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The Official Website of  Unexplained InfertilityWhat is it? Unexplained infertility is the most frustrating diagnosis a woman can receive. A woman who receives this devastating diagnosis goes through an internal dialogue, which translates to something like this: You are barren, you have no hope, and you are now at the disposal of western medical intervention if you ever hope to achieve your greatest dream. And this is simply not true. Dr. Lewis believes there is no such thing as unexplained infertility. To The Fertile Soul, unexplained infertility translates as this: Western diagnostic methodology, with its inherent laboratory limitations, hasn't found the problem. Luckily, according to traditional Chinese medicine and The Fertile Soul Method ™ , there is always an underlying cause and it will be found if you look deep enough, and pay attention to what the body's messages are. It is as if the body-mind-spirit hides the expression of fertility when your life is out of balance. The Fertile Soul Institute will help you find the cause of the imbalance, rectify it, and bring out your inherent fertility that has been there all along. The Western Diagnostic Workup "We don't know why you're not getting pregnant." Feels like, "We don't know why you are dying" to a woman who hears this despairing prognosis. Usually by the time she hears that sentence, however, she has undergone an array of tests. She has tracked her BBT (basal body temperature) for months to see if and when she is ovulating, and had intercourse accordingly. She has done urine tests to monitor a surge of luteinizing hormone (LH) in her body, which precedes ovulation. She has probably had several blood tests as well, to measure the levels of estrogen, LH, and progesterone in her bloodstream to see if she has ovulated. She may have had ultrasounds to track follicular growth in her ovaries. She has undoubtedly undergone cycle day 3 follicle- stimulating hormone (FSH) level tests to see if her FSH level is too high, indicating a decline of ovarian function. She also may have had her day 3 estradiol measured (too much or too little estradiol at this point in her cycle may indicate poor egg production and quality). She may have undergone a clomiphene challenge test, taking the ovarian-stimulating drug Clomid for five days to check its effect on her FSH and estradiol levels.
If none of these tests pinpoint her problem, her doctor will usually recommend some kind of surgical procedure to evaluate the health of her reproductive organs: a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), where her uterus is injected with dye and then examined by x-ray; a sonohysterography, an ultrasound process that uses saline instead of dye; a falloposcopy, which uses a fiber-optic endoscope to take pictures of the inside of the uterus and fallopian tubes; a hysteroscopy, where a small scope with a fiber-optic light is inserted through the cervix to examine the inside of her uterus; or perhaps even a laparoscopy, a surgical procedure done under general anesthetic, where the abdominal cavity is pumped full of carbon dioxide and instruments are inserted through small incisions in the abdominal wall, to examine the pelvic cavity and reproductive organs. Finally, if the doctor suspects that male as well as female factors are causing the problem (as is true in one of every four infertile couples), the woman's partner will undergo his own series of tests, measurements, and even surgeries. Even with all these tests and all this information, however, unexplained infertility is still an all-too-common diagnosis. According to RESOLVE, up to 30 percent of all cases of infertility in women and 25 percent in men are due to idiopathic (unexplained) causes. Ten percent of women diagnosed with infertility will never know the cause of their condition. "Unexplained infertility" means there is no medical reason the doctors can apply within the realm of modern scientific understanding to explain why conception is not occurring. Many women with irregular menstrual cycles who are unable to conceive are given the diagnosis of unexplained infertility because their laboratory blood analyses still show hormonal levels within the "normal" range. Couples with unexplained infertility are either told to go home and keep trying, or they are subjected to different clinical procedures in the hopes that one of the solutions offered by Western medicine will work. Often these couples are pointed toward ART procedures, the theory being that putting sperm directly into the uterus (as is done during an IUI), or fertilizing her eggs outside the body and then providing a chemically-enhanced environment for their implantation might bypass their mysterious fertility problems. There are many steps in the journey of fertility, and even a small misstep can make the difference between a happy mother and a woman faced with unexplained infertility. One hormone produced at the wrong time in the menstrual cycle, a tiny change in the pH of cervical mucus, or a millimeter less depth in the endometrial lining can be the deciding factor between a pregnancy and yet another period. Western medicine may be very good at measuring such differences when they reach critical levels; but