You can blog about anything fertility related including your personal ttc journey or fertility/ infertility experiences

We are also looking for fertility experts. Are you working in a field of fertility or are in complementary medicine, and would like to share your knowledge and wisdom with our readers ? Would you like to blog about your particular field and how it relates to fertility as a specialist contributor on our fertility blog ?

If you would like to be a guest fertility blogger or contributor please e-mail us or post in comments and we will e-mail you.

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Burdica the manufacturer of Zestica Fertility & Zestica Moisture have just signed a £70M deal with Sinopharm (  China’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device distributor)

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Homeopathy offers an alternative viewpoint and an alternative, gentler, non-toxic form of treatment. In this blog post Nicola Berman and Cassie Everett, homeopaths and co-founders of Juno Natural Fertility, explain what homeopathy is and how it can help you get pregnant.

Homeopathy is a natural, holistic medicine which views the mind and body as one, understanding that how you feel emotionally can determine how you feel physically. Stress, anxiety and trauma will almost always manifest themselves in the body. If you have been under prolonged stress your body will divert its energy to those organs which are needed to cope with the stress and unfortunately your reproductive organs will move to the bottom of your body’s priority list.

Herbert Benson, MD, identified the reverse of the body’s stress response, which he called the ‘relaxation response’².  He found that undertaking relaxation techniques can bring about many beneficial changes in the body including a lower heart rate, slower breathing, reduced muscle tension and positive changes in brain waves. Homeopathy recognises that in order to effectively treat fertility issues, it is important to treat any underlying emotional stresses.

Another possible factor in unexplained infertility can be found in the family medical history; homeopaths call this inherited weakness. Strengthening a person’s whole constitution, including addressing any inherited weakness, using homeopathic remedies, can reduce the chance of them expressing familial diseases later in life. So if there is a history of reproductive disorders or early menopause in your family, homeopathy can be used to lessen the impact of this on your health to facilitate a natural conception. Another way of looking at the inherited weakness is that we have our own unique patterns of illness. When under considerable stress we get ill and our body produces symptoms. For you it might be that every time you’re run down you get cystitis or perhaps it’s tonsillitis or a skin breakout. If your inherited weakness is in the reproductive system, you could be more likely to have fertility problems and we would use homeopathic remedies to address this.

Homeopathy works by the ‘law of similars’, also described as treating ‘like with like’. In short, this means that a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can also bring about cure in a sick person. One simple analogy is the onion. In its crude form it can cause symptoms such as streaming eyes and runny nose and in its homeopathic form, called allium cepa, it is often used to treat hayfever. Similarly drinking too much coffee can cause sleeplessness and restlessness, but used homeopathically the remedy coffea is an effective treatment for insomnia.

A homeopathic consultation involves a thorough investigation of a person’s health, physical and emotional, as well as their personal medical history and family medical history. This is most important, as homeopathy understands that any unresolved event, emotional or physical, or any active inherited weakness may cause a lasting imbalance which will eventually be expressed in physical symptoms such as infertility. Homeopathic treatment is always individualised to the person and remedies are given based on the particular details of each person’s case.

Kate (37) had been trying to conceive for almost three years when she decided to try homeopathy with Juno Natural Fertility. She had had all her tests done on the NHS and they had all shown normal levels.

Kate had a chronic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), which she had suffered from since the age of 15. This condition affected her joints and soft tissues, resulting in her muscles, tendons and ligaments being painful most of the time, which was very debilitating for her in terms of her day to day life and frequently caused her to feel upset and frustrated. The intensity of this condition over a prolonged period of time would take up a lot of her energy reserves.

Her periods were very painful and heavy and she also experienced some PMT symptoms including irritability, breast tenderness and weight gain, suggesting she had hormonal imbalance. In the past Kate had taken the pill for nine years, which may have contributed to this.

Kate was given a combination of homeopathic remedies to help support her endocrine glands in order to balance her hormone levels, as well as detoxify any residual effects from the contraceptive pill. These remedies included: Carc, Folliculinum, Medorrhinum, Borax, Nat Mur and Sepia.

During her second consultation Kate reported that her next period had been lighter and the pain was less intense. These were positive signs that her hormones were rebalancing and her system was detoxifying. Her EDS symptoms had increased in intensity, which suggested that more energy was being diverted to this area, so her next homeopathic prescription Carc and Calc Fluor focused on these symptoms with the aim of freeing up more energy for other areas of her body.

At her next consultation Kate reported little change in her EDS symptoms, although the focus of the discussion moved more towards the stressful month she had had and her feelings of frustration and sadness. It became apparent that her emotions were having a greater bearing on her overall health and wellbeing than was previously evident. Therefore, she was prescribed the homeopathic remedy Thuja to also take into account her emotional state. 

Kate became pregnant the following month and in August 2009 she gave birth to her beautiful daughter Evie.

If you are currently experiencing feelings of anxiety or emotional upset, then why not try a homeopathic remedy to help relieve these feelings? Putting your body into a calmer and more balanced state may be exactly what you need to help you fall pregnant. Simply select the remedy below that most closely matches your thoughts and feelings and take one pill when needed, up to a maximum of three a day for three days, leaving at least a week before repeating:

Arg Nit 30c - for anticipatory anxiety, worrying about the baby before or during pregnancy, anxiety before doing a pregnancy test

Gelsemium 30c - for anxiety especially after a shock or bad news e.g. from a miscarriage or diagnosis from the doctor

Ignatia 30c - for the emotional rollercoaster, feeling very tearful and even hysterical, embarrassed about emotions

Natrum Mur 30c - for repeated grief and disappointment, want to be on your own, can’t cry any more

Phos Ac 30c - for emotional exhaustion, feeling flat and lacking energy, foggy head

Pulsatilla 30c - for feeling weepy all the time, don’t want to be alone, feel better after a good cry

If you have not experienced improvement after a month, then consult a qualified homeopath for a more thorough investigation and personalised remedy. Nicola and Cassie from Juno Natural Fertility offer consultations in clinics across London; in Covent Garden, Mayfair, Thornton Heath and Hendon, and if you are based outside London telephone and Skype consultations can be arranged upon request.

