[cocosmumNco]

An estimated one in six couples will experience some kind of fertility problems - and if you are one of those statistics, you are in danger of being bounced into conventional treatments such as taking ovulation-boosting drugs or even IVF, which you may not actually need.

What you need to remember before you go down that route, is that even when everything is in tip top working order in both the man and woman, you only have a 20% chance of conceiving during a cycle and that there are lots of less invasive things you can do to swing that balance.

Even better, natural healers - nutritionists, homeopaths, and naturopaths - who specialise in helping couples trying to conceive report success rates that are three or four times higher than the fertility clinics, which are charging an average of £2,000 for every IVF treatment cycle.

Where IVF can claim a success rate of 15% for just one treatment cycle rising to 77% for couples who undergo three treatments, an organisation called Foresight - The Association for Pre-Conceptual Care, which has been promoting natural health for conception and pregnancy since 1978, reports an 86% success rate with couples who have had fertility problems and 91% among those who had problems but refused fertility drugs or IVF.

The Foresight programme includes an initial hair and mineral analysis of both the man and woman, which will identify underlying vitamin and mineral deficiencies and take the guesswork out of supplementation. The couple will be asked to stop trying for a baby until their nutritional profile has been corrected and to switch to an organic diet where possible. They will need to drink filtered water and be told to stop eating white carbohydrate foods - which can cause digestive disorders that may lead to poor nutrient absorption in the gut. Smoking, alcohol, coffee, and drugs are all out too.

Another serious and often hidden problem affecting fertility is sexually transmitted disease. In a recent survey of couples asking for help, Foresight found that nine out of every 15 men contacting the group were suffering some form of genito-urinary infection. It may be chlamydia, which can cause scarring and blockage of the fallopian tubes in women, increasing the risk of an ectopic pregnancy; or gardnerella, which has been implicated in causing infertility by preventing the implantation of the embryo in the thickened lining of the uterus. What this means is that both the man and the woman need to visit a GU clinic to get checked and, if necessary, treated for any infection that may be reducing their fertility.

Foresight founder, Belinda Barnes, who is now investigating success rates among another 1,000 couples who have come to her organisation for help, is dismissive of those fertility doctors who criticise her organisation for “raising false hopes and promoting unproven therapies”. She says: “It makes sense that if a woman is not well enough to carry a pregnancy to term, for example, then something in her brain switches everything off and says, no, not this month.”

By well, she means as well as the would-be mother can possibly be, and it is true that many nutritionists and naturopaths will tell you that one of the more unexpected side-effects of correcting digestive disorders is a high risk of falling pregnant. In other words, dramatically improved fertility. And even if you do decide to take fertility drugs or to embark on IVF or any of its variations, it still makes sense to maximise your chances of success by preparing the body (and mind) for pregnancy first.

Dr Gillian McKeith, a nutritionist and health author agrees. “People have no idea how easy it is to get pregnant, as long as there are no medical blocks. The usual problem in conceiving is that people just don’t eat properly. I have women who come along complaining of bloating, excessive gas, and tiredness and what you find is that they are hugely deficient in minerals, vitamins, and health-promoting bacteria in the gut. They come for one problem and we then discover fertility is a problem too, until we start to use nutrition, herbs, and the right kind of food combining to redress these imbalances. The men come along describing watery, non-viable semen which again, we can correct as long as both parties are willing to make the necessary changes.”

The most common nutritional deficiency in men with fertility problem is zinc, says Dr Mckeith. “This mineral affects almost everything to do with reproduction, especially the longevity of the sperm in the vaginal tract. It is lost during ejaculation and also has a kind of domino effect so that levels of other minerals, especially magnesium - which can influence how sperm clumps together - will also be low verging on deficient.”

If there is any underlying structural problem, such as blocked fallopian tubes, then no amount of nutritional therapy is going to help - but for most of the one in six couples with fertility problems, the doctors simply cannot tell them what is going wrong.

There is nothing dramatic about the story of events organiser, Shelley Sheppard, who lives in Devon with her husband Nick and her baby son, Jobie, but she typifies someone who had a persistent underlying health problems that was stopping her from conceiving. Shelley, now 39, says: “We’d been having unprotected sex for years and nothing had happened and although I tried to be philosophical and accept the fact I might not have a kid, there were times when I felt overwhelmed by sadness at the thought of that.”

In her case, the “block” to fertility was an underlying candida infection. Candida albicans is a yeast that lives in the upper bowel of almost every man, woman and child and while scientists have found no good reason for it to be there, it does no harm either - until our immune system becomes compromised and it begins to multiply out of control.

Once this happens, the toxins it produces can interfere with almost every bodily function and while you will not be on death’s door, you certainly will not feel well. More common in women than men, chronic candidiasis has now been linked with recurring vaginal thrush and, in both sexes, with arthritis, autism, asthma, psoriasis and, as in Shelley’s case, infertility.

“I suspected that candida was attacking my system and that this was why I wasn’t conceiving so I went to a nutritionist who put me on a no yeast, no fruit, anti-candida diet. I took zinc and magnesium supplements and underwent a liver detox, which meant drinking olive oil and lemon juice.” she says. “If I’m honest, I have to admit it was painful to stick to but I wanted a baby and I did not want to have IVF. I started to feel better within a few weeks and within six months, I was pregnant with Jobie.”

Of course, getting pregnant is only half the battle. You then need to keep the pregnancy in place for the better part of a year. Zita West, a former NHS midwife who uses Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and nutrition to help women get and stay pregnant, has just formulated a new range of supplements.

What is clever about this range is that it is a 15-month pregnancy programme that starts with conception and then supports the mother and child through all three trimesters of the pregnancy. In the first 12 weeks, for example, the supplement is rich in folic acid and co-enzyme Q10, which plays a key role in energy production. In the last three months, the supplement has been formulated with extra zinc, selenium, and vitamin C to support the developing immune system and rapid growth spurt.

West, who claims a 50% success rate and whose celebrity client list includes Davina Macall, Kate Winslet, and Ulrika Johnsson, says poor diets, too much stress, and too much alcohol can be blamed for a lot of fertility problems but adds: “People also forget you need to be having enough sex to get pregnant. I am horrified when people tell me they make love twice a month and then expect it to work. You need to have sex throughout ovulation and carry on. If you don’t know when you are ovulating you can buy a DIY kit.”

[Pollyf]

How strange Shell, i was on this website during the week, and will be ordering the vitamins for Gordon,
Do you remember a while back on chat i was telling you about someone who was recommeded to this kind of thing through their Reflexologist, and they had to send a sample of hair to be analysed and then went on a strict diet plan, this is it, and i must say the women who went through this after going through IVF 3 times, both her and her husband went on the healthy eating plan, cutting out all alcohol, drinking mineral water, (certain brands as well, like Evian), within 6 months she was pg, it can be quite costly because your changing buying all your products to organic but it really would be worth it. I'm still thinking about it myself, but definately buying the vits for gordon.
Pauline.

[cocosmumNco]

i think i need to change my diet i eat terriable and if i'm not pg 6 months down the line i will regret not changing my diet so its worth ago.
maybe we could have diet diaries or something