Menstrual issues & cycle support · Stockton Heath
You were offered the pill at 15.
Nobody ever asked why.
It worked, in the sense that the problem stopped being visible. Then you came off it, and there it was, exactly where you left it.Nothing was ever fixed. It was muted, and everybody called that treatment.
Irregular, heavy, painful, absent or unpredictable periods. Acupuncture, bloodwork and functional nutrition in Stockton Heath. Whether or not you want a baby.
Not trying for a baby? This page is still for you. Properly.
Before any of the practical bits
17 years, and the question never came up once.
You were 15. Your periods were horrendous. You were missing school, or bleeding through things, or on the bathroom floor once a month, and somebody sensible took you to the GP.
And you were given the pill. Which worked. The bleeding became predictable and light and manageable, and everybody exhaled, and that was the end of it.
Except nobody ever asked why a 15 year old was on the bathroom floor. Nothing was tested. Nothing was investigated. There was a problem, and it was made invisible, and the invisibility was mistaken for a solution by every adult in the room including you.
You are 32 now. You came off it 8 months ago, maybe because you want a baby, maybe because you had simply had enough. And there it is. Exactly where you left it. 17 years older and not one bit answered.
The pill did not fix your cycle. It replaced it. What you had on it was a withdrawal bleed on a schedule, not a period, and the thing underneath has been sitting there the whole time waiting to be asked about.
This is not an argument against the pill. It is an argument against never asking the question.
The pill is a good drug and for plenty of women it is exactly the right call, including some of ours. What it is not is an investigation. Handing it to a teenager and closing the file is not the same as finding out what was wrong, and 17 years later that difference stops being academic.
If you’re not trying for a baby
You do not have to want a baby to deserve a functioning cycle.
We are a fertility clinic and this is the part of our own website where we want to be completely clear about something.
You might be 24 and ruining clothes. You might be 29 and losing 3 days a month to pain you have stopped mentioning because you have run out of ways to describe it. You might never want children. You might be certain you do not.
None of that makes this less worth sorting out. We will not spend your appointment asking about your plans, hinting about your age, or treating your cycle as a rehearsal for something else. Your cycle is not a waiting room for motherhood. It is a system in your body that is currently not doing what it should, and that is reason enough.
Come for the pain. Come for the bleeding. Come because you are sick of planning your life around it. That is a complete reason and you will not be asked for another one.
2 ways to start
How we can help with period problems.
Pick the one that fits where you are now. They work well together: the bloods show us where to focus, and acupuncture is the support week to week.
Best place to start
Fertility acupuncture
Regular support, every step
Sessions that follow your cycle with you, supporting painful, heavy, irregular or missing periods and the symptoms that come with them.
- First appointment, 75 min£75
- Follow ups, 60 min£59
Bloodwork review
A proper look at your bloods
Your hormones, thyroid and iron read against optimal ranges alongside your cycle, so the numbers finally make sense.
- Fertility Brew & Review, 60 min£140
- Both on Board, couples, 75 min£185
Not sure which is right for you? Book a free 15 minute call and we will point you the right way.
Who you’d see
Who’s actually in the room.
Our acupuncture team
7 registered practitioners
The same practitioner every visit, which matters here more than anywhere, because a cycle only makes sense across months. 40 years between us, and none of us will call something normal just because it is common.
Gaynor Almond
Fertility specialist · bloodwork reviews
Gaynor tells you what to get and which day of your cycle to get it on, then reads the lot against optimal ranges. The day matters, and it is rarely mentioned. She also offers emotional support, a gentle hybrid of talking therapy and hypnotherapy.
Georgia Briscall
Functional nutritionist
Georgia works with what is going on underneath: blood sugar, inflammation, the gut, autoimmune conditions. For women and men, and not a meal plan you will abandon in a fortnight.
In their words
From people who sat where you are.
★★★★★
“I started acupuncture at the Juniper Clinic with Andrea due to having a hormone imbalance since coming off the birth control pill after 10 years… The appointments are the most relaxing appointments ever.”
Haz Gardner · Google review
★★★★★
“I have never felt so in tune with my body, and I now have a regular cycle due to my treatment plan. ALL the ladies are amazing, especially Andrea & Kate.”
Mrs L · Google review
★★★★★
“Words will never be enough to explain how grateful I am to have found Kate. What Kate doesn’t know about women’s health, hormones, and fertility is not worth knowing.”
Kate Bradshaw · Google review
Taken from our Google reviews. 5.0 from 112 reviews.
Good to know
Questions people ask
Yes, properly. You do not have to want a baby to deserve a cycle that works. You might be 24 and ruining clothes, or 29 and losing 3 days a month, or certain you never want children. None of that makes this less worth sorting out. We will not spend your appointment asking about your plans or hinting about your age. Come for the pain. Come for the bleeding. That is a complete reason.
No, and most people who come to us do not have one. Plenty never get told anything at all, because you cannot go looking for a condition that has never been mentioned to you. We do not diagnose either, and we will never pretend to. What we do is look at the whole picture, tell you plainly what we think it is pointing at, and tell you what to ask for and who to ask.
No, and this is not an argument against it. It is a good drug and for plenty of women it is exactly the right call, including some of ours. The argument is against never asking the question. Being handed it at 15 and having the file closed is not the same as finding out what was wrong, and 17 years later that difference stops being academic. Whether you take it or stop it is a conversation for your GP, not for us.
Normal is 21 to 35 days. Your cycle could move by a fortnight from 1 month to the next and still be described that way. Normal is not the same as optimal, it is not the same as yours, and mostly it means you are not currently ill enough to be interesting. It is also worth knowing that several of the useful tests only mean anything on the right day of your cycle, so a normal result on the wrong day is not really a result at all.
A full thyroid picture rather than 1 number. Thyroid antibodies. Fasting insulin, not just glucose. Ferritin, rather than a haemoglobin saying you are not anaemic, which matters if you have been bleeding like this since you were 15. Vitamin D. B12 and folate. Prolactin. Inflammatory markers. None of it is exotic and almost none of it is standard. We tell you what to get, when in your cycle, and under what conditions.
You take your temperature at the same time every morning before you sit up, and after 2 or 3 months you can see the shape of your cycle rather than 1 number from one morning. Whether you ovulated, roughly when, how long the second half is, whether that holds. It costs the price of a thermometer and 10 seconds a day, and it is the single most useful thing you can walk through our door holding. Do not use it as contraception, and if it becomes another stick to beat yourself with at 6am, stop.
Somebody should have asked why 17 years ago.
No referral, no diagnosis, no baby required. Start wherever feels manageable. If you have no idea what you need, start with the call.
Book acupuncture£75 first appt, 75 min · then £59, 60 min Fertility Brew & Reviewindividuals · £140 · 60 min Book functional nutritionwith Georgia · from £75 · 1 hour Free 15 minute callno pressure, no jargon
Or call us on 01925 612 208 · 30a London Road, Stockton Heath, Warrington WA4 6HN