You may both have to change your life-style to incorporate healthy influences, and eliminate things you enjoy that reduce your fertility.

Increasing your fertility outcome is something you can both do for unexplained infertility. You can make sure you and your partner are eating healthily, and eliminate habits that may lower your chances of conceiving.

You can make sure your weight is within the range that is helpful for conceiving.

You can make sure you incorporate a regular gentle exercise programme into your daily life such as walking; cycling or swimming, being fit and active is beneficial for fertility.

Stress
Stress can have a big effect on fertility. Stress hormones affect the hypothalamus and pituitary glands and reproductive organs. In women under stress, the reproductive hormone prolactin is over-produced and this can interfere with ovulation. The hypothalamus stops secreting gonadotrophin hormone, which in turn will affect the release of both the luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone. As these hormones stimulate ovulation – fertility is affected.

Self help for stress is regular exercise, deep breathing techniques, hypnotherapy and visualization – we use a combined approach at the Hypnospot clinic for the treatment of infertility:

Nutrition
Acupuncture
Hypnotherapy
Fertility is a whole-body event, not something that happens just in our reproductive organs – that is why we use a holistic approach. There may be a need for more fertility awareness and lifestyle changes to improve the chances of starting the pregnancy, or there may be a need for nutritional supplements, relaxation and de-stressing techniques, acupuncture, and massage.

Alcohol
Alcohol can jeopardize pregnancy. According to some studies, the risk of miscarriage appears to increase with moderate drinking during the first three months of pregnancy, particularly in the first weeks.

Smoking
Women who smoke are more likely to take longer to conceive, they have an increased risk of miscarriage, and lower oestrogen and progesterone levels.

Men who smoke are likely to have decreased sperm density, less motile sperm, reduced testosterone, and an increase in abnormal sperm.

These risks for both men and women increase with the number of cigarettes smoked.

Nutrition
You should not overlook nutrition in fertility treatment – it is important to have a good level of nourishment that will allow your body to function well.

Bad eating habits can lower the reserves of nutrients that are necessary for reproductive hormone systems to work properly.

Your hormonal balance and fertility are affected by what you eat, your nutrient levels and how well your digestion works.

If you are short of essential fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin B6, zinc, magnesium, and antioxidants, then your hormone production may be blocked – resulting in an imbalance that makes conception less likely.

Acupuncture
Have you ever wondered about the treatment of infertility with traditional medicine and acupuncture?

Good candidates for trying medical acupuncture are people who have unexplained infertility – acupuncture is effective for balancing the body’s energies and raising the receptiveness of the body for conception.

Men and women with a physical problem, such as damaged fallopian tubes, or a low sperm count, would be encouraged to try acupuncture in addition to their medical treatment.

When skilfully applied, acupuncture is effective in correcting many of the imbalances that underlie the complex physical and hormonal disorders that lead to a reduction in fertility.

Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is exceptionally beneficial for unexplained infertility.

Hypnotherapists are already using Hypnotherapy to help women give birth peacefully, and teaching them that a normal birth should be a calm and natural process.

At the Hypnospot Clinic we teach simple but specialised relaxation, and breathing, and other techniques, making the whole birth easier and more comfortable.

With unexplained infertility, hypnotherapists do the same sort of thing, teaching you to let go of the stress you have been holding on to, using specialised relaxation, and breathing techniques.

Hypnotherapy teaches you to let go of any emotional blocks or worries you may have that can create infertility issues – Hypnotherapy can help you identify and process emotional issues that might be interfering with conception.

In addition to dealing with deep-seated fears, hypnotherapy is effective in stress reduction, and this in turn allows for hormonal rebalancing. This has been seen in cases where there is too much prolactin being produced which can inhibit ovulation.

In a relaxed environment at our clinic, we work together to bring about positive attitudes and beliefs.

It is very useful in enabling clients to imagine and create positive outcomes – from being able to see themselves pregnant to being able to visualize embryos embedding while undergoing egg harvesting or implantation in IVF.

You can give your unconscious mind free rein here and allow yourself to be creative, free, and prepared to follow your heart’s wishes.

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The participants in the study were all treated free of charge and none were paid, unless the GP charged to complete the PASI form, and then only their costs were covered.  There were other conditions, such as for the past year they had not used any drug treatments for their Psoriasis, (apart from moisturising creams), prior to the start of the hypnotherapy study.
 
