This is a tough one to knock. Why? Because some folks swear up and down that this is the holy grail of infertility treatments. Some of them are people I know and trust.
But for me, a referral isn’t quite enough to make me curious enough to try it. After getting this question, I try not to make eye contact, and choke down the response that my ‘Filter-less Mind’ wants to say: “No, I haven’t, because I think it’s a bunch of poop!”
Today’s mystery: how is something that makes babies cry (needles) a good strategy for making babies?
Instead, I say “No, I haven’t, and I know it works for some people really well, but I just can’t quite get myself to buy in.” Yes, I’m a horrible person, I admit it.
Plus it’s not covered by my insurance. We’re talking major Chinese yen here to do it “right,” which means many, many visits.
One enterprising friend of mine was able to finagle her acupuncturist into giving her and her husband a package deal at an awesome price. But it would be just me in our case, so the bulk discount is out the window. I’d be on the hook for $50 per treatment, and they say twice a week for several weeks is the recommended protocol to get optimum results.
Do you have an extra $400 a month laying around? Yup, me neither.
This falls into the same category as chiropractic. I know some swear by it, but after watching a friend get shafted by a shamelessly unethical chiro, I regard them all with major suspicion. Legend says that there are good ones, but I think most of them are bad news. Like politicians — a few are ethical and hard-working, but most are busy posting pictures of their weiner on Twitter. Tee hee. 🙂
I was at an appointment Saturday (while I am childless, I am getting my legs lasered, with hopes of permanently removing leg-shaving from my to-do list; and yes, it works, and it’s totally awesome) and the laser gal asked me if I had tried acupunture and chiropractic. “I know it’s not for everyone!” she quickly added, “But I do know some people who swear it worked.”
I appreciated the way she put it — just like the religion thing, she respected my own view while still offering something that might be helpful. Good job, laser lady!
So I remain undecided; will sticking needles in my chakras cause my brain to send a “get to work” signal to my ovaries?
“it takes many, many tries”.
Which means, “we kept going, shelling out tons of cash, and ended up pregnant 6 months later…so it was probably just a coincidence, and we would have ended up pregnant at that point, anyway”.
*sigh*
Acupuncture is silly.
Oh, and on chiropractors? there are some shady as shit ones out there, no doubt. I’ve been to 4 of them, and only 1 helped me (he also combined physical therapy, TENS, ultrasound, and massage with the adjustments), AND he cared. He was not on my insurance plan (the ONLY chiro on my insurance plan was over an hour away), so he offered to see me for what my insurance co-pay would be. <3
I say it’s worth trying. I mean, having needles stuck all over you sounds fabulous, right? Dr Ahn in C-ville has an M.D. and also does acupuncture. For some reason the M.D. attached to his name makes me feel better…
Plus $400 a month is nothing compared to the $800 a month you’re going to shell out for daycare when that baby finally arrives!! 🙂
As for chiropractic, I swear by it. Find yourself a good one (use online review sites) and stick with her or him. It really can do you a lot of good.
As for acupuncture, I loved it and I did get pregnant through IVF when I used it (not with IUIs when I used it). I think it’s main benefit, though, was relaxation during a tough time. It makes you learn to be really still and focus your energy. You leave feeling so relaxed. I didn’t do it this cycle (frozen embryo transfer) because of time and money, but if neither of those were factors I totally would have.
I only caved when it was our last ditch effort, and even then had to fake my belief in the whole idea on more than one occasion (kurt was even harder to convince, but he was as desperate as I). Was AP the reason we finally got preggers? Doubtful. The rose quartz bracelet with turtle charm I wore religiously probably had nothing to do with it either. But when you’re at the end of your rope, you do things you start to grasp at anything. Just. In. Case.
That last part got jumbled up but you get what I’m throwin’ down. It’s late, and you made me do simple math.