Homoeopathic Experiences of Infertility
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2003 Mar / Apr VOL V NO 2.
Dr Anand Kapse 
Dr Janhavi Kapse
'Nat-m

INTRODUCTION
Homoeopathic treatment of infertility is one of the most gratifying experiences for a homoeopath. What can be more satisfying than seeing a smile on the face of couples who turn to homoeopathy (or are referred by the Gynaecologists) after years of trying without success? That too at a cost that appears a pittance compared to lakhs of rupees spent on newer techniques like IVF.
The speed with which homoeopathic medicines act, can at times, appear magical. One recalls a case of infertility coming for treatment after 3 years of allopathic treatment. All the diagnostic workup had failed to identify any cause. The constitutional was released for both the husband & wife (Silicea for both). It was 10^th day of menstrual cycle. The lady did not get menses and urinary pregnancy test turned out to be positive. A single dose of similimum had done the trick in less than a week!! These are the cases of unknown cause in which immunological & psychological factors are suspected to play a role. Homoeopathy has a definite role to play in cases of unidentified causes (10% of infertility cases) whether presenting with primary or secondary infertility.

FEMALE FACTORS
Female factors account for over 30% of cases of infertility. One has experienced Homoeopathy succeeding in cases with anovulatory cycles, PCOD etc. Only last week a 26 year old lady married for 6 years could be helped to conceive despite having Bicornuate Uterus with rt Tubal Block and irregular menses. The total cost of treatment taken for 3 months at Rural Homoeopathic Hospital, Palghar was not more than Rs. 600!

MALE FACTORS
Male factors account for another 30%. We must explore sexual dysfunction, which may be the cause of infertility or develop due to emotional response to Oligospermia. In fact, patients with infertility & sexual dysfunctions often present to the doctor with some vague complaints. We had received a south Indian couple nearing 40. What presented as IBS was finally diagnosed as impotence in the husband and frigidity in wife. In these cases counseling by physician couple played a major role in addition to the indicated Homoeopathic remedies. Husband’s impotence improved with Mag-carb. The wife (Sepia) could conceive at such a late age & delivered a female child.

Psychological factors do play a role. A woman approached us for secondary infertility (h/o 1 abortion)and allergic rhinitis. Calc-carb was her constitutional, which relieved rhinitis. Yet there was no conception after 6 months of treatment. A suggestion was given to start treatment for husband as well. During husband’s case taking he came out with his guilt. He was undergoing treatment for Leprosy for the last 2 years. But he had not revealed the fact of his disease to his wife. He would take the medicines in his office. Sil 200 was started. Wife conceived in the same month.

Azoospermia appears incurable, but there are reliable experiences of some patients with azoospermia being helped with homoeopathy. No assurance can be given for this condition.

Oligospermia can be helped with greater certainty. We have observed quantitative improvement in sperm count with homoeopathic treatment. Sperm motility improves & abnormal forms reduce. But what is more important is the possible qualitative improvement not necessarily seen through microscope. How does one explain conception occurring under homoeopathic treatment with sperm count as low as 1 million? This is a definite area of research. What changes do our medicines actually bring about in the composition of semen & structure or function of sperms?

Constitutional treatment for husband as well as wife is the mainstay of therapeutic approach. The posology may vary from infrequent weekly doses to daily or multiple doses depending upon the structural or functional factors involved. Miasmatic block needs to be handled with appropriate intercurrent.

We would like to present in this article the first case of infertility in our practice which made us aware of the potentials of Homoeopathy.

CASE OF OLIGOSPERMIA
Wife: Preliminary Information:
Mrs C.So, 25 yr old Hindu/Vanik, housewife. A vegetarian; married since 19/4/87
Her husband was 29 yr and a Asst Mechanical Engineer with MIDC
Father, 60yr was a Farmer, Mother-52yrs, Siblings - Brothers-2-Married Sisters-5-Married

Chief Complaint
Primary Infertility - 2yrs

Mind: Somebody coming to take her away. Sees ghost since1988. She would scream during sleep for 1 to 1½ month, with weeping and sobbing

Associated complaints:
Body ache with giddiness A/F Typhoid
Back pain <sitting for long, Wrist pain <working in water
Extremities tingling and numbness <work
Since marriage Nose coryza watery+ Fever-temp-100-101⁰F <cold drinks+++ Headache 1/8-10days.

