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Fertility
by author Kathleen Barnes

You’ve been trying and trying, but your dream of having a child just hasn’t come true. Along with the longing to hold your own little one in your arms come some nagging questions.

These questions run the gamut: Is my biological clock running out? Is something wrong with me? Is something wrong with my partner? If something is wrong, is there a way to address it naturally?

 

To answer some of these questions we consulted two infertility experts, Robert G. Thompson, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist with a focus on complementary medicine, and Marina Ponton, AP, LAc, a licensed traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner, to learn more about the causes and some of the treatment options for couples tackling this difficult issue.

 

Whose fault is it?

So whose fault is it if pregnancy doesn’t occur? The answer to this question is not simple. Nor, indeed, is the process of conceiving a child. Most importantly, there’s no room for recriminations, says Thompson.

 

“In about 40 percent of the cases, the problem resides in the woman, and in 40 percent, the problem is in the man’s reproductive system,” says Thompson. “The rest of the time there may be problems with both the man and the woman.”

 

Growing problem

The incidences of infertility in North America are on the rise. The US National Institutes of Health estimate that 7.3 million couples or 12 percent of women of childbearing age had difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a baby to term.

 

The Infertility Awareness Association of Canada says infertility affects about 16 percent or one in six Canadian couples who are unable to conceive in the first 12 months of attempts.

In 2004 Statistics Canada said the country’s birth rate had dropped 25 percent in the last 10 years, while during the same period the number of multiple births increased by 35 percent, indicating that more couples are seeking fertility treatments to stimulate ovulation. Those treatments frequently result in multiple births.

 

Roots of the problem

Some of the causes of infertility are ones for which natural methods can be very successful for encouraging pregnancy. According to Ponton, the stress of modern life is the primary factor in unexplained infertility that affects the majority of her infertile patients.

 

“We live in a busy world, and we’re so career-motivated that we don’t know how to relax. This prolonged stress causes a number of body imbalances that can be successfully addressed through TCM, but it takes some time,” explains Ponton.

 

“Long-term use of birth control pills is another major cause of infertility among women,” Ponton adds.

 

“It’s not unusual for a woman to spend 10 or 15 years on birth control pills, giving their bodies the message, ‘Don’t get pregnant,’ and then decide she wants to get pregnant, requiring the whole endocrine system to readjust. It just doesn’t happen instantly,” says Ponton. “We are designed as humans to do our role to procreate. You can’t just flip [this biological process] on and off like a switch.”

 

She counsels patience for her patients: “It’s not unusual for it to take six to 12 months to get pregnant after a long time on the pill.”

 

Kathleen Barnes is author and editor of more than a dozen books on natural health and sustainable living. kathleenbarnes.com

Source: alive #316, February 2009