Testimonials

I had managed to get pregnant with my husband twice within a relatively short period of time, however both were unsuccessful and I miscarried at 8 ½ weeks and at 12 ½ weeks. We then seemed to have a block and were unable to get pregnant. I was getting on, and IVF had been discussed as an option to take. A good friend recommended Andrash to me after successfully going through IVF with his support. I did not undertake IVF as I fell pregnant within a couple of months of my acupuncture treatments with Andrash. We now have a wonderful, healthy baby girl. I think this really helped me let go of my fears and be ready to get pregnant again.

I was a bit tentative as I have a sometimes fainted with injections and blood samples, but I really wanted to do everything I could to get a healthy baby. I couldn’t believe that I actually looked forward to my treatments and they became a relaxing time for me.

Andrash is such a warm, caring person, and he has so much respect for women and the journey that they go through in trying to get pregnant. He took time to ask questions to get a good understanding of my husband and my situation, and was always happy to answer any queries. I felt like I had such wonderful support from Andrash, and am grateful for it.

After three failed IVF cycles over 4 years, my husband and I were becoming despondent. I had heard about some success cases of acupuncture supporting IVF and decided to give it a try. For those who have experienced the numerous blood tests and self-injections with IVF, you will understand why I had NO concerns about a few more tiny pricks in my skin! In fact, I barely felt them. In my initial session, a huge amount of emotion swelled up and was released (ie tears and more tears!). After that, every session became my special time to engage with 'my baby' - the baby who was always, always in my heart and soul, but just waiting for the right time to come into the world.

My practitioner, Andrash Bodonyi, was truly magical. During my treatment sessions he gave me words and thoughts to focus on which helped me connect to the reality that I was eventually going to be a mother. He ignited hope deep inside me. After IVF No 4, Andrash had this special, knowing smile each time I visited him - I think he knew we had been successful before any test or scan was conducted. My pregnancy was fantastic, too. Many of the visualisation and breathing techniques I learnt through the acupuncture sessions were part of my labour process. I really enjoyed giving birth and the new techniques certainly helped with pain management.

I have been trying to get pregnant for 7 years and commenced IVF 4 years ago. I managed to get pregnant from the procedures but miscarried every one of them. We became desperate as our fertility was unexplained so we did not know what else to do but to keep on trying with IVF. I finally turned to acupuncture and found Andrash. I became pregnant again and this time gave to a beautiful baby girl! I still cannot believe I am mom today. Andrash answered any questions that I had. He never failed to make me feel calm during our sessions. I could not be more grateful and cannot imagine how I could have done this without his help. I will be seeing him again this year when I commence my next round of IVF for my second baby. I truly believe acupuncture helped. Thank you Andrash for your help in making our dreams come true!

I had been trying to fall pregnant for 18 months and had tried a few different avenues. Everyone kept telling us that it is all working properly and it will happen..... but “when” was my question as I was doing ALL the right things.

Finally through pure chance I found out about acupuncture and decided to try it and on the third cycle I fell pregnant!

I had my doubts and thought it would be painful, but you don’t feel anything and it left me extremely relaxed.

Thank you, Andrash. I would recommend it to anyone having trouble and doubting themselves falling pregnant.

Before now, I have never had any acupuncture. I am a forty year old woman with infertility of unknown origin. The nurses at the Fertility Clinic suggested I try it after our second failed cycle (a first cycle resulted in a transplanted embryo but no pregnancy and the second cycle produced no eggs.)

I found the manner and professionalism of the practitioner very reassuring although I found, at first, some of the views expressed by the practitioner very challenging. However, as treatment progressed, I pushed aside my resistance and in doing so I found my world more receptive to my becoming a mother. I found the sessions opened up a great deal of emotions, which surprised me and almost made me want to give up the sessions but I persevered because deep down, although it was challenging, I believe that it was part of the process and ultimately I felt a great deal of overall benefit from the sessions in my general wellbeing.

My next cycle produced eggs and two fertilised eggs were returned: I am now happily 6 months pregnant with a healthy baby, plus I have had a glowing pregnancy! I have suggested the centre to one friend already and I would commend any woman to try this in support of IVF.

I have found having regular acupuncture over the past 6 months to complement my IVF treatment, very beneficial. Not only am I now 3 months pregnant with twins, but during those times when I have been worried or stressed, Andrash and his treatment have helped me to be generally more positive and calm and cope with things. Along with the acupuncture has been a holistic approach to the whole IVF process, which has included meditation, herbs and vitamins. I recommend Andrash’s IVF Support program to other women trying to fall pregnant, as they have helped me to gain the emotional and physical strength required to undergo the challenges of IVF. (and the needles don’t hurt much at all!!)