H/O High fever with backache and muttering, giddiness,vomiting, headache++ in 1987 for 21days
Jan 90 fever-100-101⁰F <11.30am-1pm+++ weakness++
Diagnosis - Typhoid fever
Jan ‘89 - axilla painful swelling discharging pus; duration-1mth
Skin recurrent corns, twice operated

Patient as a person:
Height-5’1" Wt-51kgs Skin-complexion-fair.
No Suppuration. Cracks < summer, dust, Perspiration-Nil.
Digestion-Acidity occ.
Appetite-Poor, with occasional nausea.
Thirst-much.
Craving-Fruits, Mangoes, Vegetables.
Stool-occasionally hard, Satisfaction-N .
Micturition-frequency increases on lifting wt. Normal is 2-3times

Menstrual history:
FMP-late; 17yrs LMP-27/8
Menses-Regular, Cycles-5-6/28-30days
Quantity: Decreased-1-3 pads/day. Colour-Red
Clots-occasional, Stain-brownish since 1yr
Concomitants:
Before menses- 2-3 days eruption
During menses-low backache, weakness, no desire to walk
After menses-Nil.
Leucorrhoea-occ.
Sexual Function: N Durign Coition patient whould get Stitching pain.
Pt also had Motion sickness, especially afer ridign in Bus.

Thermals:
Sun: < burning urine, face red, skin peeling, headache, vomiting Season: Summer no < Fan: always wants. Covering: always thick. Woolen-shawl: native place Bath: Tepid C3H2.
Sleep: Deep, disturbed thoughts, anxiety due to. Unrefreshed since typhoid.
Concomitants: Talking religious.
Dreams: Religious, Snakes, Water, children, sisters

Life Space
Pt is 25yrs. She has studied up to FYJC and hails from a village near Nagpur, where her father does farming. Mo 50yrs is a housewife. Pt has 2 brothers & 5 sisters. Both brothers are married and doing farming. Elder 2 sisters and younger 1 sister is married. Pt comes from an orthodox, religious, affectionate family and is closely attached to everybody. She tends to become anxious on hearing the news of illness of her near ones. At present her Grandmother is ill which worries her. Life till marriage has been smooth.

After marriage only she came to Mumbai. Initially her husband was posted at Roha and now is at Kalyan, They get along well. The couple is staying separate from the beginning due to her husband’s job. The in-laws stay at Ghori. When they visit in-laws, occasionally there are few sparks about work. As patient stays separately in a city, they feel she has to carry less work load. This information was obtained from the husband. Immediately after marriage she had Typhoid twice and since then, she is having various functional complaints.

In ‘88 she had a ?Psychotic episode which lasted for about 1½ months. She used to have religious hallucination, ghost, would fear that somebody has come to take her away, would scream from sleep, would be weeping and sobbing for long. This is all she remembers about that period.

Lately, she has become more irritable, especially when visits her parents-throws temper tantrums, won’t speak with anybody, won’t eat her food or speaks a lot. Even her parents have noticed this change. Nowadays, since people also keep asking about child, her anxiety has increased. She feels that I have not treated anyone badly, I pray so much, then why such a thing should happen to me only?

Pt was co-operative and quite expressive during interview. When asked about H’s nature she confirmed about his reserved nature and weeping tendency over the issue of children.

Past History: Typhoid twice ’87 & ‘89.
FAMILY HISTORY: Mother-Arthritis.

Physical Examination
Conjunctiva-pale nails-pale mucous membranes- chonchal hypertrophy.
Tongue-coated.
Investigations:
21/11/88 Blood Group-O Rh +ve
Hb-12.6gm%, WBC-6400 Diff-N-56, E-4, L-37, M-3 Platelets-adequate, ESR- 4mm
10/10/89 Laparoscopy-Uterus-AV/ AF-N, Tubes-Bilateral? mucosal block, Ova-released by press inj dye, Ovaries-N, Lt side dye seen in Douglas’ pouch, No other pathology seen

Follow Up:
In this patient irritability with long lasting anger, Sentimentality, H/O psychological disturbances & the aggravation from Sun pointed to Natrum-mur. Staining menses & a number of dreams brought in Magnesium. The forenoon aggravation of typhoid in the past tilted the balance towards Natrum-mur. Natrum-mur 200 was started on 19/09/90. It was given 200 daily. Potency was raised to 1M on 31/10. LMP-30/11. She had slight spotting one day on 26/12, c/o nausea, vomiting Pregnancy Test + ve.

