Infertility can be heartbreaking for couples trying to conceive children. In the modern medical world, dozens of clinical treatments exist that can help to enable conception for couples coping with infertility. However, when these methods fail– or when they are simply cost-prohibitive– many a couple has resorted to alternative and unusual methods for improving infertility.
Here are some of the strangest treatments for infertility– and how they just might actually work.
1. Wild Yam
Yams to treat infertility? It may sound nutty– and, in some ways, it is– but wild yams are among the most popular naturopathic interventions for women coping with infertility. Wild yams contain diosgenin, a steroid-like chemical that can be altered in a laboratory setting to synthesize artificial hormones such as estrogen and progesterone. The plant’s theoretical hormone-altering effects could make wild yam a possible treatment for female infertility.
2. Homeopathy
Homeopathic medicine is not only the most bizarre treatment for infertility– it’s the world’s most bizarre form of medicine, period. Although the term “homeopathy” is sometimes erroneously applied to non-homeopathic practices, including herbal medicine and diet modification, it actually refers to a specific form of medicine that most experts consider unscientific. Homeopathic remedies are chemically inert sugar pills ; they contain no pharmacologically active compounds and are chemically identical to placebos. Nevertheless, many couples claim success using these little lactose tablets as infertility treatments.
3. Acupuncture
Who would have thought of putting needles into your skin to trigger ovulation? Acupuncture, an ancient form of medicine originating in China, involves the insertion of very fine needles into specific points on the body. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine claim that this opens up the flow of qi, or life energy, thereby enabling conception. Oddly enough, this strange infertility treatment just might work: modern scientific investigations support the use of acupuncture in many clinical capacities, including infertility treatment.
4. Massage
Any excuse for a massage is a good excuse. Why not give it a try as a treatment for infertility? Massage may seem like an odd solution, but it actually helps to facilitate emotional relaxation, stabilize hormones and improve blood flow to the reproductive organs. Women with blocked fallopian tubes and emotional disturbances are particularly likely to benefit from the use of therapeutic massage.
5. Prayer
Prayer itself certainly isn’t silly or crazy– the majority of people engage in it at some point or another. However, most people do not regard it as an effective form of clinical medicine, and wouldn’t depend on it alone as a treatment for clinical infertility. A comprehensive review of faith healing found that prayer, while effective for easing mental and emotional states, usually has no effect on physical health– except as a treatment for infertility. Women who pray are more likely to get pregnant and stay pregnant while undergoing clinical treatments for infertility.