When it comes to dealing with your fertility issue, it really all comes down to two different perspectives/ approaches. Both methods can work and, I would say, that both methods are supported in some way by “evidence based medicine”. I support both methodologies, because I believe that people are entitled to the freedom of personal choice. But which is the best way, well I will leave that up to you to decide. Hopefully by the end of this blog piece you, the reader, will have some more clarity as to your options.
One way to achieve pregnancy, which I would say is the mainstay method as practiced by most western Allopathic medicine Doctors, is to try and merge the egg and sperm as quickly as possible. This usually involves three main methods:
1) Using a medicine to trick the ovary into releasing more than one egg, so that the sperm has more targets to shoot at. Chlomiphene Citrate (Chomid) is probably the most common drug choice for this purpose.
2) The next route would be injectable gonadotropin drugs, aimed at achieving the same goal as Chlomid, ie increase the amount of eggs ovulated, so as to have more targets to shoot at.
3) IVF or in vitro fertilization, whereby the same injectable gonadotropin drugs are used to stimulate the ovary to grow many eggs at once, but instead of ovulating them they are aspirated and fertilized outside of the body in a petri dish. These embryos are then transfered back to the body after a few days of growing development.
Again, the above three methods are aimed at achieving the goal of pregnancy, as quick as possible. These can be and are a good/ necessary options for many couples. Neither of them take into account the overall health of the woman, or husband, and do have side effects (which I would encourage you to research before trying them). Of course becoming pregnant quickly does not guarantee that the pregnancy is necessarily healthy, nor does it mean that the pregnancy will go all the way to term.
Now the other approach is to take into account any other health complaints that may be influencing ones reproductive chances. There exists many health conditions which have been shown to inhibit fertility that, in my experience, are often over looked. This second approach often times takes longer to achieve the desired goal of pregnancy, but side effects tend by less, the over all health of the individual is enhanced, and the possibility of a full term pregnancy may actually be increased. But again this approach takes longer and demands some patience.
Some examples of health issues that have been seen to inhibit fertility and/ or increase the odds of a miscarriage include: psoriasis, the active stage of inflammatory bowel disease, and stress. There obviously exist many others, but for this discussion I will limit it to these three.
Earlier this year, Dr Xinaida Lima form Harvard University, presented some very interesting information on how women with psoriasis are at an increased risk of pregnancy complications. I believe the researchers found a 20% increase in miscarriage rates among these women. We already know that psoriasis has been linked to cardiovascular risks, showing how this so called “skin disease” is greatly affecting the inside world of the individual as well.
Inflammatory bowel disorders like Crone’s and Colitis, when in their active states, have also been shown to lower the fertility rates of both women and men. This makes sense to me, as the reproductive organs are within this same area of the body as that of the bowels, so inflammation of one could most certainly have consequences on the other.
Stress, as Dr Lorne Brown discussed in an earlier blog piece, has shown to have a definite role in fertility. A study published in the Fertility and Sterility journal, this last July of 2010, stated, “Stress reduces conception probabilities across the fertile window, evidence in support of relaxation “. The words of the study speak for themselves.
Now if there were methods that existed that could alleviate, in a safe fashion, the above mentioned disorders, or any other underlining health complaint for that matter, would it not make sense to give it a go. To put some time aside and work on them, how ever long it took? Would it not make sense to take say 6 months to stabilize ones digestive tract, or 8 months to be psoriasis free (or almost free), knowing that by doing so ones reproductive health may be enhanced? Sure time can feel like for ever, especially when one has already been trying to conceive a child for the past year or two. But just ask anyone who has gone through 3 or 4 miscarriages, or has already tried between 2 to 6 IVF cycle’s- all unsuccessfully, if they would now be willing to work a different way, from a different perspective. Perhaps it is good to work on some of these health issues before one even starts to try and conceive a child, as perhaps it is in this way that one may actually avoid the unexpected emotional disappointment many sufferers of infertility experience.
Chinese medicine has a long history of treating infertility, but it does so by correcting the underlining health issues that are present, not by trying to get you to ovulate as quickly as possible. Modern research has shown Chinese medicine to be effective not only with fertility, but with all the above mentioned health issues- psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and stress. I encourage all of you who have been trying to conceive, or are thinking of conceiving in the future, to look at your health and seek out help if you need it. You and your families health deserve it.
Dr. Trevor Erikson
Copyright © 2019 Dr. Trevor Erikson