IVF Round #5 wth Acupuncture & Diet Change Part 1

We decided for Christmas we would be going to Destin, Florida where my grandparents had lived for 30 years, so I could introduce Mike to the area and our extended non-blood related family there. We went in the off season and had an amazing time. January is the PERFECT time to go! Less crowds, easier access to things we want to check out, see and do and not have to fight throngs of people to do it. Amazing. The drivers there however leave a little to be desired. Roadsigns and "rules of the road" are merely suggestions there. sheesh! Okay, enough about that. It was a relaxing week spent with old friends. Much laughter and amazing food was shared and Mike and I both got some much needed stress relief.
So I had been looking into acupuncture before we left for vacation and had messaged a few places to find out their policies and procedures. It is amazing how many places do not want to work with an IVF lady due to timing issues. One of my KEY issues was if my transfer hits on a Sunday, I want my acupuncture doc to be available! So I interviewed three places because our of the eight I e-mailed or called only four returned my calls and one of those were attitudy. Screw that. We are paying your ridiculous prices lady, don't give me attitude if you expect to get our money! So, of the three who were in the "final decision" only two were willing to meet with me if needbe on days they would regularly be closed. Two. Thats it. Crazy! Then between the two, only one was prompt in returning emails and phone calls. Well, that made the decision pretty dang easy. Tada! Dr. Tamara McDonald of
North Coast Natural Health and Acupuncture joined our "IVF Team" She does not have posted hours for Sunday or Monday but is available to me to assist with our IVF needs whenever needed during the week. Outstanding! Bonus, we had set up a Flexible Spending Account through Mike's work and it covers acupuncture visits as well and she was willing to work with us to make sure it would be covered! Double Bonus!
So, from an IVF website re:acupuncture, I give you their reasoning...

Acupuncture and IVF – How might it work?

There are several by which acupuncture could influence the results of In vitro Fertilization - IVF. Acupuncture has been shown in some studies to affect the levels of pituitary and ovarian hormones. Electro-acupuncture may help improve blood flow in the uterine arteries of infertile women.

The most immediate possible effect is that acupuncture served to "relax" the uterus around the time of the transfer. Several studies have shown that the uterus has contractions and that these contractions could cause expulsion of the transferred IVF embryos. If the contractions were reduced by acupuncture then that could be a mechanism for an improvement in IVF pregnancy rate.

Acupuncture and IVF – How might it work?

There are several by which acupuncture could influence the results of In vitro Fertilization - IVF. Acupuncture has been shown in some studies to affect the levels of pituitary and ovarian hormones. Electro-acupuncture may help improve blood flow in the uterine arteries of infertile women.

The most immediate possible effect is that acupuncture served to "relax" the uterus around the time of the transfer. Several studies have shown that the uterus has contractions and that these contractions could cause expulsion of the transferred IVF embryos. If the contractions were reduced by acupuncture then that could be a mechanism for an improvement in IVF pregnancy rate. 

Now, this may sound like a bunch of whooey, but hell, why not try it?! So, I started acupuncture with Dr. McDonald January 29, 2013. We set up a schedule, worked on diet change for gluten intolerance, and looking into the Paleo diet, and started new prenatal wellness vitamins instead of the prenatal vitamins you can get from say walmart. lol. Also we have switched back to the progesterone in sesame seed oil that we thought I could be having an allergic reaction to because it is hella cheaper than the elthol oleate vials. Also discussed with Dr. M the use of cream to numb the injection site. He said the cream will help topically but because it is a deep muscle injection, it probably will not help. But we could try it, so it was ordered and will be delivered to the house. The Vivelle patches we are going to use again even though I react to the adhesive because they seem to help with my levels. I will just have to tolerate the welts and sore bottom. Grrr.

