YOU ARE NOT BROKEN - ACUPUNCTURE & (IN) FERTILITY

Je bent niet kapot - acupunctuur en vruchtbaarheidsbehandelingen

She had been trying for ten years. Clinic after clinic, protocol after protocol, country after country. Her body had been poked, monitored, stimulated, and scheduled. She was exhausted in a way that goes deeper than tired. And she was about to try yet another clinic when she decided to do something she had never tried before: acupuncture.

She came to Free Spirit Acupuncture NL in Hoofddorp not knowing what to expect. What she found, I hope, was something simple: someone who sat with her, listened, and told her the truth. You are not broken. Your body is not your enemy. And there is still something we can do.

She is now coming in for labor preparation visits.

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I KNOW THIS JOURNEY FROM THE INSIDE

Ik ken dit traject van binnenuit

I don't just treat fertility patients. I was one.

I was already an acupuncturist, already helping my patients conceive, when I found myself unable to get pregnant. I knew this terrain — and it was still one of the most painful and disorienting experiences of my life.

At some point I had to accept that acupuncture and TCM alone were not going to make me a mother. I sought medical help. There were procedures. It was a lot.

Acupuncture didn't fix my fertility. But it helped me stay sane. It helped me regulate emotionally through one of the hardest periods of my life. It kept me connected to my body when every instinct was to abandon it.

I now have two awesome kids who I adore. And I bring every bit of that experience — the grief, the fear, the surrender, and the joy — into the treatment room with me.

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WHY ACUPUNCTURE DURING A FERTILITY TRAJECT?

Waarom acupunctuur tijdens een vruchtbaarheidstraject?

Western fertility treatments — IVF, IUI, hormonal stimulation — are extraordinary in what they can do. But they are also intense. The hormones, the monitoring, the waiting, the hoping, and sometimes the losing — it takes an enormous toll on the body and the nervous system.

Acupuncture works alongside these treatments, not against them. Clinically, I focus on:

— Improving blood flow to the uterus, supporting a receptive endometrial lining

— Helping the body regulate the extra hormonal load that comes with stimulation protocols

— Building yin — in TCM terms, the deep nourishing reserves that fertility depends on

— Calming the nervous system, because a body in chronic stress is a body in survival mode, not reproductive mode

But honestly? Some of the most important work happens before I even place a needle. It happens when a patient finally has a space to exhale — where her experience is witnessed, not managed.

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THE PATIENTS I SEE MOST

De patiënten die ik het meest zie

Many of the women who come to me are not at the beginning of their journey. They have already been through one, two, sometimes many more trajecten. They are considering trying a different clinic — in Belgium, Spain, or elsewhere — and they want to do something different this time. Something that treats them as a whole person, not a protocol.

These women are often deeply depleted, and disconnected from their own bodies — which makes sense, when your body has felt more like a machine than a home for years. Part of what acupuncture offers is a way back in. A way to feel something other than frustration or grief when you think about your own physical self.

I work with patients independently alongside their fertility clinic. I would love to collaborate more directly with reproductive endocrinologists — that is a conversation I am always open to — but in the meantime, many patients manage both tracks themselves, and it works.

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HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?

Hoe lang duurt het?

Honestly? It depends — and I will always tell you that straight.

Some women come in and one or two sessions is enough to shift something. I have had a patient who had been trying to conceive for over a year after experiencing a stillbirth — one session, and she was pregnant. She has since had two healthy babies.

I have also had women come in convinced something was deeply wrong, and after a thorough assessment I told them honestly: everything looks good. Come back when you start your western fertility traject and we will work alongside it together. No unnecessary sessions, no false urgency.

And then there are the more complex cases — long IVF histories, multiple failed transfers, depleted reserves. That kind of work is slower and deeper. One successful fertility patient had not produced a single viable egg in any of her retrievals before we started working together. She committed to coming weekly for several months before her next attempted egg retrieval. She is now coming in for postnatal visits.

The difference between those two women was not luck. It was time, consistency, and trust in the process.

In your first appointment we will look at your full picture together and I will give you an honest sense of what I think your body needs. Every case is different, and I will never make promises I cannot keep — but I will always be straight with you about what I am seeing and what I recommend as we go.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Wat kun je verwachten?

A first visit is a lot of conversation. I want to understand your full history — not just your fertility history, but your whole picture. Sleep, digestion, stress, emotions, your cycle. From there I put together a treatment plan tailored to where you are in your traject.

I see fertility patients throughout the full journey: before and during stimulation, around retrieval and transfer, and through the first trimester if all goes well. Every phase has its own focus.

Sessions are in English and Dutch. I work from Puur Geboortecentrum in Hoofddorp, and also offer home visits.

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EEN LAATSTE GEDACHTE

If you have been through a long fertility journey and you are reading this — I see you. What you are carrying is real and it is heavy. You deserve support that goes beyond bloodwork and ultrasounds. You deserve to feel cared for, not just treated.

Whenever you are ready, I am here.

— Annette Tapia-Cornet, MAc, DiplAc, LAc

Free Spirit Acupuncture NL · Hoofddorp

English-speaking · acupunctuur vruchtbaarheid · zwangerschap · bevallingvoorbereiding