You hear about In-vitro Fertilization.
Then you may think, that would never happen to me.
It's one of the number one questions I receive in my practice "Why didn't I hear about you earlier?" "Why didn't my doctor refer me to you?" "I wish I had known this before I went through 6 months of Clomid, 3 failed IUI's and 4 failed IVF's" "Why aren't there more news stories?"
"Why?"
The beauty about medicine today, that is different from even 15 years ago, is you have the tools and the power to research and share your findings with if not hundreds of people, maybe thousands or even millions.
Quickly reviewing a few of my patients successes I realize we need to empower more women and men struggling with infertility. We need to educate our doctors and nurses about what is working for infertility and preventing miscarriage and to whom to refer to. Not everyone is a specialist in fertility and those who generally treat everything, generally get average results. A vague response from your doctor when you ask about acupuncture as "oh, ok, sure you can try that." Is not a referral.
This is complicated.
It's complicated physically, emotionally, even spiritually.
Labs are missed or misread or misinterpreted.
5 years or 4 Months?
Just this week a patient of ours, who had sought the expertise of several doctors and nurses for 5 years gave birth. 5 years of failures and yet in four short months we were able to help her get pregnant by making recommendations for her and her husband. The speed with which they had success getting pregnant with us far surpasses the proof that Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine, when prescribed by an expert in Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner, (not googled, not recommended by a friend or even a doctor who has no training in herbal medicine), patients are astoundingly:
Twice As Likely in 1/3 of the Time to Get Pregnant Compared to IVF
Two fold pregnancy rates average in 4 months compared to 12 months of IVF (at a fraction of the cost with no horrible side-effects)
This is truth.
This is affordable.
This is life-giving medicine and we need to empower one another.
Another patient comes to mind, whom I treated this week. She has sought the expertise of family doctors, OBGYN's, Nurse Practitioner's in OBGYN's offices, and even Reproductive Endocrinologists (those are the doctors who treat with IVF). Eight years of suffering. Eight years of unknowns. Eight years of heartache. Eight years of medical bills. Eight years of miscarriages and a very long time between her ability to get pregnant. Eight years and her doctors and nurses did not refer her to me. Eight years.
That's a long time to wait for anything but the possibility of a not having a baby, it's nearly impossible to survive.
In one visit, I diagnosed her problem from a Traditional Chinese Medical Perspective. In addition to that, I told her several labs that were missing that would confirm my Eastern Medical diagnosis from a Western Medical perspective. She would have to have the courage to ask her doctor for the lab work to be done.
Eight years of infertility gives a woman a lot of courage.
Her response was something like this: They have never been able to help me. You are an expert in infertility and I am here to take your advice. I will ask. I will take the herbal medicine you prescribed. I will take all the vitamins you suggest. I will get the acupuncture. I will ask for the labs to be drawn. And guess what happened.....
In one visit, after eight years of waiting, I was right; from both an Eastern Medical approach and a Western Medical approach. It's one of the gifts of having 4 years of medial training in graduate school where an entire year is dedicated to western medical training.
I observed and gave patient care treating patients as equals, as colleagues, together with doctors and nurses at UCSD University of California San Diego, San Diego Hospice, and Pomerado Hospital in Poway, California. San Diego Fertility Center, La Jolla IVF, Reproductive Partners, Reproductive Sciences Medical Center and Infertility, Gynecology and Obstetrics, to name a few.
How To Marry the Two Sides of Infertility Medicine
I learned a lot from those professional relationships. Medical information was shared generously. I was not considered a side-note. I was an integral and important part of our success. I witnessed hundreds of patients prescription recommendations, dosages, responses. It was such a priveledge because I could observe how each reproductive medicine doctor worked, what protocols they preferred and what types of outcomes they got. I saw so many couples in that 7 years of integrative approach, I could have a new patient tell me what their Reproductive Endocrinologist reccomeneded or their OBGYN recommended and I could tell them what doctor they were seeing. They each were that predictable. They each stuck pretty close to identical protocols for each patient irregardless of diagnosis.
I knew the inside working of fertility centers, not just the end result which often was tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with no baby. But we don't hear that story often, do we? We hear about the miracle IVF baby. We hear about celebrities who couldn't have children if it weren't for their IVF.
The truth we often don't hear about is people do have medical options.
There is infertility medicine that is:
Safer
Natural
More Effective
Less Invasive
Healthier Babies
Fewer Miscarriages
Faster Success Rates
In fact, it's Twice as Effective as IVF and in a fraction of time (Average is 4 months with correctly prescribed Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine compared to IVF).
Time is money
Time ages us
Time is losing hope
Time tears apart marriages
Time opens up room for more miscarriages
Time is not on our side when it comes to infertility
If you are looking for studies to back these words you can visit here: www.EagleAcupuncture.com Click "Meet Kristen" you will find links to studies there and also under "Other" then "Resources"
One blood draw was all she needed.
