Treating Infertility with Chinese Herbs
You may have infertility issues if you are not able to get pregnant even after trying for a year. However, infertility can be a problem for both men and women. One-third of the infertility issues are due to female infertility problems and another third are due to male infertility. A combination of male and female infertility constitutes the remaining reasons, and in some cases, the reasons are not known. Here is a guide for you to understand how Chinese herbs can improve ovarian function to fight infertility in a holistic way.
Causes and Risk Factors of Infertility
Male infertility can be related to effective production of sperm, number and abnormal shape and motility of sperm, along with other risk factors like medications and other medical conditions. The risk factors include older age, smoking of cigarettes, excessive use of alcohol and spicy food, obesity, and exposure to toxins. Certain medical conditions like retrograde ejaculation, varicocele, undescended testicles, and hormonal imbalance can also result in infertility. Whereas, female fertility can be caused by interference of biological processes like ovulation, fertilization, or implantation. Disorders like a premature ovarian failure, PCOS, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, and uterine fibroids can lead to female infertility.
Chinese Herbal Medicine
Chinese herbal medicine is a part of the ancient medical system of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which also includes acupuncture. Chinese herbs aim to normalize imbalanced energy, called qi, that runs through various meridians in your body. According to TCM, half of the certain organs and meridians are controlled by the energy Yin and the other half by Yang. The perfect balance of Yin and Yang brings normal health to your body. Everything, including your body and its organs, is composed of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Similarly, herbs are classified into five different sectors: sour, bitter, sweet, acrid, sweet, and salty. A disease of each organ is treated with corresponding herbs. Chinese herbs are mainly plant-based products. They have different properties that can improve the function of particular organs of your body. The acupuncturist and herbalist collect all the symptoms and read your tongue and pulse, then create a formula to treat the root cause of each disease.
Treating Infertility with Chinese Herbs
Each Chinese herb can be used to target different organs according to its particular taste, function, and which organ it will work on. If you use one single herb for a long time, you can create an imbalance of the body, on the other hand, if you can combine different herbs, they can have enhanced therapeutic effects to avoid creating imbalance.
A study published in PubMed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22036524/) reviewed eight randomized controlled clinical trials. Comparing with pharmaceutical drugs alone, women who used Chinese herbs for 4 months have 60% pregnancy rates whereas women with western medical drugs alone achieved 32 percent of pregnancy rates. In 13 cohort studies, which include 616 women with infertility, women with Chinese herbs achieved a 50% pregnancy rate, on the other hand, women with IVF only had a 30% pregnancy rate. Herbs have been used for infertility for over 5000 years in China. Chinese herbalists will choose safe herbs for the mother and babies during the infertility treatment. The treatment course takes 3 to 12 months, which are very effective and cheaper compared to the IVF procedure. The Chinese herbs also help women balance their hormones, so they will not have early menopause or weight gain as compared with the IVF procedure. Furthermore, if women can try herbs first to improve their endocrine function, they can double the success rate if they decide to try IVF or IUI later. Another positive outcome about Chinese herbs is that you do not have to take herbs for many years. Once your function is improved, you can stop taking the herbs and stay on a healthy diet and lifestyle.
