Using Herbs For Infertility Problems - Is it More Beneficial Than IVF Treatment?

Only a few years ago the notion of using herbs forboost given to IVF immediately after it first
infertility problems in preference to IVF treatmentappeared in 1977 has subsided, and people are more
would have seemed ludicrous. IVF is carried out ininclined to look critically at its flawed record in helping
modern clinics with highly qualified medical staff usingchildless couples on the one hand, and developing a
super high-tech equipment and with the benefit ofmulti billion dollar industry on the other.
the latest research in this young field of advancedThis development probably would have occurred
medicine, which only came into being in the lateearlier were it not for the difficulties in comparing
1970s.two kinds of treatment that are so dissimilar. IVF
Contrast that with the use of herbs, which is bytreatment is held together by expensive drugs and
definition low-tech and which goes back to at leastspace-age technology, with injections and the physical
200 AD, when it was in use by the ancient Chinese.introduction of fertilised ova into the uterus of the
Besides, which herbs would you use? There are atwoman receiving the treatment. Anything less natural
least 150 herbs that can be used in the treatment ofis difficult to imagine.
couples with fertility problems and they wereThen there is the after care, often lasting for the
popularly seen, in comparison with the drugs andduration of the pregnancy. Appointments with
equipment used in IVF clinics, as being basic andconsultants, payment plans, check-ups, medical
primitive.examinations - all these are part of the stressful
You would think that modern IVF clinics would have aprocess that IVF patients have to undergo. And
success rate far in excess of anything thatthere's always the nagging fear that at any time it
naturopaths and herbalists, in their low-tech consultingcould all go wrong, or - even worse, perhaps - that
rooms, and using their quaint Traditional Chinesethere could be a multiple birth or that the child may
Medicine (TCM) could hope for. But you would bebe born handicapped (unfortunately by no means an
wrong.unusual occurrence for IVF patients).
Whereas IVF treatment has a success rate of onlyUsing herbs for infertility problems, by contrast, is
around 50 per cent at best, TCM has a 70 per centgenerally less prone to such events, and done in a
success rate, i.e. that proportion of women receivingmore relaxed environment. Treatment is supervised
TCM or herbal treatments for infertility succeed inby a qualified naturopath or herbalist, using only
giving birth to a healthy baby.natural procedures, and materials made by nature for
Not only that, but TCM (the use of herbs inour use. It progresses at a natural, unhurried, rate
combination with acupuncture treatment) has beenand defers to the body's natural rhythm and
shown to increase the success rate of IVFmetabolism.
treatment by 50 per cent. This makes the real gap inThe vital distinction is that there is little or no stress
success between the two kinds of treatment even(that well-known fertility killer) induced in the
wider.herbalist's patient. And that's ignoring the potentially
These facts are an embarrassment to the IVF andhuge cost of IVF.
pharmaceutical industries. After all, their treatmentsIn conclusion, the available evidence indicates that the
are much more expensive than using acupunctureuse of nature's herbs for infertility problems really is
and herbs for infertility problems. They aremore beneficial than turning to the strains and
mainstream and so they receive far more publicity.stresses (and expense) of IVF treatment.
But the tide of public opinion is turning. The initial