So, here is the basic timeline/schedule for this cycle of IVF

1/31/13 6am Lupron injections at 10 units until 2/13 & both of us starting our Doxycycline pills for 7 days.
2/5/13 Acupuncture
2/6/13 Stopped birth control pills
BONUS of Acupuncture: My normal "flow" was 7 days heavy bleeding with clots the size of golf ball. Since beginning acupuncture, my flow for this cycle was 2 days of light/mild bleeding and a day of spotting. That was it. HOLY CRAP!
2/11/13 Appointment for baseline ultrasound & blood work and to prepay for this ivf round.
 Everything on track and according to schedule. Lining looking good.
2/12/13 Acupuncture
2/13/13 Drop Lupron injection to 5units, begin Vivelle patches (every other day at varying doses) & Estrace nightly
Begin Foltx, Prenatal Wellness Vitamins, and Aspirin
2/19/13 Acupuncture
2/25/13 Appointment for bloodwork & ultrasound
2/26/13 Acupuncture
2/16/13 Last Lupron injection & Estrace
2/27/13 I start Doxycycline for 5 days & Medrol tablets for 4 days
Begin 2cc Progesterone in Oil Injections every day in the buttocks
3/1/13 Decrease Vivelle patches to 2 every other day
3/3/13 Acupuncture
3/4/13 Transfer day! -Acupuncture after
Then the wait....
3/14/13 Blood test




So there it is. Our schedule for this cycle. I will update it as we progress with any changes or additions. Keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed!

IVF #1 & #2

So I started this blog for food & IVF half way through our journey and never went back posted about our 1st & 2nd rounds. So without further ado, I begin to work on updating this! ha. I will post a story on how Mike & I got to where we are tomorrow or so maybe but this will start from our beginning with IVF.

In April of 2012, I got sick of waiting for "things to work" and began my search for an RE that was NOT associated with Cleveland Clinc. I had previous experience with CC and there I was just a number. If my cycle hit on a Sunday I was screwed and it was a wasted cycle. The wallet was not happy many times. Back then, we did clomid and then clomid with IUI's for about 5 years we did this. Obviously it did not work. I discussed the CC issue with my OB/GYN and she suggested checking our Reproductive Gynocology Inc in Akron. In asking some of my friends who had been struggling with infertility, they shared their knowledge and all had finally gotten preggo with RGI instead of CC as well. So, off to RGI it was. I called and scheduled to see Dr. Moretuzzo who is the head doctor there. The day I went to see him I expected a consultation. What I didn't expect was him to be on my side! Holy wow. He asked how aggressive Mike & I wanted to be and I told him fairly aggresive since we knew IUIs in the past and just the clomid didn't work and I really did not want to waste money on IUIs again. It was a good thing Mike & I had some major discussions about what we both wanted and how we wanted to proceed before I went to this appointment. So Dr. M then did an exam and said he wanted to get me scheduled for HSG test and do a mock transfer to make sure everything would be clear and good to go. However, the HSG was scheduled for a particular day of the cycle... believe it or not i was one day away from the required day! So into Akron I drove the following day for the HSG test in the office. Everything was clear. Finally things were looking up! we immediately started the birth control pills and began our first cycle of IVF. Holy crap we were overwhelmed. Mike & I decided to focus on each other since this was our first round and not include many people in the process. For cycle 2, we included the rents and the moms took turns joining me for the blood work and ultrasounds and keeping me company for the early morning 1 hour 15 minute drive to Akron.
So in both cycle 1 & 2 we had to do an egg retrieval. Fun Fun.
I was VERY concerned about hyper stimulation so we over stocked the gatorade... ALOT! haha.
So round 1 results of egg retrieval were 9 eggs, 3 fertilized correctly, 1 was good grade. 2 embryos transferred.
Round 2 egg retrieval adding a new injection to help with egg maturity, 9 eggs, 6 correctly fertilized, 3 embryos transferred.


After Round 2, the doc said there was an issue with being able to access the left ovary while doing retrieval. Surgery was performed before Round 3 to "stitch" the ovary into a location allowing it to be accessible for retrieval.

IVF #4 Mock Transfer/Biopsy

So I am being lazy and yet updating the blog since obviously I have not been in the mindset to do so as of late. 
Mock transfer is just like the FET cycle (all the injections and meds) only on the day they would normally transfer, they do a biopsy which hurts like hell but is not unbearable.
Anywho the results were that everything "looks" normally and I have a two day delay. With the transfer cycle we do two days does not make a difference so the answer is to not change the procedure we are using for FET now.
On to the next FET cycle it is.