During the study it came to my attention that there were three distinct personality traits that many of the participants shared.  The most significant being anger.
 
The anger was very common.  I would say over 90% of the participants had this deep routed and very noticeable anger.  However, the anger was surprisingly not always about the Psoriasis.  Sometimes the anger was directed towards themselves, as if they had done something so wrong that the Psoriasis was a kind of punishment.

However when client’s anger was directed at themselves, or more specifically at their skin and its condition, they will say things like “I hate my skin” with such vehemence and distaste, which is not helpful to any therapeutic intervention, so obviously needs to be dealt with.  On these occasions I would utilise of some kind of release or forgiveness intervention. Often forgiving themselves and their skin is very difficult for the client, so I would allow plenty of time for this part of the therapy, as it is crucial to the overall well-being and de-stressing of the client. The skin is the largest organ in the body and as such it is not surprising that any underlying anxiety should manifest itself through the skin. Until the anger is completely released the client has no chance of becoming calm in their mind.
 
The belief that they had done something wrong and hence deserved their Psoriasis is of course a fictitious belief.  Generally most of them have had a perfectly normal life; although there was nearly always some drama or trauma in their childhood that helped to form a significant portion of the hypnotherapy work that was done during the study. 

It is my belief that eradicating, lessening or coming to terms with this anger is an important part of the change needed to affect the Psoriasis. Any intervention that does not take this issue into account is doomed to fail.

I will cover the other two personality traits in future articles. These are the “I’m not good enough” belief structure, and the “Victim” belief.

Brief Hypnotherapy study results.
 
28% achieved a 95% reduction in their Psoriasis.  A further 29% obtained over 50% reduction.  43% saw little or no reduction at all.  However ALL participants in the hypnotherapy study reported a completely different attitude to their Psoriasis.

Paul Howard has been specialising with Psoriasis for nearly ten years. He has trained many hypnotherapists around the country to treat Psoriasis effectively. He works at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy in Wallington, Surrey, UK. He can be contacted via the website at www.sich.co.uk. He is also the Marketing director for The National Council for Hypnotherapy – The premiere governing body in the UK.

Despite being somewhat cynical about the way happiness is regarded as the panacea for all ills, I confess to being part of the industry which promotes it as a life-affirming goal. Some see happiness as sentimental dream or fleeting fantasy. But I realise through my work as a hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner that it is possible to create a happy state of mind and spread a little of this magical ingredient.

What makes you happy is only relevant to you. A loving partnership and strong friendships are more highly prized than material things by most of us. It’s a given that happiness is not necessarily about millions in the bank, a yacht on the Med or any of those affluent trappings. Many are the tales of how lottery winners lose their friends, community, identity and even their loved ones over arguments about new found loot.

There’s no question, cash equals freedom of choice. More to the point, earning it equals a healthy sense of self worth which no trust fund kid will ever know (hence the less than life-enhancing addictions that often fill the gaps in their lives).

In a wealthy western culture, few of us go hungry or lack material goods. The poorest and most disadvantaged have access to housing, healthcare, education, the welfare state, iPods, mobiles and flat screen TVs.

What makes the starving happy is a good meal. It takes more than that to sate an emotionally starved but nutritionally nourished appetite. Whilst not life-threatening, such a condition undermines energy, motivation and focus, impairing the ability to set and achieve goals. High flyers in both primitive and technological societies often start out the hungriest and succeed simply because they try harder.

So it seems that the old fashioned Protestant principle of good old hard graft leads to a very secular kind of satisfaction. And being a bit peckish is no bad thing. It makes those little snacks in life so much more tasty. In this indulgent era of comfort and excess, those who make an effort and choose energy over inertia, those who curb their appetite enough to truly savour all that is plentiful and those who take the time to nurture their loved ones are the winners in the happiness stakes.

See www.hypnotherapykent.co.uk for information about hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner Karen Martin. She is a confidence and weight control specialist who is also in great demand in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and surrounding areas by sufferers of conditions including anxiety, addictions and phobias. A member of The National Council for Hypnotherapy, she has also trained in CBT.

