We will continue to discuss Pathology of fertilization difficulty from the Eastern medicine view. This topic might not be easy to understand. We will try to make it easy. When diagnosing infertility we should clarify where it comes from, is it from deficiency? Or is it from excess? If it comes from deficiency, we need to tonify and nourish the body’s Qi and blood or if it comes from excess, we need to eliminate and disperse pathogenic factors.
1. Empty conditions
Infertility is due to a lack of the vital substances that are essential for conception. Blood and Kidney deficiency is always involved this matter. Kidney essence is related to Kidney yin and Kidney yang aspect. The menstrual function and the uterus rely on the Yin aspect and its Yang aspect. For fertilization to occur, the Yin and Yang aspects of the essence need to be perfectly balanced. If Yin is deficient, there is not enough nourishment to support the fertilizing egg. If yang is deficient, there is no spark to transform and activate Yin, the water, which therefore can’t fertilize or nourish egg.
For someone who doesn’t have any idea what is Kidney essence, it could be explained such as aspects. Kidney essence is primarily derived from the parents before birth, whereas Qi is formed after birth. Kidney essence is replenished only difficulty, whereas Qi can easily be replenished on a day-to-day basis. Qi moves and changes quickly from moment to moment, whereas the essence changes only slowly and gradually over long periods of time. In the Eastern medicine point of view, the major functions of Kidney essence are growth, reproduction and development. It is producer of bone marrow and basis of constitutional strength.
2. Full conditions
In the case of excess, fertilization is not able to occur because pathogenic factors and excess conditions obstruct the uterus, directing and penetrating vessels. Such excess conditions may be cold, blood –heat, dampness, stagnation of Qi and blood stasis. The temperature of uterus should be steady, warm, neither too cold nor too hot. Cold and blood-heat interrupt uterus function. Cold congeals blood and blood-heat thickens the blood quality. Blood in uterus is the basic nutrition supplier to the embryo. That’s why blood quality is very important for fertilization. Damp-heat prevents the proper movement of Qi and blood and may lead to stagnation of Qi and blood. Liver Qi stagnation obstructs the directing and penetrating vessels, from a Western perspective this may also correspond to tubal obstruction. Blood stasis is long-standing in reproductive system, can be causes for abdominal masses, ovarian cysts or endometriosis.
Absence or irregularity of ovulation often corresponds to a Kidney deficiency; blockage of the fallopian tubes to damp-heat, possibly with heat –poison and blood stasis; uterine myomas to blood stasis, possibly with phlegm; and pelvic adhesions to damp-heat with blood stasis. Statistically, blood stasis counts for up to 30 percentile of whole infertility cases. In the next article, we will discuss treatment approach of Eastern medicine in order to increase fertilization.
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