Overwhelming Obsession
For many couples, infertility is a painful state of being with the desire to become pregnant an overwhelming and obsessive need. Modern treatments for infertility can often be less than successful, leaving the medical world scratching its collective head in puzzlement. Other difficulties are that some fertility treatments are too expensive. Couples may scrape the money together for a few tries, but what if these do not work?
More in Tune with the Body?
The quest to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term is so filled with difficulties that it’s not surprising some people begin to look outside of traditional medicine for an alternative treatment. Others may simply prefer the natural route of treatment as they feel that natural medicine is safer and more in tune with the human body. However, it’s important for couples to realize that not much is known on the topic of alternative fertility treatments, with studies on the subject few in number.
One promising study on male infertility recorded increased sperm motility in men who were treated with a combination of L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine. This resulted in a minimal increase in the number of pregnancies among the study’s participants.
In a separate study of men with low sperm counts, vitamin E was shown to cause an increase in the rate of fertilization, while the placebo remained ineffective. However, these findings seem to contradict other studies which showed no improvement in male fertility when vitamin E was taken in combination with vitamin C or selenium.
A few studies suggest that folic acid and coenzyme Q10 can improve sperm motility or sperm counts, but the results are still ambiguous. More research is needed before medical science can state with certainty that these supplements lead to improved fertility.
Such studies on the effect of supplements on male fertility are promising, but similar research on alternative treatments for women are less optimistic. There have been a few studies, small in scale, which seem to suggest that vitamin C supplements may improve fertility in women with ovulation disorders. Much more work must be done to clarify this theory.
To sum up, there is no compelling evidence at present that herbal remedies or supplements are viable treatments for infertility in either men or women. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration has only now begun to hold herbal and nutritional supplements to the same rigorous standards as conventional treatments. Also, not enough is known about how such substances interact with other treatments. This means that for the present, conventional treatments for infertility are still your best bet.
You may also want to look into how diet, acupuncture, exercise, weight loss, or fertility yoga may help with your fertility problems.
