What? Packing it in on all those tests? Not really huh? Just hedging your bets. Well, that's not a bad idea either.
In addition to the modern technology, you'd like to look a little deeper into your problem. Perhaps Mother Nature can help you get pregnant where fertility drugs, surgery and other modern options have failed.
Certainly many couples have either in addition to or in place of all the testing searched for more natural ways. This chapter only has the space to deal with a very few of these ideas.
But the point of the chapter isn't so much to present you with every possible natural option available to you. It's more a primer of non-conventional and traditional sources to kick start your thinking along these lines.
Once you start looking at infertility from these other viewpoints, you may discover another exciting option -- one not mentioned here -- that might work wonders for your specific case.
Many couples, sensing an imbalance in the hormonal workings, choose to supplement their diets with herbal remedies. The hope is that the phytonutrients and other active substances will help promote a fuller functioning of their reproductive system.
Before I even talk about specific herbs, which I'm about to do, you should never take any herbs without consulting with your family health care practitioner first. This is especially true if you're currently taking any prescription medication.
While herbs seldom produce adverse effects when taken according to proper directions, certain medications and specific herbs should not be combined. Consult with both your health care practitioner to discover if any of your prescription drugs falls into this category and also consult with a licensed herbalist. This latter professional can also guide you to herbs that may ultimately be even better for your situation than the ones you have discovered. And she can also help guide you in just the right amounts to take in your particular situation.
If you aren't aware of any herbalists in your area, then talk to the staff at a nearby health food store. Chances are they know of several professional individuals who can help you.
Actually, no real herbal remedies exist for infertility in general. But there are many herbal suggestions that may help relieve underlying causes of infertility. No magic potion exists that, when taken, amazingly restores your ability to have children.
But there are herbs and other natural treatments that may be able to relieve such conditions as PCOS -- and in turn allow you to have children. And I can hear you now: Well, that's just as good! Bring them on! And so I will.
If you've never taken any type of herbal treatment before, it might interest you to learn that using herbs to treat health disorders is seen by many individuals as a much gentler approach to regaining health. In many instances, it's also a little longer route as well.
But, the real benefit to herbs is that, for the most, part, they possess very few adverse side effects. This means, unlike some prescription medications, you can continue to take herbal supplements -- or use herbs in any number of forms -- without the fear of some toxic build up in your body. In fact, in most cases, quite the opposite is true.
The very herbs you're taken for a specific health condition may very well be helping sweep your system of harmful toxic buildup. This buildup could be caused by normal environmental exposure or it could be due to toxic-type foods and medications.
In any case, many women, once they're told they are infertile -- and the reason for the condition - seek out licensed herbalists to help guide them to restoring balance to their systems -- as well as restoring fertility.
Let's start with an herb that comes to us from traditional Chinese medicine and that's Dong Quai. Called the "female ginseng," this herb is commonly used by women everywhere to help treat PCOS -- or polycystic ovarian syndrome -- one of the most common causes of infertility.
It's said that Dong Quai helps the endocrine system -- or the regulation of your hormones -- as well as the liver. So it's really no surprise that many women use it to help relieve their irregular menstruation.
You need to know that this herb does thin your blood, so precautions need to be taken.
But as good as it is for the possibility of restoring a woman's ability to conceive, many men swear by this herb as well. It appears to help restore a man's fertility as well. According to some research Dong Quai contains a natural substance called ferulic acid. It's an antioxidant that has been shown to improve the quality of sperm.
All the more reason to keep this herb around it seems!
A little known herb, chasteberry stimulates and normalizes the various functions of your pituitary glands -- especially in the area of progesterone production.
It appears, according to many herbalists, to help improve the normal production of many hormones associated with the female reproductive system. Many women choose this when they are trying to restore balance to their endocrine systems in order to improve their chances of conception.
It's no wonder that it has a deep and rich history in this area. But more than its history, the scientific research is finally catching up with chaste berry's reputation.
The results of recent research studies confirm that it may help relieve various symptoms of hormonal imbalances. This would make it the perfect herb for women who are infertile because of ovulation issues.
Now, I bet there's an herb you don't talk about everyday -- false unicorn root!
Women who experience irregularities in their menstrual cycle or excessive bleeding appreciate this herb. It's also been recommended for those who are suffering with the symptoms of endometriosis as well as ovarian cysts.
Physical therapy for infertility?
Where are you going? Physical therapy? Were you in an accident? No? Had some type of surgery? No?
Oh, you're taking physical therapy to improve your chances of getting pregnant. Right . . . .
