Preliminary Diagnostics and Second Opinion Fertility Evaluations

Many patients come to my fertility acupuncture clinic after doing bloodwork and labs, assuming they have had "all the tests." But they still have no understanding of what might be wrong?

Their doctor has told them, "Everything is in normal ranges," and then, predictably, " Here's the chlomid!"

After a few cycles of drugs and IUIs from their doctor, why is nothing working if everything is so "normal"?

Why do you need drugs if everything is normal?

What are the long range side effects of the drugs?

What is the success rate of using clomid, or letrozole for my age group? How does IUI improve my chances even without a sperm analysis (vs a sperm "wash")?

All this, with no diagnostic testing?

Patients need to ASK their doctors the WHY of these questions, and get honest answers!

Despite what the patient believes, local area doctors typically don't perform comprehensive diagnostics, especially in the beginning of the clinical relationship.

Yet, without this vital information, they will prescribe medications and costly procedures, FIRST? Why?

Opinions concerning which lab tests are "necessary" vary widely from doctor to doctor, as well as interpretation of actual lab results.

When doctors fail to provide comprehensive fertility testing, they are doing a disservice to the patient.

If the doctor does even offers the correct diagnostic tests, the patient must be informed before testing that fertility related hormone tests are time sensitive to the menstrual cycle. If these guidelines are ignored, whatever information gleaned from testing will be inaccurate. There are also specific vitamins that need to be avoided to get true results from the labs testing.

Standards for fertility patients taking lab tests are often much narrower than for the general population.

This means that being in the "normal range" on a lab test may still be indicative of subclinical fertility potential.

If the optimal fertility guidelines are ignored and only "normal lab ranges" are considered, there is a missed opportunity to correct for optimization.

"Unexplained infertility" is often sub-fertility.

Subfertility can be just as challenging to treat as fertility issues that have a "name", because most doctors don't see it as worth treating.

Unfortunately, with health and especially fertility, everything counts!

From hormone levels to vitamin levels, these are measurable on lab tests and should be part of a workup as the first consideration, not the last.

In addition, mid cycle vaginal ultrasound yields lots of helpful diagnostic information that lab tests do not, ranging from potential for endometriosis, polyps, septums, ovarian cysts, etc.

Along with comprehensive lab testing, there is typically going to be something that shows up.

Male factor diagnostics are also a consideration, of course.

Labs are out of date after 6 months.

If your current doctor is uncooperative, my team of doctors and I can help you know what to test for.

Testing can be bought on line without doctor's orders, and there are many online sources for inexpensive fertility testing packages.

You must ask yourself why these tests aren't done as the first thing for anyone struggling with fertility?

Insights from preliminary testing provide important baselines for retesting and assessing if treatment is moving things in the right direction.

At Cleveland Acupuncture, lab testing is a prerequisite to proposing a treatment plan, as it should be.