Conceive naturally

Many of our patients would like to get pregnant naturally for a variety of reasons, from it being drug-free and less invasive, to IVF being a hassle and expensive, to not wanting to use donor eggs. We help couples get pregnant naturally by improving the egg quality for women (increase AMH, decrease FSH) and sperm for men. We treat a range of other issues such as early menopause (POF), PCOS, recurring miscarriages, endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, severe period pain. By improving egg quality, achieving hormonal balance, and improving sperm count and quality, natural pregnancy is more likely to occur.

Is there an age limit for natural pregnancy?

There is no denying that the older you are, the harder it is for you to get pregnant, whether through IVF or naturally. It is worth noting that in this country that IVF clinics are not allowed to take on female patients over 46 who want to use their own eggs, as IVF success for them is zero (as related to us by IVF clinics). For IVF success rate by age, click here.

Older women (in their late 30s or early 40s) are sometimes told their hormones are no good (such as a low AMH level or high FSH). This is more often the case if they’ve already been through IVF procedures. When IVF is abandoned, women are sometimes told that their only way to have a child is through donor eggs. This news can be devastating. 

Biological age vs natural age

It is important to recognise that while age may be the best predictor for IVF success, it is not as critical in natural pregnancy. Anecdotally, a lot of us know women who get naturally pregnant after the age of 46. More importantly, health is not a hundred percent correlated with age. The former can change while the latter cannot. This is now backed up by the latest scientific research on ageing in the US. On 12 July 2021, Nature Aging published an article to unveil the details of a test that can tell whether someone is biologically younger or older than their natural age. In other words, natural age may not be the same as biological age. The iAge test uses information on immune system chemicals in a person's blood to gauge their biological age. iAge is based on the idea that as a person ages, their body experiences chronic, systemic inflammation because their cells become damaged and emit inflammation-causing molecules. This ultimately leads to wear and tear on their tissues and organs. People who have a healthy immune system will be able to neutralise this inflammation to some extent, whereas others will age faster. The study “is a further reinforcement of the fact that the immune system is critical, not only for predicting unhealthy ageing, but also as a mechanism driving it,” says Vishwa Deep Dixit, an immunobiologist at Yale (University) School of Medicine, who was not involved in the work.

To summarise, the results show that the biological age is a better predictor for health than the natural age. While the natural age cannot be changed, the biological age is influenced by a host of environmental factors such diet, stress and exercise. The research was also briefly reported in The Sunday Times in the UK on 9 January 2022.

As regards reproduction, according to Dr Randine Lewis who is the author of a well-received book called The Infertility Cure, “women should be capable of pregnancy from the onset of menstruation until menopause”. She goes on to say, “rarely have I met a woman of childbearing age with all her reproductive organs intact who isn’t capable of having children. As long as anatomical structures are present, a medical diagnosis of ‘infertility’ is often a fallacy. Many factors can cause a woman to have difficulty conceiving, but once these factors are overcome and a woman’s body is restored to health, conception can occur naturally.”

At TCM Healthcare, we take a similar view. Firstly, natural pregnancy can occur if a woman is ovulating regularly. Secondly, good general and reproductive health are important and can also be improved. Natural age is not important and biological age. For fertility, someone with a younger biological age (than her natural age) is one whose periods are regular, hormones are balanced, has low anxiety and a positive attitude, to name but a few key parameters. This perspective is borne out from our many patients who have seen their FSH, AMH and other key hormones improve, and periods come back after treatment. As far as hormones are concerned, their balance is just as important as their individual levels.

Based on our extensive experience, we believe that regardless of your natural age, natural pregnancy in older women may still be possible if you can achieve the following:

How does the treatment work?

All patients come to us with their recent hormone or semen test results. For women, they should include the AMH test and the Female Fertility Profile test. Men should have done a semen analysis. We will accept results of your tests if they were conducted within the last 3 months. If they were not, we can arrange tests for you very quickly. 

The treatment programme consists of three phases. 

Phase 1

The treatment will last for 3 months with visits on a monthly basis. We will prescribe tailor-made herbs for you to take in your monthly cycle. The herbal remedies will be altered to suit your changing condition.

After 3 months, we ask you to take the hormone tests again to check progress. Most patients see significant improvements and move onto the second phase.

Phase 2

The second phase is also around 3 months, however, you may be asked to come see us every other month or have a rest (for 2–3 months) before you start the second phase.

Phase 3

The third phase runs in the same way as the second.

In general, older women tend to require longer treatment than younger women. For women over 40, patients tend to be treated by us for up to 9 months; younger patients tend to be treated for 2 phases instead of 3 (ie up to 6 months).

What is our success rate?

We have helped women up to the age of 48 to conceive naturally, the majority of whom have tried more than one cycle of IVFs.

Our success rate in improving hormones and sperm is over 80%. For natural pregnancy, the rate is about 45%. 

Natural pregnancy usually occurs during the second or third course of treatment, each course of treatment being 3 months. Sometimes, this is achieved after treatment has stopped because although the patient’s health and reproductive systems are functioning a lot better after treatment, nature still has to take its course.

What are our fees? 

The fees come to about £480 to £530 a month on average. Given our success rate, the fees of our treatment programme compares very favourably with IVF — all 3 courses (9 months) of our treatment comes out to be around £4,500 whereas the minimum all-inclusive fee for one IVF cycle stands at £6,000.