#29: Let's Learn About Acupuncture with Guest, Adrianne Ortega, Owner of Alma Acupuncture

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We're Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a San Antonio area realtor and lender, but most importantly, we're working moms.

The goal of this podcast is to provide support and a sense of community to San Antonio area working moms like us. So join us in trying to find a balance between career, family, and everything in between.

Welcome to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We're here with Adrienne. She's the owner and acupuncturist at Alma Acupuncture. And so I'm just going to kind of turn it over to her and let her talk about her business.

Good morning. Hi, thank you, Erika. My name is Adrienne Ortega, business owner of Alma Acupuncture, and I'm a board-certified reproductive acupuncturist here locally in San Antonio. And what does that mean? That basically means that I work with anyone that has reproductive issues, starting with anyone that just started menstruation to is kind of winding down their menstrual cycle to like menopause, post-menopause kind of issues and everything in between, kind of like anything menstrual, anything fertility, anything that has to do with heavy periods, abnormal periods, painful periods, anything that has to do with the menstrual cycle, I'm there for you for sure. And then also like fertility issues. A lot of my patients seek my services because they're having reproductive difficulties in growing their family, whether it's their first child or secondary fertility issues with, you know, after their first or second, third child. So I kind of help in all of that realm.

Wow, that's amazing.

It's a lot. You know, what, what got you started into your, your career? Like, anything that led you into that, or you just found fascinating, or how did you get started?

Yeah, I, I will try to give the really short version. The short version is, in like my mid-20s, I had really terrible menstrual issues and gyn issues, and I wasn't getting a lot of answers or in Western medicine. I love Western medicine. I think it's amazing. It's really, really helpful. However, at that period of time, I wasn't getting a lot of answers or a lot of relief in my menstrual issues. I had really irregular periods, really painful. It was kind of a really intense time for me. Yeah. Being really young and just feeling terrible. And I would go to my physician and my physician would say, oh, you're fine. You're totally fine. You're just really tired. And I'm like, okay, but I'm like 26, so like I shouldn't feel like this. And so someone recommended I go see an acupuncturist. I had gone to an acupuncturist before. However, I was having different issues. They were really specific to menstrual issues. And someone said, oh, you should go see this person, Jen Jen. This is in Austin. And so I was just like desperate. I had gone to like naturopaths, chiropractors. I had gone to so many kinds of practitioners trying trying to get answers. And so I went to go see Jen Jen, and she specialized in like gyn disorders and issues. And I basically started having relief within like the first few sessions. Um, it saved my life. I feel like it saved my marriage. Just like when you're not feeling well and you're having like chronic issues, that can be really hard on any kind of relationship, right? Especially in an intimate relationship. And so thanks to Jen Jen, I started feeling better. I didn't know this at the time But Jen Jen taught all the women's health and gynecology East Asian medicine classes at the grad school that I eventually enrolled in within the year.

Oh wow.

Yeah, I had no idea. Yeah, no idea. And so like, basically I learned a lot of what I do now and base it on what I learned from her.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I find that story really interesting because I feel like what you went through is what so many of us go through. I can I can personally say for myself that I have had terrible periods since I'm 15 years old. And, and a doctor's response is always birth control, right? Like, if your periods are bad, take birth control. And to be honest, I've been on birth control, whether I needed it or not, for— since I'm 15 years old. And now I'm starting to learn that, right, like playing with those hormones has kind of negatively impacted my body. As I'm 35 years old, I'm starting to learn these things. And unfortunately, there's no going back. I've been doing it. So you know what I mean? But it's just one of those things where, you know, you go in and you don't always get a ton of options. It's just like, well, this is normal stuff that everyone goes through. And it's like, but it doesn't feel normal, you know? So, yeah. Yeah.

Since when is suffering normal?

Yeah.

Why do we have to suffer through grin and bear it?

Right.

Like, that is not okay because we're females, like, yeah, just like deal with it because past generations just dealt with it and didn't say anything. I'm sorry. No.

Yeah, that's not okay.

