Words have incredible power. Today we are going to explore the story you have been broadcasting to your body about the status of your fertility and how that impacts your perception of the journey. I'll share some personal insights I had working through this same exercise with my own health and the surprising findings in the mansion of the mind. We will go through my ritual for rewriting your story in a powerful way.
EPISODE 97 | GUT ISSUES AND SUBFERTILITY w/ Dr. Jennifer Horton
Gut Issues & Subfertility- A Functional Medicine Approach
Gut health isn't where your brain would normally go when trying to solve the problem of fertility challenges, but it is thought to be one of the root causes of subfertility. Did you know that low microbe diversity in your intestines can lead to issues like endometriosis, pcos, metabolic syndrome and even obesity? Functional medicine specialist Dr. Jen Horton and I talk all things poo and how and why it should be a part of your fertility workup.
Links or Mentions to take leader further
Research mentioned
Estrogen-gut microbiome axis: Physiological and clinical implications- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28778332/
study on isolation-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3890922/
study on placenta- https://academic.oup.com/ajcp/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ajcp/aqaa089/5842018
studies on COVID & microbiome- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7217790/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7237927/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7197973/
This episode is brought to you by my Recipes for a Fertile You Program
EPISODE 94 | DAY 5 #NIAW MEDITATION CHALLENGE | New Moon Intentions
Day 5 of our meditation challenge happens to fall on a new moon in Taurus and Earth day. What an auspicious day for setting intentions! We will examine the 5 realms of life (Physical, Mental/Emotional, Relationship, Material and Spiritual) and how our fertility is interfacing with these different parts that make up our lives. We will then set some intentions that we would like to see unfold and seal it with a mantra in celebration of the Earth- Om Shri Gaia Ma Purnatva Gaia Ma.
EPISODE 88 | MANAGING CHAOS IN UNCERTAIN TIMES | Elizabeth Markie
Heart Math and Meta meditation techniques to help you reel in your nervous system throughout your day.
These techniques are extremely powerful to bring into your day when you are trying to stay calm or make a heart based decision.
Our guest today, Elizabeth Markie, founder of Tri Brain Coaching and Heart Math Facilitator is here to help us understand the most recent neuroscience discoveries and why it is now more important than ever to continually ground ourselves into the seat of our hearts.
EPISODE 89 | Coping with the C-word w/ Erin Gray
As if fertility challenges weren't hard enough, now we are dealing with the ramifications of COVID-19. Today we bring you some sound advice for coping emotionally and the beautiful insight as to why you may be better equipped to handle this than you think.
EPISODE 84 | UNDERSTANDING ACUPUNCTURE & FERTILITY | with Heidi Brockmyre
Can Acupuncture boost your fertility and help you get pregnant?
In today’s episode, we are joined by Heidi Brockmyre. She will be helping us understand how acupuncture can help boost fertility and help you conceive.
Heidi is a licensed practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and she has a decade of experience helping women grow their families. She’s supported hundreds of women in her clinic in San Diego and now thousands of women around the world and her online community. She teaches women how to get pregnant, have a faster, healthier, easier and more affordable way in her online program Fertility activation method. She loves teaching women how to renew their faith and their ability to conceive and how to take back control of their health and their bodies.
Stay tuned and learn how Chinese medicine can help boost your fertility and increase your chances to conceive.
It is important to note that the benefits of acupuncture and Chinese medicine don’t end at conceiving; it helps even after childbirth.
Key Talking Points:
• Getting to know Heidi
• How did Heidi start practising acupuncture and Chinese medicine?
• Words of wisdom about traditional Chinese medicine
• Healthy menstrual cycle
• Why is there a disconnect between traditional Chinese medicine and convectional medicine?
• Detoxes and fertility treatment
• Heidi’s program
Key Milestones of the Episode:
(01:20): Introducing our guest, Heidi Brockmeyer
(05:17): How Heidi started practising acupuncture and Chinese medicine
(08:02): How I got into Chinese medicine
(10:14): Words of wisdom about TCM
(18:13) what is the purpose behind a healthy menstrual cycle, and what does that look like?
(25:42): The disconnect between Chinese medicine and Western medicine
(38:26): Detoxifying before getting into fertility treatment
(43:19): Heidi’s Program
(50:00): Words of wisdom from Heidi to women with fertility challenges
(51:02) Connect with Heidi
Links or Mentions to take leader further.
http://heidibrockmyre.com/fam-invite
http://heidibrockmyre.com/fertility-reset-webinar
Disclaimer *
You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider.If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 80 | THE WHAT & HOW OF A FERTILITY GRANT with Tedi Palmer
There is Hope for Infertility
Infertility is becoming an epidemic in the modern world. According to a statistic carried out in the US, 10-12 out of 100 couples in the US struggle with infertility. In today’s episode, we are joined by Tedi Palmer fertility activist who has been through the infertility journey and is now a mother. She’s a wife, a mom and an infertility survivor, and a fur mama of two. She’s active in the fertility community by running an infertility-related blog. She also runs an Etsy shop selling infertility awareness apparel. And, she runs a non-profit called Hope for Fertility that provides fertility grants once a year to couples TTC. We talk about how Infertility can be isolating and at times brings with it a sense of hopelessness especially when it comes to the financial aspect when you are facing intervention or adoption.
Key Points of discussion:
• Getting to know Tedi
• Tedi's infertility journey
• The various fertility treatments
• The Hope for Fertility foundation
• Starting a non- profit
• Tedi’s business
Key Milestones of the Episode:
(00:06): Getting to know Tedi
(01:26): Tedi’s infertility journey
(02:32): Trying out intrauterine insemination (IUI)
(04:29): The first IVF
(08:24): Starting a fundraiser for the second IVF
(09:30): Second failed IVF
(10:33): Pregnant at last
(13:03): Hope for Fertility foundation
(13:58): The amazing fertility tribe on Instagram
(19:19): Walking by faith
(27:02): Hope for fertility fundraiser
(31:28): Criteria for receiving a grant
(35:47): Adoption
(38:29): What it takes to start a non-profit
(43:53): Giving back to the society
Key Quotes from the Episode:
“It’s a blessing and an honor for sure to be able to guide tiny humans on our planet for sure.”
“Nothing much harder than IVF except maybe parenting.”
“Even small amounts make a big difference.”
“God was really with us when creating this foundation because things went a lot quicker than what they would have normally taken.”
“When the mind is occupied and thinks like, okay, I have a plan B or plan C, it takes a little bit of that stress and pressure off.”
“He knows what I’m feeling, and all I need to do is just give it to Him.”
“Everyone has a hard something that they’re going to have to deal through in life.”
Links to Checkout:
Financial planning overview for fertility challenges
Disclaimer * You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider.If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 74 | CONCEIVING WITH LOVE | How to Keep the Spark Alive with Denise Wiesner
Description: Has TTC made your mojo go MIA? There's a book to help you find it! This conversation with Denise Wiesner, a fellow ABORM certified acupuncturist, is packed with tips from the taoist traditions of chinese Medicine to help you forget about conceiving and get back to loving, literally. Trust me when I say you should listen to this episode together and read the book in bed together :)
Announcer: (0:00) Welcome to Fertile Minds Radio. Here, you'll find wisdom for your fertility journey and beyond. Chosen specifically to help you trust your body and elevate your spirit so you can enjoy the process. Join us and see what a fertile mind feels like. Now your host, Hillary Talbott Roland.
Hillary Talbott Roland: Hey there, Hillary here, your go-to gal for a plan to reclaim your fertility and create a healthy family for generations to come. We have an amazing guest today, Denise Wiesner. She's a fellow acupuncturist and a fellow of the American Board of Oriental Medicine. She's the founder of Natural Healing & Acupuncture clinic in West Los Angeles and she's an internationally recognized traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, specializing in whole systems Chinese medicine and approach to women's health, sexuality, and fertility. She has been at this work since 1994 so she really is a wealth of information when it comes to balancing the body naturally in order to enhance the fertility of a couple all while helping them to keep their spark and loving connection.
Her approach uses a combination of acupuncture, diet and lifestyle counseling, nutritional supplements, Chinese herbs and Daoist breathing and fertility exercises. She has just published a book, Conceiving With Love: A Whole-Body Approach to Creating Intimacy, Reigniting Passion and Increasing Fertility. And she has graciously taken the time out of her busy schedule to come on the show and let you know some tips and tricks to help keep love alive while you are trying to conceive.
Denise, welcome to the show.
Denise Wiesner: I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much.
Hillary: Yeah, I have to say your book is awesome. One of my patients was in Colorado for some IVF procedures and she just hopped on upon the publishing house for Shambala and she texted me and said, "Do you know this book?" And I said, "I don't even think it was out yet."
Denise: Wow.
(2:00) Hillary: She's like, "It's amazing. You have to read it." So that's why you're here today.(2:00) With all serendipitous act upon one of my patients.
Denise: That's lovely.
Hillary: I feel like acupuncture isn't one of those careers that every little girl dreams of doing, nor as being a sex therapist I'm really curious, how did you come to this world?
Denise: Really, in terms of the conceiving, I was having my own issues, conceiving my second child and I went to see a lot of different acupuncturists and I went to a naturopath, a western medical doctor and at the time I was having difficulty breathing, I was having some asthma. They just wanted to work on my asthma and I kept thinking, "Gosh, I just want to make a baby, like don't you want to understand?" So --
Hillary: Right.
