• Does acupuncture help boost fertility? Jennifer Aniston thinks so (and we do too). According to Kiddicare.com:
  
  “Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston has reportedly turned to acupuncture in a bid to improve her chances of conceiving, according to new celebrity rumours.

  Acupuncture is said to stimulate the energy pathways of the body using very fine needles and is thought to help boost fertility levels in patients hoping to get pregnant.”

• Have a big brother? He could be unknowingly influencing your reproductive patterns. According to an article at thefrisky.com,
  
  “Sheffield University researchers, who poured over birth, marriage, and death records, discovered that anyone, male or female, with an older male sibling is 5% less likely to have children than people with female older siblings. They also have children later in life and space their babies out.”







• Considering assisted reproductive technology such as IVF or donor eggs? A new study has found that the use of ART (assisted reproductive technology) increases the risk of certain birth defects such as heart defects, cleft lip and/or palate and gastrointestinal defects. According to CNN.com,

  ” As part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, which gathers information on birth defects from 10 states, Reefhuis and her colleagues compared 281 births using ART with more than 14,000 naturally conceived births. The researchers looked at approximately 18 categories of birth defects, but only those four were found to be “statistically significantly associated with ART.”

  The study findings pertain only to single births; the researchers did not find a link between ART and birth defects among multiple births. ART increases the chances of having a multiple birth, and infants born as part of a multiple birth are more likely to have birth defects regardless of the method of conception.”

  Sounds like one more reason to boost your fertility naturally before resorting to medical technologies.

• On the subject of natural fertility, copulation for many couples used to be fun until infertility set in. Then timing, ovulation, BBT and other tracking becomes the norm and lovemaking becomes a means to and end rather than something to do for pleasures sake. For some tips on how to bring the love back to your lovemaking and still try to conceive at the same time, check out this article at chealth.com. From the article:
  
  “Another common cycle that reproduction-focused couples fall into is going straight for the finale without spending time on foreplay. Remember when your relationship first began, before baby-making was on your mind, and you would spend so much time just exploring each other’s bodies? Well, go back to that.

  Include foreplay in your sexual regime in order to avoid letting sex become simply a means to an end. Enjoy the process and enjoy being close to one another by remembering that you used to have sex for pleasure.

  In order to keep your sex life thriving, it is important to focus on pleasure. Just because the mission is to get the sperm to the egg doesn’t mean the experience can’t be orgasmic and pleasurable for both members of the partnership.”

Read more at:
Jennifer Aniston turns to acupuncture to boost fertility, Kiddicare.com
Researchers Watch Big Brothers, thefrisky.com
Fertility Treatments Linked to Certain Birth Defects, CNN.com
Fertility and Your Sex Life, Chealth.canoe.ca

“When a woman gets treatment for in vitro [fertilization], she’s giving up her fertility, her womanhood, to a team … and not really getting in touch with her own body,” Mercier said. “I teach them how to get in touch with their own fertility signs.”

In practice since 1999, Mercier has focused on fertility therapies for the last couple of years.

Mercier’s Shared Journey Fertility Program emphasizes hormone balancing, increased blood flow to reproductive organs, and natural supplements to reduce acidity in the body.

It also involves 30 to 45 minutes of pelvic massage therapy three times a week for a month.

Mercier, owner of Sacred Space Naturopathy, is among a small minority of naturopathic physicians who specialize in treating fertility issues.

Click here to read the full story at KCChronicle.com

Sheryl’s comment:
This is another great example of how more natural, less invasive fertility treatments are moving into the mainstream. The article went on to tell the story of a woman who used progesterone cream to naturally boost her progesterone levels (and I am using the term naturally loosely here) as well as pelvic massages and she achieved pregnancy in six weeks.

While every couple’s results will vary, pelvic massage falls under the”doesnt hurt to try” category. If you are going to do it yourself then do not forget to throw in the foot massage for the reflexology benefits and the back massage for the enhanced circulation and chi flow. Enhance your results further with essential oils designed for fertility.

