Jenny S

I first met Aliya in May 23, following a recommendation from a holistic therapist I visited for lymphatic drainage. My health wishes at the time were focussed initially on symptom relief for severe endometriosis and adenomyosis, with a view of preparing me for yet another gruelling round of IVF. Aliya was clear on ensuring she understood my end goal which was to have a baby. I had been trying to conceive for ten years + at this point, I had undertaken five cycles of IVF, seven transfers and experienced two miscarriages. I was prepared to try anything. I was in pain constantly and my life was on holding whilst jumping from one cycle of IVF to another. I told Aliya I’d lick white dog poo if I had too but would try Acupuncture first. After just one Acupuncture treatment I started to feel the benefits. I got the feeling back in my right-hand side, my back ache had eased, and I experienced less niggles in my abdomen. After four Acupuncture treatments, I noticed that my period was different than before – the blood loss was bright red with a more regular flow (it used to be stop start and lots of brown blood). The pain and PMT were still there but less intense. With this new information Aliya applied stronger points to regulate my periods. I was usually bed-bound with the pain for a couple of days per month, but on my next period I wasn’t. Life continued as normal and I could focus on work and exercising, as the pain was less, and I no longer had large clot loss. I started the process to find a new IVF clinic, I felt ready for a change as my previous clinic were beginning to recycle previous attempted treatments strategies – which made my partner and I lose confidence in their ability to help us. We decided on a clinic in London and began the onboarding process. I continued my visits to Aliya as part of the preparation. The treatment protocol was less intense now to prepare for IVF and a potential resulting pregnancy. The new clinic’s onboarding process consisted of refreshed blood results and a monitoring cycle to tailor a revised treatment for me based on the new blood results, but also included the learned information from our failed cycles. The monitoring cycle measured from the first day of my period until the next, having regular blood tests to measure my hormone levels throughout. For the first time ever, my period was late. I assumed it was due to the carryover of the drugs from my prior IVF treatment, which had included inducing the menopause and testosterone supplements. I rang my old clinic asking for advice and was casually dismissed to wait it out for a couple of weeks. If nothing happened, then call back. Nothing happened, I rang back and waited for the doctor to ring me back. In the meantime, the nurse asked me to take a pregnancy test to rule it out…. Frustrated, I bought a cheap and nasty test, did it and threw it on the kitchen side and went about my day waiting for the doctor to call. I went to put the test in the bin later that afternoon, when I gazed at the result screen to confirm my usual disappointment I nearly died of shock. I rushed to buy more reliable tests and reperformed them. They were all positive. After ten + years and all that IVF, heartache, and expense I was pregnant naturally. The only thing I had done differently was Acupuncture. The London clinic supported me up to 12 weeks before handing me over to the NHS. I had a couple of scares in the early days, but continued Acupuncture with Aliya where she focussed on safe and gentle points from an approved protocol for keeping pregnancies strong and rooted. I’m 33 weeks now. Expecting a little boy at the beginning of April. I have continued Acupuncture with Aliya, although less frequent than at the beginning of my pregnancy. I very much look forward to my treatments, they are so relaxing and time out for me. I’m so grateful to Aliya for her help and support throughout my pregnancy so far, I’m even looking forward to how she can help with a potential baby no2, a scenario I never dreamt possible. For me Acupuncture with Aliya was the pregnancy gamechanger … and saved me from licking white dog poo after all. .