My Chinese Medicine Diagnosis and What I'm Doing

Well, I know this post is a little out of order since I still haven't finished writing about the retreat (I can't seem to catch up with my blog posts!), but I wanted to catch you up with what I've been doing and slowly adding to my daily routine / lifestyle.

A couple of weeks after I came back from the retreat, I got a six-page email from Liz, the Fertile Soul acupuncturist who evaluated me in North Carolina. She gave me my Chinese medicine diagnosis and a detailed list of treatment recommendations.

Randine told us at the retreat not to get "hung up" on any particular diagnosis (like endometriosis), because it does not define who we are and she said the same thing would apply to our Chinese medicine diagnoses. They are not static and will change as each of us follows our individual treatment plans.

That being said, here is the diagnosis I received:

• Spleen Qi Deficiency
• Blood Deficiency
• Blood Stasis
• Kidney Yang Deficiency
• Liver Qi Stagnation premenstrually

The treatment principles I received were:

• Supplement the Spleen
• Nourish Blood
• Invigorate Blood
• Warm and Fortify the Kidney Yang
• Course Liver Qi

There was a whole list of the herbs recommended for me, should I have chosen to have the herbal prescription filled here in Oregon and prepared them myself. I also got a list of acupuncture and acupressure points to stimulate either on my own or by a practitioner.

Many supplements were recommended as well and I started taking some of them right away (the ones I found easily at Whole Foods and New Seasons). One I had to order and some I have not yet incorporated into my regimen.

In her email, Liz re-emphasized what Randine had said at retreat: that I shouldn't stress myself out by trying to incorporate ALL of the recommendations at once. I should listen to my body and do what feels right to me, slowly adding more things as I feel ready. And if something they recommend doesn't feel "right," I should feel free not to do it at all. That part (the just doing what I can and having it be enough) has been a challenge, but so far I think I am "getting" it and am relaxing the determined stranglehold I once had on my fertility. I am letting go in order to receive.

Here is a list of the supplements I am currently taking:

• Wobenzym 2x/day, 45 min before food (a digestive enzyme that helps calm inflammatory conditions like endometriosis & helps invigorate Blood)
• Nattokinase 2x/day, 45 min before food (bacteria derived from soy that breaks down a clot after it has been formed--to help smooth out my menstrual flow & invigorate Blood)
• Fish oil 2,000 mg/day (helps reduce the inflammatory reaction to the endometrial cells)
• ISO-OPC 125-250mg/day (oligomeric proanthocyanidins--these do the same as the fish oil and also invigorate Blood and help boost my immune system since endo is often considered a type of auto-immune disorder)
• Multivitamin / prenatal (2 capsules, 2x/day)
• Vitamin D (not specifically recommended by the Fertile Soul, but I'm taking it because it was so low when I had my blood tested in April)
• Chinese herbs (1 packet, 2x/day, 30 min before food or 60 min after--these are split into the follicular and luteal phase herbs; my understanding is that the herbs work twofold: to heal the endometriosis already present and to "encourage an inner working so that the body can take over on its own")
• Red Raspberry Leaf (1 capsule, 1x/day, to strengthen my uterus and help decrease monthly cramping)

Besides the supplements, I have started incorporating some of the other suggestions, but not on a daily basis. I do them here and there, as time allows and I feel like I want to do them.

They are:

• Abdominal massage (before ovulation) w/castor oil
• Microcosmic breathing--a breathing exercise that is intended to bring the breath back to the reproductive organs and to bring my awareness into my body. I have taken to turning off the radio and doing it on my way to and from work.
• Dry skin brushing--stimulates the skin and gets it available as an organ of elimination, to increase in detoxifcation.
• Yoga postures--I have just started trying to wake up a few minutes earlier each morning to start my day with a couple of postures like Tree and Balancing Stick. I also do a hip roll (opening the pelvis) move from my Qi Gong DVD (more on this later).
• Fertility serum essential oil drops (not suggested by the Fertile Soul, but they were fine with me using the serum--I just can't wear it to work because of people who may be sensitive to scents, so usually I use it on the weekends or before bed).

I am also following the Spleen Qi diet that Randine talks about in The Infertility Cure. It's basically a version of the endometriosis diet I have been following since last fall. The biggest things to avoid are sugar, dairy and wheat. The next are caffeine, alcohol and processed foods and chemicals.

I was rereading some of my notes today that I took during the retreat and I came upon something I needed to see. Randine kept talking about how women who have been trying to conceive for awhile often become very inflexible about what they will and won't do. This includes what they consume, the body products they use, the household cleaning products they use, etc. They try to control everything that might be "bad" for getting pregnant, and in turn, they become depressed and frustrated which leads them to become even more desperate and controlling of outside circumstances. Randine advised us to follow the recommendations we feel fit us best, but not to become obsessive about them. She said that rigidity and the need to control are not conducive to conception and to "follow your pull, where the sense of rightness is."

When I reread these notes today, I had to smile and nod in agreement, because the last couple of days I have felt that old voice of judgment in my ear, telling me what I have done correctly and what I have not done that I "should" have done. I knew it was time to give myself a break and have a treat.

So when Michael took me out to dinner tonight for my birthday, I ordered a virgin pina colada. It came with whip cream and I ate it. And it was very, very good.

<3