So just what are the ingredients for the fertile soil in a woman’s body that supports healthy pregnancy and birth? This is an important question for a woman trying to conceive.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has some solid contribution on the topic…

First, a woman’s blood must be ample, nutritionally and hormonally healthy, and flowing unimpeded throughout the body and, in particular, the uterus.

Second, her Chi needs to be flowing smoothly in all her organs, muscles and channels (including the uterus).

Third, her mental and emotional energy system needs to be balanced in such a way that a woman trying to conceive, is enhancing her overall health versus burdening her overall health.

Whew, that’s a mouthful. And what does it all mean? Well, let’s look at each piece individually.

Ample, nutritionally and hormonally healthy as well as, flowing unimpeded throughout the body blood: In Chinese Medicine we refill our tank daily with energy or life force, via our food, drink and breath. We must sleep at night in order to repair, rebuild, regenerate and rejuvenate our entire system. This repair work requires a foundation of nourishment that we supply ourselves each day.

One of our energy systems in Chinese Medicine, The Earth System which includes the organs Spleen/Pancreas and Stomach, is responsible for receiving the food and drink we ingest, breaking it down into usable nourishment for the blood (called transformation in TCM), and then transporting nutrients, via the blood, to our entire body. Optimal function of our body can only be as good as the quality and quantity of the food we eat.

Quality refers to how healthy, vital and nutrient-rich the food we eat is. Quantity refers to the eating of food in proper portions. If we eat too little, we become deficient in nutrients. If we eat too much, our system becomes burdened in having to deal with the excess that cannot be transported or is unusable, for example excess sugar. If either deprivation of necessary nutrients, or over-burden becomes the norm, our system suffers greatly.

If deprived or over-burdened, at night, during rebuilding and regenerating, our system is mostly trying to keep up with robbing “Peter to pay Paul,” or figuring out what to do with the excess and repairing the breakdown in our system from the excess. This is quite a wasteful expenditure of our energy when we need our energy available each day and night for the important job of keeping our organs, tissues, hormones, and cells operating healthfully.

If misuse of our energy goes on over time, our soil may become infertile. We absolutely need healthy blood on a regular basis and we need this rich, nourished blood flowing throughout the uterus. When our blood becomes tired, lacks oxygen, or is nutritionally deficient, it can become sluggish, slow down and even stagnate. This means our smooth flow of blood is compromised, thus compromising fertility.

Enough Chi flowing smoothly in all organs, muscles and channels (including the uterus): Chi is a Chinese word for life force, or energy, or molecular energy. It is what we are made of in that, if we have no Chi, we have no life force. Simple stated, when we are born we have a full tank of Chi, and when the tank is empty, we die. While alive and during the reproductive years, it makes sense that in order to create a new life inside of you, you must have a reasonable life force yourself. If you don’t have enough Chi or life force in your own system, where do you think the Chi will come from to create a new life for 9 mos.? Nature, and infinite wisdom, just knows that if a woman’s Chi tank is too low, then reproduction falls below the line of possibility. It’s a no-brainer, in that, for a fetus to grow it needs a certain amount of Chi and blood.

Mental and emotional energy systems need to be balanced in such a way that a woman trying to conceive, is enhancing her overall health versus burdening her overall health: Thoughts and emotions are as much Chi as your elbow or liver is. They are just a more subtle form of Chi. Much like the wind, in that, we don’t “see” wind, but it exists because we see the effects of wind even though it is invisible. This more subtle form of Chi, like our thoughts and emotions, are just as important as the food we eat. Every time we think a thought or have an emotion, there is literally a chemical reaction in our body. To put it in simple terms, the by-product of these chemical reactions are either toxic and thus, burdensome to our system; or the by-product of these chemical reactions align with optimal functioning of our system.

