Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Good information for those who think they have tried "everything"

Customer Rating:

This book has a large amount of information about alternative healing but it doesn't present it in a weird new agey way. It is presented factually in a manner that is easy to read. I actually live in Houston so I checked out the clinic the author started. I was disappointed to learn she no longer treats people who cannot afford one of her $5000 K workshops. Only her partners still see patients there. However, for those not in Houston this book is helpful. The only caveat I would give is that she touts that TCM is so much less expensive than conventional infertility treatments. I found this wasn't exactly the case. At $60 per acupuncture treatment and then $30 per week for each herb prescribed (prescribed 4) the costs add up quickly. The herbs did help me ovulate without the assistance of other drugs and I plan to use it to complement my future ART procedures.

Brilliantly clear and helpful

Customer Rating:

Originally I was lent this book by a fellow infertile lady. It became my constant companion so I felt duty-bound to purchase my own copy. Randine Lewis writes about a complex and to me, new and unknown topic, with absolute clarity. Her training as a 'western' medical doctor, combined with her personal experiences of infertility convinced me that Traditional Chinese Medicine was something that I must try. I am only 33 but for reasons unexplainable by western medicine seem to have a problem with egg fertilisation. My western doctors feel there is little left they can do. Randine Lewis showed me that there was still a road I had not tried. HAving read her book I sought out a TCM practitioner who is now treating me and feels positive that he can help me conceive naturally! A fascinating subject that should be read by every woman suffering from infertility. Often, Assisited Reproductive Technologies are not even needed if you pursue this path.

LOVE THIS BOOK!!

Customer Rating:

The book makes sooo much sense. TCM is different from the traditional medicine we grow up around in the US but this book explains TCM so simply. I've had no problems understanding it. After three miscarriages and currently 41, it has given me the hope and energy to try again. I have an appointment with an acupuncturist in 4 days and can't wait to start this treatment that has helped so many others.

IT WORKS!!!!!!

Customer Rating:

After 6 years, this book made the difference. I just have to share this with anyone and everyone who is trying to conceive and having difficulty. I think it's important you know my fertility background. I am now 35 years old, about 178lbs now, my husband is 36 and we have been TTC for 6 years and 2 months. About 16 months in, I decided to quit a very stressful job (which I believed was a major factor in my inability to conceive) and we conceived but I had a miscarriage at 6 weeks. I was beyond devastated. To try for so long only to lose our first hope was crushing. I went back to work at a less stressful job about 8 months later. We did all of the standard testing, some multiple times, over the years. I had an HSG to see if my tubes were blocked. My husband's sperm was tested. I went to an endocrinologist who said I was borderline PCOS (with no cysts). So I tried Metformin. We tried several natural methods like the Creighton Model System with which you chart your cervical mucus to track your most fertile times, etc. I also went to a naturalist who helped me with anxiety with Adrenal Stress End (a miracle supplement!), but the Progesterone cream and Chasteberry herbs he suggested did not help me conceive. I even moved my bedroom around and of course we tried every position and I even tried standing on my head! Hey, when you're desperate, you'll do anything! We were diagnosed with Unexplained Infertility. The only diagnostic thing I did not do was a laparoscopy. Well, that was about the worst thing to me. If nothing was wrong, and so there's nothing to fix, what do you do next? I really didn't want to try Clomid or ART. I wanted to become pregnant naturally if possible. I was afraid of the side effects of Clomid and the expense and toll ART would take on my mind and my body. But finally in Oct. '06 I felt like we had no choice but to start trying something else, so I took Letrozole (like Clomid) for 3 months. I had the worst possible experience with it. I had every side effect including panic attacks and no baby. By Dec. I decided that was enough. My job had become more stressful and after so long without conceiving I had a discussion with my husband about putting trying for a family first. I quit my job again and worked hard on eating better and losing some weight. Also reading and meditating and really trying to relax (that evil word!) and get healthy. We made a plan that at the end of summer we would start ART if we still hadn't conceived naturally. Then in early July I happened upon this book online "The Infertility Cure" by Randine Lewis, Ph.D. I bought the book and began reading immediately. TCM is based on the theory that whatever problem you have is based on a whole body imbalance. And when you fix the imbalance, the problem will correct itself. They don't treat symptoms with medicine. They treat the problem that causes the symptoms (an imbalance) with diet, herbs, and acupuncture mostly. Finally! Something that would address the imbalance in me that was causing infertility! There is a questionnaire in the book that lists 5 pages of "symptoms" that then tell you where the imbalance lies. And then it tells you specifically what to do to fix it! She said it normally takes 3 - 6 months for your body to come into balance. I had 3 months until ART was to start. I figured I'd do the recommendations in the book and then if we still hadn't conceived, ART would be in place ready to go. I put forth full effort. I jokingly said I wanted a "free baby!", so I put my health first. I found a Chinese acupuncturist (something my ART doctors highly recommend) who specializes in infertility. She said she actually uses the questionnaire in this book when someone comes to her for infertility. I filled it out, read the book, and started the dietary guidelines immediately. Which for me was to cut out dairy, wheat and high-sugar foods, not to eat cold foods, to do things like warm foot soaks and femoral artery massage to stimulate blood flow to the uterus. I had my first acupuncture treatment for fertility on day 24 of my cycle (last Wednesday). Yesterday, I had a positive result for a pregnancy test!! Over 6 long years of negative results, broken dreams and self-doubt. I believed there was a natural way to allow me to conceive. And I finally found it. I never even took any of the herbs. I didn't get a chance! Ladies, I can't tell you, this was the easiest thing I did over the 6 years of trying. Please, before you take medical drugs or start ART, try this. Even if you need ART because of a medical problem, this book teaches you easily how to get your body in the best possible place it can be for conception to occur. I cannot recommend it enough for obvious reasons. I know first hand the frustration and sadness that not being able to conceive brings. I pray for anyone who is looking for the answers that I was to see this and give it a try. I pray that anyone who reads this will also send out a little prayer for us that this pregnancy continues and that I am able to give birth to a beautiful healthy child that we have been waiting for, for so long. I will pray for all who read this to share in the success that we have had!

Proven methods of fertility reviewed by a male.

Customer Rating:

As a male, I bought this book for my wife (who had 3 miscarriages). I started reading the book as it promoted nutrition and health as a way of making the whole woman strong enough to conceive. I really felt for the author, Randine Lewis, after her trials of losing her babies. But was also inspired by her research, persistence and hope to conceive. I have not grasped all of the Chinese Traditional Medicine described. However, by following the nutrition, herbal and massage methods, my wife is feeling better and more hopeful in her latest pregnancy. We hope to have a baby by February 2009. Thank you Randine. Doug Setter, author of Stomach Flattening