The treatment is simple and she will have her baby.
People ask me all around the country "How do you do that?"
I have colleagues contact me wanting to know what medical texts I use? What herbal prescriptions to I recommend? I have colleagues whom after receiving treatment from me for infertility start referring all of their own infertility patients to me instead of treating them their self. What protocols do I use?
I don't do protocols
Each person and their spouse are individuals. If they are to have success, they need individual care. The need differential diagnosis. This is not something you can memorize. This is not something you can advise through a book. This is not a cookie cutter approach to buying on-line because they say it will treat your condition.
Your PCOS is not her PCOS.
His semen analysis is not another man's semen analysis.
Your Endometriosis is not identical to hers. It's impossible to treat with one herb, one cleanse, one treatment. Impossible.
One answer to the question of how I do what I do is this:
I Just Know Things
I have always been this way, as long as I can remember. All the training in the world doesn't give you insight like that. It's not something I can teach. It's not something that has a name. It's a knowing. It's an insight. It's almost always right. Call it blessed. Call it Spirit. Call it intuition. Call it being a medium. Call it being psychic. Call it luck. Call it smart. I don't call it any of those things. I just know sometimes.
The key to my knowing is I share it.
I share this wisdom and insight with my patient. Sometimes, it's not even about them. It's about their husband. If they listen things shift quickly. If they hesitate, think about it, talk it over, ignore it. It takes time or never evolves.
Just yesterday a patient came in and she was concerned about her husbands lifestyle and semen analysis. In our practice we never ignore 50% of your infertility; your partner. Never.
Unexplained infertility is about 1/3 of all infertility cases and if you think about it, even if you have a diagnosis, you always also have unexplained underneath that too. Women and men share the burden of the unexplained infertility diagnosis equally yet, almost all men are ignored in all practices we have worked with except ours.
I asked her to bring me a copy of his semen analysis. On my paperwork she checked that her husband had no abnormal semen analysis, no male factor infertility.
In plain english, on the paperwork, written by his doctor was male factor poor morphology.
That IS male factor infertility.
The problem is western medicine doesn't have good treatment options for male factor other than IVF (in-vitro fertilization). We do. We were able to advise her on how to improve his morphology of his sperm. He also had low volume and we have medical recommendations for that too.
Yet another patient comes to mind as a perfect example of how I just know things. She had gone through seven failed IVF's by the time she sought my expertise. She was recommended by her friend, not her doctor.
Seven failed IVF's with multiple miscarriages. Did you even know couples could experience seven failed IVF's? Did you know on average one IVF is $15,000.00-$20,000.00 per attempt?
After one visit I implored her to have a certain test done before her next IVF embryo transfer in two weeks.
She saw me before her transfer several times and after the transfer and then nothing. We didn't hear from her. We didn't get a return phone call. This was not good.
Months later she returned.
She reviewed with me what had happened and apologized for not contacting us earlier. The devastation was too much to bare.
The acupuncture worked. By adding acupuncture to her IVF (studies prove an increased 50-62% increased success rate see the baby maker's business page) she got pregnant with twins.
However, she made one huge mistake that her doctors had made for 8 IVF's in a row. She didn't get the bloodwork done that I asked for. So, she inevitably miscarried.
I was so sad for her. A bit exasperated I asked her "Will you please take my advise and get the labwork done now?"
She said "Oh, I did"
I said "And?"
She said "I have it, you were right"
One visit. It took one visit for me to be present with her, see her, review her history, observe her body, examine her past menstrual cycles, and analyze her failed IVF's to make my assessment that ultimately was the key to her success.
She is more than half way through her pregnancy now.
Be empowered.
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Kristen Burris, L.Ac., M.S.T.O.M., Dip. Ac. was voted Top Doc 2010 in Eagle and Business Person of the Year 2011-2012. Ms Burris won the prestigious National Association of Women Business Owner of the year 2013 and received referrals from doctors throughout the US including Dr. Mehmet Oz. She is the founder and medical director of Eagle Acupuncture a natural fertility center she runs with her husband. She consults with the most challenging fertility cases all throughout the US.
Kristen Burris has been featured in USA Today, Woman’s Day, MSNBC, Yahoo News, Parents, Parenting, Natural Health,& Better Nutrition magazines, The San Diego Union Tribune, The Miami Herald, NPR radio, KTVB Boise, KBOI TV and KUSI TV. Ms. Burris taught graduate school at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego, California, one of the most respected colleges in the field of integrative medicine. Throughout her career she has also treated patients at: San Diego Hospice, UC-San Diego Free Clinic, UC-San Diego Dental Acupuncture Study and at the leading fertility centers in California
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