June is World Infertility Awareness Month. Infertility or “subfertility” impacts men and women all over the world. In developed nations such as the United States, Sweden, Germany and Brazil many couples delay conception until later in life. The term “infertility” is generally defined as the failure of a couple to conceive after 12 months of regular unprotected intercourse, (if the female is under 35). If she is over 35 then the diagnosis of infertility can be given after 6 months. Around 10–15% of couples have difficulty conceiving at some point in their reproductive lives and seek Western Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART). We tend to assume that infertility has more to do with the female partner, but that is simply untrue.
Looking at the statistics: 1/3 of the time infertility is the woman’s “fault”, 1/3 of the time it is the man’s “fault” and in 1/3 of cases a couple’s infertility has it’s roots in both partners. Thus, 2/3 of the time the male partner has some degree of subfertility, impacting the couple’s chances of conception.In the photo to the left are babies that could not have come into the word without Easter and Western medicine for both partners. When asked if I could use Bree’s words she said, “You can absolutely use what I wrote as a testimonial. I am so appreciative and hope others who need you, find you.”
WORLD Infertility Awareness month is an opportunity to draw attention to the prevalence of infertility and to the fact that while most ART are for women, men are equally responsible for a healthy conception.However, in my experience, men come in for fertility treatment far less than their female partner. Certainly less than 1/2 of the time!
There is a growing mound of evidence that Oriental medicine can dramatically improve male fertility through acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutritional supplements and dietary therapy. Further, since infertility is a world-wide issue, these studies have been conducted all over the world. I’ve seen every single aspect of semen analysis: from number of sperm to volume of liquid, to motility and morphology change with Oriental medicine treatment. This type of medicine is an amazing resource because in Western medicine offers few fertility enhancing options for men. Even if the female partner is completely healthy and “fertile”, if the male’s semen is of poor quality, she must undergo invasive procedures such as intra-uterine insemination (IUI) or in-vitro fertilization (IVF). But what if couples didn’t have to take these measures? What if he can take charge of his fertility and change his semen parameters in three months?
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH ON MALE INFERTILITY SHOWS ACUPUNCTURE/HERBS/NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS/LIFESTYLE CHANGES CAN:
- An increase in normal, forward moving sperm
- An increase in seminal fluid
- A reduction in anti-sperm antibodies
- Improvement in the strength, quality of an erection
I’ve noticed, on the whole, men are a little more likely to chalk up the reputed effectiveness of acupuncture and herbal medicine to the placebo effect. Researchers in Germany noticed the same trend, leading them to investigate acupuncture and the placebo effect in male infertility patients.
Correlation of psychological changes and spermiogram (semen analysis) improvements following acupuncture.
Summery: “The purpose of the study was to find the correlation between the effect of acupuncture on fertility and
psychological effects. To investigate its influence on male subfertility, 28 patients received acupuncture treatment after informed consent. We evaluated subjective parameters by written psychological tests, while objective parameters consisted of measuring concentration, volume and motility in the spermiogram before and after acupuncture. There was a significant increase in sperm quality in all parameters but volume. The psychological test showed no change caused by acupuncture. Hence, we believe, that the effect of acupuncture on sperm quality is not caused by placebo-mechanisms.”
So come on in guys! You’ve nothing to loose and only good health to gain!