Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Over-analyzing

So I'm home sick today with the Worst. Cold. Ever. How I manage to get this when it is hotter than hell outside is beyond me. But it is what it is so here I am. My apologies in advance for the mundane rambling of this post - I blame the Dayquil.

So I saw the Naturopathic Doctor on Monday. She was wonderful. I was kind of skeptical going in, but I really liked what she had to say and was also pleased that she was very supportive of the fertility treatments I was trying and the fact that I was taking Metformin. These all added positive check marks in my books.

After an extensive conversation about my health history, family history, etc., she felt my pulse from my wrists and examined my tongue. From this, she declared that I was "damp" (I feel dirty already!) and recommended 3 different undas to take 3 times a day. Not sure what an unda is? Check it out here.

So I'm downing those three times daily (nasty, nasty things!) and I start acupuncture next week.

The ND recommended that I consider taking the summer off of ttc to start letting her treatments do their thing. Now to be clear - if Irish Boy and I are determined to keep going on this fertility roller coaster, she's supportive of that and will work around the treatments. But her opinion is to make my break a little longer than I had anticipated.

So, being a true Libra and HORRIBLE at making decisions, I need feedback!

To help you out, here are some pros and cons I can think of:

PROS
  • Maybe the break will let the naturopathic treatments kick in and maybe that will make a difference for us?
  • We'd likely have to take a break in July anyways because of travel commitments so would giving up August too be that big of a deal?
  • I really need to get my ass in gear and lose some weight and take better care of my health. These slower summer months might make that easier - and surely that's gotta help ttc?
  • My insurance will likely cover one (maybe two) more injectible cycles and then our coverage is done and we're on our own. So would it be better to wait and have all our ducks lined up to maybe give us a better shot (ooh, an unintended pun - heh)?
CONS
  • Just had saline sonogram and have read that sometimes pregnancy is achieved in the three months following it. If I break - could I miss my chance?
  • What if the eggs I potentially ovulate in the months I'm taking a break (this is assuming of course that I do ovulate on my own!) is one of the ones that it would take to get me pregnant? Irish Boy and I have no chance of conceiving on our own (male factor) so there's no chance of miraculously getting pregnant on our break.
  • If I break for this long, how will I ever buck myself up again for the injections, etc. Honestly, it's a mental game for me and I have to be psyched up. I don't want to lose my momentum.
  • What if the naturopathic treatments and/or losing weight don't make a difference anyways and I just blew three months?
Told you I'd ramble. I know ultimately it's up to Irish Boy and I...but I could really use some feedback. I'm hoping to get in to see the RE at the fertility clinic in the next couple of weeks to go over my most recent bloodwork and the saline sonogram - so that may dictate where we go too. But for now, I just want to be at peace with whatever decision we make.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

because I don't know your history as I just started reading your blog and haven't had time to catch up on all the details yet I will give you my feedback based on this post alone.

A break can be an amazing thing... everything happens for a reason and maybe not only your body needs this but you and maybe your relationship needs it too. My DH and I have been TTC for almost 2 years come september but we didn't try every single month... we took a few breaks in there for our own sanity, especially mine. Now that said we haven't traveled down the fertility clinic road just yet and I'm fighting that for the time being.

also if there is insurance issues I would take care of your body and then in a few months use up what is left of the insurance coverage.. the stress of running out of said insurance is going to take a tole on your body so get your body as ready as possible to really give it your best BEST go of it.

okay now I"m rambling and I have no excuse... just wanted to give you something since you're at home sick... feel better!

there is no way to know the exact right thing to do so don't look at those 3 months as a lose of TTC time... maybe they would just add up to 3 months before you take the ND root and then 6 months before you're body is ready for baby... you can spin it that way too.

Team Marmanbee said...

This is a very difficult dilemma. Hmm, if you mean a break in terms of not BDing at all, that could be a nice break mentally because you won't have that "hopeful" feeling during the TTW. (zero surprises). I've done this before, and I do find it re-centres me a bit. But I've usually only done it for one cycle, not three, so I feel your concern there about possibly missing a good egg.

Perhaps instead you should take a break in terms of just not paying as close attention to ovulation dates and when you BD. BDing on command can become quite a chore (at least it did for us for a while), and it might be nice to return to the romance. And then this way, you're not necessarily going to miss a good egg. The only downside is that it can be hard NOT to pay attention to the calendar when you're so used to doing it.

Ultimately, I think we always know what we really want to do. We just have to learn to listen to our gut...

Beautiful Mess said...

I'd got for a break. If not to allow your body to "rest" but your mind as well. Plus your going to be traveling and wouldn't it be nice to be in the "moment" while traveling? This is just my little opinion but ya asked, so there ya go! Good luck, hon!
*HUGS*

Fat Chick said...

You aren't going to like what I have to say. I'm a woman who has PCOS, and had stellar donor sperm (although it was frozen, and much less than what a fresh sperm IUI would have been). I did 3 clomid IUIs and 4 injectable IUIs. Now I'm doing IVF. Injectable IUIs only have a 15% success rate, and that is with fresh sperm. Most IVF clinics have a minimum success rate of 30%. So if your insurance is running out, go straight to the big guns.

Having said that, on to your real question about the break. My acupuncturist said the same thing, that she'd like me to take a break. I decided that I'm going to go forward. I think the decision would be more difficult for me (I'm a libra, too!) if I had insurance questions. But the way I see it? The worst is that it won't work, and so then I'll continue on with the acupuncture, and hopefully it will help with the following cycle. So even though I didn't take a break, I still had more time.

Although I'm hoping it works on this cycle.

And thank you for your comment on my blog. It means the world to me.

Fat Chick said...

Oops, I meant to say that most clinics have an IVF success rate of at least 30%, which is double for injectable IUIs.

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