by Wendy Zieve, Seattle, WA

AMENORRHEA-- I had the condition amenorrhea, meaning cessation of menstrual period. It began when I was 19 and in two years I visited 3 different doctors because I left one college, spent the summer at home and transfered to another college. All three gave a different hormonal imbalance diagnosis and all 3 put me on some combination of estrogen and progesterone and nothing worked. A friend suggested acupuncture, so I went to a women in Minneapolis who had just returned from China and was practicing out of her home. This was Dec. 1st, l978. She asked me if I repressed my anger, and honestly I couldn't even imagine what anger felt like. The answer was "yes" and the diagnosis was (as far as I can remember) stagnant liver chi. She said it would take a minimum of 4 treatments and my period began on New Year's Eve. I've never skipped a period since, except for when I was pregnant or nursing. An added bonus was that I had an overwhelming flood of memories and feelings that I was able to process with a counselor. Literally, my entire personality and ways of coping with the world changed from that experience!!!

INFERTILITY -- My husband and I both went to the Northwest Institute for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine after trying to conceive for a year. I was 34, my husband was 38 years old. My husband had a sperm analysis done and learned that he had a decent count but very low motility. He was treated with fresh herbs which he cooked up and drank and needles. I was treated with herbs and needles also for kidney yin and yang deficiency and some liver stagnation. We had one inter-uterine insemination done at a gynecology clinic and conceived and now have a vibrant three year old son. The success rate for that procedure is between 8 and 12% and that includes use of fertility drugs (which we were not taking).

We got pregnant with fertility drugs last May, using Chinese herbs and an insemination, unfortunately miscarried at 10 weeks. I just got pregnant again with an insemination (and some fertility drugs) and Chinese herbs and acupuncture at the age of 39. The Chinese herbs greatly decreased my side effects from the fertility drugs.

I get lots of e-mail from infertility patients wanting to know more about acupuncture. We are a very desperate lot, willing to take poison, be cut open, anything to achieve a pregnancy. I wish more people knew about acupuncture.

Wendy Zieve, Seattle, WA
SRREP@aol.com