse taken at the doctor. She held my wrist for a few minutes. Then she did the same with the other. Then she asked me if I ate breakfast, which I thought was random. Anyway, apparently my pulse was somewhat weak. Sometimes that is due to not eating, but other times it can be because of an imbalance in the body or a weak organ. She used three fingers, one for the heart, one for the liver and one for the kidney. Apparently my kidney seemed to be the weakest of the 3.

She then told me about her focus on 3 of the organs. First was the spleen, which signifies digestion. Next she talked about the liver which holds your emotions, such as depression and stress levels. And third was the kidney which holds the essence. In other words for a woman, the female things such as egg quality, ovulation, etc.

Then it was time for the needles. She put one in each ear and one between my eyebrows. The sole purpose of these needles was relaxation. She put two up by my rib cage (I think where my spleen and liver are), one in my lower abdomen and about 6 or so in my legs. If only I could remember what they all meant. My body then felt really heavy and I just relaxed with needles in for the next 20 minutes. I haven’t been that relaxed for a long time. After taking out the needles, she rubbed my legs, head, scalp and neck with some type of essential oil. It was wonderful!

I was so intrigued by all that she taught me about the balance of the body. All I could think about was my sister and how proud she would be of me because she loves this stuff! I am not sure if this will help or not, but I definitely learned a lot about my body. I did find some research that for women going through In Vitro Fertilization, the % of success for those doing acupuncture during this process compared to those that did not was significantly favorable for the women involved in acupuncture. Anything to increase our odds… right! (Well maybe not anything, but you get the point).