Denise: And nobody really caught on that I was having some types of -- I was having a thyroid issue. And at that point, I did get pregnant and had to I -- it was a very faint line and it was a chemical pregnancy and I was freezing and I went to my doctor and I was like, "Test my thyroid." And he did and I found out I had low thyroid. That was sort of the impetus for being, for doing fertility.
And then the sexual piece, I might have to clarify, I'm not a sex therapist, but I am a certified sex coach, but I found that I was talking to all my patients who are trying to conceive and it seemed like nobody was having sex and if they were, it was really kind of strained and I would deal with couples and I had mentioned about sexuality and they were like, "Oh yeah, baby-making sex." And then the husband would turn to the wife and the wife would look at me and I just realized there was a whole world of intimacy that wasn't really being addressed in the world of fertility so I tried to marry the two.
Hillary: I think that's great. I see the same thing in many of my patients, especially if the challenge has gone on for any amount of time in terms of the intimacy.
Denise: Yeah.
Hillary: And so often, they're not talking about it. It's like an elephant in the room.
(4:00) Denise: I think there's just so much shame around the topic of sexuality. Right? I mean, it's a very, very -- fertility is private, which it is for a lot of people, then sexuality is even more private. Nobody has anyone to talk to. I think, people don't know where to go to speak about this. 'Cause you don't want to tell like your best friend that your husband's having problems getting erections so you have to do an IVF, right?
Hillary: Right.
Denise: As we go -- and then you don't -- The fertility doctors, I mean, I interviewed many of them and they're so gracious and wonderful, but they're not really talking about it either. Some are, but their solution is, "Well, we can do an IVF or insemination," and that's sometimes a great solution, but nobody is addressing the underlying problem.
Hillary: Right. And I find that with a lot of the reproductive endocrinologists as the amazing gift that they have to help couples conceive. It's not really holistic in nature. Like they're not looking for the underlying problem. So the quality of life issues, cause if you are having trouble being intimate in having sex before the baby, guess what's going to happen after the baby.
Denise: Right. Right. The baby, it gets even worse.
Hillary: Right. I think it's brilliant to address that now and we're going to go into some of that in great detail, but your book just does such an excellent job of describing the 5-element theory of Chinese medicine and specifically how it pertains to fertility. I was hoping that you could briefly go through that and why it's important. And this kind of hearkens back to what you were talking about, the acupuncturist wanting to treat your lungs and your asthma or the metal element and you're thinking, "What? Just giving me a baby." Right?
(6:00) Denise: Yeah, alright. Well, I took a lot of liberties with the five elements because I really decided that there was really nothing on intimacy. So I bridged it with how do we take care of ourselves holistically and how do we equate that into what kind of lover we are, so to speak. Really, just how do we open the dialogue about sexuality, was my biggest point. I started with the center. I did a Daoist model of the five elements where earth is at the center(6:00)and earth is this idea of being present in the body and communication and our digestion and how we assimilate. Right? And so people that are earth types or have an imbalance in this element oftentimes seek the approval of others. And really, they overworry and they overthink. Right?
No, this is so common with fertility patients. Over worrying, worrying, ''What if it doesn't work? What if I don't have a baby? What if I don't get pregnant with this IVF?'' There's a lot of worrying. There's also this idea of how we show up in our bodies, how we feel in our bodies. What our diets like, how our microbiome is, the beneficial bacteria of our gut or how the microbiome is in our vagina. 'Cause we have a separate microbiome there. How's the flora and fauna? Do we get frequent yeast infections? Are we eating a lot of sugar? This idea of the earth element really is about being present in the body and communicating and feeling good in our body. Feeling like if we don't feel good in our body, we really probably don't want our partner to see us. We don't want to be naked, right?
Hillary: Right.
Denise: How do we nourish this element? Then it goes even further in what kind of lover we are. Do we just try to please our partner and we don't really ask for what we need? Because we're a giver. We're an earth Mama. We want to take care of everything, but we don't get our needs met. That could be more than just lovemaking, but how do we feel in our body? That's pretty much just the brief synopsis of the Earth element.
(8:00) Hilary: You had this quote in there about that I have pertained. I took relevance to the fire element and you said, "Connecting to your heart allows you to trust your spiritual journey of procreation, even when it is fraught with uncertainty, even when you have no idea whether you will ever have a child." I just love that. I was wondering if you can talk about the connection of the fire and water elements, water being reproduction and fire really being our heart center in community and how we connect in community and how we connect and why that's so important.
Denise: Yeah, in Chinese Medicine as you know, there's this extraordinary vessel called the Chong Meridian. It is this extraordinary vessel that connects our heart energies with our kidney energies or the water element, our reproductive energies. The kidney energies are our reproduction and our sexuality. It's that fire in our loins that says, "Yes, let's make a baby." The element is not working in all its abundance. Because wanting to conceive is that energy. It's like that, "Oof, yes, we love each other. Let's make a baby." But it's also connected to the fire element, which is the spiritual heart, which is love, which is in my book, the heart element. And you know, Chinese medicine also goes to the mind, but it's that beautiful like looking into your partner's eyes and kissing with the tongue, which the tongue opens to the heart. It's deep passion, deep intimacy. This energy connects with the kidney energy, the water element. It's water and fire. They have to be working together. It's love that makes the baby, it's that love energy that drops into the lower burner, the lower energies, the kidney energy that makes us conceive.
Hillary: But you're right, just wanting to go on and in ourselves, continuing to reproduce themselves.
Denise: Yeah.
(10:00) Hillary: You mentioned Daoist practices or Daoist traditions, which I think a lot of our listeners are familiar with traditional Chinese medicine if they've listened to the show because we bring it in here and there. But a lot of people aren't really familiar with what Daoism is or what it means and how it relates to Chinese medicine. Could you speak to(10:00) that a little bit just to clarify?
Denise: Yeah, sure. That's a great question. Daoism is what Chinese medicine came from. The Daoist, way back in the day before Confucianism came into to the planet really connected with nature. They lived their lives according to the rhythms of nature. We have the night time, which is in Chinese medicine, we say the Yin time, the dark time, the feminine time going inside. Then we have the Yang time, the fire element, the sunshine, going outside the male energy. They have this idea like the Tai-chi symbol, the Yin Yang symbol, that black and white circle thing everyone talks about. This idea of having them always in balance of Feminine and Masculine Balance. In the ancient times, they have practices to help create balance, to help live in flow with nature that also created lovemaking.
They had this idea of feminine. Males are supposed to boil like they're ready to go and females are really slow. This idea of, that's Yin and Yang again, and that idea of creating balance is letting the feminine lead. In Daoism, a lot, the Feminine Energy would lead and there would be, the males would wait for the feminine to be, [let's say] aroused. I'm using sexuality as an example, but it's way more than sexuality. But this idea of cultivating, it was this idea of cultivating our energies. How do we cultivate and balance our energy so that everything is in balance like nature? That forms Chinese medicine, as we know it.
Hillary: Awesome. Thank you for explaining that for all those that didn't know. I think that's such an important part and that's when people say, "Well, how does Chinese medicine work?" And I say, "It'll get you back in line with nature and your surroundings and that you can go with the flow."
Denise: That a lot better, a better explanation.
(12:00) Hillary: No, well, I think it's important for what we're talking about that the Yin and the Yang, it's those have become terms that are thrown around, but unless you've studied deeply, like you don't quite understand some of the intricacies and that dig in does lead. And that it is up to the woman to really drive that cart, so to speak. You hear that women? It's up to you to set the stage. It's not a bad thing.
Denise: Right. Absolutely. And we do that with just a lot of times showing and communicating and Yin is the receiver. I think that's also really important too, is that we receive. In fertility world that I work in, you probably could relate. Most of the women are doing so much. They're doing everything to have a baby and they just want to do more. Like what else can I do? And sometimes, it's not so much about the doing as it is about the receiving.
“Babie are never achieved. They are received. Sometimes you need to go to the Yin Valley of darkness and be in a place of utter reception.”
Denise: Yes, yes. That's very true. So yeah, from that place of receiving is where we drop in.
Hillary: Right. And it's difficult, I think, when you've been- Women that are of childbearing age right now, we're kind of raised in a society of 'try to live in a man's world'. They've kind of indoctrinated themselves into 'go, go, go'. And how very Yang lifestyle. And so, it almost seems foreign when you tell them like, "Hey, you need to slow down." And you are actually guiding this but you need to be a little softer about it. That might help you.
(14:00) Denise: And it's so interesting because of how this affects the relationship because we're talking about intimacy in a relationship as men whereas their Yang nature of like coming and fixing things and being that energy. This could be, we're talking about male-female relationships, but it's often in same-sex too. There's a dominant Yang person or a Yin person or however. It's not just in the heterosexual relationships, but in that Masculine Feminine Energy Dance, which we all do, that males oftentimes in my practice, specifically feel sort of impotent literally on what to do. Because the females are doing so much and they would like to do, but they don't know what to do. And their big job, their big moment is that to like do the ejaculations and so that they get right. And for them, they want to connect too and they want to have intimacy and so they can't fix it and then maybe they have this big pressure on this one moment and then they have, it's difficult for the men as well as the females.