Well, I think modern medicine is just more of, hey, what pill can I give you to make it better? Like, let's just push, you know, medicine or, you know, and I have to say, I was blessed. I didn't, I didn't have— I had fairly regular cycles and I all I remember, but even when I didn't need it, they're like, hey, here for— I think I was 13 when I first went to see an OB-GYN, you know, just to get— here's a medicine to help you, you know, with acne or whatever the case is. And it was something that I'm like, I don't like taking. I've never been a big pill taker, but I know that's the first thing they'll do when your cycle starts to get out of whack or something like that to help you. Or if you have a heavy menstrual cycle, that's one way they try to treat it with just medicine versus trying to find other ways or find out what's wrong, what's causing it.

Yes to all of that. And I can kind of go off on that a little bit more, but I will reel it in a little bit.

So as part of your services, then, does acupuncture help naturally regulate hormones for women? Is that part of it?

Yes, definitely. So like, I have a fairly new patient. I think I've seen her twice. And, you know, she's really young and a very common story. Hey, I'm 31 years old. I've been on birth control for my terrible periods since I was 14, 15, and I really want to get off of them because I have chronic fatigue now that I didn't have in my mid-20s. Can you help me? I'm like, yeah, let's do this. And I kind of explained to them, I explained to her that this will be a process. You've been on birth control for over 10 years. That's a really long time to not have your natural rhythms come through. And so I told her right away, I told her, look, you might get a period this month, you might not. I want you to. I'm going to, you know, that's my goal for you to have it in about, you know, somewhere between 25 and 35 days. If it came at 25 days or 35 days, I was just like, I would be thrilled. However, we don't know what your natural progression, what your natural flow looks like. Besides that, what it looked like when you're 15, but now you're 32.

Yeah.

So we can't even compare. Right. And then post, you know, basically kind of having your hormones just being static, right? Being static and there's no dynamic movement. And so she was like, Okay, let's start. Because she was just like, this isn't working for me anymore.

Right.

And so that's what we did. She's not trying to conceive. She's just like, I'm tired of being tired.

Yeah.

Kind of the same story as me. She was like, similar, right? Similar in the fact that she was like, I'm just chronically fatigued and I shouldn't be this tired. I'm only 31, 32 years old. And it's true. She shouldn't feel that tired when she's like, I have to nap as soon as I get home most days. And like, so she just really wanted to get some relief and try to give her body a chance. And I said, you're doing the right thing. I feel like, you know, we're going to support your body with acupuncture. I'm an herbalist also. So she is taking medicine. It is herbal medicine. And in Chinese and East Asian medicine, we don't just take one herb. That's like not the way we see herbs. Like, I know Western medicine and just Western countries are like, oh, take ashwagandha, take 'ginger,' and it's like, in my experience, taking one or two herbs isn't going to do it, especially if you've been taking birth control pills for like over a decade. We're going to need a lot more support than ashwagandha and ginger.

Yeah, that makes sense.

I don't know if that makes sense.

It does.

Yeah. Yeah. And so basically what I try to do is I kind of try to help, I try to help the body start getting a follicular phase, which is pre-ovulation, right? And then post-ovulation. So then I basically prescribe herbs to kind of help mimic that, to help your body be like, oh, this is what we should do.

Well, that's a lot of information. It's stuff that we just don't— you just don't hear unless you're in that realm. You just don't hear about these alternatives. And I think it's so important to— I mean, everyone, you should be able to choose if you want to take a pill or if you want to do it a more natural try first or whatever. I mean, and if you don't know this stuff exists, then how, you know, I just feel like it's a disservice. You know, we should be, we should be researching and doing some of these things, I think.

Well, I think that's the thing is that a lot of people don't understand. Like, I don't know a lot about acupuncture and how it actually works. I know, and obviously I know it's out there. I had a family member's that have been misdiagnosed for pain and joint pain that they've done. So I know she had been taking steroid shots and I know, I know, just logically sticking a needle into your bone for over time, like that's going to cause more issues eventually. Yes, it relieves the pain for a few months, but then you have to go back and have it redone. She just recently, well, not recently, but she actually told me, she shared about 4 months ago, she went and saw an acupuncturist who she has not had any pain and didn't really realize how much pain she was having even with the shot. She just knew that she had some relief. So she's like, this is amazing. I'm going to continue to do this versus trying to get, you know, a steroid shot or whatever the case is. So I didn't realize that acupuncture can, can do help with hormone balancing. Like I had, I had no idea.

