4.21.2010

ICLW! (And balls.)

It's been several months since the last time I did ICLW, but I'm back! Welcome to those of you who just stumbled upon my little space here! I'm excited to hear from you and also to find some more wonderful blogs to follow :)

My TTC history is listed to the right, and if you want to know where I'm at right now, yesterday's post is pretty descriptive of that.

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Now I know you're just dying to hear about the balls. So I will tell you.

I had my 2nd acupuncture appointment yesterday and the acupuncturist (Dr. R) told me he'd be giving me some herbs to take home. Sweet! As I was paying on my way out, the assistant says, "He's putting you on the eggs, huh?" Eggs? I thought I was getting herbs! So she takes an "egg" out of a little paper bag and shows it to me. It looks exactly like a ping pong ball. She says, "Now, these are a little hard to swallow..." and then proceeds to laugh at the look of horror that crosses my face. Of course she was only kidding. Turns out the "egg" is basically a round version of a plastic Easter egg, coated in wax. You have to kind of crush it against something hard (e.g. the table) to break the wax and crack open the "egg" to get to the contents - which is a little baggie of about 30 tiny black balls. Those are the herbs.

Whew. For a second there I thought... well, I thought I wouldn't be swallowing these herbs, if ya catch my drift.

I have to take two "eggs" a day (or rather, the contents thereof), once in the morning and once at night, apparently for the next 10 days. No big deal right? Yeah, that's what I thought until I took my first dose. The little herb balls are only about 1/4 inch in diameter, or maybe a bit smaller, but did I mention there are thirty in each dose? I have to swallow them whole, half an hour before breakfast and dinner, with water. Yeah, they're little, but they're also hard, so I can feel them allllll the way down, and sometimes they don't go down so easy! And there are THIRTY! So it takes a while. Then once I've swallowed them all it feels like there's a bunch of rocks in my stomach. (Thirty of them!!!) Mmm. Pleasant.

Well, this morning I took my sweet time taking the herbs, and the "rocks in the stomach" sensation wasn't nearly as bad as it was yesterday, so I think I'm getting the hang of it. Still, I'll be a lot happier when I'm done with them forever. Oh yeah, and if you're wondering what these herbs are supposed to do, so am I. I forgot to ask Dr. R, and when I called later, his assistant didn't know (and didn't seem too inclined to ask). Guess I will just have to wait until next Tuesday to find out.

Happy Hump Day and ICLW everyone! I hope it's a great day!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have to take a picture of these "balls" ! LOL...

Kate said...

No kidding - I want a picture with a quarter or something beside it so we can see the scale. Rocks in the stomach is not a sensation that I'd be looking forward to either - makes me a little nauseated thinking about it. How do you eat a meal after that? What do they taste like?

Kitty said...

I was going to take a picture with my phone, but then I realized I only brought the one egg to work with me (which is now in my belly)! I'll try to remember to do it tonight.

Kate - I haven't kept them in my mouth long enough to find out what they taste like! But they have a faint sort of licorice smell.

Emily said...

Very interesting!!! I'm interested to hear what exactly what they are for! Good Luck!!

^J^ said...

I forget, how many do you have to take? LMAO!

Kudos to you! - I don't think I could take something and not know what exactly it is and how it's suppose to help.

I hope the "balls" do the trick for ya!

Erin said...

UGG, I feel for you having to swallow those things. Yuck!! I hope it works miracles for you though!! ;)

Mrs. Gamgee said...

Ergh... I have enough problems getting my vitamins and folic acid (why does it have to start disintigrating the second it hits my tongue?) down every night.

Hope they do whatever it is they are supposed to do.

ICLW

Christina said...

How crazy! I need to see a pic!

Busted Kate said...

Wow, those eggs sound wild! I can't wait to hear how they'll work for you. What's in them?? And where else can you get them?

Following you now, and hope you'll come by and visit me too! :-)

Happy ICLW #100

Willow said...

Haha, I have always taken herbs, both pills and tea, from my acupuncturist with NO IDEA what exactly they're supposed to do--besides get me pregnant, of course! I am kind of bummed that mine never came in a wax ball though (just in baggies)--I'm a sucker for cool packaging!

Anonymous said...

Woah, that is a lot of balls to swallow! Ha ha, I hope they work out for you! Best of luck --

*ICLW*

Kelly said...

Yikes! I hope that this goes smoothly for you!

ICLW