Hillary: Do you see a lot of men in your practice?
Denise: I happen to see a lot of men in my practice.
Hillary: That's awesome.
Denise: Yeah, it is. And they are amazing and they really tell me so much. They really inform me, they really are open. And I'm pretty impressed with my male patients.
Hillary: Well, you know, it takes two to Tango, but I think that that kind of 'I'm going to do everything I can and then I don't want to bother my husband', until I absolutely have to model that. I see it happening sometimes as the males, they don't come for treatment as often as they should. I'm sure there's a lot of listeners out there wondering like how do they have that conversation in a tactful way to get their husband on board to come to something like acupuncture if it's foreign to them?
Denise: Yeah. I think, if they know they're going to have more intimacy with their wives.
Hillary: Yes. Okay.
Denise: If we're going to get more pleasure out of the whole experience, I bet a lot of men will be down. I mean, like, if that's gonna make their connection better and make their wife happier. I mean, men probably -- Well, yeah, that's what they're about, like taking care of the feminine. Male and male energy is taking care of the feminine energy. I think that, yeah, more intimacy, more connection. I think that's a way to win a man as opposed to(16:00)you might have to take these or that you have to do this. I think men want to have a baby. Most men, a lot of men want to conceive as well and they want their wives to be happy and they want to be connected.
Hillary: Yeah. For sure, but they just don't talk about it ad nauseam like we do.
Denise: That's for sure.
Hillary: Your book has all these amazing Daoist Taoist exercises, I should say, in there for lovemaking. What's a simple one you could share with our audience if they were, say going to practice and be like, "Hey, you'll get more of this perhaps if you go to the acupuncturist."
Denise: I'm going to talk about some really basic things right now. Because it's hard to explain like Microcosmic Orbit Breathing, really [line breaking] instruction reading the book for that. I think what happens with couples is just the simple things go by the way said. Like full body hugs. This idea of, in Taoism or actually, I use some tantra stuff too, where there's the Yab Yum practice where a female will sit in a male's lap and maybe they connect their energy centers with them. But boiling it down, I would ask the questions of, 'when's the last time you had a full body naked hug for a long time? And when's the last time you did eye gazing?' Just really looking at your partner in the eye is so intimate. It's just this idea of connecting energies and then in addition, 'when's the last time you made out?' Connecting the heart energies, the tongue energies. These things, it's just when people are trying to have a baby, it's like, "Okay, come on, let's get down to it." It's that intimacy of connection of deep hugs, deep kissing. And yes, there are lots of Daoist practices, but just breathing together, where we breathe, we just match each other's breath and we just sit there across from each other. Look in the eyes, you could even put a hand on the heart energies and just look at your(18:00) beloved and really look into their eyes. Sometimes, that's just very hard to do because we don't have a lot of time and it's hard to be really that intimate.
Hillary: Well, yeah, because fertility becomes that job on top of your other jobs and you're always giving to-do lists of what to do or at least this is what I observed in some of my patients and they're not slowing down. And that's why the show has a big emphasis on mindfulness. One of the huge reasons I wanted to have you on after I read your book was just what a great job you did of driving home that that's so important to be present. It's so often things, we get away from that. We get into these ruts and I think just looking at one another in the eye, it can bring up so much, but it's stuff that needs to rise to the surface.
I made my husband try the 3-minute hug, clothes on, not to be too TMI, but I said, "Hey, before you leave, we should start just hugging for three minutes." And it's funny because I don't think we make it more than 90 seconds without giggling or one of us saying something and it is like foreplay like you say in your book that is well before the action actually happens later. It's just kind of planting that seed, if you will, for later. And that's been really helpful. I think he really likes this stuff and reading this book.
Denise: I've gotten that from a lot of patients that are even trying to have a baby, that it's really reignited the passion in their relationship. Because there's a lot of great, even if you're not trying to conceive, there's so many great-- Just to bring back the passion for couples cause it's hard to keep it up. Ha, ha. All the time.
Hillary: Yeah, you're right.
(20:00) Denise: Yeah, it is. And there's a whole section in my book, Foreplay. Like this idea that it kind of begins in the morning because you do set the stage for what's going to happen. Women, we want connection, we want to be able to feel, it's not just like at that moment. Now we have to perform. It's really like, do we say really nice things to our partner? Do we text them something nice during the day? I mean, what's the communication all day? We're all so busy, sometimes it's hard to do that.
Hillary: Right. We take that for granted. I think that that's such an important part of the relationship to foster, to be good parents, to have that alive and well before the child gets here. Because man, you need that connection.
Denise: Absolutely.
Hillary: You need to be unified.
Denise: At its best.
Hillary: Once the baby comes, right? I'm wondering, 'cause you treat a lot of men because this is something that I've been thinking about for quite some time. They had the World Conference on Reproductive Endocrinology where they finally all in a consensus said like, "Oh yeah, this isn't just like a natural pattern that's happening, but men's sperm counts and their motility is falling and at an alarming rate." It was the first that it was this like, grim outlook for humans in terms of reproducing without something like IVF. What do you think about that? Because I know that there was-- I've actually had some male patients bring me the GQ article that was written about it where they were like, "Oh, now I'm listening cause it was in GQ." What's your opinion about why sperm rates are dropping so drastically across the planet?
Denise: I think that's such a good point. And on that note, I had a Reproductive Endocrinologist that was talking and he goes and he said, "Oh, yeah, one day it's going to be like you have sex for recreation. And then you go to the fertility doctor and have your baby." And I thought, "Wow, that's really, that's a sad commentary on our naturalness," so to speak. But I think that what's happening is that we're very out of sync. We have this huge technological broom[?] where everybody's on their cellphones and there's a cell phone in the pocket and we have a lot of environmental problems. I think that we're not even probably aware of the amount of pesticides and like what they have DDD in people's fat tissue and that has to play a role in sperm and eggs. Just the amount of environmental toxins that-- Even if it's not in this generation, we're in generations(22:00) before that it's hard for our bodies to get rid of. I think there's that plus this, you know, sort of in -- There must be some kind of stress level that's happening. But it's not just from the men from now. It's like what happened when they were conceived. Because I'm having all sorts of men right now with very low sperm counts.
Hillary: Right.
Denise: And that doctors don't know why.
Hillary: Right. This unexplained male infertility, I think, is becoming even bigger than unexplained female fertility.
Denise: Really unexplained low sperm, like really low sperm counts and taking all the tests, it's not genetic or we don't know enough about genetics right now to know because there may be are some genetic problems going on. But yeah, I think it's gotta be some type of environmental toxins, as what I'm thinking.
Hillary: Yeah. Have you ever listened to Doctor Zach Bush talks about pesticides and GMOs and how that's affecting fertility?
Denise: No, but I'm sure I would agree because it is and we're only getting worse, we're not getting any better. I wonder sometimes with women and maybe with men as well of hormone disruptors and how they play a role in male fertility as well. I mean, birth controls, how many years older? It's not that old, but women are peeing. We pee out all of our hormones and that goes into our environment somewhere. That urine goes somewhere.
Hillary: Right.
Denise: It's not-- I think it's in the water. I mean, I know--
Hillary: Right, we can't get it out of the water.
Denise: -- our water isn't tested for that. We don't, we'll test our product. We do, and in my city, they test for all sorts of things, pesticides --
Hillary: Right.
Denise: -- heavy metals, all these good things. But they don't test for hormones. And I wonder if I'm drinking tap water by mistake, I wonder, "Are there hormones in here? I don't know"
Hillary: Right. Or SSRIs or other things that affect fertility.
Denise: Correct. Yes, SSRIs, so many of these medications, I wonder what's in the water I'm drinking.
Hillary: Berkey Filters, if you don't have one,(24:00) grab one. That's what the Peace Corps uses.
Denise: Yeah, we have filters. We have filters, but I'll have to look. I'll have to keep that one in mind. I have a filter in my office and in one of my house, but still, you know?
Hillary: Do you think the stress aspect is what is keeping the libido low? Because I mean, I asked that in my questionnaires, and I asked if the male doesn't come. There's a part about like, tell me about your partner. That's almost always tracked when there's some fertility issues. I have to wonder if it was the chicken or the egg. When there's fertility problems, which came first?
Denise: Yeah, I'd say like 95% of my women check low libido. It's such an interesting thing for women because I have to inquire much more about what that means. Do they have low libido or is it really not enough time to be aroused because it takes like 20 to 45 minutes for a woman to become fully aroused where all her tissues engorge with blood and she's ready to have intercourse. I don't know that we have that kind of time because of stress, because stress, there's so much stress in life. It's like you come home, if a woman's working, it's like, I know when I come home and my mind is still thinking about things I have to do. It's not really in my body. I'm not feeling my sexy self. I'm not feeling like-- I have to unwind all that and get in the mood.