Yeah. So what it, what it does essentially, and I kind of tell everyone, like everyone's like, well, how does it work exactly? I tell people, you know, there's, you know, hundreds of points and I'm going to choose the points that I feel, you know, are going to help your body access its natural resources so your body can heal itself.

Yeah. Right? That's essentially what it is. Okay.

It's not like, oh, I'm— there's something in the needle. No, there's nothing in the needle. I tell people the medicine's in your body except for something happened.

Right?

Sorry, I talk a lot with my hands.

That's okay.

You know, something happened 10, 15 years ago, or something happened 5 years ago, and your body just, you know, something happened and it was out of whack. And then, you know, you need more support hormonally. So then I'm going to choose points that help move that energy and help you access your own energy so you can get the upper hand on whatever's ailing you. Does that kind of make sense?

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's your body that's doing the work. And then I tell people, I, um, about 80 to 95%, depending on the week, um, of my patients take herbs. They just do. I tell people, I'm like, to get like the most, it's like doing acupuncture every single day, essentially. Like you're supporting your body every single day so you can help access and help get your hormones ready for ovulation and get your hormones ready for premenstrual time, get your hormones ready for when you start your period so you don't feel terrible. And so there's different formulas that I give patients, and depending on where they are and what they're looking for, then that's what I do to support them. And I know I was talking a lot about follicular phase and luteal phase and all that, and just know that we have different phases in our menstrual cycle that we should have been taught in 4th grade and we were not. And what I'm saying is I wish more people knew that because if we knew all of this information, then we could identify when there's a problem. And that is empowering to little girls and women all over the world.

That's okay.

I think so too. You know, I realized I was talking to a younger lady, early 20s, and she was mentioning that she was having some trouble with her cycle. I'm like, well, do you— I was— I mean, my mom always taught me I would keep track of it. And she's like, I was never told to do that. I'm like, well, then how do you know how long you're— I mean, she— I mean, you've skipped months and not even realize it just because you're busy day to day and you're in college and you're not paying attention. So how do you know you had one. Like, I— because sometimes it's hard. Like, did I have one last month? I don't remember. But you should— I said to keep a calendar or track it somehow, and she had no idea to do that. So a lot of things that I think, as we've gotten more, I guess, modern, we've stopped doing stuff that maybe, you know, that would have been a wise thing to do back then. But yeah, she had no idea. Like, is your cycle X amount of days, or how long— how long do you have your cycle for? And yeah, she didn't— she didn't have any clue. So that might be the first thing that's the doctor's going to want to know, like, hey, when was your last menstrual cycle? When did it last start? And so forth.

Yeah, you should know what's normal and like what's not normal, right? Yeah, I feel like, you know, that way future generations aren't suffering when they're 35 years old or 32 years old or older than that. It doesn't really matter, right? But we should be taught what's normal. And I think that's what happens a lot of the times is that I feel like I have to educate a lot of my patients and being like, yeah, I know that your physician said that it's normal to have, you know, really heavy period for like 10 or 12 days, but you're like really anemic and this isn't working for you.

No, it's not.

Yeah. And then sometimes even, you know, someone's trying to conceive and they're not having intercourse on the right days because they don't know when they are fertile. That's a problem.

Yeah, that's exactly what happened to me.

So with my, with my second child, um, we were trying to get pregnant, right? And so like, you know, and you hear all the time, well, it's the 14th day of your cycle that that's when this happens. And if I would have kept— finally I got those like ovulation sticks and I started keeping track and I was like taking my temperature and doing all those things. And so finally I did that. It was like, for me it was like day 24 or something like— like I would have never gotten it, you know what I mean? And so it, it took that knowledge and then as Soon as I started knowing my body, I got pregnant like the next month. It was crazy.

Well, I use it to avoid— I was like, I'm not going to talk to my husband in these couple of days. Like, see you later.

Yes. Yeah, that's really, that's really interesting. And yeah, that happens to a lot of patients, right? They have no, no kind of education and like, oh, when should it be? Everyone says it should be 14 and it's just like No, not everyone's like that. Not everyone has a 28-day cycle, right? That's my goal as a practitioner, to get everyone within closer to that range, right? However, not everyone has that. And then even if you do have a 28-day cycle, you could be ovulating earlier, you could be ovulating later.

