Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Female infertility is well treated using naturopathic medicine. Female infertility is defined as the inability to become pregnant after one year of frequent, unprotected sexual intercourse.
The cause of female infertility is difficult to identify owing to the complexity of the reproductive system. To become pregnant the ovary must release a mature egg, which must be fertilized, transported to (via the fallopian tubes) and implanted in the uterus, and grow in the uterus. In women, there are a number of factors that can disrupt this process at any stage and therefore many potential causes of infertility exist (e.g., hormonal imbalances, inflammation of fallopian tubes, uterine fibroids, etc.).
Professional healthcare should be sought out if you are younger than 31 years of age and not had success becoming pregnant in one year of “trying” or are 35 to 40 years of age and not had success becoming pregnant in six months of “trying”. If over the age of 40 and planning to “try” to become pregnant, or have a history of irregular or painful menstrual periods, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), repeated miscarriages or endometriosis you may consider professional healthcare without delay.
Symptoms of female infertility
Possible symptoms of female infertility include:
• The inability to become pregnant after one year of frequent, unprotected intercourse
• Abnormal menstrual cycle (either too long or too short)
Treatment of female infertility at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the ultimate goal of female infertility treatment is a healthy, viable pregnancy.
Conventional treatment for female infertility may include a physical therapy, and variety of medications, including fertility drugs that affect hormone levels, metformin and aromatase inhibitors which may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your infertility symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, a typical approach to treating female infertility may be to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g. difficulty managing stress or weight; poor diet; tobacco, caffeine or heavy alcohol use) or general health (e.g., polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, sexually transmitted infection, obesity) that may be affecting your ability to become pregnant, balance hormones using botanical (herbal) medicines (if appropriate), provide optimal nutritional support and use other means (e.g., acupuncture) to support your body’s ability to support a successful, healthy pregnancy.
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
• Diet therapy
• Botanical (herbal) medicines
• Acupuncture
• Nutritional supplements
• Relaxation techniques
• Homeopathic medicines
• Lifestyle counseling
• Hydrotherapy
• Cleansing protocols
• Homotoxicological medicines
• Exercise prescription
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Female Infertility [Online]. [cited 2010 Jan 29]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/female-infertility/DS01053.