Using Traditional Chinese Medicine to support female reproductive wellness and promote natural fertilityIn Australia, the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is enjoying growing popularity as couples seek to enhance their fertility using natural methods. News of positive experiences and successful outcomes are spreading as natural, holistic alternatives to conventional medical fertility enhancement (IVF) are sought.

The overwhelming evolutionary purpose of humanity is to reproduce, ensuring the survival of the species. As such TCM practitioners are working with a very potent force dwelling within nature. In many cases of medically unexplained infertility, it is relatively simple to enhance fertility using TCM treatment and achieve conception.

Fertility is not exclusively a female domain, however, women are much more likely to present clinically for fertility enhancement. For this reason, this article will focus on female reproductive health.

The perils of age

In the West, women are choosing to have babies much later in life and have often taken the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) to achieve this end. This usually happens during their most fertile years, from adolescence to mid-thirties.

Unlike men who produce fresh semen daily, women are born with all the eggs that they will need for their entire lifetime. As women age so do their eggs. From the late ’30s women’s fertility is in natural decline. For older women who have decided to have children later in life, the combination of reproductive aging and the undesirable side effects of the OCP can have a severe and profound impact on fertility.

If women are looking to give themselves the greatest opportunity of falling pregnant it is advisable that they start trying sooner rather than later and either avoid using the OCP or cease it as soon as possible.

There are two distinct types of TCM fertility treatment, namely pre-conception care and active fertility enhancement.

Pre-conception (up to 12 months prior to pregnancy)

The aim of pre-conception care is to promote optimal gynaecological health in preparation for pregnancy. It is designed to get a woman’s body in the best possible position to fall pregnant, stay pregnant and nourish a baby for the entire pregnancy and beyond.

Falling pregnant is only one aspect of good reproductive health. The next challenge is for women to be able to carry a baby to full term. Another is to breastfeed, care for, love, grow and nurture a child from infancy into adulthood.

You should consider pre-conception care should as part of preventative medicine, beginning up to 12 months prior to women consciously attempting to fall pregnant.

To understand the importance of pre-conception health one might consider the analogy of a garden. Imagine that the uterine lining represents the fertile soil that provides the material foundation for the plant, ensuring survival from germination to maturation.

Prudent gardeners know the importance of preparing, tilling and fertilising the soil long before they plant their crop.

They understand that the nutrients contained within the soil provide the sustenance for the plant’s whole life cycle, not just germination. So it is with growing babies. TCM realises the importance of cultivating a rich, nutritious endometrial lining as preparation for providing the nourishing substrate from which new life springs forth.

While Chinese women have a cultural understanding of the merits of pre-conception care, my experience is that it is a difficult concept to sell to Western women. Typically women considering TCM fertility enhancement have been trying for some time without success and are impatient to fall pregnant quickly. They tend to be reticent to commit to cultivating optimal reproductive health in advance.

Along with acupuncture and herbal medicine, pre-conception care usually involves a combination of diet, lifestyle and exercise modification.

Pre-conception care assumes that a woman is fertile. Its intended outcome is to enhance well-being and most women will report an improved sense of wellness and connection with their body as a result of treatment, even though they may not have felt unwell or disconnected beforehand.

Women might also become aware of symptoms that before TCM treatment they believed to be part of their ‘normal’ female cycle and were either unconcerned or unaware that effective treatment was available. Such symptoms might include period pain, PMS or menstrual migraine. Many women are pleasantly surprised by how quickly these symptoms improve with the correct attention.