What is Psoriasis? Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin condition. There are nine types, each with unique signs and symptoms. Plaque Psoriasis is the most common type of Psoriasis and the only one so far that I have been able to affect. About 80% of people who develop psoriasis have plaque psoriasis, which looks like patches of raised, reddish skin covered by opaque scales. These patches, or plaques, often form on the elbows, knees, scalp and lower back. However, the plaques can occur anywhere on the body.

Researchers believe that psoriasis is an immune-mediated condition. This means the condition is caused by faulty signals in the body’s immune system. It is believed that psoriasis develops when the immune system tells the body to over-react and accelerate the growth of skin cells. Normally skin cells mature and are shed from the skin’s surface every 28 to 30 days. When psoriasis develops, the skin cells mature in 3 to 6 days and move to the skin surface. Instead of being shed, the skin cells pile up, causing the visible lesions. It is my belief that by using Hypnotherapy what the client is able to do is to correct those faulty signals. There is good evidence to show that Hypnotherapy can have a significant effect on Psoriasis.

Psoriasis usually causes discomfort. The skin often itches, and it may crack and bleed. In severe cases, the itching and discomfort may keep a person awake at night, and the pain can make everyday tasks difficult.

In my previous article “Psoriasis an angry man’s game” I described the study, the results and another trait common to a Psoriasis client, anger. However in this article I want to discuss a common belief amongst Psoriasis clients and that is that “I’m not good enough”. This is a common belief that virtually all Psoriasis clients, which I have worked with over the years, have. They believe, deep down at a sub-conscious level, for one reason or another, that they have done something wrong. This develops into a belief that “I’m not good enough”, which is eventually translated into the belief that they deserve the condition. To an outsider looking in this would appear to be bizarre. However, consider the small child, say a five year old girl, whose parents split up and her daddy is suddenly taken away. What does that child think? It’s a fair bet that she will be very upset and in trying to understand what has happened to her world, (given her limited understanding of the world and its complexities), she may feel that SHE has done something wrong, which is why daddy left. In turn, this leads to feelings of guilt and low self-worth. Hence, the “I’m not good enough” syndrome is born.

Psoriasis will often develop after an event like this. Of course it then follows on quite naturally for the child to link the two together to come to an even bigger fictitious belief that because she wasn’t ‘good enough’ God, Father Christmas or whoever, gave her this horrible scaly, itchy skin. Now, most adults would of course dismiss this belief structure. However we are talking about a small child with very limited processing capability; to her it’s a straightforward cause and effect, “I deserve it and here it is!”

Okay, so now this child has the belief, what happens as she grows? Does her self-worth improve? It’s very unlikely! What would you expect to happen when she’s at school doing PE with scales on her elbows or in her hair? Do you imagine the other children will understand and give her positive encouragement? Of course not! Names like scabby and snakeskin make her feel more ashamed and teach her to hide it away, dropping her self worth even lower. This will continue for the rest of her life unless someone steps in and tells her subconscious mind to “STOP” these destructive thought processes, and starts the reversal of the cycle so that the healing may begin.

Many people are unaware of the automatic functions of the subconscious mind. This simply means that if a process is repeated often enough, almost irrespective of the outcome, this ‘thinking’ develops into an automatic process. This is because the subconscious mind does not have a critical factor, which means that it does not interrogate behaviour or thinking to establish whether or not it is beneficial to the client.

Hypnotherapy is really the most direct and influential way of changing subconscious thinking; within therapy patterns thinking and behaviour can be improved to facilitate beneficial resolutions. Often this process is both surprising to, and effortless for, the client.

A belief in the benefits of Hypnotherapy is not necessary in order to change behaviour. Many clients that I have dealt with have either been unable to understand the link between the way we think and the way our body responds, or tend to think of ‘hypnosis’ as being something they have seen on television, which has no relevance to them. Hypnotherapy works independently and separately from a client’s critical intellectual assessment, which often comes as a ‘big surprise’.

Paul Howard has been specialising in Psoriasis for nearly ten years. He has trained many hypnotherapists around the country to treat Psoriasis effectively. He works at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy in Wallington, Surrey, UK. He can be contacted via the website at www.sich.co.uk He is the Marketing director for The National Council for Hypnotherapy – the premiere governing body for hypnotherapists in the UK.