Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH and Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac.
Chinese medicine can make a tremendous contribution in promoting fertility for both men and women. On the March 26th episode of Holistic Healing with Herbs and Chinese Medicine, we discussed why Chinese medicine is so effective at treating male and female infertility. Chinese medicine is a holistic system of medicine that identifies and treats a specific pattern of imbalance that could inhibit the ability to either create a pregnancy (for either men or women) or to maintain a pregnancy. There are similar patterns of disharmony that can affect men or women, although, the key to treating women is to regulate their cycle, while the key to treating men is to improve the quality, quantity, and motility of the sperm.
Reducing Emotional and Physical Reaction to Stress
Equally important, Chinese medicine can help regulate both the physical and emotional reactions to stress. Chinese medicine can be used to help enhance the liver’s ability to filter and detoxify blood. The liver organ system, responsible for the smooth flow of qi in the body, is responsible for not only filtering hormones, toxins, and chemicals for the body, but also emotions. Being overwhelmed or exposed to increased levels of stressful situations, from a Chinese medical point of view, can impede the liver’s ability to perform its role for our physical and emotional health. Chinese medicine identifies this as an important pattern with targeted and highly effective herbal, food, qi gong, and acupuncture solutions.
This effect alone is extremely beneficial for conception. A study published in the June 2011 Journal of Fertility and Sterility followed 274 women trying to conceive for a 6-month period found that women with the highest levels of the stress hormone alpha-amylase were the least likely to conceive. This stress hormone impede the progress of a fertilized egg to the uterus which means it is less likely to implant. Stress does not only effect a women’s fertility, but a man’s as well. The stress hormone cortisol is also thought to inhibit sperm production.
Women’s Fertility
A recent review published in the December 2011 Journal of Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that women receiving Chinese herbal medicine were twice as likely to get pregnant in a four month period than those receiving conventional western medical fertility drug treatment or IVF. Average pregnancy rates were 60% for women using Chinese herbal medicine compared with a pregnancy rate of 32% for women using Western medicine drug therapy.
The authors of this review concluded that the quality of the menstrual cycle, which is an integral part of the Chinese medicine diagnosis for women, is fundamental to the success of treatment for infertility. Chinese medicine distinguishes multiple distinct patterns that can cause pain during the cycle, irregular bleeding, or lack of bleeding. Chinese medicine is able to establish a distinct diagnosis, thus guiding specific food, lifestyle, herbal, qi gong, and acupuncture treatments.
Using the menstrual cycle to determine the correct pattern of disharmony has been used for hundreds of years in China to determine the correct herbs and herbal formulas for infertility clients. In fact there are sources that go back to 200 AD showing that Chinese medicine has been used successfully since then in the treatment of infertility and miscarriage. Some of these same formulas continue to be used today. The first book devoted solely to gynecology and obstetrics, “The Complete Book of Effective Prescriptions for Diseases of Women,” was published in 1237 A.D.
Another important study published by Paulus, Zhang and others in April of 2002 is titled “Influence of Acupuncture on the Pregnancy Rate in Patients who Undergo Assisted Reproduction Therapy”. In this study German researchers announced that they had improved fertility rates in those undergoing IVF treatments by nearly 50%. The acupuncture group had pregnancy rate of 42.5% versus 26.3% in those who just used western medications. The acupuncture points chosen are points that relax the uterus and affect the autonomic nervous system. Researchers, working with a team at the Department of Chinese medicine at Tongji hospital in Wuhan China, claimed that they could theoretically make the lining of the uterus more receptive to an embryo.
Another important contribution of Chinese herbs is their ability to strengthen the blood and yin fluids and the kidneys. The kidneys in Chinese medicine rule the reproductive system and represent the deep energy reserves of the body. Healthy kidneys and blood are needed to decrease the potential for miscarriage. Herbs can and are used successfully in the first trimester to prevent miscarriage and ensure a healthy pregnancy. A 1998 study in the Zhejiang Journal of Chinese Medicine showed that a kidney strengthening herbal formula (tailored to the individuals in the study) was used to successfully prevent threatened miscarriages in 119 of 131 patients.
Men’s Fertility
Chinese medicine can benefit men’s fertility as well. When we were in China in Chengdu at the teaching hospital, we had the opportunity to work in the andrology department where they were not only treating male infertility but were also studying the effectiveness of both acupuncture and herbs to treat this issue. The doctors were using herbs and acupuncture not only to improve sperm quality but also to enhance the results of IVF. They were using herbal extracts in a cultured medium to improve the quality of sperm for IVF implantation. While they concluded more research is needed, their early results were showing a marked improvement in the quality of sperm using herbs like Tu si zi or cuscutta chinensis. These studies found that the herbal formulas improved sperm density, vitality, viability and morphology. Research in the west is supporting these findings, as well. A recent study published in the Journal of the Biology of Reproduction showed that eating 2 handfuls of walnuts a day improved sperm health. Walnuts are a kidney yang tonic in Chinese medicine and one of many herbs that would be used in formulation to treat such conditions.