Fertility treatment

Helpful hints to enhance fertility:

  • Cease OCP as soon as possible
  • Address menstrual irregularities sooner rather than later
  • Space your children, allowing adequate time for post natal recovery and recuperation
  • Reduce stress, practice relaxation, yoga, meditation, have a holiday
  • Consider having children in your 20-30’s.
  • Nutrition: avoid cold, raw foods and fluids, processed food & junk food
  • Regular exercise that is appropriate to your fitness level
  • Stop smoking
  • Avoid or restrict alcohol intake
  • Keep your reproductive organs warm, wear a singlet or a tummy warmer to protect your midriff
    There are many schools of thought within TCM. Some practitioners when evolving a fertility treatment plan will insist on treating both partners, some only when clinically necessary. Some will prefer to use one general formula for the duration of the whole menstrual cycle and change it according to how symptoms shift over time. Others will elect to divide the menstrual cycle, usually into four phases and use a different formula for each phase.

The aim of fertility treatment is to increase the likelihood of pregnancy and the intended outcome is pregnancy.

a) Unexplained infertility

Firstly, unexplained infertility is when after a year of unprotected intercourse at ovulation a couple has been unable to conceive and medical evaluation has been unable to determine any abnormalities to explain the reasons behind infertility.

Even though medical tests might hold no explanation, there will commonly be subclinical signs which can be detected by the system of TCM that explains the reason behind infertility.

These sub-clinical signs might include symptoms such as light periods, premenstrual breast distension and stress, clotting with the period, period pain, excessive vaginal discharge, irregular cycle or heavy menstrual bleeding.

It is my experience that given time unexplained infertility is relatively effectively and successfully treated with TCM.

b) Difficulty conceiving a subsequent pregnancy

The next category includes those women who have a history of previous pregnancy. Clearly fertile this group either have children already or have experienced previous miscarriage(s) and are finding it difficult to conceive a subsequent pregnancy.

Following pregnancy and childbirth there are a number of circumstances that may impede a women’s natural capacity to conceive a future pregnancy.

Women may have a constitutional weakness that predisposes her to a greater risk of compromised reproductive health and fertility. She may have experienced birth trauma or medical complications and intervention, multiple birth, previous miscarriage(s), pregnancies too close together, be an older mum or have inadequate post-natal support and recovery.

TCM can be used to help address and resolve these causative factors.

c) Explained infertility

Explained infertility is when Western Medical tests have been able to establish a pathology such as endometriosis, hormonal irregularities, poly cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), fibroids, blocked fallopian tubes, failure to ovulate or poor egg/semen quality which might explain the reason behind infertility.

By the time most women arrive at a TCM clinic they usually have a Western Medical diagnosis and will be looking to explore conjunctive or alternative treatment options.

Having a Western Medical diagnosis can be helpful to TCM treatment in that it offers valuable supplementary information to support and direct a comprehensive treatment plan.

Other than diagnostic tests, the scope of Western Medicine practice is primarily limited to drug therapy, surgery and of course IVF treatment. Once the cause of infertility is established then women will be able to use this information to make an informed choice about their treatment options.

Surgery will remove any pathological growths, uterine obstructions or scarring. Surgery quickly and resolutely removes ‘old’, stale blood and energy allowing the opportunity for a new, voluptuous endometrial layer to develop. This outcome would be one of the intended aims of TCM treatment also, although the end is achieved using techniques.

Falling pregnant is only one aspect of the ‘baby-making’ equation. The value of TCM in this scenario is in its ability to support and cultivate the fertile ground of the endometrium to provide ongoing nourishment to a growing baby.

It is perfectly safe for women to use TCM in conjunction with Western Medicine and to continue both acupuncture and herbal treatment once pregnant.

Conclusion

There are a number of possible explanations as to why couples may experience difficulty conceiving. You can use TCM as a stand-alone, natural, drug-free treatment option to enhance fertility. You can use it to treat both medically explained and unexplained infertility. Also, you can safely use it in conjunction with conventional Western Medical fertility treatment before and during pregnancy.

© October 2009 Karen Pohlner

Karen Pohlner is a Melbourne-based Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine). She has background as a Registered Nurse. Karen has a special interest in women’s health, pregnancy and childbirth. She has a fierce desire to empower women to achieve optimal health and well-being using natural methods throughout their entire reproductive life. Karen’s website is www.bamboospirit.com.au.

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