My husband and I, both 32, had been trying to conceive for over 18 months when I attended a women’s health & fertility clinic. I had been suffering from recurrent UTI’s & was convinced that this was the reason we were’nt successful in achieving pregnancy. However, a routine fertility blood test showed that my FSH level was elevated at 24.5. The fertility clinic told us our only option was IVF, possibly with a donor egg. We were devastated with this news & furthermore when I researched high FSH & IVF I could find no evidence to say that it would work for us.
I decided to try acupuncture to help if we went down the route of IVF. Whilst looking online for acupuncturists I stumbled across a very positive post about Siobhan. Although slightly skeptical, I was encouraged to give her a call when I read that she was a midwife & had a lot of experience in the area of infertility. From the morning I phoned her she has been nothing but supportive. She was very straight from the beginning & told us that there was nothing western medicine could do for us. While this was hard to hear I preferred that she was honest with us from day one.
Siobhan asked us to work with her for a minimum of 3 months after which time I was to get my fsh levels repeated. During this time I had monthly acupuncture, took boiled Chinese herbs & barley grass &spirulina capsules. I also had a consultation with a nutritionist to help me change my diet to dairy, wheat & refined sugar free. Although I found the diet tough & herbs were disgusting to begin with, I found it easier over time. The first thing I noticed was a great boost in my energy levels & due to my alkaline diet I stopped getting UTI’s, that in itself was amazing for me as I had been getting one a month. My husband, whilst skeptical before he met Siobhan, agreed to also take the herbs to boost his sperm even though his results were normal. He was afraid of me getting my hopes up in case things were’nt successful for us.
Heneed’nt have worried. As it turned out I never did get to have my fsh levels repeated. After 10 & a half weeks of taking the herbs & following the diet I found out that I was pregnant! I am almost 15 weeks as I write this. We are looking forward to realising our dream of becoming parents in July. Words cannot express how much Siobhan has helped us on our journey to parenthood so far, although she runs a very busy clinic, she has been amazing throughout.
Catriona, Kilkenny