[October 2008] My daughter, Jamie, has a history of migraine headaches and had her first when she was 3 years old. When she and her husband decided to have a baby, they found that they had to have in vitro fertilization and decided to have the procedure done in the Czech Republic. During the process, her ovaries were stimulated in order to produce more eggs than normal, and, after the fertilized eggs were implanted into her uterus, she developed a condition called ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS), in which the ovaries grew to the size of grapefruits and produced so much progestin that more fluid developed than her blood vessels could carry and the fluid leaked into her abdomen. The swollen ovaries were very painful, and the fluid buildup was so great that she became short of breath. She was hardly able to walk or function normally in her life because of the pain. The first time the doctors drained the fluid, they drained three liters from her abdomen. This procedure was repeated three more times with three to four liters of fluid removed from her abdomen each time. Soon after her return from the in vitro fertilization procedure, the doctors did an ultrasound and discovered an implanted fetus and also an empty placental sac which was attached in a position at or over her cervix. This concerned the doctors greatly since the cervix would not stop bleeding if this sac became detached. At the same time, her migraine headaches became more frequent. The doctors prescribed pain medication, but grew reluctant to continue this regime. At that time, Jamie was in her tenth week of pregnancy, we sought out Dr. Henry Wu for help with pain and the hyper-stimulation. Starting on September 4th, Dr. Wu has done eight acupuncture procedures to Jamie over four weeks, and, by this time, the ovaries are of normal size, and are no longer producing fluid. Although the migraine headaches still seem to be there, they are no longer so severe as to require medication. Jamie is no longer in pain from the hyper-stimulation; she can drive, walk and resume her normal life! She intends to continue acupuncture as needed.
[Note added in April, 2009] Jamie has delivered a healthy baby boy on February 19, 2009. Although he was a month early, he weighed almost 7 pounds. He is now two months old and weighs almost 12 pounds and is doing very well. The empty placental sac was delivered along with the placenta and baby and was an empty and shriveled bit of tissue. Jamie’s migraines have not returned as of this date.
THANKS, DOCTOR WU, FOR YOUR HELP WITH THIS VERY DIFFICULT PREGNANCY!
