Acupuncture Helped Me!

 I have lived with ovarian cysts for many years of my life. I went to my regular yearly checkups complaining of pain during (ah-em) sex and horrible periods. (I mean horrible!!!) My pain was dismissed and they gave me everything in the book to help with the painful intercourse , and suggested birth control to control the periods. So not knowing better, I tried nearly everything the doctors suggested and the only results were continued pain, weight gain, irritability and a sense of numbness to the world (birth control side effects for sure!)

After two years of this nonsense, they thought they felt a cyst on my ovary during one of my routine exams, so I was shuttled off to the ultrasound. There, they found a softball size cyst (obviously the reason for the painful intercourse). They couldn’t believe I wasn’t in more pain. They recommended Vicodin for the pain and surgery to avoid contortion of my ovary. Of course I went with the surgery. During surgery they removed the cyst and found a copious amount of endometriosis and scraped that out as well. They said the bad periods were likely caused by the endometriosis. So after the surgery and the recovery time, I found intercourse less painful and more manageable periods.

Almost two years later, I was in Texas for a convention, and I had the worst- I mean- I think I might need to go to the hospital or maybe I am having a miscarriage kind of period. It hadn’t been that bad since high school. Upon returning home, I found out that the cyst had reared its ugly head once again. Only this time there were a few more with it. I had one BIG one on one ovary and two smaller ones on the other ovary. I am told once again that surgery and Vicodin are my only choices. Was this really going to be my life every two years?? I had no idea the cyst would return after surgery the first time. I did not want to accept this as the new norm for me. I had started looking at more holistic approaches, but was skeptical. Would it really help? Would it really work? Uh----hello, surgery didn’t! So why would I do that again and what did I have to lose?!  At least if I tried something new it might not work, but what if it does!!! So, I asked my doc about a holistic approach, and to my surprise she recommended an acupuncturist in town that specializes in women’s health and fertility. WOW! Are you kidding me? I was so surprised that she didn’t laugh at me and then she actually gave a referral. Thank you!! She did suggest given the size of the cyst that I have regular ultrasounds done at her office while I was doing the acupuncture. That way she could monitor them, and if surgery was still needed we could do that. I was all in. 

A week later, I had my first appointment with the acupuncturist. Keep in mind, I was still new to this idea (and a skeptic) but I went in with an open mind. She asked me many questions about myself, my food habits, she looked at my tongue, took my pulse etc. She suggested that since the cysts were so big already, that we take an aggressive approach and meet every week until they were gone. She was sure to remind me that, given the stage of the cyst I may still need surgery and then I would need to see her after for prevention and maintenance. She also said the main difference between Western Medicine and Chinese medicine is that Western medicine wants a quick fix; a band aid per se. Chinese medicine is about prevention and maintenance. It isn’t a quick fix and patience is necessary. With all of that said, I started seeing her once a week in September. 

After going for about a month, I returned to my regular doctor. Ultrasound showed the cysts had not changed. Remembering what the acupuncturist said about patience, I continued to see her despite not seeing immediate results. The appointments with the acupuncturist lasted about an hour each session and they consisted of her checking in on me, and putting about 12-15 needles from head to toe, including my belly. She also hooked the needles in my belly up to a machine that simulated movement of the needles ( in China women would twist the needles between their fingers to help stimulate the process even more) obviously that is very time consuming, so the machine did the work. It felt like a warm vibration throughout my body. Very cool actually!

In the first few weeks of starting Acupuncture.

 I also took a special herb that she gave me. I went back to my regular doctor a month later (end of Nov. ) and still cysts were there and in fact, I now had more little ones. I felt deflated and thought for sure acupuncture was silly and not going to work for me. My doctor recommended that we book a surgery date for the beginning of Jan.  We would do one more ultrasound in December, and if still no change then we would have the surgery date set. Feeling the worst scenario was coming true, I continued to go to acupuncture through December. I went in for my final ultrasound and low and behold… the little ones were all gone and the big one had shrunk considerably. I no longer needed surgery! I was so excited. 

I continued to go acupuncture every other week to continue the prevention and I stopped taking the herb. I decided that I wanted to go to my regular doctor every 6 weeks for an ultrasound and follow up to see if there was any re occurrence. During that time the cysts stayed manageable if not gone completely. I did notice that they tended to come back cyclically (during my periods) but never in the size or volume that they had before. Come June, I decided that acupuncture was for me! I stopped the regular ultrasounds and was happy knowing if I felt good everything was good!

 I have now been going to her once a month for about 3 years.  In that time, my cysts have become a non-issue, sex has felt better than ever, my periods are like clockwork (well, before I got pregnant :) ) with hardly any pain before or during, and she has since then helped me with some fertility issues. More on that later! I highly encourage you if you struggle with woman's health and fertility to research acupuncture as an option. I sure am glad I did. Please feel free to comment below with your story, or any questions you may have for me.
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