Infertility & Alternative Treatments

In this section:

Infertility - Medical Forums and Bulletin Boards
Get your questions on infertility, pregnancy loss and adoption answered by therapists, doctors, attorneys and other professionals on INCIID.

Financiing Treatment - Fertility Talk Radio with Theresa Erickson
Only 14 states mandate infertility treatment insurance and most insurance companies in other states only provide limited coverage, so the majority of U.S. infertility patients are usually responsible for paying for their own care. For most, this means scrimping and saving to pay for one or two cycles of IVF or maybe financing their hopes and dreams via loans. During these challenging economic times, the gap between those who can and cannot afford treatment is growing. Luckily for the infertility consumer, there are a number of nonprofit organizations whose mission is to raise awareness and money, as well as provide financial assistance to those unable to afford infertility services.

Surrogacy in the Metropolitan Washington, DC Area by Diane S. Hinson and Linda C. ReVeal
Surrogacy contracts typically put restrictions on a surrogate’s travel outside her state of residence after a certain number of weeks -- and the surrogacy laws of Maryland, DC and Virginia vary so dramatically that a surrogate living in Maryland will often be prohibited in her contract from traveling into nearby DC or Virginia in the late stages of her pregnancy!

Stress and Acupuncture By Marc Sklar, LAc, DA (RI), FABORM
Simply, acupuncture functions by affecting neural pathways along the body. Once these areas of the brain are contacted the body will respond by producing more or less of a certain chemical or hormone. (More)

New Developments in Assisted Reproductive Medicine by Gad Lavy, MD
The success of IVF (in vitro fertilization) has risen dramatically over the past two decades. The increase in success can be attributed to better understanding of various conditions leading to infertility and to development in cell biology in our understanding of egg and sperm interaction, embryo development, and implantation.

Acupuncture and Traditional Oriental Medicine to Enhance Fertility
Although Chinese medicine has been used to address fertility for thousands of years, only recently has acupuncture received notable press in the West for its ability to address fertility issues.

Uniting as a Couple to Beat the Holiday Stress
Infertility is stressful; the holidays are stressful. Taken together, one plus one equals way more than two. Yet

Yoga and Infertility by Leslie Daly
Yoga is a practice about connecting with oneself. It is about clearing the space - physically and mentally - to experience the prana, or life force, already present within you. Yogis believe that illness and suffering (douka) is in part caused by obstructions in our bodies and minds. Happiness (souka), on the other hand, is literally translated as "unobstructed space". Hatha yoga practice, with the intention of increasing fertility, focuses on clearing space in the reproductive environment so that more prana and breath (and oxygenated blood) can move into the system.

TURNING BACK THE REPRODUCTIVE CLOCK: New Science, Old Wisdom By Randine Lewis MSOM, L.Ac., Ph.D.
Regarding the human egg: How old is too old? Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Remember the psychological argument about nature vs. nurture? Let’s rephrase the topic altogether. How can we help women in their mature reproductive years produce healthy children? I propose that the answer is found in the nature vs. nurture discussion. Nurturing the follicle in the 120 days before ovulation will produce a healthy egg, free of transmutation, free of the need for medical intervention.

Ovarian Cryopreservation by Michael Opsahl, MD
There are a number of medical treatments (including chemotherapy) and other cancer treatments that can destroy the ability to procreate. Read about ovarian cryopreservation - a hope for the future

Cytoplasmic Transfer