When I teach a woman to observe herself in this more subtle form of Chi, it is often surprising to her that she is much more plagued with thoughts of fear, worry, or depression, in relation to her fertility, than she realized consciously. Some of it she was aware of, but the extent of it is more the eye-opener. The chemical by-product of these thoughts and emotions over a prolonged period of time, become burdensome to the system, contributing to a decreased flow of Chi and Blood. It requires practice to become aware, and then become intentional about our choice of thoughts.

“Ingredients,” or choices, are either enhancing or inhibiting our fertile soil. Either our fertility switch is ‘on’ or ‘off.’ No woman purposely turns her fertility switch off, but, unknowingly, she could be making choices, day after day, that are preventing optimal and fertile soil. Start where you’re at and begin making the best choices you can in order to fertilize your soil in such a way that pregnancy and healthy birth are a natural outcome.

About the author:
Laurie Morse, L.Ac., author of the e-book “7 Strategies to Fertility Success,”
provides skills to help women turn their fertility switch on. For information go
to: www.MyFertilitySuccess.com

Exposure to Viagra…. caused a premature acrosome reaction. Acrosomes are structures that cover the head of the sperm and contain a variety of enzymes that help the sperm penetrate the outer membrane of the egg.”

Click here to read the full story at www.timesofindia.com

This article may be of no interest to a man of advancing years who trying to keep up with his midlife crisis girlfriend that he has no intention of bearing children with. If you are a young, healthy man however, who is using Viagra to spice things up a bit consider this a warning. Sperm are very delicate and any chemical you take intentionally or via your environment has the potential to damage your fertility. Some are more damaging than others and we simply do not know the potential damage caused by others.

The diagnosis of unexplained infertility is such a frustrating diagnosis because even the specialists cannot figure out why a couple cannot conceive. One of the easiest steps to take prior to invasive medical assistance is trying to get the chemicals out of your bodies.

• Stop taking any prescriptions (if you are able) and recreational drugs,
• Eat and drink as organically as possible and thoroughly soak the non-organic produce.
• Only use organic or food grade toiletries, cosmetics, skin and hair care products
• Get a great water and air filter

The intended effect of Viagra may seem like a great fertility booster but clearly hours of sex and optimal fertility are not the same thing. If you are trying to conceive then err on the side of caution and lay off the Viagra.

Click here to read the full article

Infertility causes and treatment can be quite complicated, due to the numerous factors that add up to the achievement of a successful pregnancy. More than 10% of couples do not achieve this much wanted pregnancy after 12 months of unprotected sex and trying very hard to conceive. This, in most cases is because one or more of the factors necessary for conception is absent or malfunctioning.

The factors vital for conception include:

- Adequate and viral sperm from the male partner

- Appropriate frequency of sexual intercourse around the woman’s ovulation time

- Optimally free passageway for the eggs to travel down the fallopian tube, meet with sperm coming up the tube and then fertilization

- Appropriate and timely transportation of the product of fertilization down to the uterus for implantation and development

- Adequately free passageway for the sperm to get through the cervix into the uterus, so they can swim up into the fallopian tube to meet and fertilize the female egg

- Healthy and sound uterine cavity with adequate uterine lining conducive to implantation and development of the pregnancy

In evaluating infertility, therefore, or in assessing a couple’s chances at conception, we can sub divide the factors vital for achieving conception as thus:

• Male Factor (Sperm count and quality)
• Ovarian factor (ovulation frequency and regularity)
• Tubal factor (free and clear passage to egg and sperm)
• Cervical factor (clear passage to sperm from the vagina)
• Uterine factor (adequate space and tissue for the fertilized egg to implant and grow)

Male Factor
The male factor accounts for 40-50% of infertility problems. Out of this amount only about 10-20% of men have no mature, motile sperm at all (azoospermia). The others only happen to have low counts or a fewer number of normal shaped, mature and motile sperm cells compared to other fertile men. In normal conditions, an absolute sperm count of 16 million is perfect, while a count of less than 5 million almost always result in sterility. Counts between 5 and 16 can in most cases be overcome with infertility treatments.

