In this article, I focus on the typical Western medical approach to the treatment of infertility, and how Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can be a successful alternative or supplement to these treatments.

When couples are having regular intercourse without contraception, eighty percent will conceive, and another ten percent will conceive the following year.  This suggests that about ten percent of the population suffers from infertility.  Of this number, forty percent is due to female problems, forty percent to male problems, and ten percent to a combination of both acting together. 

If a woman goes to an infertility specialist, she can expect to go through several tests, including a hysterosalpingogram in order to check the patency of fallopian tubes.  At the same time, additional laboratory work may be done to evaluate FSH, E2, LDH, and Progesteron levels.  Some doctors may even ask the woman to chart her basal body temperature (BBT) to see a biphasic pattern.

During menstruation and the proliferative phase, the BBT should be between 0.5-1.0 degrees Fahrenheit lower than after the ovulation.  The temperature should climb up to at least 0.3-.5F higher than before the ovulation.  This rise may be preceded by a 0.1-0.2F drop just prior to ovulation.  In fact, the temperature begins to climb only after ovulation in response to hormones released by the corpus luteum at the site of egg release.  Just before the menstruation, the BBT drops again, signaling the onset of the new period.

In my experience, the most commonly encountered causes of infertility are failure to ovulate, luteal phase defect, endometriosis, obstruction of the fallopian tubes, or polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers a low-cost, non-invasive, and natural alternative choice for women who wish to become pregnant.  Moreover, TCM’s approach to infertility can also be used in conjunction with the modern Western medicine techniques described above.  Because TCM focuses on “balancing” a person as a whole, it is not treating a condition.  Rather, it tries to deduce the root causes of infertility based on this holistic approach, because pregnancy is a natural consequence of being a healthy, “balanced” woman.

In the Chinese medical treatment of infertility patterns, the regulation of the menstruation is of focal importance.  If the woman has a period every month without severe PMS, and the flow is bright red without clots, the person is ready to get pregnant.  Many times when treating infertility, I learn that the woman has these difficulties before the onset of menstruation.  Some experience migraines, back pain, anger, irritability, abdominal bloating, and breast tenderness.  According to TCM, these symptoms are related to blocked energy flow, and this flow needs to be restored in order to promote pregnancy.  If this energy flow remains blocked for a long time, it prevents the woman’s circulatory system from moving blood smoothly – as a result, the period becomes clotty and painful.

There are multiple reasons why the body’s energy becomes blocked, and the accurate diagnosis of this energy pattern many times results in a successful pregnancy.

I have treated many women with excellent results, and I want to be able to help more women who wish to become pregnant.