If only it was that easy
Posted on March 10, 2008
A woman I recently met told me that diet causes infertility. I politely agreed that yes, diet does in fact play a role, but it is not the only “thing” that causes infertility. Before learning that my husband was basically sterile, she told me that I wouldn’t have had to do IVF if I had changed my diet. OK, so I don’t eat a full organic diet, but I’m not the most unhealthy eater either. It wasn’t my diet or my husband’s that caused our infertility. A holistic practitioner told my husband to eat walnuts, along with other dietary changes, everyday and it would increase his sperm count. He ate so many walnuts he cannot bear the sight of them today, let alone eat one! There was no changes in his semen results.
In the media and medical blogs about fertility and infertility, a claim will be made such as “practice yoga and cure infertility” – really it’s not that easy. However, I do agree that things like yoga, massage, acupuncture, etc. seem to help the success rates of fertility treatments. A friend of mine conceived triplets after 7 years of infertility treatments, she swears that the alternative treatments she finally started to use along with medical technologies was the reason for her successful IVF.
Another one of my favorites is reduce anxiety and stress and you’ll become pregnant. We’ll if you’ve ever experienced infertility – good luck reducing your anxiety and stress. Again, I can see how stress plays a huge factor for a woman and sometimes for the man too. If only it were that easy to stop worrying, to stop being sad, to stop being angry, to stop stressing out and just relax.
There are some doctors offices that realize it’s not that easy, but they can help. Some RE’s are starting to recommend their patients pursue acupuncture during an IVF cycle to increase their chances for success. At the Center for True Harmony Wellness & Medicine, they believe there are some things you can do before starting expensive infertility testing and treatments, but they also understand that sometimes IUI or IVF is necessary to achieve a pregnancy. I was truly impressed with their well-rounded approach to their practice. True Harmony recently started a blog, it’s worth checking out on a regular basis as I have no doubt the information they provide will be helpful.
When people told me to “just relax” you’ll get pregnant, or start the adoption process then you’ll get pregnant, or you need to have sex more often, I would politely explain our situation – or sometimes for shock value I would say, “My husband’s sterile, we cannot get pregnant the natural way.” I loved seeing their jaws drop. When people tell you to “just relax” what will you say?
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Interesting post. I used to take stress medications too. Then i followed the tips at this webbie (http://www.howtorelievestress.org) , and now i can manage my stress level better. My condition has defintely improved. Might want to give it a shot