And it is. I think we have such a stressful communication and there's a thousand emails I have to look at. And we are going at such a fast pace, it's hard to slow down to get into our body. I do think stress plays a huge role. Then on that note, with males and with females too, like some of the SSRIs actually prevent men from ejaculating. It sometimes prevents women from having an orgasm. We have that level where we're taking stuff for our stress and then it's causing more problems. There's other solutions for that. But I mean, I don't take my patients off their SSRIs, but they're given so easy these days and I think now everyone is given one. (26:00)
I do think stress is a huge, huge problem in libido. Absolutely. It takes time. It takes nurturing. It takes quite. It takes feeling the body just getting touched. It's all those things were sensuousness, it's not just sex, it's just like being sensual with one another, feeling of the senses, cooking, smelling, touching, tasting. That's part of the dance of sexuality. People are so stressed out, they're forgetting about that.
Hillary: Well, don't you think it really comes down to presence though? I mean that's when you involve all of those, your five senses, you're in the moment, right? You're there. You're not answering your email in your head.
Denise: Right. Absolutely. And that's where you were talking about mindfulness. I think that's so important. It's learning how to be here now. As one of my mentor, like not mentors, but spiritual teacher, Ram Dass. His book, Be Here Now. There was a watch, it says, "Now, reminder."
Hillary: Right.
Denise: Oh, yeah. Like, cause my mind does it too. It goes right into the future and I'm worried and I'm like, "Oh no."
Hillary: Yeah, that future thinking. I think, I'm permanently recovering from that. I do. I do love Ram Dass though. I mean, I think, Polishing the Mirror was his greatest book yet.
Denise: I look at him, he's in a wheelchair and he is paralyzed and half of his body and he smiles. He looks you in the eye. I'm sure he has his thing, but I'm always inspired by people who in the face of obstacles and difficulty are able to really fully be present and really fully be there. Even with fertility or whatever is going on, reminder, for myself as well. Be in the moment, be in the moment, drop into the moment.
(28:00) Hillary: Yeah. He talks about that. About how humbling it was when he got sick and he said the people taking care of him and he felt he wasn't the man anymore. He was like, here, I thought I was enlightened. And now I'm down low. I just thought that was such a great part that anybody can relate to, especially with fertility because somewhere in our wiring, I think we get it. That this is the one thing we're supposed to do. When we can't do that, I think it colors everything else.
Denise: Yeah. It's like this feeling of being broken. 'Is there something wrong with me?' Or 'I can't do this thing I'm supposed to do.' I mean, I have women that are really having hard times with it. I'm so much compassionate for that. How do we find a way to enjoy our lives in the midst of struggle. In the midst when things don't go the way we'd like them to. In the midst when we're arguing with our partner, how do we drop into love? How do we remember what's really important? I have this great exercise. I have to share this because Kia Miller, who's a yoga teacher shared it with me and I think it was like Yogi Bhajan, the founder of Kundalini gave it to another Kundalini practitioner.
And she said, "When you're mad at your partner, you spread your legs, you go upside down and you'd hold hands upside down and you've seen what you're upset about." We get upset about so many things, myself included. What's really, really important is to return to love. It's so important to return to that energy of love, love of self, love of your partner. Love, the love energy that really dictates why we're here. I think what and why we want to have kids.
Hillary: Right. Yeah, I agree. I might try that one with my teenager. He'll be like, "What are you doing?" But you know, people don't like the emotion of anger. We're scared to sense and feel anger coming at us. If you can lighten it up a bit and still allow your anger, I think that's brilliant.
(30:00) Denise: Right. And Chinese medicine talks about that and like the wood element. That we're supposed to feel our emotions and obviously not be abusive with them but to feel them and it's okay to feel anger sometimes if that's the emotion. It's okay to feel all the emotions as long as we don't stay with them forever in a day.
Hillary: Right. The wood element is also important for feeling orgasm, right?
Denise: Yeah. Passion, absolutely.
Hillary: Yeah. So lots of babies are made via IVF now, but I love that you pointed out how one couple had to use donor sperm and then they kind of literally brought it into their own, took it in their own hands into that home because they wanted to have orgasms when they were trying to make this baby out of love.
Denise: There was an amazing same-sex couple that I interviewed. They were incredible. They just told me this story. I was trying to figure out about sexuality in same-sex couples and how it works there. They were like, "Oh, yeah, we had the most sex ever because this man would give us the sperm. He'd leave it for us. And then we put it in and then we knew that an orgasm afterwards is really, really important." We would go to each other one and that -- and they ended up doing IVF. But just the story, the journey of how this baby was made was so great. Yeah, that having an orgasm after a cervical insemination, was really potent for them. Yeah, it's just great. And then having an orgasm, it's a theory. Sometimes if we can, it's really wonderful, but it's not essential. One doesn't have to have one.
Hillary: Right. But it could help, right? 'Cause this is pretty powerful to get that sperm where it needs to go and you're happy at the end of it, even if it doesn't work.
(32:00) Denise: I think, I teach a lot of young women. I have a lot of young women in my practice. And a lot of women don't know even to talk about what kind of orgasm, like having an orgasm. Like one woman was having an orgasm just with a vibrator, but her partner with vaginal sex didn't give her an orgasm. And she was like so afraid. She thought there's something wrong with her. I was like, "Oh, no. A lot of women don't orgasm with vaginal intercourse. Sometimes they need a little extra clitoral stimulation and it's okay to ask your partner for that." Just the mention of all these words, people are looking at me. Just to have that dialogue where we're talking about the clitoris and the penis. I think it's like, "Yes, let's talk about these things because these are important. These are our body parts."
Hillary: Right. I think if you're going to be having sex, you should be able to talk about these things. Okay. Well, I know that we are coming to our place in time. But if you had one piece of advice for a couple that was out there trying to conceive, what would it be?
Denise: I always tell my patients like that and we don't know why this baby wants to come in or when this baby wants to come in. Sometimes your baby could be the future president, it could change the whole course of our country but it wants to be born at a certain time and it's this idea of the love coming together and trusting in the time. I think, timing becomes really scary for people. It's like you don't know when this child wants to come in and we have to do deep trust, we have to do deep love. That would be my advice. Deep trust, deep love.
Hillary: That's awesome. I think that's great. That reminder of we're not in control of time. Well, where can our listeners find you if they want to connect further?
Denise: You can go to my website, which is my name, https://www.denisewiesner.com/ And that's a good place to find me and find about the book. Yeah, that's a good place.
Hillary: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show and to educate our listeners about how to reclaim their intimacy. And for being so vulnerable in telling your story in the book. I think that that really helps the reader to get comfortable with what might be a highly uncomfortable subject for some.
Denise: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. I tried to put a little of me in there cause it's hard sometimes for all of us.
Hillary: Yeah, absolutely. It's a much-needed book. I think it's going to help a ton of couples out there. If you're listening, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of Conceiving With Love and reading a little in bed each night and sharing with your partner. I promise you and your partner will be pleasantly surprised about what comes up, pun intended.
If you want a free chapter, you can get a free chapter before you commit. You can do that if you go to the show notes for this podcast, which is ladypotions.com/fmradio/74 or simply search Conceiving with Love on our homepage at LadyPotions.com, that'll take you right to her home page as well. If you're out and about, you don't have anything to write down with, you know where to find it. You can also win a free copy of Denise's book if you follow me on Instagram @LadyPotions4U. You'll find details to come on, how to win a free book.
A huge thank you to all our listeners for giving us your greatest asset of your time and your attention. We truly hope this interview has peaked your interest on how to rekindle the fire. Thank you so much, Denise.
Denise: Thank you so much. You're doing great work.
Hillary: You too.
Announcer: Thanks for listening to Fertile Minds Radio posted at www.ladyportions.com where you'll find past episodes of show notes and free meditations. If you've benefited from what you've heard, leave a comment or review so it makes it easier for others to find this valuable wisdom. Let's help elevate each other. Thanks for listening. (35:31)
EPISODE 58 | MINI MINDFUL MOMENT | Moving From "I Deserve" to "I Have."
Hey there, Hilary here. Your go-to gal to help you form a plan to reclaim your fertility and create a healthy family for generations to come, all while staying sane along the way. I've got another mini-mindful moment for you today to help you combat the stress I know you are bombarded by on your fertility journey.
Today's meditation is an excerpt from my new 30 days of fertility meditations program if you want instant access to more meditations just like this one, along with writing prompts and calming images to take your medication in to your day and to go deeper, just head over to LadyPotions.com and click the meditations tab to find the link to purchase or the tab that says, "Work with me."
I'm sure you've heard time and time again that stress negatively affects fertility and pregnancy, I'm sure that you've been told on more than one occasion to just relax and it will happen, that probably really makes you stress out maybe, even want to punch that person. Now, you can't exactly go around cutting all the stress out of your life. I mean, fertility challenges alone are stressful, your partner or your job could be your main source of stress so what are you supposed to do? Give up? Quit? Not a chance.
You make a game out of making friends with your stress response, you acknowledge it. You know what's going to happen and you get good at catching it before it becomes a freight train careening out of control, then you see how fast you can change your stress response into a relaxation response by trying on one of these little beauties from our mini-mindful moment's installments.
Meditation and mindfulness techniques and the ability to turn on our parasympathetic nervous system or what's known as "the breed and feed part" of our minds. Our evidence-based practices that not only enhance the fertility but they can also help you hold a pregnancy, even if it's high-risk.
Remember, it's not stress that's enemy, it's how fast we can get back into the relaxed state that really matters. I don't know about you, but this is not something that I was taught when I was younger. I had to go looking to find how to do this on my own and that's exactly why I've created this for you.