Ovarian Factor
Women who do not produce eggs each month or those who only produce eggs every 2-3 months will have problems getting pregnant. The most common causes of annovulation (menses without ovulation) or irregular menses are; Polycystic Ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a condition where follicles mature, but the eggs are arrested and not released and Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, which is like a stress or medication induced lack of ovulation. There are other medical conditions that can cause lack of ovulation, but these occur only in rare occasions. Ovarian factor problems are usually treated with fertility pills (e.g. clomiphene citrate) or medications like gonadotropins.

Intercourse around Ovulation Time
Women with a regular menstrual cycle can always predict their ovulation time. Ovulation occurs midway between the onset of the last menses and the beginning of the next one. Even for women with an irregular menstrual cycle, there are several ovulation predictions kits out there that can provide clues as to when your ovulation occurs. Intercourse should be more frequent around this period, with a frequency of at least, every other day. Therefore, for a 28 day cycle, ovulation will probably occur on day 14, days 11, 13, 15 and 17 should not be missed.

Tubal Factor
The fallopian tubes also constitute a vital actor in conception. The tubes must be free and clear to sweep up eggs that have been ovulated, free and no obstruction to the passage of egg and sperm. Fertilization takes place in the tubes and it is also important that the tubes transport the product of fertilization to the uterine cavity on time for implantation and growth. Pelvic surgery, past ruptured ovarian cyst, past pelvic infections and endometriosis are all conditions that can affect the ability of the tube to sweep up ovulated egg. PID can also produce scarring inside the tube that prevents passageway for ovum.

Uterine Factor
The uterus is the final home of the fertilized ovum and where implantation and growth to full term occurs. Any condition that affects or alters the amount of space or shape of the surface area inside the uterus or disturbs the hormonal sequence that prepares the lining of the uterus for conception may impair fertility. Conditions like fibroids, polyps, congenital anomalies of the uterus or past scarring due to surgery or infection will alter the shape and surface area of the endometrium and in turn fertility. Also, malfunctioning of the corpus luteum may hormonally retard the lining of the uterus and its readiness for implantation.

Cervical Factor
Under most conditions, the cervix does not constitute a factor in infertility, except when the cervical mucous glands have been destroyed during some procedures like Cervical Cryosurgery, conization LEEP etc. The cervical mucous glands act as a storage for sperm cells, so they can ’shower’ the uterus and the uterine tube with sperms in order not to miss ovulation. The frequency of intercourse may need to be increased to achieve conception if these glands have been destroyed.

Author: Michael Russell
About the author: Your Independent guide to Infertility

While it certainly sounds like discrimination, the point of not allowing obese women to receive the fertility treatment is that they would have more of a fertility boost by losing weight than by undergoing IVF while obese and will also have much higher success rates while using IVF if they are at an optimal body weight.

This underscores once again that if you are trying to conceive then you need to maintain an optimal BMI . Click here to calculate your BMI.

BMI Categories:

• Underweight = <18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
• Overweight = 25-29.9
• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Click here to read the full article at BBC News

“Symptoms of endometriosis are now cropping up in girls as young as twelve, in some cases even younger. Up to 47% of adolescent females with pelvic pain are suffering from endometriosis. It can be hard to spot in an adult woman but it is even more difficult in a pre-adolescent because the pediatrician may not know the signs or be on the look out for the disease.”
Click here to read the full article at www.cbs5.com

It is absolutely tragic that this article is recommending surgery for these poor young girls when there are other effective and natural solutions. Surgery may ease the frustrating and painful symptoms of endometriosis but it will not get to the root cause of the disease. Endometriosis can be very responsive to changes in diet. Some basic changes (which all involve eliminating estrogen mimics from your diet) you can try before resorting to surgery are:

