Chiropractic care, immune responses and other ways to boost your pregnancy chances.

Are you struggling with fertility challenges?

Seldom in life is anything quite as challenging to deal with than the inability to either get pregnant or maintain a pregnancy. You can take years to get pregnant only to lose it within weeks, or you don’t get pregnant at all.

While those around you remark how easy it was for them to get pregnant, or you listen to yet another pregnant woman bemoan the pregnancy foibles, it only makes your pain worse. You say to yourself “I would take every bout of morning sickness, every pain, every ache, with glee, just to know I was pregnant, just to know I was going to have a baby!”

But for some women it just does not happen, either naturally or with medical intervention. Why?

Several factors can affect fertility: diet, immune problems, stress, or even just now knowing basic biology. But often that is just not the case.

For those women who have struggled to get pregnant or maintain a pregnancy the journey has been an intensive education into the workings and miracles of pregnancy. Many could run rings around the average fertility specialist, endocrinologist, or person on the street. They can chart cycles, tell you all about basal body temperature, progesterone levels, estrogen, IUI’s, IVF, fertility drugs and side effects, donor cycles, shared risk cycles, and living by an FSH number every month, these can be just a few of the issues women have to struggle with. Every month is devoted to charts, cycle days, injectables, ovulation kits, and home pregnancy tests. It can become a vicious cycle of beginning hope and crushing failure. After 36 or more unwanted menstruation cycles you can imagine people begin to lose hope.

There are several ways to try to improve your fertility without going through a battery of invasive tests or trying medical intervention to achieve pregnancy. Besides, before trying expensive IVF treatments you might want to ensure your body is in optimal health for any pregnancy that might occur. Dr Randine Lewis of The Fertile Soul, has the utmost confidence in eating organically, utilizing acupuncture, using Eastern herbs, and meditation to achieve pregnancy.  She has several retreats each year where like minded women and couples can come together to talk and learn the latest in non-medical fertility options. 

The World Chiropractic Alliance offers hope to women struggling with fertility problems: “Chandler, Ariz. – According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 6 million women in the United States are infertile, and over 9 million use some kind of infertility service. A series of research papers published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (JVSR) suggests that chiropractic adjustments, performed by chiropractors to address nerve interference caused by spinal distortions, could offer hope to many of these women.

The 12 studies in the series found that chiropractic had positive results regardless of the woman’s age, number of year’s infertile, previous medical intervention or health history including miscarriages, blocked fallopian tubes, amenorrhea, colitis, or trauma.

The first in the series, “Insult, Interference and Infertility: An Overview of Chiropractic Research,” reviewed 14 retrospective articles on the possible effect of spinal problems on fertility. All of the women in these studies were found to have vertebral subluxations – misalignments and/or related problems of the spine that interfere with how the nerves work. These problems in the spine can be corrected by chiropractors with painless adjustments to the affected spinal area.

Infertility can also be immune related:

Dr Alan Beer, now deceased, wrote the book “Is your body baby friendly” and this touches on immune related problems regarding implantation failure, early miscarriage and non-pregnancy achievement causes. He discusses low leukocytes and high natural killer cell activity as one of the causes of multiple miscarriages and failed pregnancy. This is a very comprehensive book that details multiple case studies of people who had been termed “unexplained infertility patients.” He explains that due to immune problems of various types these women are unable to either achieve a pregnancy or maintain a pregnancy either naturally or with medical intervention. If you or someone you know has been struggling with unexplained fertility this is an excellent book to read.

From the Beer Clinic website:
The Alan E. Beer Center for Reproductive Immunology & Genetics researches and treats couples who experience recurrent miscarriages, multiple pregnancy losses or repeated in vitro fertilization failures. Through science and a deep understanding of the role of the immune system in pregnancy, we help such couples achieve a successful pregnancy.
The Alan E. Beer Center for Reproductive Immunology and Genetics was established by Dr. Alan E. Beer in 2003. An internationally known and respected physician and scientist, Dr. Beer specialized in the treatment of infertility, implantation failure, and recurrent pregnancy loss.

Sadly, Dr. Beer passed away in May of 2006. His research shows that there are five categories of immune problems that can cause pregnancy loss, IVF failures, and infertility.

Many doctors are loath to accept that immune problems can cause fertility issues, you may be met with resistance when asking a regular reproductive specialist about this area of research. Look for a doctor who is trained in both immunology and reproductive endocrinology.

Fish oil  has been shown to help with High natural killer cell activity which unfortunately tends to increase with each failed pregnancy. About has this to say about NK cells: “It would be hard to dispute that NK cells can be elevated in women who have recurrent miscarriages, as numerous studies have found this to be true. Scientists have fleshed out a few mechanisms in which elevated NK cells could terminate an otherwise viable pregnancy, usually with the idea that a disordered immune system is causing the cells to attack the pregnancy. At least one study has found evidence that NK cells in the uterus do attack cells from the pregnancy in cases of spontaneous miscarriage, although it’s unclear what those results mean. …” 

For some pregnancy is just not an achievable possibility but for many there are options out there that will boost your chances and answer some much needed questions. 

Make an adjustment! Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!

Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan to discuss chiropractic options call 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

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