Fertility / Infertility

Sadly, more and more couples are having a difficult time getting pregnant; however, many are not yet ready to attend a fertility clinic. If you are trying to conceive, Naturopathic Medicine can assist in many ways, including:

• Helping you achieve a better state of health overall
  
• Optimizing ovulation
  
• Managing your menstrual cycles
  
• Reducing the risk of having a miscarriage
  
• Counselling you through the emotional challenges
  

If you have decided to pursue conventional medical treatments for infertility—fertility drugs, artificial insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF)—Naturopathic Doctors can support these infertility treatments by:

• Managing side effects of medication
  
• Counselling you through the process and its associated emotions
  
• Using acupuncture to increase the likelihood of conception

Some studies have demonstrated an increase in pregnancy rate as high as 20% when acupuncture was used along with IVF.

• Acupuncture seems to be a useful tool for improving the pregnancy rate after ART. Clinical pregnancies were documented in 34 of 80 patients (42.5%) in the acupuncture group, whereas the pregnancy rate was only 21 out of 80 patients (26.3%) in the control group. Paulus W et al, Fertil Steril 2002 Vol 77, pg 721-724 Fertility and Sterility
  
  
• The pregnancy rate was 31% in the acupuncture group and 23% in the control group. The ongoing pregnancy rate at 18 weeks was higher in the treatment group (28% vs. 18%). Results suggest that acupuncture was safe for women undergoing ET. Smith C et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 85, pg 1352-1358 Fertility and Sterility

Naturopathic Doctors can also deal with male infertility by helping to increase sperm count and improve sperm motility and morphology.

Dr. Kerri Fullerton received additional training in fertility and infertility with Jane Lyttleton, author of Treatment of Infertility with Chinese Medicine.