Yeah.

And so it's my job to kind of help you figure out, if you're my patient, how to, you know, when should you be having intercourse? When's the best time to be doing that? How often? You know, since there's also a male factor, right? We're not getting it for ourselves. So there's also a male factor, how often, all of that kind of stuff.

But, you know, I think it's— I want to say just as women, we don't talk about it or we don't share. We just assume it's normal or, or we, you know, we don't share sometimes like, hey, are you going through this? Or maybe not have someone to ask. But you see a lot of information out there for men issues, things. I mean, it's always talked about. It's, you know, if they're having problems or if they're any kind of pain, there's something to help them. But us women, we tend to like put ourselves, our health on the back burner because we're either taking care of our spouse, our children, or, you know, maybe elderly parents or something like that, that we tend to put our, our health aside and not really realize that, hey, you don't have to suffer from this, you know, you, it can be more, you know, less painful or, or better.

So yes, yes to all of that, Marie.

Yeah. Yes.

Like, I even started— I think it was last week or the week before, I was in my Instagram stories, I was talking about menopause, and I was just like, well, we need to talk about this because like no one's talking about it, or some people are starting to talk about it, and I think we need to start talking about it now before you're there.

Yes.

Yeah, planting those seeds and being like, oh, okay, so what did my mother go through? You know, like, ask your mom. And yes, some generations, some cultures, they don't feel comfortable talking about that. And so then you just do what you can. Hopefully there's an auntie or something. But that's kind of like the closing out of our reproductive years, and it's just as important as our first period was, in my opinion.

Yeah, right.

I mean, it really is. And as adults, we should have more information to navigate than when you first got your period. Yeah, you know, like, generally speaking, they're 50.

Is that something that you also help your— like, to recognize, like, perimenopause symptoms and things? Like, I know, like, I'm 35 years old and I feel like I— like, hormonally, like, I get hot flashes sometimes, or like different things that are happening for my— and luckily my mother is comfortable talking about those things. And so I know that around 35 or around, you know, 38, she started getting these symptoms And so is that something that you help your clients recognize, you know, in their bodies that, that those symptoms can happen maybe earlier and what that means?

Yeah, for sure. I think it's really possible to definitely give people relief in perimenopause. You know, I also can read labs. I mean, like, I have training in that. And so I encourage people like, hey, if you've had labs in the last year, make sure you bring them to your initial and, you know, you, or sometimes people are like, oh, I had labs done for my thyroid and for my estrogen, you know, the last 6 months, and I want to— I want you to look at them because I feel like they're a little wonky and they keep on going up and down. So can you help me with that? And so yes, I, I do try to help people, like, help them navigate that and, um, figure out the best solution to hot flashes or any other kinds of symptoms they're having And just because someone's having hot flashes and they're 35, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're perimenopausal. It doesn't necessarily mean that. There could be other things contributing to that. That would be a lot, so I won't get into it too much right now. But yeah, there's probably, you know, there is something to be said that after 35, 35 to 38, that window, things start to shift, right? And one thing I definitely get concerned about as an acupuncturist is all the young, young people that are getting their periods so, so young. Yeah, because like, I remember it's right— it was like 2020, I got this phone call and the mom was like, oh, it was before the pandemic, okay, it was 2019. Her daughter had started her period around Halloween and it was like Thanksgiving and she was still on her period and she was 10 years old.

No, that's crazy. Oh, poor thing.

I can't even imagine getting my first period at 10, first, first of all, and then just bleeding for like 4 to 6 weeks straight. Yeah, yeah, like not okay. And of course, mom took her daughter to the pediatrician and the pediatrician was like, well, let's put her on the pill. And the mom was like, absolutely not. She's—

that's—

yeah. And the mom was like, absolutely not. There's no way. She was like, no, this— that's not a solution. And so what we did is I think I did like 2 needles because little girl, poor thing, she was just like— she was so scared. I think she was— I mean, she was dealing with some like definite like PTSD symptoms.

Yeah.

You know, she's severely iron deficient because who the heck wouldn't be?

Right. Yeah.

