Chinese Medicine and Fertility

Using Traditional Chinese Medicine to Help You Conceive

By Kelly Burgess

There are no easy answers when it comes to questions about fertility and infertility, but traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has some answers that are slowly gaining acceptance in Western culture.

Although it might seem new and rare in the United States, using acupuncture and medicinal plants or herbs to treat infertility were described as early as 476 BC in China. In addition, according to Roger C. Hirsh, a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist with a doctorate in oriental medicine, TCM puts a greater focus on gender equality in treatment.

"Unlike Western medicine, which has traditionally focused on men as subjects of medical research, in Chinese medicine there are records of medicine aimed solely at women from around the time of Christ," says Hirsh. "Even before that time there are records of documents that deal with menstrual cycle and gynecological diseases."

Western medicine is based on the idea of man as machine. In the 17th century, Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher, compared a healthy man to a well-made clock, composed of parts that can break down and be replaced or fixed. Attempts to better understand this complex machine resulted in focused studies of increasingly smaller parts of the machine. This led to specialization and fragmentation.

Chinese medicine, on the other hand, still focuses on the whole body, including the spirit, as an entity.

"In the TCM concept, a person is seen as an interaction between their body, mind and spirit," says Hirsh. "It's a very ancient and balanced approach to total wellness, and it tries to find the underlying cause of disease, rather than just treat the symptoms."

In the case of TCM, thinking about fertility begins long before infertility becomes an issue. Eugene Zhang, L.Ac., of Traditional Acupuncture and Chinese Integrative Medicine in Fairfax, Va., says it's important to maintain a healthy lifestyle for maximum fecundity.

"When we speak of lifestyle, there are a lot of things involved, but in general we look at diet, sleep and work," says Zhang. "All of those tie together. If you're in a high-stress life it can complicate efforts to conceive, so we use acupuncture and herbs to assist in relaxation and to maximize the body's natural abilities."

Living a healthy life is sound advice for anyone who is thinking of attempting pregnancy because, as Hirsh points out, being at optimum health is best not only for maximum fertility, but for a healthy pregnancy and the ability to bounce back more quickly after the pregnancy.

"I tell young couples that when you get engaged is when you should start cleaning it up so you and your mate can have healthy children," says Hirsh.