I tried for 8 months before falling pregnant. Andrash used acupuncture and Chinese herbs to regulate my cycle, and I think this was a major factor in me falling pregnant.
I am so glad I was able to use natural methods to fall pregnant, and I would recommend that people try Andrash’s method before IVF. I found the acupuncture sessions very relaxing and uplifting, so I continued with acupuncture for pregnancy support.

We are the proud parents of two daughters, both conceived through IVF. I can honestly say that meeting Andrash changed my life and made our IVF journey more bearable. Our first daughter took almost five years to bring into this world. Despite various fertility treatments and three cycles of IVF and a few miscarriages, we soldiered on. Andrash was the turning point for he could tap into many things about my personality, how I managed emotions and stress (or rather, did not manage!) and also had an ability to allow my faith to be brought into my acupuncture sessions. My husband was very supportive as he could see the clear benefits from these sessions. Only I participated, although both partners can receive the acupuncture treatment. I never found the treatment painful, in fact, Andrash joked about how rested I seemed after just 20 minutes! I often felt I had been in a deep, peaceful sleep for hours! Andrash has a calm, reassuring voice and has wisdom about life - I am so grateful for the advice, patience and genuine care he provided. Through these visits, I seemed to find inner strength and resolve, and a deep belief that one day, we would become parents.

After I began regular treatments with Andrash, we had our next IVF transfer and Priya was the miraculous result in Feb 2007. It took two years to conceive our next child and beautiful Alana was born in March 2010. Andrash was one of the few people we shared our positive pregnancy results with in the first few months. I think he sensed I had reached a turning point in my handling of fertility treatment before the official test result came to say we were pregnant with our first child. It's as if I had surrendered my control of the situation. IVF treatments seems to totally control the lives for many couples and I think I was battling with this emotionally.

For both pregnancies, the sessions during the first trimester were the much-needed intimate moments with 'my baby' in my womb. I sometimes talked aloud to the baby, I sometimes shed tears of very mixed emotions (disbelief, trepidation, joy). I invited Andrash to provide acupuncture support for my births, however, both girls were very keen to make their entrances into the world, so that never eventuated! My acupuncture sessions helped pysch me up for labour and I used some of the breathing, relaxation and visualisation techniques during labours.

My second labour was drug-free, just a few hours long and an empowering, exhilarating feeling, thanks very much to what I had gained from not only Andrash, but his other professional and caring team members. Since having my children, I have visited Andrash for acupuncture now and then just to regain some calmness and clarity, as strangely, this seems to re-energise me!

What advice would I give you and your partner if you were contemplating sessions with Andrash and his fantastic team? If you have to build up some endurance to run the IVF marathon, then the sessions will help 'fuel' you on many different levels. If you often feel helpless and that your situation seems hopeless, these sessions will strengthen you. Give yourself at least 4-5 sessions before you make a judgement, but our experience was what made all the difference. Our little family wish you well in your journey.

I had been trying to get pregnant for the last six years without success, so my husband and I decided to go through IVF. We found interesting information about the IVF Support Centre and the positive effect of acupuncture, so I started my acupuncture treatment twice a week with Andrash Bodonyi. I became pregnant at the age of 40 years for the first time after undergoing only one IVF treatment.

The acupuncture treatments were not painful, and they induced me into a deep relaxation and helped me with symptoms like nausea and fatigue. I felt my body was balanced and it gave me self-confidence to overcome my fears during my first three months of pregnancy.

I wish I could have met Andrash a few months before I started my IVF treatment as I am confident that acupuncture would have allowed me to become naturally pregnant. I would recommend acupuncture to any women prior to IVF or during IVF.

For everyone who loves me and for myself, this baby is a miracle come true, and I wish to have the chance for a second healthy pregnancy in the near future.

I had tried to get pregnant for two years by using all the medical interventions except IVF.
I started acupuncture to prepare me for IVF, but became pregnant before the IVF cycle. During acupuncture sessions I felt nothing else, but relaxed. I carried on with acupuncture for pregnancy support for the next three months. Now I have a beautiful, healthy and happy little boy. I am delighted!

We had been only trying to conceive naturally for 6 months. We decided to get checked at the GP due to our ages 39 & 36. We were advised we would have long-term difficulty in conceiving a child naturally and referred to commence IVF (ICSI) asap.

A friend referred me to Andrash at the Reach for Health Group around the same time (ie. first attempt). I did some preliminary research on the internet about the improved success rates when acupuncture is used whilst undergoing IVF treatment and thought it was worth a try.