These mini-relaxation techniques are quick, easy to apply throughout your day and restore your relaxation response in moments. Keeping your mind broadcasting the message to your body that it's a safe time and place to create life. Helping you feel back in control of your stress and ready to conceive.
Today's meditation has to do with your ability to move from the mindset of " I deserve", which is actually a victim based mindset, into the mindset of "I have" as if it already happened. We are racing our biological clock or leading a life where we are trying to cram in everything all at once. It is very easy to push the body past as normal limits. We begin to deplete our adrenal glands in the name of achieving, forgetting that adrenaline is a precious substance to be used wisely instead of freely.
Unfortunately, the more we pump our adrenaline by overextending ourselves, chugging coffee and energy drinks, staying up too late, binging on sugar, the more addicted we become to this state. When we start to get depleted we become emotionally leaky and the recording in our head starts to whine saying, " I deserve." Instead of recognizing all that you have, pushing you to keep overextending yourself, keeping you trapped in a cycle of exhaustion and ill satisfaction.
The next time you hear yourself or your partners say, "I deserve" or "I want." Try replacing it with "We have so much." The reason for this is that like attracts like, the shift in thinking in speech will help to magnetize us into a place to receive more abundance into our lives. It will help us to create the lives we desire through a sense of gratitude rather than a sense of entitlement.
It is said that the root chakra governs our adrenaline glands and the connection with our nervous system that decides when and how much of a state of fight-or-flight we will be in, has a response to any thought, conversation or experience we have. Our second chakra covers our reproductive hormones, largely in part to the messages it receives from the root chakra.
If adrenaline is flowing our sex hormones are not. Not only does this deplete our ability to physically create healthy offspring, it also depletes our libido and our desire to connect because when adrenaline is high, it sends the message to every single cell that we are not safe. Most women need to feel safe and a desire to connect before sex even enters our minds.
When we try to make a baby from this state, it becomes one more thing that we have to cross off our list or achieve rather than a product of desire state of union with our partner. We're in a constant mountain-climbing of achieving, the idea that a baby is never achieved and only received can seem extremely foreign and evasive.
We have to take the time to get calm and grounded so that we aren't accidentally hijacking our own sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone if we want to create a baby out of a state of union. Even if you're already doing IVF, you still want to be able to connect with your partner and enjoy it.
Today's meditation will focus on the connection between the first and second chakra, stabilizing our fight-or-flight response in order to help us regulate our reproductive hormones. Helping us to move from, "I deserve" to "I have." So, let's get started.
Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. If you're sitting, make sure that the spine is erect without tension. We call your alignment exercise from day one, stacking each chakra over the next from the pelvis up. Imagine that there's a string at the top of your head pulling everything into perfect, yet gentle alignment.
Begin to observe your breath, just the gentle entering, and exiting using the part of your mind that's listening to my voice. Observe its inhaled and its exhales if you've had a particularly stressful day and you are in a place where you feel comfortable to exhale audibly, just let that go with the breath.
Maybe you can even imagine your worries or your stresses leaving on the wave of each exhale.
Gently begin to move your attention away from the breath and into the center of your head. Move your awareness all the way down to the base of the spine, the root chakra located in the center of your body between the perineum and the last vertebrae.
Maybe you can sense its deep red color.
This area is open and free of energetic debris. We feel stable and calm, provided for and safe.
Allow this chakra to begin to spin in your mind's eye or maybe just a sense of energy that you have in this area. Don't worry about which direction it spins, just imagine it's going like a gear.
As it moves, it burns off any insecurities around not having enough.
About a handbreadth above that chakra is the second chakra or our sexual chakra. Maybe, you can see or imagine its brilliant orange light, again, looking like a gear. This gear begins to spin in an opposite direction though from the root chakra below it, like interlocking watch gears feeding energetically off one another, bridging the gap between adrenaline and our reproductive hormones. When our second chakra is open and free, they are like a magnet.
Polarizing our partner to come next to us, near us, to be with us to create life. We're also a magnet of abundance, drawing in our heart's desires, the ability to form them into completion. Allow yourself to just sit for a moment with this visualization of the red and orange gear interlocking with one another, cleaning out any limiting beliefs as they spin.
The vibration to strengthen the root chakra is lam, L-A-M, lam.
The vibration to strengthen the second chakra is vam, V-A-M, vam.
For the next five minutes, sit quietly with your awareness and attention in your lower abdomen in these two chakras. Listening to the silent repetition of lam vam, lam vam emanating from this place, strengthening your ability to remain calm in the state of stress.
Remember, the mantra is never forced. It's always gentle and when you find that you've drifted into thoughts or physical sensations, which is completely normal, just come back to listening to the silent repetition lam vam, lam vam. I'll ring a soft bell when it's time to let the mantra go.
Gently release the mantra, allow yourself to sit quietly for a moment and just observe the shift that you've made into a state of calmness, greater well-being, and heightened reproductive capability. You can say this any time, any place yourself that you need a little reminder to just stay calm, lam vam. Bye for now.
Thanks for listening to Fertile Minds Radio, hosted at www.LadyPotions.com, where you'll find past episodes, show notes, and free meditations. If you've benefited from what you've heard, leave a comment or review so it makes it easier for others to find this valuable wisdom. Let's help elevate each other. Thanks for listening.
“photo credit Charles Postiaux @charlpost”
@ladypotions4u on Instagram
EPISODE 73 | WHAT IS THE BEST FERTILITY DIET FOR YOU?
Description: Today we will be covering one of my personal subjects in life, food! Food therapy has always been part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It can be really easy to initiate your own healing simply by eating for your current TCM disharmony. I will share with you some easy life solutions and three different approaches that you can start with your very next meal. Food has a lot of ties to our belief system, our past, and emotions we have yet to feel. Changing the way you eat can seem very overwhelming, so today I invite you to just pick a few from these three ideas that suit you and your life.
Takeaways
[2:34] This can be a really hot topic for some people. I think most of my patients would rather me ask them who they voted for and how much money they make than for a weekly food journal. The reason why is food has a lot of ties for many of us. It’s got our belief systems all wrapped up in it, this is good, that’s bad, I can never follow a diet, I’ll get fat if I eat that, I’ll feel better if I eat that over there, I’ll eat in secret and no one will know, and so on. And it’s highly tribal and social. Most of us were comforted by food when we were little and as adults in the western world, it is often the center of many social gatherings. So when we start poking at it, and suddenly trying to change the way we eat, it can get a little unnerving.
[5:42] If you do have blood sugar instability and you test positive for gestational diabetes, you could pass that insulin instability down two generations. That’s right, your unborn grandchildren could have trouble with their blood sugar or even PCOS. This is because insulin can compete with your hormones trying to dock in your ovaries, reducing egg quality, or even stopping ovulation. We have the power to affect the health of the next two generations by what we put into our bodies up to one full year prior to getting pregnant.
[6:01] I would rather encourage you to make positive small changes that feel right to you rather than your feeling like your eating is one more thing you have to try and be perfect at. The implications of your DNA occur one full year before you get pregnant.
[8:25] Even a 2% change a day has a cumulative effect. It’s important to start small and adopt habits and a diet that feels positive and nourishing. If you pick what feels right at this stage of the game, you can work with suits you now and always circle back to more of them. If it doesn’t feel good, you are going to make an excuse not to.
[8:39] Pick what feels right for you and your partner, and start small.
[10:24] The first approach is from Daoshing Ni, from his book The Tao of Fertility. He thinks of the menstrual cycle as a season, and there is a systematic way to eat accordingly along with the phases. This can be helpful to improve egg quality, sperm quality, and your menstrual lining. It might be a bit difficult if you are a creature of habit or have a tendency to grab raw cold food as this is pretty much prohibited on the diet. It is a simple approach that can drastically make a difference in less than three months.
[12:10] The second is a general list of what not to eat, and a meal order solution like Green Chef or Hello Fresh. This is great for the on-the-go person that is working too much or overwhelmed by the idea of shopping and cooking. However, it can get pricey, especially if you cave and order take out when you have organic food sitting in your fridge.
[13:09] Third, is the pattern diagnosis of TCM by symptoms that tell you how to eat based on TCM. This will often help you feel the best the quickest and make your overall constitution stronger helping you to achieve optimal fertility. It can be difficult if both of you have completely different imbalances or constitutions. It’s a win if you love strict rules. It gives a list of don’ts and dos.
[14:20] In the Tao of Fertility approach, you think of your menses as the season of winter. Shedding, ending and contracting. The week after your period is like spring where plants and flowers are budding and blooming, and the ovulatory phase is summer. The luteal phase is akin to autumn, the idea that Earth is filled with activity and where the temperature is beginning to drop as we come towards Winter. During the first two weeks of your “seasons,” you want to incorporate foods that will strengthen your egg quality and energy. This includes grains, high protein foods like eggs, meat, and beans. It’s important the food is warm for digestion. If you feel extra fatigued and weak during menstruation, you want to eat a lot of blood-nourishing foods like bone broth. The second phase after ovulation shifts to leafy green vegetables like spinach, kale, chard, and berries.
