Naturopathic Fertility Treatments: Scope And Challenges

Naturopathy has been practiced for nearly two centuries. It uses natural means to treat and prevent diseases that affect our well-being. Neuropathic treatments not only lessen the symptoms but also cure the causes. Naturopathic fertility treatments are innovative, non-invasive methods that utilize alternative medicines and therapies to treat hormonal imbalances and improve fertility.

Although there are medical treatments like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intrauterine insemination (IUI) with high success rates, concurrent naturopathic treatments can also improve the chances of fertility. This article discusses how naturopathic treatments can improve fertility in both men and women.

How Do Naturopathic Treatments Work?

Naturopathy is often described as a way of life rather than a form of medication. There are six main principles according to which naturopathy functions:

• Do no harm: This treatment poses no harm to the body. They utilize the most natural and least toxic approaches to treat the patients.
• The healing power of nature: Naturopathy promotes self-healing, that is healing comes from within.
• Treating the cause rather than the effect: Here, the doctors would remove the obstacles that disturb the healing abilities, which means rather than suppressing the symptoms, naturopathy treats the cause.
• Regarding doctors as teachers: Naturopathic doctors or physicians educate, empower, and motivate patients on how to take responsibility for their health and give advice on maintaining their well-being by adopting changes in their lifestyle.
• Treat the person as a whole entity: The naturopathic treatment understands how our body, our environment, and our lifestyle affect our overall health. Therefore, through a whole person-based approach, the doctors try to restore the balance.
• Prevention: Naturopathic treatment affirms that it is better to prevent diseases in advance with minimal intervention. Patients are recommended to improve their overall health by using tools like diet, exercise, acupuncture, herbal supplements, and counseling. Doctors will combine these principles to identify areas of imbalance and teach patients ways to recover and stay healthy. 

In treating patients with infertility, naturopathic doctors will assess the couple’s medical reports, family history, diet charts, environmental factors, sleep patterns, psychological state, and physical activities. They would ask for blood tests, imaging, and laboratory checkups to find the causes. If the tests show any red flags, they may ask for a deep analysis.

There are various reasons that can lead to infertility in both men and women. In women, it can be due to hormonal imbalances, poor egg quality, thyroid disorders, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), fibroids, luteal phase defects, and low ovarian phase defects.

Abnormal sperm production, undescended testicles, varicoceles, and low testosterone levels are the main reasons for infertility in men. Other underlying causes of infertility that are applicable to both males and females are stress, nutritional deficiencies, age, immunity disorders, side effects from alcohol and drugs, obesity, and exposure to toxins. With naturopathy, we can solve these issues and increase the chances of fertility.

Naturopathic fertility Treatment: Modalities

In naturopathy, we use an authentic approach where we make use of natural medicines and therapies, avoiding any drugs and procedures that interfere with natural functions or cause side effects in the body. Also, naturopathy makes use of water, air, light, and heat to cure diseases. Here are the treatment modalities of naturopathic fertility treatment.

1. Diet and Nutrition

Nutrition is the most powerful tool in naturopathic treatment. As most diseases are affected by unhealthy eating habits and wrong food habits, treatment involves correction of the patient’s eating habits. Naturopathy classifies foods as acidic or alkaline, live or dead, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, liquid or solid, that is called a naturopathic diet chart. It also involves focusing on a specific diet and having the right amount of food at the right time with the right combination. An anti-inflammatory diet and whole foods can bring positive results in fertility and may help other medical procedures.

2. Herbal Medicines

Since ancient times humans have used several herbs to treat diseases and balance body functions. There are many herbs that are proven to promote fertility, like maca, vitex agnus castus, black cohosh, and red raspberry leaves. These herbal medicines also restore the balance of our bodies.

3. Acupuncture:

Patients suffering from infertility can benefit from naturopathic fertility treatments like acupuncture. It is an ancient Chinese medical practice that involves inserting thin needles at specific points on the skin. Acupuncture helps restore the balance of the body and helps treat infertility. Studies have shown that acupuncture improves the IVF success rate when it is done at the time of implantation.

4. Yoga Therapy 

Yoga is an ancient practice that coordinates both mind and body through meditation, breathing exercises, and asanas to reduce stress and improve health. Yoga practice can balance reproductive function and help reduce stress from therapeutic processes associated with assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures. It is a safer, less expensive, and more effective method for treating infertility.

5. Hydrotherapy

This is one of the simplest yet most effective health applications to improve overall health and fertility. It uses hot, cold, or a combination of hot and cold water to treat ailments. There are different hydrotherapy applications, like hot baths, hot or cold compresses, contrast hydrotherapy with alternating hot and cold water, steam baths, saunas, vaginal steam, and sitz baths, used across all cultures for healing and preventing diseases.

6. Homeopathy

It is a type of alternative medicine that uses very small doses of medicines made from natural materials that have no side effects. It can increase the chances of conception and improve overall wellness.

7. Counseling

Infertility is an emotionally stressful diagnosis. On top of that, undergoing IVF or any other ART treatment increases emotional and financial stress for patients. This stress can impact hormone levels, which are to be kept at optimal levels for the success of such treatments. Counseling aims to help both body and mind. Regular counseling sessions can help patients alleviate stress and continue with the IVF process. Even though studies do not support the idea that stress alone causes infertility, stressed patients are more likely to make poor health decisions, or may lead to hormonal imbalances that can affect fertility.

Bottom Line

As we have discussed, naturopathy can help treat infertility in men and women. However, naturopathy is to be pursued with conventional fertility treatments to increase the success of fertility treatment. By doing so, you get access to the benefits of both treatment methods, like access to sophisticated medical equipment, ART techniques, counseling, diet plans, herbal supplements, and alternative medicines.