Infertility Approach "Cultivate the Soil Before You Plant the Seed"

This old Chinese proverb most wisely describes how fertility and pregnancy should be approached. The most complete preconception care includes nutritional food therapy, mind-body techniques, lifestyle counseling, acupuncture and herbal formulas. This kind of approach improves your fertility by balancing your hormones and boosting your overall health and vitality. By being in the best health possible at the time of conception, not only do you improve your chances of carrying a successful pregnancy, but you also affect the future health of your baby (and other generations down the line). Preparing your body can be the best gift you give to you and your family to be.

If you have been trying to get pregnant for at least one year without success, then reproductive endocrinologists, and doctors specializing in infertility, consider a couple to be infertile. There may be as many different causes for this as there are couples trying to conceive. 33% of the time it is the male; 33% of the time it is the female and in the other third of cases it is a combination of both partners. So, the idea of preconception care is not limited to the woman alone as her partner's state of health should also be addressed.

There has been an increase in "unexplained infertility" within this last decade and I think that our high stress lifestyles, nutritionally deficient diets and overwhelming amounts of environmental toxins are huge contributors to this phenomenon. By starting to make the necessary changes and addressing individual health issues and imbalances 6-9 months before conception, you can greatly increase your chances for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. The first thing to do is to find a holistic healthcare practitioner in your area with expertise in the area of treatment of infertility and identification of its causes (such as Miami Holistic Center). If you have not yet had all the necessary preliminary testing, they may refer you to a collaborative clinic that can do such things as sperm analysis, and ultrasound studies of the reproductive tract. Many times all these tests yield little information and the couple receives a diagnosis of "unexplained infertility". This just means that the measuring devices could not detect the cause.

The three most common causes for "unexplained infertility are 1) hormonal imbalances, 2) nutritional deficiencies, and/or 3) toxic exposures. These can upset the delicate chain of events that lead to pregnancy. Each one of these factors by itself can prevent fertilization from happening, prevent a fertilized egg from implanting into the endometrium, or worse yet, prevent an already implanted fertilized embryo from staying attached. Many couples deal with a combination or all of these impediments to pregnancy. It is important to identify the areas which need attention and address these one by one.

For example, one of the first things I do in my practice is to have both partners do a full blood work which includes 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency can impact both the ability to get pregnant and the health of the growing fetus if the mother is deficient during pregnancy.

I also use a variety of herbals that are customized to individual needs. For example, I find that if the issue is with the male sperm and they have poor morphology and motility, I will advise an herbal formula by the name of Astragalus Complex which contains Astragalus, Echinacea purpurea root and Eleuthero. Moreover, I recommend good nutrition which includes foods that help increase sperm production like liver, carrots, spinach, milk, wheat germ oil, almonds, strawberries, broccoli, and citrus fruits. Smoking and drinking alcohol and coffee can contribute to poor sperm quality and quantity, so I recommend quitting as soon as possible.
Reducing or eliminating toxic exposure is also key.

A teratogenic substance is one that causes birth defects or interferes with the normal development of a fetus. Exposure to teratogens during pregnancy can affect people in different ways. Whereas one may have a miscarriage, another can have a baby with a congenital birth defect, and yet others have no effect at all. A father's exposure to some teratogens may also increase the risk of miscarriage because of the higher level of chromosomal abnormalities in the sperm. I typically give both partners anti-oxidant support to protect the genetic material. If needed, I also place both on a 21 day detoxification program.

Infertility is never simple. Couples should seek a practitioner that is integrative in her approach so that they receive the best natural treatments available and, when needed, expert referrals.

Gloria Moreira, L.Ac.
www.MiamiHolisticCenter.com