Holistic Approaches to Treating Infertility in Women
How Nutrition Effects Fertility
Holistic and Chinese traditional medicine offer a breadth of options for treating infertility in women. The most basic approach is for the woman to monitor and maintain a healthy diet, as this can actually help correct hormone imbalances. Alcohol, caffeine, and smoking are all known to reduce fertility, and so should be avoided. It is important that women pursuing holistic fertility treatments maintain adequate levels of Folic Acid, Zinc, and Vitamins B6 and E. The herb angus castus has been shown to aid in fertility, although it cannot be taken with Western fertility medications, as complications may result. While Chinese traditional medicine does not offer any individual herb for treating female infertility, there is a wide variety of formulas consisting of approximately one dozen ingredients that are chosen from over 150 plants that have been used successfully for centuries. The most common ingredients in these formulas include gardenia, ginseng, phellodendron, and astragalus. Because of the complexity of these formulas, it is important that the use of Chinese herbal treatments be supervised by an experienced practitioner of Chinese traditional medicine.
Acupuncture & Infertility
Acupuncture has also been shown to be effective in the treatment of female infertility. Sessions are focused on the Kidney meridian, which is the center of a woman’s energy, the Heart meridian, which governs menstruation and blood energy, and the Liver meridian, which governs the psycho-emotional state. Acupuncture of the ear has been shown to be effective in cases in which the infertility is caused by a malfunction of the ovary. It takes at least three months for an egg to mature, so fertility treatments should be given, at minimum, a four-month period to take effect. Some traditional treatments may take as long as 18 months to reach their full potential. The most effective approach to the use of holistic treatments for female infertility involves combining diet, herbal medicine, and acupuncture into a collective, multifaceted strategy. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine provide an effective, drug-free alternative to Western treatments. Because they treat the body as a whole and aim to correct the root of the problem rather than the symptom, many women who have not been able to conceive using Western treatments experience success with these holistic approaches.