Naturopathy and Fertility

Naturopathic medicine can be helpful in increasing fertility. It can be safely used to enhance assisted reproductive technologies. There are natural treatments to balance hormone levels, optimize menstrual cycles, help your body deal with stress, increase sperm counts and quality, and heal your body in order to increase the chances of conception, among other things.

Acupuncture is one of the most popular treatments performed by Naturopathic Doctors to treat fertility issues. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on the assumption that there are channels that go through your body where energy, or chi, moves. When there is a blockage of energy or chi, problems occur. There are many theories of why acupuncture works. I believe it is the fact that you are relieving stress, and both nourishing and rebalancing the body during treatments. I find that acupuncture is helpful, regardless of whether you have just started trying to conceive or you are in the middle of the IVF process. Acupuncture's use with respect to fertility is constantly being studied and reported in medical journals. Recent studies are showing that acupuncture is effective in improving sperm quality (1). It is also very encouraging that a recent study resulted in almost double the rates of pregnancy when IVF was combined with acupuncture (2).

Herbal medicines have pharmacological effects on the body. Both North American and Chinese herbs can be effective in treating fertility issues. They are excellent at balancing hormones, which can then regulate menstrual cycles easing the process of conception. Furthermore, with many known obstacles to fertility (i.e. PCOS, endometriosis) they can start to balance hormones and decrease symptoms. Herbs are only prescribed if you are not currently taking medications prescribed by your reproductive endocrinologist.

Nutrition is a fundamental aspect of fertility treatment. It is so important to be eating your best while trying to conceive. Not only do you need all the vitamins and minerals you can get to enhance egg and sperm production, but you are also under a huge amount of stress and during this time your body is using up more than normal amounts of nutrients in order to cope physiologically. It is known that many vitamins and antioxidants can enhance sperm quality and quantity (3). We also know that women's fertility can be dependent on their nutritional status (4) and achieving their optimal weight. This can often be achieved using small and simple changes to your diet.

References

(1) Quantitative evaluation of spermatozoa ultrastructure after acupuncture treatment for idiopathic male infertility. Fertil Steril - Jul 2005 - Jian Pei, Erwin Strehler, Ulrich Noss, et. al.

(2) Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy. Fertil Steril - Apr 2002 - Wolfgang E Paulus, Mingmin Zhang, Erwin Strehler, et. al.

(3) Antioxidant intake is associated with semen quality in healthy men. Hum Reprod - Apr 2005 - B Eskenazi, S A Kidd, A R Marks, et. al.

(4) Ascorbic acid and infertility treatment. Cent Eur J Public Health - Jun 2003 - I Crha, D Hrubá, P Ventruba, et. al.