Fertility Acupuncture: What Actually Happens at Your First Appointment?

If you’re considering fertility acupuncture for the first time, you might be wondering exactly what happens when you walk through the clinic door.

Will you have acupuncture straight away? What questions will you be asked? Why does an acupuncturist look at your tongue? And what can they possibly tell by feeling your pulse?

At The Natural Fertility Clinic, your first fertility acupuncture appointment is about much more than simply inserting acupuncture needles.

We take time to understand your fertility journey, menstrual cycle, medical history and overall health before creating a treatment plan specifically for you.

Whether you’re trying to conceive naturally, preparing for IVF or already undergoing fertility treatment, here’s what you can expect.

 

Your First Fertility Acupuncture Consultation

The first part of your appointment is a detailed consultation.

And when we say detailed, we mean it!

Fertility is influenced by many different aspects of health, so we want to build a complete picture rather than focusing solely on whether or not you’re getting pregnant.

We’ll usually discuss your:

• Fertility history
• Menstrual cycle
• Ovulation
• Previous pregnancies or pregnancy loss
• Fertility investigations and test results
• IVF or other assisted fertility treatment
• Current medications
• Supplements
• Sleep
• Digestion
• Energy levels
• Stress and emotional wellbeing
• Diet and lifestyle
• General medical history

We may ask questions that initially seem completely unrelated to fertility.

Do you feel the cold? Do you wake during the night? Do you experience headaches? How is your digestion? Do you feel particularly tired at certain times of the day?

These details help your acupuncturist understand your overall health and form part of your Traditional Chinese Medicine assessment.

We Talk About Your Menstrual Cycle — A Lot!

Your menstrual cycle can give us a great deal of information.

We’ll usually ask about the length and regularity of your cycles and whether you know when you ovulate.

We’ll also discuss things such as cervical mucus, spotting, PMS, breast tenderness, headaches and changes in mood or energy throughout your cycle.

Your period itself is important too.

We may ask about the amount of bleeding, the colour of your menstrual blood, whether you experience clots and whether your periods are painful.

It might feel like a lot of questions, but all these little pieces help us understand your individual cycle.

What If I’m Having IVF?

If you’re undergoing IVF, ICSI or another form of assisted fertility treatment, we’ll tailor your consultation and acupuncture around your treatment.

We’ll want to understand your fertility diagnosis, previous cycles if you’ve had them, your current IVF protocol and where you are in your treatment.

Acupuncture appointments can then be planned around different stages of your IVF cycle, including stimulation, egg collection and embryo transfer where appropriate.

At The Natural Fertility Clinic, we regularly support patients throughout IVF treatment, including at our clinic based at Thames Valley Fertility in Maidenhead.

 

 

What Is a Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis?

Acupuncture uses a different framework from conventional Western medicine.

As well as listening carefully to your symptoms and medical history, your acupuncturist will use traditional diagnostic techniques to help decide how to tailor your treatment.

Two of the techniques you’ll probably experience are pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis.

Why Does an Acupuncturist Feel Your Pulse?

When we take your pulse, we’re not simply counting your heart rate.

Your acupuncturist will usually feel the pulse in several positions on both wrists.

We assess different characteristics of the pulse, including its depth, strength and rhythm.

Within Traditional Chinese Medicine, these pulse qualities are considered alongside everything else we’ve learned during your consultation to help build an overall pattern and guide the selection of acupuncture points.

Your pulse isn’t used to diagnose a Western medical condition, and it doesn’t replace medical investigations or blood tests.

It’s simply one of the traditional assessment tools used within acupuncture.

 

Why Do Acupuncturists Look at Your Tongue?

Then comes the part that sometimes surprises new patients.

We’ll ask you to stick your tongue out!

Looking at the tongue is another traditional diagnostic technique used in Chinese medicine.

We may look at the tongue’s:

• Colour
• Shape
• Size
• Moisture
• Coating

These characteristics are considered alongside your pulse, symptoms, menstrual cycle and health history.

So don’t worry about what your tongue looks like — we spend a lot of time looking at tongues!

 

Creating Your Individual Acupuncture Treatment

Once we’ve completed your consultation, pulse and tongue assessment, we’ll put everything together to create your treatment.

One of the important things to understand about fertility acupuncture is that there isn’t one standard set of fertility acupuncture points that everybody receives.

Your treatment is individual to you.

The acupuncture points selected may also change throughout your menstrual cycle or fertility treatment.

For example, your treatment may be different when you’re approaching ovulation compared with the days before your period.

Similarly, someone undergoing IVF stimulation may receive a different treatment from someone preparing for embryo transfer.

Your treatment can continually evolve depending on what is happening with your body and your fertility journey.

What Does Acupuncture Feel Like?

Acupuncture needles are extremely fine — very different from the needles used for injections or blood tests.

You may barely notice some needles being inserted.

With others, you might experience a temporary sensation such as tingling, warmth, heaviness or a dull ache around the acupuncture point.

Once the needles are in place, you’ll be given time to relax.

For many of our patients, this becomes one of their favourite parts of the appointment.

Fertility treatment and trying to conceive can sometimes feel all-consuming. Having a period of time where there’s nothing you need to do except lie down, switch off and relax can be valuable in itself.

And yes — people regularly fall asleep!

More Than Just Acupuncture

Your appointments aren’t necessarily limited to acupuncture.

Where appropriate, we may also talk about lifestyle, nutrition, supplements, sleep, stress management and ways you can support your general wellbeing throughout your fertility journey.

If you’ve had fertility investigations or blood tests, we can also discuss these with you and help you understand how they fit into the wider picture.

Importantly, fertility acupuncture should complement appropriate medical care rather than replace it. If something in your history or symptoms needs further investigation, we’ll encourage you to speak to your GP, fertility consultant or another appropriate healthcare professional.

How Often Should You Have Fertility Acupuncture?

There isn’t one schedule that’s right for everyone.

How frequently we recommend appointments will depend on your individual circumstances, whether you’re trying naturally or undergoing fertility treatment, and where you are in your cycle.

After your first consultation, we’ll discuss what we feel would be appropriate for you.

You won’t be given a generic programme simply because you’re trying for a baby.

Fertility Acupuncture at The Natural Fertility Clinic

At The Natural Fertility Clinic, we understand that by the time many people come to see us, they’ve already been through months or sometimes years of appointments, tests, uncertainty and disappointment.

That’s why we don’t rush that first appointment.

We want to hear your story.

We want to understand your cycle, your health and what’s happened so far.

And then we can create an acupuncture treatment plan that’s individual to you.

We offer fertility acupuncture and fertility support from our clinics in Wokingham, Abingdon and Maidenhead, including acupuncture for patients undergoing IVF and other assisted fertility treatments.

Thinking About Trying Fertility Acupuncture?

If you’re not sure whether fertility acupuncture is right for you, you can book a free 15-minute call with The Natural Fertility Clinic.

It’s an opportunity to tell us a little about your fertility journey, ask questions and find out how we may be able to support you.

The Natural Fertility Clinic
Fertility support, tailored to you.