Healthy States for Conceiving
Criteria of Healthy States
The human health states can be classified into three main groups defined as health, subhealth (suboptimal health), and disease.
I. Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. The top range of health is defined as the best physical well-being an individual experiences during her lifetime.
II. Suboptimal health status (SHS) is defined by the World Health Organization as a state between health and disease when all necessary physical and chemical indexes are tested negative by medical equipment. Health seems normal, but the person experiences some discomfiture and even pain2. The typical symptoms include tiredness, muscle and joint aches, dizziness, headaches, heart palpitations, chest tightness, sleep disorders, loss of appetite, stomach duct and abdominal discomfort, loose stools, constipation, and sexual functional decline. Moreover, subhealth people may be depressed, upset, anxious, irritable, fearful, and timid, experience a decline in memory, unable to concentrate, lack energy, and become unresponsive1.
III. Specifically, in the reproductive system, a seriousness range of diseases include for example ovarian and endometrial neoplasms, pelvic inflammatory disease, urogenital infections, emmeniopathy, and endometriosis to name a few.
1. Correlation between women’s sub-health and reproductive diseases with pregnancies and labors J Tradit Chin Med. 2014;34(4):465-9.
2. Suboptimal health: a new health dimension for translational medicine 2012. Clin Transl Med. 2012;1(1):28.
The Success Rare for Chinese Herb Treatment
Clinical studies conducted in China suggest that about 60-70% of all cases of male and female infertility treated by Chinese herbs resulted in pregnancy or at least restored their fertility. Depending on the particular study and the types of infertility treated, success rates ranged from about 50% up to more than 90%. Included in these statistics are cases of infertility involving obstruction of the fallopian tubes, amenorrhea, absent ovulation, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, low sperm count, nonliquification of semen, and other causes. In China, due to the greater experience with using herbs, the ability to directly integrate traditional and modern methods of therapy, and the willingness of individuals to consume relatively large doses of herbs, the success rates are probably somewhat higher than can be achieved in the U.S. at the present time. Nonetheless, U.S. practitioners have had many experiences of success in treating infertility1.
A meta-analysis search of eight randomized clinical trials indicated a near 2 fold increase in pregnancy rate among women having endometriosis, PCOS, amenorrhea, anovulation, fallopian tube blockage or unexplained infertility who consume Chinese herbal medicine within a 4-month treatment period compared to those using Western medicine drug therapy. The pregnancy rate of Chinese herbal group was 60% vis. 33% in the Western medical group2,3.
1. Dharmananda S (1996). Chinese Herbs and fertility, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon (http://www.itmonline.org/arts/fertility.htm)
2. Ried K and Stuart K (2011). Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine in the management of female infertility: A systematic review. Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2011) 19, 319-331.
3. Ried K (2015). Chinese herbal medicine for female infertility: An updated meta-analysis. Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2015) 23, 116-128.