Finding Hope After Failed IVF Cycles: How TCM Fertility Treatment Helped Prepare for Embryo Transfer
At PULSE TCM, we support many women seeking fertility support through Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) alongside IVF treatment. This patient story shares her IVF journey after failed transfers and how fertility acupuncture and herbal medicine supported her embryo transfer & overall well-being.
Every fertility journey is deeply personal. This is a patient story from PULSE TCM, sharing her IVF journey and how TCM fertility treatment supported improvements in her preparation for embryo transfer.
The failed IVF cycles weren’t even the hardest part of the IVF journey to motherhood and nobody talks about it.
After my second failed IVF transfer in Singapore, I was running low on hope and energy. Trying to conceive for the first time should feel like a beginning, but for me, it felt like I was constantly failing a test I hadn’t studied for.
I felt lost. My body felt like a stranger, and every IVF appointment felt like I was being treated as a collection of parts- like a uterus with a “lining problem”- rather than a human being.
When a friend suggested Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), I was skeptical. I expected a dark clinic room, bitter herbal medicine, and treatments filled with difficult terminology—an assumption I had about TCM clinics in Singapore.
PULSE was the opposite. It was bright, calm, and for the first time, I felt like a physician actually sat down and saw me for me—not just a case.
During my first TCM fertility consultation, she reviewed my menstrual cycle history, my IVF protocol, and lifestyle. She didn’t offer a “miracle cure”; she offered a partnership between IVF with TCM. She said something that changed my entire perspective: “We’re not replacing what your IVF doctor is doing. We’re getting your body ready to receive it.”
For the next three months, we focused on getting my body back to balance. I had weekly fertility acupuncture sessions and took personalised TCM herbal medicine prescribed for my constitution.
My sleep quality improved. My menstrual cycle became more regular. And when I went in for my third IVF transfer, my uterine lining measured better than it ever had. My doctor noticed how it had improved my condition and actually supported a better embryo transfer.
I walked into that third transfer cycle calmer, stronger, and finally, prepared. Whether it was the herbs, the timing, or the support, I know one thing for sure: PULSE TCM helped me find my way back to myself.
Rachel T, 35
IVF Cycle 3
