NASHUA, N.H. -- Infertility affects one in six couples, and treatments ranging from hormone injections to surgery have no guarantees. A Nashua clinic is giving couples another, less traditional option.

Video

Treatments Work For Many

Nashua Natural Medicine offers an unconventional approach to fertility treatment. For some patients, like Melissa Mannon, it's the place to go when standard procedures have failed.

"All [my doctors] came up with was unexplained infertility," said Mannon, who underwent three years of standard infertility treatment. "They had no idea what was wrong with me."

The first step to treating Mannon was to find out what was causing the problem.

"If women have blocked tubes, I can't help that because I don't do surgical interventions," said Dr. Sara Thyr, a license naturopathic doctor and midwife. "But if a woman is having miscarriages or can't get pregnant, we can look at a lot of what may affect that environment -- a need for detoxification, food allergies or undiagnosed diseases that may be happening."

Tests showed Mannon had several food allergies, including a problem digesting wheat. Her diet was overhauled, and she had weekly acupuncture treatments, combined with Chinese herbs and supplements to replenish her body with nutrients and vitamins.

"Acupuncture really helps promote normal function, hormone levels, follicle development," acupuncturist Sean Doherty said. "That thickens the uterine lining so a pregnancy can take place."

The team at Nashua Natural Medicine has been working with patients facing infertility since 1999, and has an 80 percent success rate. Some mainstream doctors even work with the office on a referral basis for couples dealing with the inability to conceive.

"We work with in-vitro patients to help people have a baby," Thyr said. "Whatever works for any given person should be welcome."

Acupuncture is used in the office throughout the woman's pregnancy. It's used to help induce overdue babies and turn babies that are breech. It is also used to boost the effectiveness of in-vitro fertilization. Patient Stephanie Pyle turned to acupuncture after two in-vitro cycles failed.

"The fact we had done two cycles before with no response and the third with a good response sealed the deal for us," Pyle said.

Couples in the United States spend an estimated $2.6 billion a year on infertility treatments. In an industry that can be emotional and disappointing, not everyone is convinced an alternative approach is the right one, but Mannon said it changed her life, giving her a new diet, newfound good health and -- best of all -- a baby girl.

"That's what I hoped for when I came here, and that's what I got," she said.