S5:E25 - Acupuncture and Fertility with Dr Michelle Smith

Acupuncture for IVF & Fertility — What Solo Mums Need to Know | Dr Michelle Smith, Ova Acupuncture

Most fertility specialists will tell you to try acupuncture. Very few of them explain why.

This week I'm joined by Dr Michelle Smith — acupuncturist, Chinese herbal medicine practitioner, and director of Ova Acupuncture in Brisbane. Michelle specialises in fertility and women's health, has two clinics in Brisbane, and sees women from all over Australia, including many solo mums by choice. She's also, as of this recording, 13 weeks pregnant via IVF — her first transfer — doing this solo, and very happy to talk about all of it.

This episode is Acupuncture 101 for anyone who has been told it might help, has no idea how or why, and wants to actually understand the mechanism rather than just taking someone's word for it.

We cover everything — the science and the philosophy, what's actually happening when a needle goes in and why that matters for egg quality and implantation, the ideal timeline for starting treatment before an IVF cycle, what to do if you have PCOS, what's different for known donor home insemination, how acupuncture supports perimenopause, and what to look for when finding a practitioner near you.

Michelle is also refreshingly honest about what acupuncture can and can't do, why the pre- and post-transfer appointment is not as essential as the industry often suggests, and why her first priority with most new patients is to get them off half the supplements they're on.

If you've been on the fence about whether to add acupuncture to your IVF cycle — this episode will help you make that decision.

Ova Acupuncture — Brisbane, two clinics, telehealth available for interstate patients. Visit ovaacupuncture.au

Note: Michelle can also provide referrals to trusted colleagues around Australia for those not in Brisbane.

In this episode:

How Michelle came to specialise in fertility — her own PCOS diagnosis, five years of study, and why she says she has the best job in the world

Why fertility specialists telling you to "get acupuncture to relax" undersells what it's actually doing