Fertility and IVF

Most of the women who come to this clinic are trying for a baby — some naturally, many while under the care of a fertility clinic. It is the area Dr Zhang has spent most of her working life in, and the reason she took an MD in Human Reproductive Medicine before she ever came to the UK.

Who comes to us

Women arrive at every possible stage. Some at the very beginning, wanting to feel they are doing something. Some after months or years of trying. Some mid-cycle, between a scan and a transfer. Some after a loss, when they are not yet ready to think about what comes next. Some have a diagnosis; a good number have been told nothing is wrong, which brings its own kind of difficulty.

What they tend to have in common is that appointments elsewhere have been short, clinical and full of information, and they would like an unhurried hour with someone who has time to listen. Partners are always welcome to come too, and often do.

What the first consultation covers

Allow about an hour. It is a conversation rather than a procedure, and much of it will not feel like a fertility appointment at all:

• Your history — how long you have been trying, any pregnancies or losses, surgery, contraception history, and anything you have already been told.
• Your cycle in detail — length, regularity, what your bleeding is like, pain, mid-cycle signs, and anything you have been tracking. If you use an app or keep a chart, bring it.
• The rest of you — sleep, digestion, appetite, energy through the day, temperature, stress, work. In Chinese medicine these are part of the picture rather than small talk.
• Your current medical care — who is looking after you, what stage you are at, what is planned next, and what medication you are on.
• Pulse and tongue — the traditional assessment methods (see how Chinese medicine works).
• A conversation about what happens next — what Dr Zhang would suggest, what it would involve in time and money, and whether she thinks it is worth you doing at all.

What to bring

Anything you have. Blood results, scan reports, letters from your GP, gynaecologist or fertility clinic, a semen analysis if your partner has had one, and the protocol if you are booked in for a cycle.

This is the part where Dr Zhang’s Western training earns its keep. AMH, FSH, LH, thyroid function, antral follicle counts, a semen analysis, a stimulation protocol — she reads them as a doctor reads them, not as a list of numbers to be impressed by. If something in there has never been explained to you properly, ask her. If something in there needs a specialist rather than her, she will tell you that too.

Fitting around a treatment cycle

If you are having IVF, ICSI or IUI, your clinic’s calendar comes first and ours works around it. In practice that means you tell us your dates — down-regulation, stimulation scans, egg collection, transfer, the wait afterwards — and we find appointment times that fit them and your working life.

We want to be plain about what that is and is not. It is scheduling, not a claim. We are not telling you that having acupuncture around your cycle changes the outcome of that cycle, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we can tell you is that the hour itself is quiet, and that women often say it was the one appointment in the process where nobody was measuring anything.

When your dates move

They very often do — a scan gets brought forward, collection slips by two days, a transfer is cancelled and refrozen. Tell us and we will move things without fuss or charge. Nobody should be paying a cancellation fee because their clinic changed a date, and it is not a conversation you need on top of everything else.

What a session is like

You can read the full description on the acupuncture page — what the needles are like, what it feels like, what to wear. In short: a consultation, then lying comfortably for twenty minutes or so with very fine sterile needles in place, lights low, nothing asked of you. Most people find it restful and a fair number fall asleep.

Depending on what you and Dr Zhang discuss, a plan may also involve Chinese herbal medicine. Please read the safety section on that page before you start, and see the note below.

What we can and cannot tell you

We are not able to tell you that acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine will help you conceive, improve your egg quality, or change the outcome of a cycle. The evidence needed to say any of that is not something we hold, and we would rather lose your booking than imply otherwise.

The HFEA — the UK’s independent fertility regulator — puts it well. Complementary therapies are generally offered for relaxation and wellbeing; if anyone offers you one with the aim of improving your chance of having a baby, they suggest you ask what evidence supports that claim. They also note there is no conclusive evidence that stress itself affects treatment outcomes, which is worth knowing if you have been told to “just relax”. Their guidance is at hfea.gov.uk, and it is a good page to read before you spend money on anything — including us.

What we do offer is an unhurried hour, a practitioner who understands what your clinic is doing and why, and someone who will be straight with you. Once you have started, we review at every visit, and if you are not getting anything out of it we will say so rather than keep booking you in.

Dr Zhang’s academic work in reproductive medicine and gynaecological oncology is listed on the research and publications page.