How to get pregnant when all else fails - includes list of resources - Natural Remedies - Special Women's Health Issue

Vegetarian Times, July, 1997 by Luise Light

Under fight-or-flight conditions, the hypothalainus, a walnut-sized bit of brain tissue, sends out squadrons of signals for the release of stress hormones throughout the body, causing a rapid rise in blood pressure, muscle tension, breathing and heart rate. Too many flights of stress hormones over too long a period of time can have dire consequences such as overstimulating the heart and weakening the immune system.

Mounting evidence from studies in neuroimmunology (mind-body science) indicate that when too many stress hormones rage through women's bodies over a prolonged period, they can disrupt hormone balances and the reproductive system, contributing to PMS, menopausal symptoms, menstrual irregularities, breast and uterine cancers and infertility. "I'm convinced, based on scientific findings and clinical experience, that mind-body medicine empowers women with infertility to reclaim their lives. Just de-stressing infertile women sometimes allows them to regain normal hormone function so they can become pregnant," says Domar.

Serafina Corsello, M.D., medical director of the Corsello Centers for Nutritional Medicine in New York City and Huntington, N.Y., sees many young women in their 20s and 30s with infertility problems related to hormone imbalances. The women have plenty of estrogen in their bodies. This hormone is needed in the first phase of the menstrual cycle for the development of the egg and preparation of the uterus. But the hormones, luteinizing hormone (LH) and progesterone, needed in the second half of the cycle for release and implantation of the egg, are either low or lacking. Corsello blames the problem on too much estrogen -- not only what's made in the body but what comes into the body in the form of food and environmental chemicals such as PCBs. "The LH, overwhelmed by excess estrogen, can't signal for the release of enough progesterone to balance the estrogen. A lot of fertility problems are caused by lack of progesterone," says Corsello.

Corsello's natural fertility program includes bowel cleansing; a "supernutrition diet;" tonics; herbs; antioxidant supplements; and something she calls, "the harmony of healing." The results she claims are extraordinary: "All patients who follow my program for at least six months and don't have mechanical blockages become pregnant," says Corsello.

Patients usually come to Corsello after failing to conceive with conventional fertility treatments. Corsello requires that they first follow a bowel cleansing regimen for one or two weeks to rid their body of most biochemical imbalances caused by food malabsorption. "Due to stress, most people have poor digestion, and their intestines don't function properly due to the accumulation of toxins. By cleaning out the intestines and adding back helpful bacteria (such as Lactobacillus acidophilus), you restore your intestinal ecology," says Corsello, who uses a natural internal cleansing product made of powdered flaxseed husks and pectin. Patients drink a daily cocktail of half a teaspoon of the powder plus a teaspoon of powdered vitamin C dissolved in a half glass each of orange juice and bubbly mineral water.