And, you know, she was really fatigued and I gave her some herbs and the period stopped within a few days.

Wow.

That's amazing. That's a wonderful story. How nice that you were able to help this little girl who, I mean, it seems like they had kind of exhausted their options. And so, you know, it's like, and for them to get relief or for her to get relief so quickly, that's wonderful. I can't even imagine. I mean, getting your first period is kind of scary enough, right? Like you're going through new stuff. Our hormones are all over the place, you know, whatever. And then for it to last so crazy long, I mean, if it was me, I would be like, I'm dying. Like, I'm bleeding to death right now. You know what I mean? You don't know. You know what I'm saying?

And then being like 10, do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Being 10, you don't have the emotional maturity wherewithal to like be like, what's really happening with my body?

Well, how uncomfortable. Like, just, just Daily, like, it just be like, just, you know, like all the things that go along with having a menstrual cycle. You're like, oh my God, it's just, oh, I would be so frustrated. I was, I was fairly like, I was young when I started and I was 10 actually. And I remember having this conversation later on in life and we were wondering like, you know, girls these days, you had mentioned starting so early. Like, you know, you're not in your teens, you're actually fairly young. And someone was convinced that they told me that it's all the hormones they put in our food. It's the food that you eat that sometimes, you know, helping people do— because you see girls today, I'm like, oh, you have to be like 18, and they're 12. They're—

I mean, you know what I, I think what I worry about is we all basically have about 21 reproductive years, okay? So the younger you start, the younger you start releasing a follicle, an egg, essentially, correct? So if you started earlier, you're going to end earlier.

Yeah.

Generally speaking. Generally speaking.

Sure.

And so that's really concerning to me as a practitioner.

Do you have opinions or thoughts about what is causing these kind of things?

Yeah, I do. I do have a lot of opinions about it. I do think food has to do with a lot of it. I think, I think the quality of our food is pretty terrible. Even the organic food is not good quality. I feel like just generally speaking, kids are around this food and fast food and it's— I'm not anti-fast food. I'm not saying I never take my kid to Taco Bell. That is not what I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying. But I will say it is, it is considerably infrequent. And my daughter is about to turn 11 and she has not had a period yet. I hope that's okay that I say that. I remember asking her last year when she was in 4th grade, hey, how many of your friends have started their period? And she listed like 4 of them. And I was like, that's, that's concerning to me because of what I know, right? Knowing what I know, I'm just like, oh man, they're if they want to have children and they want to put it off, they will have to have some help from Western medicine and Eastern— East Asian medicine, of course, in my opinion. But it's just really, really concerning. Like, lots of, like, red flags. I think another thing is besides the food, I think, yeah, there's a lot of hormones. You know, I didn't grow up on a lot of fast food. I'm first-generation Mexican-American. And so I didn't grow up eating a lot of fast food. And I'm not saying, oh, your kid eats fast food and they're going to get their period at 10 or 11. That's not what I'm saying. So don't come at me on that. But what I'm saying is I think it's like a combination of things, right? I think, you know, I think it's food. I think, you know, I think these computers, the phones, they do emit some radiation and we have no idea what that exactly does to us. We don't know. You know, we don't know yet. And so then, you know, when you're in college and you go to college and your whole, like, dorm hall gets on the same cycle, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Why can't that be a thing while you're in elementary school and middle school?

Right.

If you're around your peers 8 or 9 hours every day for 9 months out of the year, why is that not going to affect you when half the class has already started their menstruation? And you haven't yet, you don't think that's going to push you a little bit earlier, sooner? I, I think it is very possible. Can I like prove that scientifically? Probably, but I don't have the time for doing that. I'm a busy mom and a businesswoman, right? I think it's food, I think it's technology, I think it's everyone else is starting their period so early, right? I think it's also, you know, we're more sedentary, you know, just generally speaking, like as a kid, the summers were not blazing like they were now. So I would spend hours outside, and, you know, I would play outside for hours with my brothers and with my neighbors. Like, that's just not a thing anymore. Yeah, that's just not a thing anymore. So I feel like it's a combination of things. I think it's also, you know, I think most kids don't take vitamins. They don't take minerals. And I think, you know, basically you have to have, what is it, like 14% fat as a little girl to start your period, which is at about 100 pounds, right? Give or take. So once you hit that threshold, you will start your period. You'll start your menarche, your first period. And so I don't know, like I see, I go and I see my kid and I'm like, oh my gosh, she's so little compared to her peers. Yeah, right. And then I feel like a second grader, and the second grader is straight up to the sixth grader.

