Sally: Acupuncture and Clomid

My husband and I started our fertility journey back in 2017, with only a few months into trying when I devastatingly found out my closest friend had a still birth at full term. This had knocked all our confidences, and we decided to put a break and a stop on trying for our baby. I concentrated on work until we all felt in a better place.

At the time of trying for our baby, I was working and commuting into London, work was long hours in a fast paced stressful clothing industry. I realised that I needed to move my work closer to home, before we began to try again. I was suffering from depression at this point. It was something that I had never experienced before.

We started trying again a year later. I had researched all of the different fertility tracking methods, and any “techniques” and educated myself. However, after 5 months of not falling pregnant, I started to think that actually, this may not be as simple as we both thought. It wasn’t until a year later when we sought help from the NHS. After doing a number of blood tests, ultrasounds, and other checks we were told by a gynaecologist specialist that we may be struggling to conceive because of my high FSH levels, and very low AMH levels for my age 30. This meant my eggs weren’t in the best condition to be able to conceive, and we were advised we may need IVF to help.

My depression became worse, it started to consume me when dealing with infertility thoughts. I would cry all the time, and it was preventing me from sleeping. I did try a number of different things including counselling and meditation. But it got to a point, that I could not cope, and I was prescribed anti-depressants. This I believe got me in the right mindset to take control of my fertility journey.

First I was given 6 months on clomid, before they said they would consider us for IVF, which doesn’t sound like a long time, but for someone who was worried they might be infertile it seemed like a life time. Either way, clomid or IVF, my declining fertility was a reality, and I knew I couldn’t change that – so I researched what can I do to help improve actual egg health? The most suggested options were acupuncture and nutrition. This is when I came across Lianne and her practice. I made an appointment with her.

We went through all of my test results, and also what I wanted to achieve, which gave me the confidence that this was going to be tailored to my needs and requirements. The acupuncture provided a relaxing and calming atmosphere every week. Alongside fertility, acupuncture also was beneficial for my anxiety and depression.

Whilst I still thought daily about wanting to be pregnant, the focus was also on a healthy lifestyle, and the acupuncture helped to balance out my hormones and everything felt manageable.

Every week we would work out what stage of my ovulatory cycle I was in, and Lianne would figure out which points were beneficial to help me at the current stage. After about 4 months of acupuncture treatment, with low dose clomid, we were delighted to find out that we had conceived naturally.

With the help and advice of Lianne, I have felt much more confident, I have had a private early scan at 8 weeks of my pregnancy at Bourne Hall Fertility Clinic, which was reassuring and turned out to be a lovely experience for my husband and myself.

I carried on with the acupuncture treatment up until my 12 week scan. Acupuncture helped keep my mind calm, and ease my anxiousness in early pregnancy.

I am now 15 weeks pregnant and all is going well. I definitely know I couldn’t have got to this stage without the help from Lianne, in terms of both acupuncture and advice. We owe so much to her, and would always recommend anyone struggling with fertility issues to go and see Lianne!