Chinese Medicine for Infertility

For many couples, infertility can become the central issue of their lives, both as individuals and as a couple. Just going through fertility testing can be expensive and time consuming. Techniques such as harvesting eggs or in vitro fertilization can raise the price of conception beyond the ability of many people to pay.

In the United States, where infertility rates are very high, conception is treated as a technical, science-based problem. In China, which has one of the lowest infertility rates in the world, the approach is more holistic. Patients are assessed in terms of their energy level, diet, rest, and exercise patterns, etc. In certain cases, such as blocked Fallopian tubes, surgery is the most effective treatment. But for a majority of patients with problems such as a hormone imbalance or low sperm count, Chinese medicine can be an effective way to bring the body back to balance. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment          generally combines acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and diet modifications. This type of treatment requires that a patient be conscientious about getting acupuncture, taking herbs, and eating a proper diet.

Infertility is generally a complex problem, and may involve one or both partners who are trying to conceive. There are' no quick fixes and no guarantees but for many people, Chinese medicine has been an affordable, I present the cases of two of my male infertility patients.

When Mr. Green came to see me, he was a 49-year-old gentleman married for nine years. He had been diagnosed with a low sperm count and low sperm motility. He was given hormone treatments which not only didn't work, but which drastically changed his personality. He went from being quiet and laid-back to being aggressive, with violent thought patterns. After this experience, he was referred to me by his sister-in-law, who I had successfully treated for infertility.

According to his history and other signs, Mr. Green fell into the pattern of Kidney Yang deficiency. The Kidney is the organ which TCM considers to be primarily responsible for reproduction, growth, and aging. Yang is the male principle of the universe, which balances with Yin, the female principle. A man with Kidney Yang deficiency can certainly have a low sperm count, and there are often other problems as well, such as lack of sexual desire, impotence, and sexual dysfunction. In Mr. Green's case, treatment was aimed at restoring Yang and tonifying the Kidney.

Specific treatments will be different from person to person, but for Mr. Green I recommended two acupuncture treatments a week for six to seven weeks, and then weekly treatments after that for another two months. This was accompanied by the Chinese herbal formula JIN GUI SHEN QI WAN (kidney yang tonic) and several other herbs. Chinese herbs can be taken in capsule form or boiled in water to make an herbal tea.

In addition, I referred him to my associate, Dr. Xirong He, for moxibustion treatment. Moxa is dried, formed into cigar-shaped sticks, and burned over acupuncture points. Sometimes sections of the ?cigar? are cut off, attached to the handle of an acupuncture needle and burned. Moxibustion treatment is not painful at all. It has a deeply warming affect, and most people feel much better after it is done. Unfortunately , moxibustion treatments are time-consuming and require good room ventilation, so a lot of practitioners are unwilling to do them.

Mr. Green was a wonderful patient. He took his herbs and got acupuncture treatment with complete dedication. In a three month follow-up check with his doctor, it was found that his sperm count and sperm motility were dramatically increased. Today, Mr. Green has a two-year-old daughter.

Mr. Anderson is an athletic, healthy young man in his late 20s. He and his wife came in together, and he seemed embarrassed to tell me his story. At the age of 15, he suffered a bad accident that severely injured his testicles. The ER doctor told his parents that the injury would cause scar tissue to form, and that his scar tissue might make it impossible for him to produce sperm normally.

After the accident, Mr. Anderson recovered completely and pretty much forgot about what the doctor had said. But, later after being married seven years, his wife began to wonder why she had not been able to get pregnant. A series of tests on Mr. Anderson showed that every category of sperm production was absolutely abnormal and that it would be almost impossible for him to impregnate his wife. There was no way of telling how much scar tissue had formed, and I was not very confident when I saw this test results. But in my experience, it is always worth trying the modalities of Chinese Medicine to see what will happen. We decided to work together for three months, using acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and dietary modification. Like Mr. Green, Mr. Anderson was a good patient, even though he wasn?t happy giving up some of his favorite foods. At the end of the three-month treatment period, he went back to his doctor to repeat the fertility testing. He called me from the doctor?s office, practically crying on the phone-every one of the tests were now within normal limits. The chances are now very good that Mr. and Mrs. Anderson will be able to conceive a child normally.

