Treatments for Immune Conditions
Immune balance revolves around the health of the Autonomic nervous system (ANS), and our responses to stress are a significant factor for the ANS. The six different Fertility Profiles have different challenges to optimising their fertility, and improving resilience to stress is one part of this. Immune health relies on the whole person’s health, and any treatment for immune conditions must be part of a general strategy to raising health. Following the advice for your Fertility Profile is an essential part of adjusting the immune balance.
Immune dysfunction can play a part in premature ovarian failure, thyroid conditions, endometriosis and blocked tubes. There are also specific immune conditions that reduce fertility. The testing for these usually involves blood samples; they’re also expensive and difficult to access. For some of the elevated NK cells, an endometrial biopsy is needed.
Herbal treatments are available from fully qualified herbalists and need to be taken for three months. The success rates quoted are normalisation of immune status, not percentages of pregnancy after treatment. We recommend Herbalism Health for all your herbal supplies.
The treatment options available for fertility-related immune conditions are:
- Anti-Nuclear Antibodies
Conventional treatment for Anti-Nuclear Antibodies relies on immune-suppressing interventions. These include IVIg (currently banned in the USA), intralipids, adalimumab (Humira) and steroids (dexamethasone or prednisolone) + calcium.
Herbal medicine can treat “non-autoimmune positive” ANA with relatively effective treatment and has success rates of around 73%. [i]
- Anti-Phospholipid Antibodies
Conventional treatment for Anti-Phospholipid Antibodies is with:
- Aspirin plus blood-thinning drugs such as enoxaparin (Clexane), heparin, Fragmin or warfarin.
Herbal medicine can treat Anti-Phospholipid Antibodies with Anti-clotting combinations relatively effectively, with success rates of around 81%.
- Anti-Sperm Antibodies
Conventional treatment for Anti-Sperm Antibodies involves immune-suppressing interventions such as IVIg (currently banned in the USA), intralipids, adalimumab (Humira) and steroids (dexamethasone or prednisolone) + calcium.
Herbal medicine offers effective treatment of ASAb, with success rates of around 86%. There is a range of combinations that are appropriate for men who have the condition.
- HLA-DQα incompatibility
Unfortunately, there’s no treatment except the use of donor egg or sperm for the couple.
- Anti-Leukocyte antibodies
The standard treatment for anti- Leukocyte antibodies is leukocyte Immunisation Therapy (LIT) which involves immunising the woman with lymphocytes from the male partner or a donor. Some research shows an increased immune response with LIT use, and those women who have repeated unexplained pregnancy loss also have low immune responses to LIT. [ii]
Herbal medicine for Anti-leukocyte Antibodies is highly effective, with success rates of around 88%.
- Elevated Natural Killer cells
The current conventional treatment for raised NK cells is to suppress the immune system with interventions such as IVIg, intralipids, adalimumab (Humira) and steroids (dexamethasone or prednisolone) + calcium.
Herbal medicine for Elevated Natural Killer cells is effective, with success rates of around 92% after three months of treatment.
- Anti-Ovarian Antibodies
The current conventional treatment for anti-ovarian antibodies is with steroids (dexamethasone or prednisolone) plus calcium.
Herbal medicine for anti-ovarian antibodies is currently not that effective, at just 40% after three months of treatment.
[i] Unpublished data from The Women’s Health Clinic, London. 2011
[ii] ‘Proportional change of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells after lymphocyte therapy in unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion patients.’ Yang H1, Qiu L, Di W, Zhao A, Chen G, Hu K, Lin Q. Fertil Steril. 2009 Jul;92(1):301-5
