Case 1 – Stress relief and more
Deborah is 34 and has a 3 year-old son. She had been trying to conceive a second child for nearly two years with no success. Deborah was very highly strung when she first came into Rachael’s treatment room with many familial and emotional problems and worries. Along with this constant tension she was underweight and had disturbed sleep with many nightmares. She was also very anxious about having needles put in her. Rachael assured her that she would use the minimum needles possible to ensure an effective treatment (she used 3) and questioned her further on diet and lifestyle.
It turned out that she was drinking no more than 2 glasses of water per week which Rachael immediately identified, along with the anxiety, as a main cause of her infertility. Rachael advised that she swap each cup of coffee or hot chocolate for one of water and she had weekly acupuncture treatments to calm her tension and help her sleep. Within weeks she was not only coping much better with the needles but she was sleeping calmly and she was pregnant with her second child!
Case 2 – Egg donation and Acupuncture
Judith was 46 when she came to see Rachael. She was due to undergo egg donation treatment in the next 8 weeks and she wanted to be de-stressed with her body and mind in optimum health.
Judith was already very healthy and had not had any menstrual problems in the past and she was seeing Philippa Levinson (link) for nutritional advice. Once the process started Rachael and Fiona used acupuncture to eliminate the repeated accumulation of fluid in her uterus which could have delayed the treatment.
The egg donation went well and once Judith’s pregnancy was confirmed she continued to come for acupuncture to cope with nausea and fatigue. During the last month of her pregnancy Rachael also used acupuncture to help induce labour.