Okay, so you may not hear many women say that -- at least no at the moment. But two forms of physical therapy exist which may change all of that. They are myofascial release and the Wurn Technique. These two practices are closely related.
Huh? What's that and how in the world could it possibly help me get pregnant? Myofascial release is an amazing blend of both stretching and massage, employing hands-on manipulation of the entire body (however as you'll see in a movement, there are specific parts of the body we're a little more interested in than others!)
The two main benefits of this therapy are the promotion of healing and the alleviation of pain. You may better understand the term if you know a little about the origin of the word. It may not help you pronounce it any better, but when you see it, you can at least understand why it's called that.
The term comes from the Latin "myo" which refers to muscle. The "fascia": portion of this word means "band." And no even before you ask not the rock and roll bands!
The band in this instance is the band of fibrous connective tissue, which is actually called the fascia. This tissue surrounds the various muscles of your body -- all parts of your body.
Both dense and elastic, sheaths of this connective tissue weave about your blood vesels, bones, as well as your neres. They form a complex, three dimensional web that supports your organs and your joints from your head to your toe. You can think of fascia as your body's shock absorber.
So you can probably recognize already that this part of your body is going to "take a lickin' and keep on tickin'" as those old Timex commercials used to tell us.
It's not unusual for scarring or injury to occur here. And when it does, it can indeed inflict some pain on you. You may also know when scarring or adhesions appear because your range of motion in certain areas are inhibited as well.
Myofascial therapy tries to ease these problems by stretching and thereby breaking up or "releasing" the constrictions in these bands of tissue. Individuals who suffer from conditions like fibromyalgia, chronic headaches, and chronic back pain may find this therapy works wonders on them.
In addition, people who experience sports injuries are also pleasantly surprised many times at the quick relief this treatment can provide.
If you're wondering why you may not have heard of myofascial release, it's probably because as therapies go, it's relatively new. Of course, new in the medical community takes on a slightly different meaning than new in the fashion world.
It was first developed in the 1970s (I told you "new" was a relative term!) and the medical community really didn't give it much credence until the 1980s. That's when you can begin to see occasional references to it in the professional medical journals.
Osteopathic physician Dr. Robert Ward of Michigan State University taught the very first course on it. Even at that, the roots of this procedure can be seen in some of the practices of osteopathy as far back as the nineteenth century.
Some experts speculate myofascial success at curing infertility comes from its ability to remove adhesions or scar tissue -- very often the exact cause of infertility in a woman -- depending on her health condition.
The muscular adhesions may actually physically interfere with your ability to get pregnant by compressing various reproductive structures, these experts explain, including such organs as the ovaries and the fallopian tubes.
Others suggest the deep muscle massage and stretching therapy may work on a second level as well. These wide swaths of muscle, you'll recall, surround every system and organ in your body, even the glands that comprise your endocrine system.
In the process of relaxing and 'unknotting" the fascia surrounding this system, some experts contend, myofascial releases actually restores the hormonal balance.
Let's look at this concept just a little closer, for it's pretty instrumental in your understanding of the functioning of this procedure. The pituitary gland -- that master gland of your body -- for example is housed inside a bone called the spheroid bone. It's located in your skull.
A restriction of the facial muscular structure in the neck and surrounding areas may be the root cause of hormonal imbalance here -- and then the ultimate cause of your infertility.
Releasing this restriction then helps to release the gland from the tightness -- almost choking effects -- of the muscle. That's why the process is referred to as a "release."
In turn, normal functioning of the endocrine system emerges, thus restoring eventually your fertility.
Closely related to the concept of myofascial release is a treatment called The Wurn Technique. It's a one-of-a-kind refinement of manual physical therapy.
Specifically targeting adhesions, The Wurn Technique is a hands -on therapy. No machines are used to aid in the stretching or the massaging of the body.
The treatment is also known as a site-specific massage, since in very many cases it's employed to alleviate a single health condition.
Originally the technique focused treating pain. It was only by happenstance, as it were, that it was eventually used specifically to treat infertility. A woman suffering fro pelvic pan requested treatment. She happened to be infertile as well.
After undergoing a series of sessions, that indeed alleviated her pain, she discovered she was pregnant. It was a serendipitous side effect of your treatment, you might say. She had gotten pregnant without the use of any fertility drugs or other therapies.
It seems her fallopian tubes had been blocked. The Wurn Technique and its hands-on, site-specific massage not only alleviated the pain, but dissipated the blockages as well.
