Adopting a Healthy Lifestyle
Look at your lifestyle, including alcohol, smoking and street drugs, and make sure you and your partner eliminate these during the four months. Remember, it takes around three months for a man to produce a new batch of sperm so by the end of the Four-Month Plan these new healthy, mobile sperm will have a much greater chance of fertilising your egg. It also takes three months for your egg to start from a group of follicles, and then to be selected as the egg that is released on the cycle.
Eliminate any unnecessary over-the-counter drugs both of you may be taking. You should also ask your doctor whether any prescribed medication you may be taking could be affecting your fertility and whether there are alternatives to these drugs.
Get your partner to buy looser underwear and trousers and take showers instead of hot baths. If he sits down all day, suggest he thinks about taking breaks and walking around, especially if he is sitting down driving in a hot vehicle.
Being Screened for Infections
Make sure that both you and your partner are checked for any genitourinary infections (GUIs). This is especially important before you embark on any fertility testing because, if an infection is present, certain investigations via the vagina could push the infection higher up inside the body.
This step is also crucial if you have had a previous miscarriage, just to rule out the possibility that an infection was not the cause.
Your GP may organize this screen for you or you can go to the GUI clinic at your local hospital. Both you and your partner should be tested.
At the moment, in my opinion, not enough emphasis is placed on this kind of testing. If you have any problems organizing these checks then my contact details are at the back of the book.
If an infection shows up, you and/or your partner will be treated. You should then have a re-test to make sure the infection has cleared up.
Most infections will require treatment with an antibiotic. This is not ideal, and in complementary medicine it is usual to try to avoid the use of antibiotics. In this situation, however, the infection may be long-standing and it must be cleared up fairly quickly because it may be stopping you conceiving. Antibiotics wipe out the infection but they will also wipe out the beneficial bacteria which live in the gut, leaving you prone to thrush. So, as soon as you have finished the course of antibiotics, you need to take a good probiotic (the opposite of an antibiotic which helps to re-colonize the gut flora). Use:
• BioCare s Replete – one sachet per day for seven days
• Then go on to BioCare s Bio-acidophilus for one month
Avoiding Environmental Hazards
Think about your environment. Could your occupation or your partner’s be affecting fertility (e.g. farming with pesticides, hairdressing with dye, hairspray, etc, or painting)? And can you do anything to reduce the problem? In your home, can you limit the amount of chemicals used? For example, can you avoid using pesticides in the garden, and flea sprays in the house? If you are decorating the house, finish the work before you begin the Four-Month Plan.
Timing Your Fertility Investigations
Now you have put into place a good food supplement programme, looked at your diet and your environment and know that you are free from infections. The next step is that of fertility investigations.
However, the speed with which you take this next step depends on a number of factors and I would like to suggest a guide for assessing this.
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