A quote from "The Infertility Cure" by Randine Lewis: "There is no such thing as infertility; it is a myth! As long as the anatomical structures are present, a medical diagnosis of "infertility" is often a fallacy."
Fertility is like a football game. Every play is designed for a touchdown, but interference called the defensive line is in the way. Every egg released from the follicle is designed to conceive a child. Diet, lifestyle, hormonal factors, ovulatory dysfunction, fallopian tube abnormalities, and uterine and cervical factors are just a few Western medical factors that can cause a woman to have difficulty conceiving. These factors can be healed naturally or improved upon using the three elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine: diet & lifestyle, acupuncture, and herbs. Once these factors are overcome and a woman's body is restored to health, conception can occur naturally. Infertility is not just about the egg; it's about the terrain (i.e., the woman's body) in which the egg will grow, which must be nurturing and healthy.
Your contemporary Western physician is correct in only one aspect of conception. Studies have shown that having an acupuncture treatment within 24 hours before or after implantation when receiving IVF can improve the chances of implantation by up to 40%. This doesn't mean that the risks of spontaneous miscarriage are improved. Most reproductive endocrinologists can use technology to get you pregnant; perhaps even a few can improve your odds of a take-home baby. What your Western physicians do not understand is that you are not just not a mix of hormones, glands, and reproductive organs. You must prepare the reproductive system by balancing its energies.
For our bodies to function properly, all our organs need balance. The monthly cycle is a complex interplay of almost every organ system in the body. If any organ's balance is off, even by a small amount, it can affect your fertility. For example, the eggs won't mature adequately if there's enough estrogen early in the cycle. If there's too much estrogen later in the cycle, the uterine lining won't develop properly. Slight imbalances in the hormonal system affect the whole endocrine (gland) system. Hormonal weakness in the adrenal gland, subclinical hypothyroidism, and pituitary or hypothalamic weakness may not appear on laboratory testing but can certainly affect fertility.
Modern diagnostic techniques and procedures may not detect any clinical abnormality or functional problem (adrenal insufficiency, subclinical hypothyroidism, HPA Axis imbalance), especially at an energetic level. Yet, this undetectable irregularity may be the root cause of your inability to conceive. Until you focus on building, strengthening, and balancing your internal garden, it won't matter how many seeds you plant in it; the soil is not conducive to having a seed grow into a healthy plant.
Western reproductive endocrinologists are wonderful planters but not too good at nourishing the soil using chemicals and hormones. You can't nourish the garden with just one acupuncture treatment within 24 hours of implantation, either. Continually buying seeds that won't grow can be expensive. Cultivating a garden takes time and patience, but it is relatively inexpensive and more reliable to physiologically enhance the organs' function in creating a baby than trying to physiologically compensate for poor organ function by forcing an unbalanced body to care for a new life.
Let us help bring your body back into balance and create that healthy terrain. Book your consultation today. Call our office at 772.398.4550, email us at info@traditionalchinesehealing.com or click the button below to request your consultation. Also, listen to my podcast episode on infertility here.
In good health,
Dr. Stuart Shipe DAOM, RPh, Dipl. OM (NCCAOM) Board-Certified Acupuncture & Herbology, Pharmacist
Founder & Lead Physician