[23:15] Build healthy blood through the addition of foods like eggs, avocados, seeds (chia, flax, sunflower, and pumpkin) and nuts (with the exception of peanuts), unrefined coconut, and full-fat organic grass-fed dairy (as long as there is no intolerance or allergy). Healthy blood encourages good circulation to nourish egg follicles and to build healthy endothelial lining. Must of us go out of our way to make our baby's first nursery the best it could be, really though our womb is really baby’s first home, so let's make the most of it!
[25:44] Always choose full-fat instead of fat-free. Often times when they take the fat out, they replace it with sugar and other unhealthy additives.
[26:40] Method 3 is pattern diagnosis of TCM by symptoms that tell you how to eat for your fertility based on TCM. This will often help you feel the best the quickest and make your overall constitution stronger helping you to achieve optimal fertility. It can be difficult if both of you have completely different imbalances or constitutions. It’s a win if you love strict rules and are good at abiding by a list of do’s and don’ts.
[29:22] I go through the patterns of foods and symptoms depending on the body types, symptoms and deficiencies. You can also download the food quiz here on the website for a further dive into what you should be eating for your specific constitution.
[29:51] In TCM, Chi is translated very loosely to “circulating life force energy.” Kidney Chi deficiency can range from not enough energy, feeling low mood or stagnant, lower back pain, and stale menstrual blood. Foods that are useful in building up the kidney energy include raspberries, seeds, and nuts, venison, and lamb, shellfish and such as basil, fennel, and horseradish.
[32:53] Spleen Chi deficiency can look like changes in appetite, bruising easily, excessive worry, and cramps that feel as though they are bearing down. It can lead to an inability to lose belly fat and water retention. You will want to avoid cold foods, deep fried foods, and dairy. Foods that help are cinnamon, clove, garlic, chestnuts, and all the foods in the kidney yung pattern such as shellfish, roasting chicken or lamb and roasted vegetables.
[36:31] Yin is responsible for moistening and cooling, and foods that rebuild these cooling fluids are things are fish dishes with coconut milk, omelets, sweet potatoes, duck, string beans, fruit smoothies. You want to avoid caffeine, alcohol, sugar and pungent spices.
[39:37] Liver Chi stagnation is basically stress and shows up by being prone to depression, irritability, and possibly nipple discharge which is a sign of high levels of stress and hormonal imbalance.
[41:09] Blood stasis or deficiency can show up as more anxiety or a low pain threshold, numb hands and feet, and fibroids or endometriosis. Foods that help to increase blood and decrease stasis include dark leafy greens, alfalfa sprouts, mushrooms, watercress, barley, apricots, kidney beans, mussels, oysters, tuna, and pate. If you are looking for a fibroids diet or an endometriosis diet make sure you look under the blood stasis category of the dowloadable TCM diet quiz.
References:
American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine
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photo credit @BrookeLark
EPISODE 71 | USING HERBS TO ENHANCE FERTILITY
Description:
Today’s episode is a re-release of episode three. Missed it the first time around? Well we’re back with a remastered version. Loved it back in the day? Re-listen and re-love it (and maybe pick up on some gems you didn’t hear when it first aired). This episode is meant to give you a glimpse at how herbs can be safely used in treating infertility. I could do an entire show just on herbs alone, so this is meant to give you the basics so you have a better understanding of how herbs might help and why exactly we are prescribing what we are. Herbs can seem scary for a gal that’s used to prescriptions and my hope is that this episode can shed a little light on not only how helpful they can be, but to help you feel more secure about how and why to use them. And if you are one of those that wants to do it all yourself, I’ll point you to some resources to find more information on your journey of self-discovery. For those of you that want to know why, but prefer to let a board-certified practitioner diagnose and prescribe, I’m going to tell you how to find one of those too. So let’s dive in.
Takeaways:
[4:20] Herbs are amazing tools to treat infertility and have been used by most cultures on the planet to enhance fertility for thousands of years. There is historical evidence that the Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, and Indian cultures all used them in this fashion.
[5:57] The 8 Pillars and the philosophy behind enhancing fertility when using TCM is this. Balance the body out and it will get pregnant on its own. Truly it’s that simple.
If there is heat, cool it.
If there is cold, warm it up.
If there is dryness somewhere in the body, find it, find the herb that moistens that part of the body and use it.
If there is dampness, dry it.
If there is deficiency, supplement it.
If there are signs of excess, drain it.
[6:59] Western Herbalists like an “eye for an eye” treatment; western herbalists tend to get into the makeup of the herb and many of the herbs contain flavonoids, glycosides, and terpenoids. Eclectic medicine was a branch of American medicine which made use of botanical remedies along with other substances and physical therapy practices, popular in the latter half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries.
[9:22] TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine, is incorporated more into their everyday life and cooking. TCM can treat the unexplained and confusing occurrences in the body that sometimes Western medicine can’t.
[11:41] Aryuvedic uses the doshas.
The three doshas — Vata, Pitta, and Kapha — are derived from the five elements. Also known as mind-body types, the doshas express unique blends of physical, emotional, and mental characteristics. In Ayurveda, health is defined as the dynamic state of balance between mind, body, and environment. You can achieve and maintain a vibrant and joyful state of health by identifying your mind-body type and creating a lifestyle that supports your unique nature.
EPISODE 48 | HOW TO MANAGE YOUR FERTILITY THOUGHTS
The Importance of Managing Your Thoughts When Trying to Conceive & How to Act as if You Have Already Conceived Until it Does
Description:
So much of how we feel and the reality we create relate back to our thoughts. Up to 7% of our thoughts are repetitive ones, and they end up shaping our emotions and eventually much of our physiological state. In today’s episode, Hillary provides a visualization and meditation practice to connect with our future selves and to help us become aware of how our thoughts affect our emotions. This is especially important in fertility, where we often must believe in something that hasn’t happened yet, such as becoming a parent.
Takeaways:
[1:35] With more than one thought a second and 60,000 of them a day, it is completely normal for us to believe that our thoughts are the true reality.
[2:55] Most of our thoughts that continue to cycle throughout our adult life begin in the ages of 5-15 years old. This is when we are most trying to figure out and navigate the world around us, with our brain trying to create connections and realities to keep us safe.
[3:15] Your thoughts and beliefs create a vibration, a feeling, and emotion. They ultimately inform our nrevous system and tell us if we are in a threatening situation or one where there is safety and security.
[8:25] Hillary defines stress as an experience of an unmet need or expectation.
[9:42] A woman’s brain can make fertility issues just as bad as a chronic health condition. It is common in infertility issues for our brains to get stuck on a loop questioning if it will ever happen or why it hasn’t happened yet. Our brains are always looking for evidence from our past to shape what we believe.
[10:43] By changing your thoughts you will change your outlook, emotions, and nervous system.
[11:01] The brain is always looking for confirmation of our thoughts.
[11:54] The exercise begins. This gives us the opportunity to see how fast you can change your stress response to a relaxation response and turn on our parasympathetic nervous system or what is known as breed and feed. This state not only enhances fertility but can also help hold a pregnancy, even if it is high risk.
Ways to listen and were you can subscribe:
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Disclaimer *
You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 69 | THE FIFTH VITAL SIGN | Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
Master Your Cycle & Optimize Your Fertility
Description:
Lisa Hendrickson-Jack is a certified Fertility Awareness Educator, Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner, and author of The Fifth Vital Sign. She joins the show today to speak with Hillary about using Fertility Awareness as a primary method of birth control, ovulation as a health marker, important things to know about hormonal birth control, and an evidence-based approach as to how to set ourselves up for success when it comes to our menstrual cycle and fertility tracking. They discuss the realities of the public education system regarding this topic, hear more about her Fertility Friday Podcast, and ways in which women can connect more with their cycle and fertility.
Takeaways:
[7:11] Lisa herself didn’t discover fertility awareness until about age 18 or 19, and even after that, there has been very little that has progressed in terms of teaching about menstruation and fertility in the public education system.
[9:12] Woman are often made to feel as though the menstrual cycle is something dirty or a nuisance that must be stopped or contained. Their concerns are dismissed and side effects which can be very serious and painful are diminished.
[12:26] Our ovulation is a marker of our health. In the same way that we have come to learn more about men’s health and their fertility being intertwined, Lisa and Hillary hope the same for the near future regarding ovulation and women’s health.
[15:58] Menstruation is a vital sign of what our body needs, how it is doing and is connected to many layers of health.
[24:54] The hormonal birth control pill stops ovulation to some degree, which dramatically reduces the natural production of our bodies estrogen and progesterone, and affects our free testosterone.
[27:02] Although how it plays out is different in everyone, all women who take hormonal birth control do experience effects in their hormones and organs.
[28:54] It is important for women to be upfront and aware of the side effects of the hormone birth control pill. Depression is a big one, along with mood swings.
[29:41] Research shows that hormonal birth control is associated with a temporary delay in the return of normal fertility. The shot is the worst offender, with other methods falling in after.
[33:56] Some women may hear about the side effects of hormonal birth control and decide it’s not for them, while others decide they will still use it but modify the use. Whatever choice that works best for you is the right one, but it’s important to be informed and aware.
[37:16] Birth control stops your normal cycle and replaces it with a fake one, but it doesn’t address or fix the real root of irregular menstrual cycles.
[45:12] Since birth control shrinks the ovaries, there is an established delay between when we come off birth control and when our body is normalized and fertile.