     In the last article, we talked about infertility in men.  Women with infertility generally present more complicated cases than men.  Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) recognizes many different kinds of imbalances and deficiencies that can lead to infertility in females.  In the next few articles, I will talk specifically about female infertility and how to treat it by using Chinese herbs, acupuncture, and dietary modifications.  Because endometriosis is the leading cause of infertility in women, I will present two cases of endometriosis in this article and the next.

     Tanya is a 39-year-old woman who has suffered with infertility for five years.  After she had been married for several years she was ready to have baby, but she could not get pregnant.  She went to see a doctor, and was told that her infertility was related to endometriosis.  She tried all the conventional approaches to treating endometriosis with no results.  When she searched for information on the Internet, she discovered that acupuncture and Chinese herbs are widely used to treat endometriosis and infertility in Asia and have a very high success rate.  She also read several scientific studies on the subject.  She became very excited to think that there may be another way to get help, and she scheduled an appointment in my clinic.  I immediately started her on a program of raw herbs and twice-weekly acupuncture treatments.  Raw herbs means that you take dry herbs in their natural state, boil them, and drink the tea which results.  This is the most potent form of herbs in Chinese medicine, stronger than pills or capsules.  After four months of this treatment, Tanya got pregnant.  In a few months now, we will see her new baby.

     Endometriosis-related infertility is the commonest type that a practitioner will see.  A severe case of endometriosis, especially if multiple surgeries have been done, can be very difficult to treat.  Fortunately, Tanya responded after four months of treatment, and was able to conceive.  Sometimes the condition can be improved with Chinese medicine, but conception is still not possible.  In TCM, the signs and symptoms that a body exhibits in a state of disease or imbalance is called a pattern.  There are several patterns that can cause endometriosis, but most often we see women who have a pattern called Congealed Blood with Phlegm Accumulation.  Tanya had this pattern.  In basic terms, Chi and Blood are two fundamental substances of the body, and they travel around the body in a system of vessels.  Chi, or energy, travels in several systems of vessels called meridians.  Blood has its own vessel system, of course, but Blood can also travel in Chi meridians, as can Phlegm, which is a pathogenic substance.  When any substance becomes stuck or obstructed in a meridian, this always causes pain and dysfunction.  ?Congealed Blood? is a condition where blood becomes stuck in a meridian.  When there are gynecological problems, the blood is usually stuck in the Liver meridian, which encircles the reproductive organs in men and women.  Phlegm is a substance which is created by an accumulation and concentration of dampness over a longer period of time.  When water is not metabolized well and there is water retention in the tissues; or when a person eats a lot of mucus-producing foods like dairy products, then the pathological factor of Phlegm will eventually result.  Phlegm can accumulate in any part of the body, but it often tends to sink into the lower parts of the body, obstructing the free flow of Chi and Blood.

     The treatment strategy in Tanya?s case was to open the blocked meridians and expel Phlegm.  Since diet has such a strong effect on our health, it is important to avoid foods that contribute to an imbalanced state.  Following a good diet makes the acupuncture and herbs more effective because you are strengthening your system with nutritious foods instead of depleting your system with foods that are unhealthy for you.  I asked Tanya to give up the foods that can contribute to phlegm and blockage, including cheese, ice cream, ice cold drinks, sugar, and a few others.  Some of these foods were favorites of hers, but she was willing to give the treatment her full cooperation.

     The first change that Tanya noticed after several weeks of bi-weekly treatments was that her menstrual pain decreased quite a bit.  Even if a woman is not trying to get pregnant, treatment for endometriosis can definitely reduce painful periods and improve quality of life.

     Not all cases of endometriosis are diagnosed as the Phlegm Accumulation pattern.  There are other patterns that can produce the painful congestion of endometriosis .  In the next article, I will discuss the Blood Stasis pattern.

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