HUSBAND: PRELIMINARY INFORMATION
Name - Mr. D.So. Age - 29 Religion - Hindu - Vanik
Spouse - Mrs. S. Age - 25 Occupation - H.W
Father - 56 yrs Govt. Service. Mother - 48 yr. Siblings - M - 5, 2 - Married S - 3

Occupation - Asst. Eng. - MIDC

Patient as a person:
Lean Wt - 60Kgs Ht - 5’6'’
Skin - peeling, palms and soles < winter
Eruption - h/o Acne+++, pus, scar+++
Perspiration - forehead++, odour+, stain+
Appetite - N Cravings - mangoes+ salt - n Aversion - leafy veg+
Habits - ’81 to ’87 whisky, khajurao beer, ‘87 stopped.
Stool - n Urine - n
Sexual function: Desire - n Emissions - early Freq-1/2days
Sleep - Deep Dreams - nil
Thermal: Bath - hot likes, Fan Full, except in Winter
Covering - double, head to feet in winter, Woolen - occ. C3H2

Life Space
This 29 yr old male comes from a middle class Maharashtrian nuclear Family and lives with his wife aged 25. Pt has done his Dip in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Dhule. Earlier he used to be in a joint family at Ghori.
His Father has a Govt job. From his five brothers and 3 sisters, 2 Brothers are married. Pt studied upto 11^th std at his village and then did his Dip at Dhule staying in a hostel. After studies he took up a job in Mumbai. Currently since 1981, he is working as Asst Eng in MIDC. In 87, he got married. Initially for 1½ yr. they used condom for contraception. Later he got operated for Varicocoele and at that time was diagnosed as having Oligospermia¹ . The couple has come to us for Pri Infertility

MIND
Pt is of irritable nature from beginning. He can not tolerate contradiction. In the joint fly he used to feel that undue importance was given to his paternal aunt and used to quarrel with father on that issue but was never listened to. Ultimately he stopped talking with her. During school days there had been minor quarrels with two of his friends with whom he doesn’t talk till today. Similar incidents also happened in office. Otherwise his relationships are good in the office & the current neighbour hood.
Pt is unhappy about the treatment received from his in-laws during his wedding. He feels that due respect and arrangements were not given to him and his people, not commensurate with his father’s status of a Govt. servant. So he dislikes visiting his in-laws and even tries to avoid their functions. Currently there are no overt disputes with in-laws. Wife visits parents place frequently, 3-4 times a year. He gets along well with wife. Two years ago, wife had attack of {? psychosis} and Typhoid. Even now she has some functional complaints. Dreams frequently of her child.
During the interview Pt initially appeared balanced and practical. But while discussing wife’s nature, he suddenly burst into tears and all his anxiety about an issue, which occupies his mind constantly, came out.

Family history:
Fa - Jaundice Br - Appendicitis
Physical Examination
B.P - 120/80 Nails - white spots Mucous Membranes - nasal mucosa pale, chonchal hypertrophy; Tongue - coated O/E - palms moist

Investigations
21/11/88 Blood Group - O Rh +ve,
Hb - 13.5gm% WBC - 8800cmm N-60,E-1,L-35,M-4,B-0 Platelets - adequate ESR - 14mm at end of 1 hr
18/1/89 Screening Chest - Both lung fields appear clear
25/2//90 X ray chest - Changes of Bronchitis

Semen Analysis

Follow Up:
19/9/90-Patient was initially put on Sil 30 in multiple doses with Tub-bov 1M. This did not help him. The physicals had mislead the physician.
30/10-Semen Analysis-Quantity-4ml Reaction-Alkaline, Motility - 5-10% Total sperm - 1.4mil/ejaculate
The case was reviewed. After understanding the sentimentality (Remember his sudden bursting into tears), irritability & intolerance of contradiction he was put on Nat-mur 30 multiple doses on 31/10/90.
On 13/12 his Semen Analysis - Quantity - 3.5ml, Reaction - Alkaline, Motility - 10-15%, Total sperm - 2.5mill, Time of Liquefaction - 30 min
8/2 Pt reported wife’s Pregnancy test +ve LMP-30/11

CONCLUSION
In this patient with oligospermia the right remedy had brought about a qualitative change in semen. Hence though the report shows only marginal improvement in sperm count & motility the conception could occur in 2^nd month of treatment with the right drug. The couple was blessed with a daughter.