[52:35] There are many options for tracking our menstrual cycle and fertility. Because there is only about one week out of the month we can get pregnant, knowing this fact alone can be a total game changer.
[60:30] Devices such as wearable thermometers can be very helpful, but nothing trumps fertility awareness and training from a professional instructor. Much like learning to drive a car, it is a one-time investment that can lead to years of knowledge and empowerment.
References:
The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility, by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
Continue Your Journey:
@ladypotions4u on Twitter
@ladypotions4u on Instagram
Disclaimer *
You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 65 | WHY SURRENDER IS DIFFERENT THAN QUITTING & HOW TO DO IT
Description:
Today’s episode is a re-release of episode two. Missed it the first time around? Well we’re back with a remastered version. Loved it back in the day? Re-listen and re-love it (and maybe pick up on some gems you didn’t hear when it first aired). Today’s guests are Marc Sherman and Dr. Kate Webster, creators of the revolutionary online course Organic Conceptions. This course began with Erin and Marc Sherman’s personal struggle in trying to conceive for a decade. In partnership with Dr. Webster, they created a roadmap for themselves and others to chart a course that engages and empowers couples on their path to parenthood. They share the primary goals of Organic Conceptions, the main three chapters and primary expectations that arise and the importance of surrender. Marc and Dr. Webster are really doing some amazing work with helping others achieve emotional health and insight during their process and I thank them for digging deep in their own experience to provide a ton of hope, guidance, and information for others.
Takeaways:
[7:48] I share the impressive backgrounds and bios of Dr. Kate Webster and Erin and Marc Sherman.
[12:15] Dr. Webster covers the primary goals of Organic Conceptions, stemming out of predictable problems and patterns with infertility. She also shares what the program is not so people have appropriate expectations.
[13:08] Depending on the statistics, between 1-in-6 and 1-in-8 couples struggles with infertility.
[21:07] They combine influences from biological, emotional, psychological, and sociological models.
[27:11] The program provides the opportunity for couples to go through the steps at their own time in their own home rather than rushing to appointments.
[31:37] Every story culminated into three chapters and nine transitions: The conception of doubt, couples losing patience, and surrender into life.
[24:31] Dr. Webster lists the five primary expectations that arise: age, sequencing of life events, gender roles, images of success, and trust in the medical model.
[39:38] The stages in the surrender into life chapter: rawness, reaching forward and uniting together, renewal.
[41:48] More than one third of women have pre-conceived doubt about their reproductive abilities before they even try get pregnant.
[49:48] It’s difficult for young women today to try and fit in a career, marriage, and family goals all in one decade.
[60:56] We hear the difference of mal-adaptive vs adaptive coping.
[61:57] Surrendering does not mean just relaxing or giving up on a dream for parenthood. The difference is quitting leaves you feeling full of more guilt and shame. Surrender leaves you feeling internal freedom! Dr. Webster and Marc share stories of couples that accept the things they cannot change, let go of past disappointment and control over the future to end up finding life again and new interests and passions. A lot of times people have success even after they are significantly older than when they first started on their journey.
References:
Link to free PDF and discount rate on Organic Conceptions: Ladypotions.com
Continue Your Journey:
Fertile Minds Private Community
@ladypotions4u on Instagram
Disclaimer *
You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 55 | COULD YOUR FERTILITY CHALLENGES BE AN UNEXPECTED AWAKENING? | Sharna Langlais
Could Your Fertility Challenges Be An Unexpected Spiritual Awakening? guest Sharna Langlais
Description:
Today we talk with a true master of explaining the mystical in an understandable way. Sharna Langlais is a Reiki Master and also trained in Shamanic Healing and many other healing modalities such as Herbalism and Aromatherapy. She and Hillary talk about her new book, Unexpected Spiritual Awakenings, and how it pertains to fertility. They discuss what exactly an unexpected Spiritual Awakening is, how to spot one and what the stages are, and some tips on how to ease the lonely and discomfort when everything feels like it’s crumbling. Then, they cover what our ethereal body is, how we clean it and how we can use it to protect ourselves.
To share your own fertility story, please email me at hillary@ladypotions.com or comment below. I look forward to connecting with you, as you are what this podcast is all about.
Takeaways:
[1:44] Sharna Langlais is a Reiki Master also certified in Shamanic Healing and 5 Element Theory. She is a certified Herbalist, and Aromatherapist and Meditation Facilitator. Sharna has published work on Elephant Journal and MindBodyGreen and has her new book, Unexpected Spiritual Awakenings.
[4:08] Sharna comes from a Marketing and Executive Management background and was an “accidental techie” in her work with a nonprofit. She shares her journey in balancing the “real world” with her spiritual work starting at around her late 20s.
[7:13] All of the modalities that Sharna uses herself help to clear her own energy so that she can be open and compassionate in her work with clients all over the world to bring them a deeper sense of transformation.
[11:07] Sharna gives an analogy that Reiki is the car that she drives, in the sense that there are so many makes and models of energy work. It is a Japanese tradition in its origin and is about channeling life force energy through the bodies to remove blockages — the building block of life. Energy work can be utilized for any ailment or issue, and can deeply clear energy without having to talk through it too much.
[15:08] If Reiki is the car, acupuncture would be the model of car, and Sharna finds that distance work is more concentrated than physical experience.
[18:04] In a larger context, the unexpected spontaneous spiritual awakening is a personal process that creates extreme transformation inside of the cells and shifts. It can look like a crisis, and can very much feel as though everything is “falling apart.” The purposeful awakening is expected, and the context of the structure around it is usually based on a tradition with others to help guide the experience.
[23:34] One of the big messages in our crisis is to stop and listen to what’s really inside of us, and to tune in to our true calling instead of trying to keep up with a path that isn’t right for us.
[26:16] The biggest place we tend to see the spontaneous awakening is crisis and often emerges in transition that looks like health issues, breakups, and career shifts or changes.
[28:51] Going through an awakening can be daunting or scary at first, so it’s common for us to patch holes and return back to our normal life, but it is a real commitment to change and growth.
[35:40] Sharna put together the stages on her own experience and the experience of many clients she sees, but the experience is yin and nonlinear.
[36:34] Stage One: The Crisis Moment. Something breaks, and we must go in and try and fix it.
Stage Two: Find a New Way to Restructure and Change The “honeymoon” period of the awakening, where someone thought they found the answer.
Stage Three: Liminal Phase/The Awakening Process The true dark night of the soul where things fall apart and we already thought we fixed it in stage two.
Stage Fourth: The True Rebirth and Joy Stage The realization that we are a whole different version of ourselves.
Stage Five: The Awareness That We Are Always Changing and Needing to Pay Attention to Our Whisper We have a perpetual sense of humor and are reminded that everything is an opportunity for us to create and produce shifts.
[48:06] It is deeply healing for someone to connect one-on-one with someone while they are going through the process, as it feels isolating and confusing at times.
[49:11] Usually it is one part of the couple going through the awakening, and the relationship shifts as we change inside.
[52:22] The opportunity springs up during fertility because it tends to pop up in the areas of life that feel the most mysterious. Feminine energy also is the energy of chaos, and chaos energy is what is introduced for a system to change.
[56:44] The most important piece of awakening is surrendering and receiving without attachment.
[61:25] If we have to bring a life inside our body, it helps to be connected to it first.
[65:21] One of the biggest tips is to seek out somebody that can help you, but also to be careful of who you work with and that they are a right fit for you. Having patience with and through this process is also key. Retreats are also helpful to get your bearings with like-minded people by a trustworthy facilitator.
Mentioned References & Continuing Your Journey:
Reiki 1 Training with Sharna @ Art of Acupuncture Aug 3-4th 2019
Unexpected Spiritual Awakenings: Navigating a Spiritual Awakening, by Sharna Langlais
Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression — and the Unexpected Solutions,
by Johann Hari
@ladypotions4uon Twitter
@ladypotions4uon Instagram
Disclaimer *
You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 53 | HOW TO SURVIVE THE TWO WEEK WAIT |
photo credit: Anthony Tran
Description:
After coming back from a super fun yet unstructured Thanksgiving vacation, Hillary thought the topic of patience and planning would be perfect for this week’s episode. Fertility can be an emotional roller coaster, so today, Hillary will share some reminders and pointers that one can do during that anticipatory time of waiting. She gives a few ideas and options on ways to practice self-care and love that you can combine and partake in solo or with friends and loved ones.
To share your own fertility story, please comment below. I look forward to connecting with you, as you are what this podcast is all about.
Takeaways:
[3:58] It can often feel disheartening that pregnancy symptoms are the same as PMS symptoms. We want to take the focus off your body, and onto self-care that will make you feel nurtured and present.
[4:29] Self-care. A warm bath, a massage, facial or manicure are all things you can do as a treat to yourself that don’t involve pressure.
[5:13] Meditation. There are several scientific studies that show the importance of the first 12 minutes on the outlook of our day. Hillary recommends meditating even just for five minutes upon waking and again at night to bookend the day.
[6:12] Recapitulation involves two minutes of just watching yourself during your day and cataloging what happened in an observational and non-judgmental way.
[7:23] The pattern interrupt practice involves breathing for 16 seconds and the key is to watch your breath.
