I went to see Dr. Xiao Bo Zhou for a consultation related to infertility issues. I was told my first appointment would be an hour and a half. When I got there, I was asked to fill out a 2 page health history. I found the questionnaire very superficial, not sufficient to map out the health concerns of the individual there for the first time. I was seated in Dr. Xiao Bo Zhou's office (I think), with the door remaining open. The nurses were constantly walking in interrupting with many questions. Dr. Xiao Bo Zhou spent very little time and effort to gain additional information from me about my health. During the approximately 30 minutes I was in his office, he walked out about 4 times to attend to other patients, so he spent about 10 minutes getting to know my case. During that 10 minutes, he presented me with my options for infertility (natural, medication, IUI, IVF), which I am obviously well aware of already and so would anybody else with my history/condition. He took my pulse, but beyond that he did not conduct any examination. The whole time, I felt that I did not have his attention. He asked if I had questions and I asked the following 3 questions: 1) Should I have an herbal medicine treatment along with acupuncture? he said ""no, just acupuncture"". 2) I asked if acupuncture should continue if I were to get pregnant? he said ""no, that is not necessary, nobody that studied in China or Japan would recommend that"" (this answer seems to be very controversial based on evidence to the contrary). 3) Finally, I asked if I would be receiving any treatment that day, and what acupuncture point he is planning to use and why?- I read a couple of books on natural infertility treatments, and one of them emphasized how important it was to understand your own condition, keep good records and participate in your own treatment. Dr. Xiao Bo Zhou responded that he could not answer such a question, and that I would probably be best treated by someone else besides him. By this time I had an overall distrust in him, so I only said that ""No problem, I understood."" He repeated his response a few more times, in spite of me not questioning his decision at all. I really just wanted to put this experience behind me and no way would have wanted him to place needles in my skin. So I thanked him, paid the consultation fee of $50 and was relieved to leave the office after only 45 minutes. What is really strange is that he was recommended by a well-known and respected infertility specialist. I can't explain such a negative experience but I hope this is useful to someone else out there.
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