I was a little apprehensive for the first visit but soon felt relaxed. The relaxation methods used by Andrash don't just involve acupuncture; he teaches you to relax and talks you through the process which constantly grounded me each time I visited. I may have been feeling anxious or emotional leading up to the treatment, but I always left feeling calm. I continue to use the relaxation techniques throughout everyday.

The first ivf attempt was not successful for us. The second gave us a positive pregnancy test; however there was to be a common chromosomal abnormality in the fetus that results in miscarriage. The whole time I continued to have acupuncture and continued to reap the rewards in both my physical and emotional wellbeing. I still had my ups and downs but it was more manageable with the ongoing support. Once I recovered physically and emotionally (approx 3 months later), we went for our third attempt. We also decided that my husband would attend acupuncture treatment in the lead up to the sperm donation. He was less open to it than I, but he committed to going for that couple of weeks.

It is now with a tear in my eye that I am so happy to say I am 16 weeks pregnant with twins through IVF and the acupuncture treatment. I had 2 pregnancies out of 3 attempts which is a very high success rate.

The gift that the ivf support centre gave to me on the emotional level is a sense of calm and acceptance that what will be will be, we can only nourish ourselves and let nature take its course in this process. The other gift it helped to give me and my husband is the excitement and anticipation of growing two little babies.

Thanks so much

Receiving acupuncture has been very relaxing and beneficial.  Both practitioners are excellent, and Andrash is definitely a Master Acupuncturist.  Do everything you can to make the journey of realizing pregnancy a holistic and integrative one.  I pray that you also become pregnant and give birth to a healthy and happy baby.  In full faith, so be it.

Thank you Andrash for your expertise and support.

Well I tried 12 IUI's before I started IVF and that is when I started acupuncture. My first two cycles of IVF I only started the IVF treatment when I started the IVF cycle and whilst the sessions where great, I don't feel like I was giving my body the best chance of conceiving. With the third cycle of IVF, I took three months to prepare. I had weekly treatment with Andrash in the three months leading up to the cycle and ate and rested well. This was the cycle that I achieved my first ever pregnancy. I couldn't believe it when the clinic said I was pregnant - I thought they must have the wrong person. I continued with acupuncture for the first eighteen weeks of my pregnancy which I am confident helped support the pregnancy in those crucial early months. I enjoyed each acupuncture session and felt that it gave me time out to really connect with my body and the reproductive process on an intuitive level.  The IVF journey is such a roller coaster and the sessions after not achieving a pregnancy were also important for me processing this sadness.
 
I'm loving being a mum and it is everything I dreamed of and more. 

Thank you for your love, support and thoughtful gifts as we celebrate the arrival of our beautiful boy.

Love M and G Brown

 

 

 

As a scientist I was initially very sceptical of the effect that acupuncture could have on my IVF success. However, after 2 failed IVF rounds and with a mounting sense of desperation and despair I contacted Andrash at the IVF support centre. During our initial meeting Andrash was very reassuring and asked many questions about our reasons for using IVF and our previous success and fails. I felt that he was very professional and thorough in his approach to my treatment. I had weekly acupuncture appointments for 3 months which not only regulated and normalised my periods, but also allowed me to fully concentrate on my fertility and emotional wellbeing. During the IVF procedure, I felt that acupuncture really helped with not only increasing my viable egg count but also with the stress of IVF as I knew I was doing everything that I could to achieve a pregnancy.  I honestly feel that because of the acupuncture I had the most successful egg count and fertilisation rate that I ever have in the four IVF procedures I have undergone. As a result, we not only received a successful pregnancy (and a beautiful baby boy born November 2010) but we also had a "spare" embryo that the clinic was able to freeze. I intend to return to Andrash for treatment later in the year to prepare my body for the transfer of this frozen embryo in order to maximise the success. I have recommended Andrash to many of my friends, of which 4 have used acupuncture and all 4 have fallen pregnant. I would thoroughly recommend Andrash and his staff to anyone who is undergoing IVF treatment or having difficultly falling pregnant, he really does make an enormous difference.

 

"My husband and I have been trying for 3 years to become pregnant. We tried fertility treatment 9 times (5 IVF 4 IUI). Of the 5 IVF cycles. 3 without acupuncture then a following 2 cycles with acupuncture. During the acupuncture and relaxation sessions I felt calm and confident in the process. It was an amazing time to take and really connect with my body. Both practitioners were incredibly knowledgeable, professional and reassuring without being unrealistic. I felt like we were both on the same page and hoping for the same miracle. To other women considering IVF I would say "Do yourself a favour and prepare both ' Mum to be and Dad to be' with acupuncture for 3 months prior to IVF. Be confident and positive in the process and in your bodies.

It is really hard to express the joy we feel and the gratitude to you Andrash for helping us prepare our bodies for the miracle that is now growing happily inside of me.