what of subclinical—i.e., too small to be measured—problems that may still be significant enough to keep a woman from getting pregnant? Sometimes the Western approach seems like trying to return a lake to purity once it's been contaminated by toxic waste. You could try to treat the lake by finding out exactly what the contaminants in the water are, and then using different chemicals to neutralize their effects—but all you'd end up with is water with even more chemicals in it. Adding drugs and hormones to a body that is out of balance tends to make it even more toxic and out of harmony with nature. The Fertile Soul Institute's Approach to Unexplained Infertility Luckily, The Fertile Soul Method ™ is particularly effective in treating women (and men) with this frustrating diagnosis. In Eastern medicine, "unexplained infertility" translates simply to impaired reproductive functioning, and reproductive functioning can be healed and supported by bringing the entire body back into balance. The best way to treat the water isn't to add more chemicals but to put cleaner, pure water into the lake instead. You can do that by making sure the streams that feed the lake are clean, healthy, and flowing as freely as possible, and that the old, toxic water can flow outwards as new water flows in. Once the ecological balance of the water is restored the entire lake will return to health, and the fish and animals that live in and around the lake will thrive. That's what The Fertile Soul Method does for a woman's body: it allows clean, pure, healthy energy to flow in while allowing old, toxic energy to be eliminated. When the energy is balanced, the body is restored to its natural condition of health. The organs and different systems of the body, including the reproductive system, function as they were designed to do. The resulting conditions are far more conducive for conception. The first step is always to address the manifestation of the problem and determine the underlying pattern. In most cases of unexplained infertility, there is some sort of indication of where the problem lies—whether it be in symptoms involving the menstrual cycle, or feelings of hot or cold, lethargy or nervousness, and so on. When you are diagnosed using the principles of The Fertile Soul Method all of your objective and subjective symptoms are taken into account. In addition, The Fertile Soul Method uses the diagnostic tools of pulse reading and examination of the tongue to determine where the imbalances lie in your particular system. And when these imbalances are addressed, the reproductive system can begin to function normally again. Sometimes the Western approach seems like trying to return a lake to purity once it's been contaminated by toxic waste. You could try to treat the lake by finding out exactly what the contaminants in the water are, and then using different chemicals to neutralize their effects—but all you'd end up with is water with even more chemicals in it. The best way to treat the water isn't to add more chemicals but to put cleaner, pure water into the lake instead. You can do that by making sure the streams that feed the lake are clean, healthy, and flowing as freely as possible, and that the old, toxic water can flow outwards as new water flows in. Once the ecological balance of the water is restored the entire lake will return to health, and the fish and animals that live in and around the lake will thrive. That's what The Fertile Soul Method does for a woman's body: it allows clean, pure, healthy energy to flow in while allowing old, toxic energy to be eliminated. When the energy is balanced, the body is restored to its natural condition of health. The organs and different systems of the body, including the reproductive system, function as they were designed to do. The resulting conditions are far more conducive for conception. One of the best ways to discover subclinical fertility problems is to examine the different stages of a woman's menstrual cycle. Possible indications of fertility problems include menstrual irregularities such as: severe PMS, These are all physical manifestations that The Fertile Soul staff considers important reflections of which aspects of the reproductive system are out of harmony. When we discover what energy imbalances cause the menstrual irregularities to appear, the infertility is no longer unexplained. And when we have an explanation, we have a diagnosis, a treatment, and a remedy. Learn More about The Fertile Method ™ Learn more about Fertility Enhancing Retreats. |
If her doctor suspected problems with her luteal phase, a woman may have had her plasma progesterone levels measured, an ultrasound to check whether or not her follicle has ruptured, her levels of prolactin and androgen checked, and perhaps an endometrial biopsy. To rule out cervical mucal difficulties, her doctor may have had the woman do a postcoital test, where she comes into the doctor's office a few hours after intercourse to have the quality and quantity of her cervical mucus evaluated and see if live, motile sperm are present. She may also have been tested to determine if there are any cytotoxic (sperm-killing) factors in her body, or to see if there is any kind of infection present that might be affecting her fertility.