Yeah, yeah.

Not their fault, you know, their families are doing the best that they can. However, it's, it's really concerning to me as a reproductive acupuncturist.

But even if you, if you go out and let's say it's not fashion, like I am, so my, my mom cooked, she was a stay-at-home mom, grew up, I started earlier than the rest of my siblings, but I was always overweight. And but it's also the food you're able to purchase. So the big thing is like chicken, right? Chicken is infused with hormones. And actually, I remember being young and my— I have older siblings, so I have siblings quite a bit older than I am, and they were married at the time. And my brother-in-law is the one who said, he goes, the reason all the girls are developing faster, right, is because of all the hormones. And it was kind of a joke, but when you think about it, like, hey, that makes sense. You're, you're, you're ingesting, you know, you know, not natural things, you know, that, you know, that it's, it's gonna affect your body some way.

Yeah. And you can't say that the food that we're eating today is the same food that our grandparents grew up on.

No, it's not. It's definitely not. It lasts longer on the shelf. Like, I, I remember I bought a loaf of bread and I'm like, I'm like, oh, I need to throw it out, we haven't eaten it. I'm like, why isn't it It wasn't moldy yet. It had been like 2 weeks. I was like, yeah, what? This is wheat bread. Why is it not? And I remember I was in a health class in college and they said, if it goes bad for you, it's good for you. Like, if it goes bad, it's good for you.

Right.

And I'm like, this is just, it's regular wheat bread thinking, hey, it's 100% wheat. It didn't, it was not, it didn't go bad. I was like, we're not gonna buy this brand, I don't know what's in it. I don't know anymore. But yeah, so it's, it's a lot of that. And then you're around whatever's in the air and yeah.

Oh my gosh, yes, yeah, yeah. There's a few— I don't know, probably several scary days. I probably blocked them out in the summer, but I would like to look outside and I'm like, oh my gosh, it looks really gross outside. Like, I don't think—

crazy. Yeah. Yeah, everything affects— I think it's layering, layering of stuff, you know. If you have, like you said, you— the different types of food, your environment, technology, whatever the case is. And, and being around other— it is true, you're around other, other girls that might be starting early, and some— I don't know what it is, but something happens and we all kind of sync up. That's right. Eventually it kind of pushes. Wow, incredible. Yeah.

I've learned so much just in this episode. Just, you have so much knowledge, and I love that you're able to share that with all of your clients and with us and with our listeners. And so we usually ask people what their favorite thing is about what they're doing, and so we want to know what one of your or several of your favorite things are about what you're doing.

Okay, let me think. There's a couple of things. There's like two things I'd love to treat, and they sound kind of opposite, but Sometimes they're connected. One thing I love to treat for sure is fibroids. I just like really like to treat fibroids. They're so annoying to my patients. Yeah, they cause a lot of abnormal bleeding, heavy bleeding, irregular cycles, breakthrough bleeding, pain. You name it, fibroids do it. And so oftentimes people come and seek my services because they're like, I don't want to have surgery. Can you help me? I'm like, okay, let's try. Let's try to dissolve these fibroids and try to regulate your period. Um, so you're not bleeding 3 weeks out of the month, you know? So that's something that I really, really like to treat. I will say like probably about 98% of the cases I'm able to help for sure. And then there's just about 1 to 2% that they're kind of like too far along in their fibroids. You know, I'm talking like the fib— there's like over 30 fibroids or something.

Oh, wow.

You know, you know, then I'm kind of like, you might want to really consider, you know, go get an ultrasound and you get the ultrasound. And then I'm like, that's really kind of intense. You probably want to consider Western medicine. However, if they have a few fibroids and nothing is embedded inside the uterus or kind of like really stuck to the uterus, then we— then I can help, um, and I feel really confident in that. But definitely the more information— the more information patients have when they're seeking my services for fibroids, the more likely that is really helpful. I wish that I, you know, could you know, send someone for an ultrasound, but that's just not within my scope here in Texas. However, most people that have fibroids know for a reason because the doctor told them. So that's one thing. I just feel like there's such a, like, big shift. It's kind of amazing. And then they go back to their doctor 3 or 4 or even 5 months later, and the fibroids are either, like, tiny, like centimeters big, or they're totally gone.

