Fertility & Subfertility
by Nicky Wesson
Subfertility
is a relatively common problem but, because it is one that strikes deep into the
psyche of couples who experience it, it is often concealed, so that it is far
more common than is generally realized. It is estimated that as many as one in
six couples have difficulty in conceiving the number of children they want when
they want them.
In the past and until quite
recently, people had little real control over their fertility and couples who
did not become pregnant when they wanted a family could do little but accept it.
Although it was undeniably hard for them, they had no alternative and they could
not reproach themselves for it or for not doing more to overcome it. Nowadays
there is more hope for people in this situation, but with hope comes the
prospect of treatment stretching out interminably, perhaps involving invasive,
embarrassing, costly, damaging, and humiliating procedures which may or may not
work. Of course, if the treatment is successful it will all seem worthwhile, but
it may be harder to carry on in hope -- with tantalizing possibilities always
arising however minimal the success rate -- than it may have been in the past.
The end point can stretch ever further into the distance, with people being
unable to accept their situation unless every possibility has been investigated.
One of the aspects that people
who have had difficulty in conceiving dislike most is their feeling of lack of
control. They also complain of feelings of isolation, depression, and an
inability to tell others about their situation or discuss it with them. They
find that, when they do, people make comments that seem unhelpful. They are
vulnerable and may perceive medical help as being their only way forward. They
may feel that there is little that they can do to help themselves, their only
chance of parenthood depending on having their condition medically assessed and
diagnosed and accepting medical or surgical treatment.
Many people are helped in this
way and are grateful to their doctors for assisting them. However, around a
quarter of couples who have not become pregnant after twelve months of
unprotected intercourse (the definition of subfertility) will find that there is
nothing apparently wrong with either of them and, as far as diagnostic tests
currently available are concerned, the results of their tests are normal. In
such cases of "unexplained" or "idiopathic" or
"functional" infertility, couples may be advised that nothing can be
done to help them. In fact, in some cases where there is an apparently
overwhelming and insurmountable barrier to fertility, such as blocked tubes,
there are effective steps they can take to overcome their problems. These
measures, some of which involve simple changes in lifestyle, and others which
involve the use of alternative or complementary medicine, can give control back
to couples and improve their health and general well-being, and may help them to
have a baby. For example, it has been proven that relatively moderate caffeine
consumption both delays and reduces a woman's chances of conception. Although
women who drink a lot of coffee, tea, and cola do become pregnant, those with
borderline fertility may not.
Moreover, alternative therapies
have helped many couples to have the children that they so wanted. Because
infertility is such a sensitive subject, many couples who have used these
methods successfully prefer to keep it to themselves. For this reason, combined
with the lack of published research on infertility and complementary medicine,
its efficacy may be either unknown or underestimated. However, as the stories in
this book show, plenty of couples feel that it has been effective for them. They
believe it has worked by restoring them to health generally so that they started
to function well and became fit for pregnancy or fatherhood. Specific imbalances
or areas of ill health were corrected so that their entire bodies became
stronger, rather than particular organs being targeted and forced into action in
isolation (as may occur, for example, when drugs to induce ovulation are
employed).
Drug prescription, even when
effective, removes conception from the intimate relationship between partners
and means that it is to some extent beyond their control. Besides this loss of
control, there are drawbacks and disadvantages to all forms of medically
assisted conception, and some of them have potentially serious long-term
effects. Many couples would prefer to avoid these risks -- if they realized they
had a choice, or knew alternatives were available. Several women who describe
overcoming infertility with the help of alternative therapists went to them
because they had been offered drugs to induce ovulation but were reluctant to
take them when they learned of the possible side effects. Several were not told,
despite asking the prescribing doctor, and it is undoubtedly true that some
fertility drugs are given to women without careful provision having been made
for monitoring their response, as recommended by the manufacturers of the drugs.
Disturbing reports are also
emerging about the long-term as well as short-term disadvantages of assisted
conception. Increased miscarriage levels and premature and multiple births are
not only very distressing but have considerable cost implications, both
personally and generally. Babies born prematurely, or as one of twins or more,
are at a disadvantage from the start, but there are also some reports of
increased rates of ovarian cancer in women who have taken fertility drugs and of
cancer in the babies of mothers who have had ovulation induced by drugs.
The numbers involved are tiny
and doubtless many couples are prepared to take this and many other, more
immediate, risks in order to have a baby. They may not, until now, have realized
that there were any other paths to pursue. Fortunately, for couples with
unexplained infertility -- and others -- there are alternatives.
A personal view
I am fortunate enough to have
several children, most of whom were conceived without difficulty. Therefore, you
may not think I am qualified to write about infertility. It is true that I have
no personal experience of primary infertility. Yet, although it may be even less
discussed than primary infertility, many couples suffer from secondary
infertility, defined as being unable to have the number of children that you
want. There is also a subdivision, known technically as infecundity, which is
defined as failure to have a live birth and due in my case, and that of many
others, not to an inability to become pregnant, but to stay that way until the
baby stands a chance of life.
I had recurrent miscarriages for
five years and remember, although I would prefer not to, those awful days of
despair, rising hope being dashed yet again and a strong feeling that no one had
the remotest idea of how I felt. Easy assumptions about being over it, or that
it was unimportant, because we already had children, and other such heedless
comments or actions went deep. In common with other women who miscarry,
especially if it is more than once, I felt it would just about be tolerable if I
knew everything would finally be all right, even if it took a long time to
happen. It was the uncertainty of our ever succeeding, together with putting
life on hold, not starting a new career and always thinking that I could not
take on anything very challenging because we might soon have another baby that
means I do have some idea of what it is like. Moreover, I was offered
inappropriate drugs and investigations and finally told to go home and come to
terms with it. I felt no one looked at my case with any real thought or offered
any hope.
As a result of our experiences,
a colleague and I started a bereavement group for parents who lose babies either
during pregnancy or shortly after birth. Quite a few of the people who attended
had lost a baby that had taken months or years to conceive. It is a particularly
bitter fact that couples who do not conceive easily may experience a higher rate
of miscarriage when they do. Yet among those couples are some who have improved
their fertility by using alternative therapies. Several of the group members who
had had one, two or more miscarriages eventually had the baby they wanted after
hearing my story, and consulting a medical herbalist.
Herbal medicine, I felt, was the
end of the line for me -- I was even reluctant to try it in case it failed.
Nothing else had worked. However, three months' treatment together with
self-prescribed iron supplements did the trick. Despite fairly hefty stress
levels, I became and stayed pregnant and eventually gave birth to a beautiful
daughter. Two years later and without any additional treatment, we had a lovely
son, born two and a half weeks late at home.
 This
article is excerpted from the book "Enhancing
Fertility Naturally: Holistic Therapies for a Successful Pregnancy",
? 1999, by Nicky Wesson. Reprinted with permission of Healing Arts Press, a
division of Inner Traditions International. Visit their website at www.innertraditions.com.
For info or to order this book.
About The
Author
NICKY WESSON is a member of the
Association for the Improvement in Maternity Services, a National
Childbirth Trust teacher, and the author of Natural
Mothering: A Guide to Holistic Therapies for Pregnancy, Birth, and Early
Childhood and Labor
Pain : A Natural Approach to Easing Delivery.
Another
article by this author.
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