Top 3 Tips When Looking For Fertility Support
There is a lot of noise. Ads of people saying they can help, post from people saying they found something that did help. All delivered—sometimes unasked—to your feed. Social media can be a gift and a curse in that way.
How do you cut through all of the noise? How do you know who to trust? How do you what is actually worth your time and money? Especially when both of which are extremely valuable
And I’ve been there. I never imagined I would be my own client, that’s exactly where I found myself. Not wanting my story to end in miscarriage and a broken heart but needing to decide what my next step should be.
Here are 3 tips of what I would look for in looking for fertility support:
1. Look for someone who wants to support your whole body health.
Two things I want you to consider: One: pregnancy doesn’t just happen in the womb. Two: the fate of your pregnancy happens well before you do the deed.
With that understanding, it is immensely easier to help the body do what it was meant to do than to force it to. By doing so you are recruiting every body system that is meant to support fertility and removing secondary and tertiary blockages upstream somewhere.
There are direct and indirect things that support your fertility
I probably can’t convince you that drinking water will help you get finally get pregnant, but reducing stress and strain on the whole system and letting the system function is key. Remember, pregnancy is a luxury expense of the body’s resources. It will divert energy and nutrients away from the womb to support a more “vital” function—I know, I know! Getting pregnant feels immensely vital! I’m just the messenger.
2. Look for someone who is going to look at your cycle health
You have heard me say this before, a healthy menstrual cycle is the only towards a health pregnant or getting pregnant in the first place. Your reproductive years start at menarche, your first cycle, and end at menopause, your last cycle. Period (no pun intended).
You have to have a cycle and you have to have a GOOD cycle. There are so many moving parts to the cycle but all most of us look at or think about is the bleeding bit. If you want to be extra extra technical, there are actually 7 moving parts, 7 separate cycles that you need to look at—ok, 4 if you don’t want to be as extra.
Uterine cycle
Ovarian cycle
Hormone cycle
Basal body temperature cycle
Each piece either directly affects your follicle and egg development—which means egg health and egg quality—; your uterine line development where that perfect fertilized egg needs to embed and be nourished before the placenta is ready; or your implantation window, the clock before the train leaves the station, if that egg is not on the train, you literally have to wait for the next one (your next cycle)
Or these pieces will indirectly affect your hormones that play a role in your fertility. One example is that your basal body temp is a reflection of your thyroid health, and we know how important that is.
And what is driving all of this? Your lifestyle and habits. Nutrition and other daily practices that impact good function of your whole body.
3. Look for someone who will test beyond AMH and FSH
My new favorite quote is “your labs show your past not your future”. So i’m not saying don’t get the labs. I’m saying get labs that you can really use. Things and AMH and FSH are diagnostic, you can get a diagnosis like diminished ovarian reserve based on your levels. Ok, great. Now what?
You need labs that will help explain WHY AMH and FSH are off. Which links back to my first point; you need to see what is going with your health head to toe.
For example AMH tests your ovaries and eggs. While FSH test your ovaries as well, and how well your they can respond FSH, but it also test your brain health and how well it is releasing that hormone. So wouldn’t it be a good idea to look at what else is going on up there and how something like stress and inflammation can affect your brain health and by extension your hormone levels and fertility?
You might even need stool testing or liver testing to see how well your body is eliminating and metabolism key hormones like estrogen. Again, pregnancy doesn’t just happen inside the womb. Your womb reacts to signals elsewhere in the body.
So what does it all mean
I remember being at such a loss when I realized there was something other than “oh it happens” going on with my fertility and miscarriages. I am so thankful that I was able to “treat” myself. I was able to look objectively at my health and habits and realized I did not like what I saw. I was “healthy” but there was PLENTY room for improvement.
If anything u are anything like me, the new year brings up a lot of things like “will this be the year I get pregnant and have me baby?”
So if you know you want to do something or if you have tried assisted methods unsuccessfully and feel like it’s over—maybe you were even told that there is a small chance of you conceiving naturally and should consider donor eggs or adoption—there is probably plenty room for improvement in your womb health and whole body health.
If you are struggling to decide what to do next I feel you. I hope these tips give you some guidance or provoke some thought as you consider the best way to support your fertility and how best to use your time and money in 2023.
xx and baby dust,
Ericka
