Fertility

Most people will understand that infertility is the inability for a woman to become pregnant or the inability for a man to impregnate a woman. For many years it was thought to be a problem only women had to face. However, this is a condition that is found to be affecting both men and women. Infertility is becoming more and more prevalent in both sexes in our society and there are many reasons for it.

What are the possible causes of infertility?

There are many possible causes of infertility. This is why correct diagnosis is paramount to the most effective and successful treatment. In most cases, the problem is not due to just one cause, it is usually due to two or more causes. Please don’t be alarmed by this, most of the time it’s relatively straight forward to treat. The possible causes include the following:

Accident That is, damage to the reproductive organs - can be responsible for infertility. In some, but not all cases, natural medicine can help restore health to these organs. Thus increasing the chance of pregnancy.

Hormonal imbalances When hormones are not being produced in the correct amounts and your body is unable to utilize the hormones, your body is unable to function as it was intended. For example, if the female body does not excrete follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), the hormone that is responsible for the growth and maturation of an ovary in females, or for males, the promotion of spermatogenesis (the second stage of sperm production), pregnancy cannot occur. In conception, there are 6 hormones involved for women and two hormones for men. Therefore it is important to help your body produce the right amount of hormone and help your body to utilize that hormone to enable conception to occur. Hormone imbalances are straight forward to correct in both men and women.

Nutritional deficiencies and why this issue is so pertinent to infertility ; We are all aware (most of the time) that we need nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, proteins and enzymes, along with oxygen and water to live - and for our bodies to work correctly and efficiently. The better the balance the healthier we are. So, if there is not enough or there is too much of one or more of these essential nutrients our bodies will not function correctly. This is when the body reduces the function to “essential” or “life sustaining” functions and disease is able to occur. It is of vital importance that we get the correct “life sustaining” nutrition. Both the mother and the father need to be as healthy as possible because it takes both of their DNA to make a child. In the times of fast food and “convenience”, our food has lost a lot of its nutrients.

This is due to the following reason:

• Unsustainable farming practises, commercial farming works on a yield and time value system. To enable the biggest yield, in the least amount of time, farmers are forced to use fertilizers and quite commonly growth hormones and copious amounts of water and mono crops. This practise forces the plant to grow too quickly for it to take up enough nutrients from the soil. For a given plant, it will take certain nutrients out of the soil, but also deposit into the soil certain other nutrients or chemicals. The practice of mono cropping continually over time depletes the soil of the same set of nutrients. Therefore the plant is getting even less of the required nutrients with each new crop. Compare this with crop rotation, which is used in bio-dynamic and organic farming, where not only is the use of hormones prohibited (a food cannot be certified as bio-dynamic or organic if it uses these) but each of the different plants in a rotation, put their nutrients into the soil as well as taking others up, serving to complement each other type of crop. This is one of the reasons I advocate bio-dynamic and organic food also because they are grown in a sustainable manner and are not “force fed”. Ultimately, because the soil is more balanced in terms of nutrient content, the plants grown in that soil have a higher nutrient content, culminating in a higher nutrient intake for you when eating that food. Most people are not eating a big enough variety of fresh vegetables, pulses and fruit. Fish is sometimes lacking as well. We are in general also eating too much meat. I feel there is certainly room in our diets for meat; however it needs to be in healthy moderation.
• Food processing, this is another way of reducing the amount of nutrients in our food. Once food is altered in any way nutrients are destroyed. For example, let’s look at the humble frozen vegetables. After they have been harvested (at which time they start to lose their nutrients), it’s common for them to be held in cold storage for any time up to and sometimes over 18 months. Then they are cooked (this is where heat destroys more nutrients) and then snap frozen. The frozen veg is packaged and sent to the supermarkets for us to purchase. So combining the growing and processing techniques, we are not left with many nutrients at all.
• Cooking processes, when we bring home our lovely fresh vegetables, as with the processing, we tend to cook them. This is when we unwittingly destroying those essential nutrients we need to nourish our bodies. What we actually need to do is eat most of our vegetables raw. A fantastic step beyond that is to purchase bio-dynamic and/or organic food to enable you and your partner to get as much of those nutrients as possible.
• Food contamination; during the food processing, our food is treated with an array of additives, preservatives and, believe it or not, plastic is often sprayed on to our food or added to it. These chemicals once again interrupt the production of and or the utilization of our hormones and organs. Toxic overload; our world and food are becoming increasingly overloaded with toxins and so are our bodies. It is true that our bodies are designed to deal with these toxins that we encounter. However there are a few factors we are forgetting about or we are not aware of. We are exposed to a lot of chemicals via our food and environment but we are not getting the nutrients to nourish our organs to process the toxins and we don’t in general, drink enough water to eliminate these toxins from our bodies.
• Stress, Emotional and Physical; life is getting faster, we are all doing more stuff in less time, and we have bigger mortgages and more things. Stress affects our bodies in different ways. Think about the last time you felt stressed. Remember how your shoulders felt. Were they tight and drawn up towards your ears. If they were, you can probably imagine how the rest of you body, including your organs were looking. They become constricted when you are under stress and are unable to work freely. Please don’t get me wrong, some stress is good for us. It’s only bad for us when in excess for long periods and remains unresolved. Lets face it most of us have big, fast stressful lives. That’s fine! But how do you deal with the stress? Do you simply endure it, hoping that you can ride it out? There are things that you can do to manage stress. I can teach you or direct you to someone who can.

What kind of treatments will I offer you?

Nutritional This really is the corner stone to repairing and preparing your bodies for pregnancy. The first thing to do is assess what you and your partner are eating and how toxic your bodies are. I will then show you the food that will help to repair and detoxify your bodies. I may recommend you both take some supplements to give you a “head start”.

Herbal Medicine I prescribe herbal medicines to help you in many ways. Most of the time the reason is to correct any imbalances, tone organs and help detoxification.

Lifestyle advice there are a few things you for your body so that it can function as it was intended to. For example; sleep is one of our lifestyle choices that can make a substantial difference to our health. As you most probably know, we need sufficient sleep so that our body can make any repairs and restorations. Therefore choosing to implement a calm and relaxing bedtime routine at a reasonable time is very important. Exercise increases circulation around your body, increasing oxygen and nourishment to all of your organs, tissues, increases detoxification and restores your healthy lustre. Interestingly, for those who suffer from poor sleep, the amount of exercise you are doing may be a key factor. An added bonus is the fitter you are the more stamina you have for your baby’s birth.

Stress management there are many ways to manage stress. The first step is to find the method that suits you. We will find the thing that works for you. It may be walking or swimming or singing. Some people like meditation, some people don’t. That’s ok! Whatever it is we will find it and help you to manage your stress.

The power of positive thought most of us have not realised how powerful our thoughts are!!!!!!!! Thinking positive thoughts helps to manage stress and feel happier about ourselves and the world around us. This is something that is very important to how quickly you heal. You have the power! I can help you to use it to your advantage.

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