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"Fertility Wisdom" by Dr. Angela Wu
A review written for women having difficulty conceiving
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Dr.
Angela Wu is a well-known Chinese medicine doctor in San
Francisco specialized in infertility. In the
book, she explains the same methods she uses in her
clinic. According to her book, she has a 70% success
rate (women having babies). This is impressive,
particularly because she gets a lot of patients that
have gone to all the treatments offered by western
medical treatment without success. She treats women with
high FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), premature
ovarian failure,
advanced maternal age (late thirties and up) and
cases of recurrent
miscarriages, unexplained infertility
and other similar complications. In the 70% success
rate, she includes people who got pregnant using both
medical systems, just western or just Chinese. |
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The infertility
treatment program consists of:
Mental preparation: Dr. Wu’s system
requires you to think and talk to your
partner (she has a questionnaire in the book) to come to
terms if you really want a
baby and are ready for it. This exercise eliminates
mental blockages.
Visualization, practice of some qui gong
meditations, and exercises: It takes about 40
minutes to do the post-ovulation routine and 1 hour to do the
pre-ovulation routine. The qui gong meditations,
visualizations, and affirmations are very helpful if you are
stressed out,
afraid, worried,
depressed,
or sad. The
exercise routine is a little slow and boring and the book
could use more pictures to explain the exercises. |
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Infertility diet: Dr Wu has
clear and rigid guidelines. She also lists what not to eat.
While the list is mostly very healthy, some of the principles
can be hard to follow. In her diet, milk, wheat, coffee,
alcohol,
sugar,
and sugar
substitutes, as well as other concentrated sweet
substances are out.
Eating
fruits is also very limited. All foods have to be cooked.
Eating
raw foods is not encouraged. The book encourages
that you go to a Chinese doctor to get herbs and
acupuncture treatment. Dr Wu believes that in order to
take proper herbs, the person needs a proper diagnosis. |
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| What do I think?
In general,
the book has some good advice and it is very encouraging
for infertility patients looking for additional
treatments or for people who have not been successful
with western medicine. Dr Wu has a good reputation and a
thriving practice. While her system is hard to follow as
it is, it has obviously worked for many women.
However,
Chinese medicine is not standardized as our western
medicine is, and a local acupuncturist may tell you that
you do not need the
diet or not agree with other things in the book.
Every condition in Chinese medicine requires a
personalized diet. The
diet is very rigid and it may put extra
stress on a woman.
If you read this
book we recommend you also read:
The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis, who is also another
Chinese medicine infertility specialist with equally
impressive résumé and success rate. Another short but
informative book is call the Hunyuan Method; it is a very
short book and more expensive than most other books ($29) but
is helps to clarified some concepts and gives you a more
balanced perspective. |
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