Category: Fertility Testimonial

After struggling with infertility for 5 years and having a failed IVF cycle with a prognosis of low egg quality I decided to commit myself to improving my overall health and sought the help of acupuncture. I did some research on Madison providers and found a news report on Michelle Buchanan, Isthmus Acupuncture, and her work with women trying to conceive. When I met with Michelle she recommended bi-weekly acupuncture sessions to help with the “balancing of my pulses” as well the use of oils. In addition, she suggested that I have a “food sensitivity” test done using the ALCAT to find out if my diet was a contributing factor to the infertility. The ALCAT was simple and I discovered that there were a few things that I had intolerance to. The most significant “sensitivity” was to cow’s milk. I removed cow’s milk from my diet and followed my sensitivity chart. I also applied essential oils nightly and maintained regular acupuncture sessions. Within a few weeks I was feeling healthier and after four months I discovered I was pregnant. I continued to watch my diet and visit Michelle and at age 39 I was able to have a very normal and routine pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby girl with no complications. I continue to watch my diet and have removed cow’s milk and have discovered that old digestive problems have almost totally disappeared and I feel healthy and strong. – Kate

Not all acupuncture is created equal!

A friend recommended Isthmus Acupuncture and Michelle Buchanan to me almost a year before I made my first appointment there. I waited because I had already tried acupuncture for fertility through my HMO, having gone weekly for over 8 months where every appointment was the same—the needles placed in the same places and no results.  The acupuncturist at my HMO assumed I’d be an “easy case” but estimated it would take more than a year to achieve pregnancy. Discouraged, I gave it up assuming acupuncture was not the answer to our fertility issues.

What I didn’t know then is that not all acupuncture is created equal!  Had I known then what I know now, I never would’ve waited!  After all those “other” acupuncture appointments plus two failed fertility treatments (and many dollars down the drain), I realized that I needed something else…something more holistic. I finally scheduled my appointment at Isthmus Acupuncture, and happily it took Michelle and team just 1 month to help me achieve pregnancy. The very first month! After 2 years of trying! I was stunned, and this was no coincidence. Their style of acupuncture was unlike the acupuncture I had had before. They analyzed everything from my monthly cycle to my diet and lifestyle to my emotional state. From that they recommended some minor diet modifications, 2 well-timed Mayan abdominal massages and 1 acupuncture appointment. When I saw the positive pregnancy test that first month, I was overjoyed! But, I also couldn’t help but think of all those months of heartache and worries I could’ve saved myself had I booked an appointment sooner. Don’t wait like I did!

I am continuing to see them now that I am through my first trimester. Each time I go, they reassess how I’m doing and what my body needs so they can tailor my treatment accordingly.  I am continually recommending them to my family and friends for all types of ailments, not just fertility issues. I realize hindsight is 20/20, so if this review can do one thing I hope it encourages others to give Isthmus Acupuncture a try sooner than later…because not all acupuncture is created equal!

Jill Adams

What Michelle has uncovered through the Body-Feedback approach is magic in the best sense of the word. Magic that has the ability to change your life through direct communication with your body. Michelle has tapped in to the body’s secret language and is able to ‘ask’ each unique body exactly what its specific needs are.

The results I experienced through Michelle’s method were immediate. After 9 years of ‘throwing a dart in the dark’ with both Western and Eastern medicine, Michelle was able to make sense of the cause of my infertility during our first visit. And the results from Body-Feedback didn’t just make for another theory, the proof was in the pudding because by our second meeting, I was pregnant.

When I sat down with Michelle at the first meeting I had already been to two previous acupuncturists and a few fertility experts. The acupuncturists prescribed countless Chinese herbal blends, a variety of vitamins and probiotics, a few different essential oils, and recommended a few diet changes. Whenever I would go back for my regularly scheduled sessions and there was no progress, a new herb or vitamin was suggested. So after a few visits, my days consisted of ingesting one or more Chinese herbal teas two or more times a day, 4 or more vitamins 2 or more times a day, probiotics 2 or more times a day, applying essential oils two or more times a day, and on and on. It was exhausting. And when asked, the practitioner couldn’t provide a definitive of how my treatments were progressing. So eventually, I was worn out and had to cease my treatments. A little while later I tried going to a second acupuncturist at a different practice and it was a similar story. Western medicine was no different. I did all the tests, did several rounds of hormonal therapy and two sessions of IUI with zero results and even less feedback. “Unexplained Fertility” was all I heard.

This can be looked at as good because at least I didn’t have anything ‘wrong’ with me. However, although I was willing to keep plodding on, I was running out of options of therapies to explore and time was no longer on my side.

So when I was recommended to Michelle by my physician, I was hesitant but willing to sit down with her. After all, I had nothing to lose and was familiar with her reputation in the community as a top acupuncturist. I was not aware of the Body-Feedback process but during our first meeting I shared my frustrations with her and without hesitation Michelle assured me that treatment with her would be different than my previous treatments and I would get the immediate feedback and definitive progress report I had been vying for the past nine years.

On and off for years I had been seeing a chiropractor for an issue on my neck/upper back not realizing that issue could be tied to my infertility. However, after Michelle explained the hormone pyramid and how my neck issue directly tied to the base of the pituitary and hypothalamus base of the pyramid, and then when I was able to feel the tightness release while inhaling a certain essential oil blend, I knew she was on to something. My body spoke.

Marin Haning