• Eliminate red meat
• Eliminate soy and all soy products
• Switch to organic (or eliminate) poultry & dairy (this is critical as the hormones in traditionally raised animal products can exacerbate your endometriosis)
• Never use plastic food containers or plastic wraps(especially in the microwave)
• Get plenty of Omega-3 from flaxseeds, flaxseed oil or walnuts

These dietary changes are just a start but they might make enough of a difference to get all thoughts of surgery out of your head. Some experts recommend simply following an anti-Candida diet because it closely resembles and anti-endometriosis diet. Other women have reported great success with acupuncture and chiropractic visits.

Visit the following links to learn more about the endometriosis - diet connection at:
www.endo-resolved.com
www.womens-health.com

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) — Why has infertility increased over the last decade, despite a proliferation of fertility clinics and alternative options? Is it simply that couples wait longer to start families, or is there more to it than that?

There are many fertility routes available today for couples trying to conceive a baby. More couples than ever utilize an array of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART), both with and without complementary or alternative support. Other couples are trying to overcome medical limitations of various kinds that appear to be interfering with successful pregnancy. Despite this, a surprising number of couples are suffering because of having been told they have an unexplained fertility problem. What’s more, trying to conceive can be an expensive venture. It is therefore vital to optimize the chances of success, especially because conception assistance programs may not have anywhere near as high a success rate as hoped.

Everyone trying to conceive falls on a spectrum of life energy and intention energy that is somewhere between fertility and infertility. Knowing where one is on that spectrum is crucial. Even though highly experienced fertility doctors and practitioners are aware of this, most rarely assess or sufficiently treat this key fertility factor.

According to Laurie Morse and David Gruder, the developers of the My Fertility Success program, “Teaching women and couples where their energy falls on the fertility-to-infertility spectrum could be an important missing link in their fertility journey.” The step-by- step approach of the My Fertility Success program provides those trying to conceive with a powerful understanding of the difference between “infertility energy” and “fertility energy.” Specific exercises are then utilized to move toward fertility on the spectrum. Says Morse, “This approach appears to dramatically optimize the chances of successful conception and birth, no matter what technologies and/or alternative methods a woman or couple utilizes.”

Laurie Morse, L.Ac. is the director of Holistic Health Services in San Diego, CA. She has a Master’s degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego. A licensed, board certified Acupuncturist, she possesses a rich knowledge of Chinese & Energy Medicine. She has specialized in fertility issues for over a decade.

David Gruder, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and the Executive Director of Willingness Works in Del Mar, CA. He was the Founding President of the International Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology and the principle author of the two-award winning book, Sensible Self Help.

Morse and Gruder are passionate about showing women and couples how to take personal responsibility for their fertility energy in ways that promote successful conception and birth.

For Information:
www.MyFertilitySuccess.com

Image Source: http://flickr.com/photos/zmte/2669481119/

According to the May 2003 issue of Epidemiology, researchers analyzed the urine of 168 men for eight different phthalate compounds and also tested their sperm for shape, motility and count. The results showed an association between phthalates (monobutyl and monobenzyl) in the urine and low sperm counts. Past research has shown that these chemicals may interfere with sex hormone production in animals and the current study suggests that, even in small amounts, they may affect fertility in human males.

Phthalates are found in cosmetics, deodorants, medical devices and toys.

Phthalates are proven to reduce both male and female infertility. If you are trying to conceive then please check out the cosmetics you use at the Skin Deep Database. If you are using drug store toiletries or grooming products then odds are good that you are absorbing phthalates through your skin.

You are the only one who can protect yourself, your fertility and your unborn child. Nobody else is monitoring the safety of cosmetics, hair care, skin care or other personal care products. Buy organic! Go a step further and make your own grooming products from food grade ingredients. It bears repeating. No one else is looking out for your fertility but you.

Click here to read full story at Health News Express