The acupuncturist I see does both acupuncture and traditional chinese medicine. She specialises in infertility, PCOS and miscarriage prevention. The one and only time in my life that I can actually confidently say that I ovulated was a direct result of ovarian stimulation by acupuncture - it's been immensely frustrating that we haven't been able to get it to happen again, but the stresses of last year were immense so it's hardly surprising! For most of the later parts of the year she was concentrating on keeping me calm and helping me to manage all the stress I was under - my acupuncture appointments were a little island of bliss on a Friday afternoon! We were referred to her by the bowen therapist that my husband saw for back problems - she also had PCOS and used the acupuncture practice to conceive her children years ago. I know it can work, and I know it has made me feel a whole heap better (has also done wonders for the arthritis and energy levels!) even if it hasn't got me to the end result as yet. She is quite happy to work in supporting what the FS does - they do a lot of IVF support at the acupuncture centre, and my first impression of the FS is that he's not going to be against what I'm doing in terms of natural therapies, even if it's just to support my ability to cope mentally and emotionally.

My gyn/obs friend who has helped me out with research is pretty convinced that I do actually have PCOS - it's not just the PCO, but I've never in my life had a regular cycle - as a teenager I thought it was great that I could go months on end without ever having a visit from AF! And while I'm not overly bothered by the odd coarse hair I sometimes find around my nipples, I'm also sure it's not something that all women have! My hormone profile in the past (the one and only time it was ever checked, February last year!) has shown slightly elevated free androgens... so it's not as though I'm completely free of PCOS symptoms... it's just that the PCOS symptoms I do have point to it being very mild, and I then assume (perhaps wrongly) that it should also be easy to treat and correct, but it's proving to be very, very stubborn! There's a few other odd things that I suspect may indicate something else that may be happening (I suspect thyroid problems or elevated prolactin levels), so I'm really looking forward to being able to find out what the test results have shown...

Sorry for the epic! Ask me a question and you usually get a really long answer!

Briggsy's girl, I know that this is one of those comments that would usually result in intense frustration and potentially wanting to slap someone... but your two little angels should indicate that it's not impossible for you to conceive again... but keeping them may end up being the bigger battle.

BW