NaProTechnology and Endometriosis

NaProTechnology is a method of fertility enhancement developed in response to teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Although the method is intended to enable couples to become pregnant without resorting to methods that might involve ending the life of embryos, such as IVF, or going outside the marriage bond, such as using donated eggs or sperm, the majority of couples who use it actually aren't Catholic.

Many couples who are trying to conceive find that NaProTechnology is a method that goes beyond purely "natural" methods or the rhythm method without requiring invasive, time-consuming, and enormously expensive medical procedures. It's effective for about 98 per cent of couples who use it, although it's effective only about 57 per cent of the time when the female partner has endometriosis. The key idea behind NaProTechnology is very simple. The sperm has to be able to meet the egg for conception to occur. One variable that can be easily manipulated for conception is the quality of the cervical mucus. Thin, stretchy mucus carries the sperm farther than dry, brittle mucus.

As simple as it sounds, some couples get pregnant after the only change the female partner makes is drinking more water. Men can also ensure that there is enough fluid to carry the sperm to the egg. Simply refraining from ejaculation for 1 to 4 days before intercourse timed to conceive a child increases the volume of semen, the number of sperm, and the likelihood of conception. When measures with this level of simplicity do not work, or when there is no cervical mucus at all, then the NaProTechnology practitioner will measure hormone levels in the woman, seeking especially to regulate estrogen and progesterone.

NaProTechnology often does not, as you might imagine, ask the man to masturbate to submit a semen sample for sperm counts. The amazing thing about the simple interventions of NaProTechnology for couples in which the female partner has endometriosis is that more often than not, they work. Treating endometriosis, however, is beyond the scope of the method and requires care from an OB-GYN that is usually not covered in the fees for enrolling in a NaProTechnology program. Of all the barriers to becoming pregnant, endometriosis is one of the simplest to treat.