Nurse Credits Acupuncture With Ending Infertility Battle. Becoming a new mom wasn’t easy for the 40-year-old pediatric nurse from Ladner. Waterman believes it wouldn’t have been possible without the Acubalance Wellness Clinic, which used acupuncture and other alternative treatments to help solve the couple’s infertility, the result of age, stress and low sperm count.
Waterman first heard about the clinic by chance from a woman she met while walking her dog at the dykes in Ladner. They struck up a conversation, and when they found they were both nurses started talking about holistic approaches to health. She had tried her first in vitro fertilization attempt just weeks earlier but it had been unsuccessful. “I had never considered a more holistic approach,” Waterman said. “It was perfect timing.”
At Acubalance, run by Dr. Lorne Brown, she was put on a weekly regimen of acupuncture and meditation. She was introduced to Chinese herbal therapy — which in Waterman’s case used a variety of herbs such as ginger root and rhubarb root she would brew and drink as tea. The herb mixture was prescribed specifically for her in order to help promote hormonal balance. Waterman also changed her diet. She made healthier food choices and eliminated wheat, sugar, coffee and alcohol and ended up losing 24 pounds over three months.
Everything was done in an attempt to optimize the environment for her to finally conceive. “I had more time to get my body ready, to be relaxed, first of all. And I had also lost weight and was more regular with my periods.”
Although she works as a nurse at BC Children’s Hospital, Waterman said she was initially nervous about the needles used in acupuncture, but the procedure wasn’t as difficult as she’d imagined.
“I left there so relaxed. You are also given the option of listening to meditation CDs, one of which is geared toward fertility,” she said. “The meditation tapes leave you feeling stress-free.”
By the time Waterman’s second in vitro fertilization procedure took place, she’d been receiving treatment from Acubalance for four months. It worked.
Looking back, Waterman said she isn’t surprised she didn’t conceive after her first procedure because she was consumed with stress and “such a mess.” As a nurse, she was working irregular hours and she had trouble sleeping. That, too, has become a problem of the past.
Or at least it had for awhile. If she’s not sleeping now, it’s because of the twins. And that, she’ll tell you, is a gift she wasn’t sure she’d ever receive.
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