In April Juno Natural Fertility are running two seminars ‘How to get pregnant with natural remedies’; one focussing on Unexplained Infertility and the other on Polycystic Ovaries and PCOS. Tickets cost £25 and can be booked online at www.junonaturalfertility.com/seminars or by calling 0845 423 8962. Places are limited, so early booking is advised.

Tickets can be booked online for Juno natural fertility seminars here

I finally decided to go see me doctor and stop burying my head in the sand and yes she thinks I may be peri-menopausal. She has arranged for me to have some blood tests done so we can see what the state of play is. She thinks it is a sign that my ovarian reserve is low.

Good news is I feel a huge sense of relief after going to see her, and the hot flushes have stopped. Even better news is I think I ovulated last week.

Will keep you posted. Get results next week.

It seems Apple have an app for a womens menstrual cycle which can help couples trying to conceive, and a lucky couple in Scotland have just had great success using it.

 It seems the Scottish couple had been trying to conceive for 4 years without success & doctors where unable to find a cause for their infertility. In desperation they downloaded the Free app from FertilityFriend.com and used it to predict the best time to try for a baby. FertilityFriend.com’s Free Menstrual Calendar is a simple and easy to use calendar designed to predict your menstrual cycles and possible fertile days

2 months later and they were astounded to find they were expecting a a baby, which was born in January 2010 at full term, on the exact day the iphone app predicted !

Click on link below to read full article

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/2822794/Scottish-couple-use-an-iPhone-app-to-help-conceive-a-baby-girl.html

Click here to visit itunes and find out more about the fertilityfriend itunes app

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-menstrual-calendar/id292760731?mt=8

The coupon code  is reward and may be used to purchase any products from this website.

The 5% coupon is active until the end of March 2010.

Reading up on what you can do to help your fertility shows that there are many things that couples can do themselves to increase their fertility.  There is a lot of good advice out there for couples for example:

• Reduce stress
• Eat organically
• Stop smoking
• Cut out alcohol
• Cut out caffeine

Although it is reassuring to realise that it is possible to make a difference to your fertility by changing your lifestyle, some may find that they need a complete change in order to give themselves the best chance of conception.  This may be overwhelming, but you don’t need to go through those changes alone. 

Using the support of Fertility Solutions means that you can gracefully shift and things such as stopping smoking and cutting out caffeine become manageable changes.  Using Theta Healing it is possible to work with the subconscious to address the beliefs and perceptions which are behind addictive habits like smoking, and allow clients to tackle their lifestyle changes more effectively. 

Reducing stress is another aspect of lifestyle that some may find a challenge to shift.  The Fertility Solutions Programme includes hypnosis CDs to support your relaxation, reduce stress and prepare your body’s fertility.  This is an effective way to tackle stress by simply listening to a hypnosis CD once a day.  After listening regularly clients experience a gentle shift in their lifestyles allowing them to reduce stress successfully.

Each Fertility Journey is different and some couples may find that a change of lifestyle is all they need to successfully conceive however that doesn’t mean to say everyone find these changes easy to achieve.  The Fertility Solutions Programme is designed to meet the individual needs of the client, therefore each session will be adapted for you to give you the best chance of conception.

Here are some quick tips of things to do and things to avoid:

1. Guys keep the laptops off the laps-anything that causes overheating in the groin area can damage your fertility. This is why testicles are not inside your body like the other organs-it is to keep them cool. Make sure you sit at a table when using a laptop so the laptop is not on your lap. (This is also much better for you back as you will tend to sit up straight rather than slouch)
2. Give up smoking-studies have shown that smoking adversely affects male fertility
3. Keep alcohol consumption at a low level and avoid binge drinking
4. Avoid going in very hot baths or saunas as this will cause overheating of the testicles
5. Eat you 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day and eat a healthy balanced diet. Try to maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or underweight can affect your fertility adversely.
6. Consider taking a multivitamin supplement that is specifically for men such as Wellman as they contain key supplements that are important for sperm production and general & sexual health
7. Avoid taking any recreational drugs as many of them have been shown to affect male fertility adversely
8. If you are on a prescription drug check with your GP whether it could affect your fertility
9. Avoid overexercising-extreme over exercise has been shown to affect fertility adversely in both men and women. In men it may be due to the overheating element or their may be other factors. Regular moderate exercise is good-just don’t overdo it and try to avoid overheating in the groin area-wear loose fitting workout clothes, boxers or  shorts. Avoid the tight fitting lycra!
10. Some enviromental pollutants can affect male fertility adversely-check if you are working with any toxic chemicals & make sure you are taking adequate health & safety precautions
11. Try and relax. Stress can affect fertility adversely. Make time for relaxation every day.

We saved the best two until last:

1. Have sex regularly. Studies have shown that having sex regularly actually improves your fertility. There is no advantage to saving the sperm up for the fertile time of the month. Old sperm are more likely to be damaged or have poorer motility. Try to have sex regularly 2-3 times a week to kep the sperm replenished and fresh
2. Enjoy sex. Sex is and should be a pleasurable experience so keep it fun.

Click here for information on male fertility vitamin & mineral supplements