And that's incredible.

Yeah, I think there's something really fun about that. There's something really fun about that for me. And then people just start having regular periods.

Are they painful? Are the fibroids— I apologize, I don't really— I don't know what they exactly are, but are they painful for them?

Well, what happens with fibroids is your body knows that they're there. Okay? Your body knows that they're And so your body recognizes them as inflammation, okay? And so your body is actually trying to help you the only— no, the only way it knows how to basically get them to exit, which is to like get your uterus to contract. Cramps, aka cramps, right? Menstrual cramps, and increase the blood flow to get them to exit, okay? Yeah, but that's not going to work.

That's not going to work. No, because they're attached. Because they are attached.

Yeah, it depends. Some are attached and some are not.

Okay.

And so they can be painful. They usually cause heavy bleeding and a lot of cramping because your body's like, that shouldn't be there. So it's naturally contracting to help them to get to leave your body. But it's just not enough. It's not enough. Your body, in my experience, can't do it on its own and it needs some help. So either surgery acupuncture and herbs. For fibroids, there's no— if someone seeks my services, I will not treat them without taking herbs. You have to take herbs.

Yeah.

And then obviously the other thing that I like to treat is fertility stuff. Anything that has to do with fertility, I really, really— I just, I really like to do it. I love giving people another, like, adjunctive complementary option, whether they're doing an IUI, an IVF, or they're— they've done all that and they— it didn't work, and then they're trying to do something more natural. Yeah, I really, really enjoy doing that. I, I— it's just really fulfilling. And I get like texts and I get emails like months later after they've conceived, and they send me a picture. It's amazing that people still think of me like 6 months later.

That'd be so rewarding.

Yeah, yeah. It's very rewarding. It's like they worked really, really hard. And I mean, I'll be real with some patients. I work with them for like 6 months, a year and a half. Like, it can be a really long road for some people of retrievals and transfers and IVF. And it can be a really, really long road. And a lot of people unfortunately don't share that road with a lot of people or friends or family because of shame, because of guilt. So many reasons. Unfortunately, right? And so they share a lot of intimate details with me, and it's just such a privilege. And I really, really appreciate that they give me so much faith, time, and I just do my best to help support them in their process. So yeah, those are my two favorite things to treat.

Yeah, that sounds wonderful.

That would probably be my favorite too. I like that one too.

And then lastly, will you share with our listeners how they can get a hold of you for all of your services?

Yeah, probably the easiest way is if you're on Instagram.

Instagram, I was gonna say.

I would say Instagram.

I'm on Instagram almost every day of the week, and it's @alma.acu.tx. Okay, great.

And we'll put that in our show notes so that way people can click right onto your page, you know, so they can get a hold of you. Well, thank you so much for being on here. I learned so much, and it's just, it's a very refreshing episode, I feel like, because just even in this very short conversation, I learned that so much of what I went through, a lot of your patients are going through, and maybe you have as well personally. And, you know, Marie, we've had some similarities as well. And so, yeah, like you mentioned previously, people don't talk about this stuff sometimes, and it's like, you know, we should because we've all been through somewhat similar— we're all women, we've all got the same parts, you know what I mean?

And sometimes, you know, we always put our health on the back burner, so it's not something we We're always worrying about what appointment we have for someone else. So we tend to forget about ourselves a lot. So that's where, you know, we don't talk about it.

For sure. And thank you for having me and inviting me. And it was really, really nice to connect with y'all today.

Same here.

Yes. And I'm also going to thank our listeners for tuning in to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. And we will just catch you guys next week.

See you guys next week.

Thanks so much for tuning in to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Be sure to follow us on social media at our respective Instagram accounts or join our Working Moms of San Antonio Facebook group. Those links can be found in our episode description. If you have an episode topic suggestion or question, please email us at office@workingmomsasanto.com. Erikadisagent.com. And be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review. See you next week.