This therapy has now helped hundreds of women who otherwise thought they were permanently infertile, to actually conceive and give birth. The procedure not only appears to unblock fallopian tubes, but it also seems to help if the infertility is due to endometriosis, or hormonal imbalance as well. It has, in fact, restored fertility to women with unexplained fertility
issues also.
Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well, it might not be such a far-fetched idea. More scientists, researchers and public health officials believe now than ever before that nutrition plays a larger role not only in the health of an unborn baby, but in a woman's odds of even conceiving the baby.
Research, in fact, is finally aimed in this direction to determine just how large of a role proper nutrition and health eating habits have.
Recently, the well-respected research project, The Nurses Health Study, sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health, examined nearly 19,000 female nurses. All were actually trying to get pregnant. The study looked at the diets and the eventual ability to conceive. The goal was to find a nutritional link to fertility.
Some clear patterns emerged that you need to know about -- and follow! The first is that the nurses who did eventually get pregnant were more likely to be taking a multiple vitamin supplement which included folic acid, a member of the B-complex of vitamins.
While the benefits of taking folic acid during a pregnancy have long been known, this is the first time it's been suggested that the B-vitamin might be of value in order to get pregnant. Folic acid deficiency is associated with an increased risk of the birth defect spinal bifida.
Similarly, those nurses who consumed foods rich in iron also ended up conceiving. Here, though, there's a catch, as it were. Their conception, believe it or not, depended in large part on the source of the iron. The women who were most likely to conceive received their iron from fruits, vegetables and beans.
Iron derived from red meat or processed foods actually appeared to decrease the odds of a woman getting pregnant -- at least for these particular women in the study.
Even iron received through supplementation improved the odds of a pregnancy more than iron received through the consumption of meat.
Now, here's the real news, though. It really does matter for your overall well-being what types of fats you consume. Think trans-fats only affect your heart? Well, think again!
Those commercial cookies you've been eating? Those innocent appearing doughnuts at work that get passed around so freely? They may very well be the source of your infertility. Well, at least a partial cause.
This study found that women with the highest consumption of trans-fatty acids were also the ones struggling most with infertility.
According to one of the researchers on the study, Jorge Chavarro, woman should consume as little trans-fat as possible. He recommends no more than 2 grams a day. Ideally, he added, the goal is no trans-fat, but in considering the average lifestyle in our society as well as the proliferation of fast foods and processed, packaged and convenience foods, that would be difficult.
But why would trans-fat cause infertility?
Ah! Her again we run into that two-word phrase we've spoken about earlier: insulin resistance. According to Chavarro, women with either insulin resistance or diabetes are more likely to experience regular ovulation. And you're now well aware that it's a key component to fertility.
But nutrition alone isn't your only natural weapon. If you really want to put the odds in your favor, add some moderate exercise to your daily routine. Even as little as 30 minutes a day helped women in this study improve their chances of overcoming ovulation problems and eventually having a baby.
Ultimately, Chavarro explains, those women who had the greatest chances of conceiving were those with a healthy weight. While this may be disappointing news to many of you, who look in the mirror and frown, there is some good news even associated with this.
Don't think you need "an extreme makeover" in order to kick that ovulation back to where it belongs. Losing as little as 5 to 10 percent of your weight can actually restore your fertility, the researcher says.
The one thing you don't want to do is envy the person who is underweight. Because as hard as this is for many of us to believe, she may also be suffering from infertility. It's true! Fertility, it seems, is more dependant on your overall health, than on the number of pounds registering on the scale.
Too many pounds or too few pounds. Neither seems to be the right environment for conception.
Oh, yeah! There's one more point in all of this I failed to mention yet. The study also found a peculiar link to ice cream consumption and conception.
This may be hard to believe, but a serving of ice cream may be just what the fertility doctor ordered. There definitely appears to be positive connection between the consumption of full-fat ice cream and the ability to get pregnant.
Stop! Before you run to the grocery store to stock up on Ben & Jerry's, you need to know a little more. One serving of any full-fat dairy product also affects your system in this way. So you really don't have to sacrifice yourself by eating Ben & Jerry's. You can drink milk or even eat cheddar cheese. (Not quite the same thing, though, now is it?)
Now, let me explain specifically how much of these dairy products were needed to jumpstart fertility. Woman who ate two half-cup servings a week were more likely to get pregnant than those who either ate less or . . . alas. . more!
Now, by my calculations, that pint of Ben & Jerry's in your hand right now, should last you . . . roughly . . . ah . . . (carry the one!) two weeks. Yes, two weeks. Good luck!
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