Oriental Treatments may help fertility

By Lee Seung-hun

National statistics for 2014 showed that there were over 200,000 patients treated for “subfertility,” which is about a 16 percent increase from the numbers in 2007.

Ordinarily, sexually active and non-contraceptive using couples have approximately a 20 to 37 percent of probability for conceiving, about 75 percent of them within six months to a year.

The term subfertility refers to those who do not conceive after one year of attempting.

Often the term “infertility” is used to describe the same but as the word infertility can mean a complete inability to conceive; subfertility is a more accurate description of the condition.

The increase in the numbers of those who were treated for subfertility can be attributed to various factors ranging from female reproductive organ related issues such as ovarian hypofunction, ovulation failure or damage to oviducts among others, as well as male reproductive organ related issues.

The basic causes for such arise in complex issues related to the late age of couples getting married and attempting for pregnancy that puts the expectant mothers in a more high-risk group. Also on the male-side, environmental factors and stress causes lower sperm counts with lower motility than in the past.

Studies have shown that women in high-risk groups are more likely to experience miscarriages.

The government spends over 70 billion won in supporting subfertile couples to achieve pregnancy via in vitro fertilization (IVF) and artificial insemination.

Unfortunately, this governmental subsidy program only applies to Western medicine.

Despite the fact that many couples seek medical assistance from Oriental clinics to overcome subfertility issues at a lower cost and the treatment shows good results, currently only a limited number of couples can benefit from government assistance.

Such subsidy programs are only available at local government levels, not at the central one, but the good news is that the number of local governments supporting couples taking Oriental treatment is on the increase.

Causes of subfertility are about 40% for either spouse, while 20 percent of couples both have problems.

Oriental treatment options for subfertility include acupuncture, moxibustion and hanyak that can be safely applied to both male and female spouses.

The treatments have been shown to assist in natural conception and also help to increase the success rate for IVF treatments.

Clinical studies have shown that with hanyak treatments, subfertility female patients can better regulate hormones and improve ovulatory function.

Another recent study has shown that during IVF, patients treated with hanyak have healthier eggs and embryos.

What that means is that hanyak can lead to better implantation during IVF treatments and have a higher success rate for pregnancy while preventing early stage miscarriages.

Yet another study showed that acupuncture and moxibustion treatments during IVF had led to increased number of eggs harvested.

Most male patients seeking Oriental treatment options are those who have been told that they have a low sperm count, or sperm with lower motility or abnormal morphology.

Although there needs to be more studies regarding male subfertility issues, a few studies have shown that in the case of idiopathic infertility with no specific causes, acupuncture treatment can produce improvement in concentration, motility and morphology of the sperm.

Considering the time required to generate sperm, treating a man for subfertility generally requires two to three months.

In the past, many mistakenly believed that subfertility was mostly an issue of the female spouse, but the fact is that men and women are almost equally responsible.

Generally, women who are over 35 years of age are considered to be late-age pregnancy seekers and in the same vein, men over the age of 40 are likely to have lower sperm counts with reduced health.

As tests to determine the cause of subfertility are often very invasive for the women while for the men it is less so, and the final prognosis less complicated, it is recommended that the male partner be tested first.

In 2014, the city of Suwon conducted a trial subsidy program for Oriental treatments for subfertility, in which 28 couples applied and 9 were successful in conceiving.

This is a 32.1 percent success rate, which is relatively high in comparison to the average success rate of 15 to 20 percent for artificial insemination and 30 percent for IVF.

For those couples who prefer natural pregnancy, Oriental treatment can certainly be a great help, and even those who are attempting IVF options, can increase their success rate by opting for Oriental treatment prior to IVF.

Hopefully, more good news will come out from the trial subsidy programs for Oriental treatment currently being conducted by several local governments, which would increase the overall government support for subfertile couples in their attempts to start their families.

The writer practices oriental medicine at the UN Oriental Medical Clinic in Hannam-dong, Seoul.