[8:41] Enjoying a date night with your partner to reconnect without focusing on fertility can help both of your stress and interrupt patterns. Also, having a code word that your partner can mention when emotions start to climb is a way to have support when things start to feel out of control.
[9:56] Journaling a few things you are grateful for will let your brain feel trust and releases oxytocin.
[12:24] Meeting with a friend to go on a relaxing walk, light weight lifting, or gentle yoga are perfectly advisable for your body and psyche.
[13:31] Some other ideas include buying yourself a piece of beautiful clothing or lingerie, to come home and have a pattern interrupt with your partner.
[14:06] Implantation typically happens 5-8 days post-fertilization.
[14:54] Take a break from social media, or only use it for what you absolutely need to. Also, refrain from Google-searching questions about fertility.
[16:06] Meal prep/cook for yourself. Preparing meals is a great way both to nurture your body and support mindfulness in action.
[17:28] Laughter brings us joy, which opens the heart and moves us away from fear.
[18:29] Go on a girl’s night out that is nurturing. From fertilization, you have four more weeks until the placenta is fully formed.
[20:02] Volunteer for a cause that personally speaks to you. Whether it’s for people, the earth, animals, or any other option — we feel good when we help others.
References:
Continue Your Journey:
@ladypotions4uon Twitter
@ladypotions4uon Instagram
Disclaimer *
You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast
EPISODE 51 | NATURAL BEAUTY PRODUCTS THAT WON'T WRECK YOUR FERTILITY PT2
Description:
Hillary first opens the show with an amazing keynote from her mentor, the late Ray Rubio from the Integrative Fertility Symposium last year. Ray shares a story about Dr. Shen, and why often times the simplest answer right under our nose is the one that will give us our answers. Then, she welcomes back her friend Katrina to share Part 2 of their top picks for yummy (and effective!) green and clean beauty products.
Takeaways:
[4:10] Hillary plays a clip of a Keynote from the Integrative Fertility Symposium where her mentor, Ray Rubio, discusses the beauty of using common sense as a practitioner, and a story regarding his mentor Dr. Shen and the fashion icon Chanel.
[14:53] Hillary and Katrina discuss more of Katrina’s top picks!
Dry Shampoo (Katrina recommends putting it in our hair before bed instead of in the morning)
Shampoo
Conditioner
Body Wash
● Aleavia
Deodorant
● Once a week do an armpit detox with bentonite clay and apple cider vinegar mask to pull out all of the old aluminum. Leave it on for about 10 minutes.
Beauty Boxes
References:
Ep #049: “Part 1 of Natural Beauty Products Worth Your Money That Won’t Wreck Your Fertility”
Integrative Fertility Symposium
Disclaimer * You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 49 | NATURAL BEAUTY PRODUCTS THAT WON'T WRECK YOUR FERTILITY PT1
Natural Beauty Products that are Worth Your Hard Earned Pennies & Won’t Interfere with your Fertility
Description:
Today, Hillary and her friend Katrina talk about beauty products and how they could be interfering with your fertility. They list the top ten chemical and ingredient offenders (out of 1,300!) to look out for and avoid, give recommendations on natural beauty product and product lines, and share some practical ways to make small shifts away from slathering ourselves daily in a chemical cocktail. More women are becoming savvy as consumers, and aware of how much of an effect what we put on our body has in with what happens inside of it.
Takeaways:
[1:37] The United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (abbreviated as FFDCA, FDCA, or FD&C), has not been changed since 1938. Europe and Canada have higher regulatory standards, and hopefully, the United States will catch up in the close future.
[9:30] Top 10 ingredients we don’t want in our personal care products:
Sunscreen Chemicals. Common Names are Benzophenone, PABA, Avobenzone, Homosalate, and Methoxycinnamate.
Parabens. Parabens are widely used preservatives that prevent the growth of bacteria, mold, and yeast in cosmetic products. Read more on parabens.
Synthetic Colors. FD&C or D&C represent artificial colors. F (food) and D&C (drug and cosmetics). These letters precede a color and number (e.g., D&C Red 27 or FD&C Blue 1).
Synthetic Fragrance.
Phthalates. The main phthalates in cosmetics and personal care products are dibutyl phthalate in nail polish, diethyl phthalate in perfumes and lotions, and dimethyl phthalate in hairspray.
Triclosan. Triclosan is a widely used antimicrobial chemical found in toothpastes, antibacterial soaps, and deodorants.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) / Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES). This surfactant can be found in more than 90 percent of personal care and cleaning products (think foaming products).
Formaldehyde. Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are used in many cosmetic products to help prevent bacteria growth.
Toluene. A petrochemical derived from petroleum or coal tar sources and it can be found in nail polish, nail treatments, and hair color /bleaching products.
Aluminum. Used in antiperspirants. Read more on aluminum.
[18:21] Now on to… what to actually use? Hillary’s friend Katrina Hall shares her evolution into natural beauty, and some of the top natural products she finds to be the ones she can trust the most with great results.
[22:55] Katrina’s gateway product was an oil cleanser from the Crude Personal line, and she still uses it to take off her makeup.
Cleanser
● Marie Veronique Gel Cleanser
Sunscreen
● HYNT
Foundation
● Sappho Essentials Foundation
Setting Powder
● 100% Pure Bamboo Blur Powder
Bronzer/ Contour
● RMS
Brows
● Plume
Eyeshadow
Mascara
Eyeliner
Lip Gloss
● Sign up for the newsletter & receive 15% off @ Fitglow Lip Serum
Chapstick
Lip Sticks
● Axiology
Lip Liners
References:
Continue Your Journey:
@ladypotions4u on Twitter
@ladypotions4u on Instagram
Disclaimer *
You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 43 | HOW TO REVERSE PCOS NATURALLY, GET HEALTHY & GET PREGNANT
Description:
September was PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) Awareness Month, so it is only fitting to do an episode centered around this condition. One in 10 American women, which is somewhere around five million women, suffer from symptoms on the PCOS spectrum. Today, we talk about what exactly PCOS is and the root causes, how the diagnosis occurs, the five Categories of Treatment, some myths surrounding it, and how you can go about reversing your PCOS in 9-12 months naturally.
To share your own fertility story, please comment below. I look forward to connecting with you, as you are what this podcast is all about.
Takeaways:
[2:12] Hillary shares her acceptance into the Women’s Functional and Integrative Training Program, offered by Dr. Aviva Romm. This is a huge honor, and Dr. Romm has been one of Hillary’s trusted teachers and an inspiration for shaking things up in the medical world and applying wisdom and evidence-based medicine.
[2:42] Just because something has been traditionally used, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for us. Hillary gives examples of pharmaceutical debacles from the 1950s up until recently.
[6:52] Hillary recounts her experience with Accutane and the severe side effects.
[8:28] It’s important to know what you are taking, the potential side effects, and whether it is traditional or alternative treatment.
[10:46] How we take care of our bodies in the 12 months prior to falling pregnant has a huge impact on the next two generations. For the first time ever in the United States, children are being born with a lower life expectancy than their parents. And if we are sending down copies two generations at a time of our genes and we’re not teaching people how to ensure that these genes don’t trigger or mutate into various health issues, then we’re not actually practicing preventative medicine.
[12:11] In the U.S., one in 10 American women will have a diagnosis of PCOS at some point in their life, which is the equivalent of five million women. There are about 10 different types that can present and are not what a majority of healthcare physicians think of as PCOS. Usually, they consider it to be someone that’s overweight, with high testosterone, and a 2:1 LH: FSH ratio, and having cysts show on an ultrasound around the ovaries. But in reality, there are so many different presentations that it’s more like a spectrum with women being affected to different degrees causing different symptoms and severities.
[13:43] Although 85% of women affected with PCOS can reverse it naturally, a lot of physicians don’t look at it like it’s reversible.
[16:44] Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome was previously considered a gynecological problem, diagnosed on the presence of polycystic ovarian cysts by ultrasound. Now, it’s actually recognized as a complex endocrine disorder with multiple possible causes and clinical manifestations. Only one of those actually yields polycystic ovaries on an ultrasound.
[18:23] When women begin to understand that it was likely a predisposition was from their mother in utero, based on changes in the food supply, they can have a little more grace and compassion with themselves as well as motivation to try and stop it for the next generation.
[19:23] How is it diagnosed and what are the symptoms? PCOS is a clinical diagnosis and it is primarily diagnosed based on having some or all of the classic symptoms and having other medical conditions being ruled out. While testing the blood on day three, looking at the ratio between LH and FSH, estrogen and testosterone, can certainly be one of the ways that we diagnose PCOS.
[20:31] Traditionally, PCOS was thought to cause weight gain and abnormal hair growth from the excess testosterone, which does happen in one phenotype, but not all.
[21:30] Symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome can include any of the following: infertility, irregular periods, lapses between periods for months at a time without being pregnant or breastfeeding, acne, weight gain, unwanted facial hair, hair thinning or hair loss, which oftentimes looks like male pattern baldness in PCOS, and then less commonly, you can have darkening of the skin in the armpits, the back of the neck or the groin. The other aspect to consider is that women with PCOS are also more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, or they have eating disorders, particularly binge eating.
[23:31] You are 20 to 40% more likely to experience a miscarriage due to the insulin resistance and the hormonal problems that it creates. Oftentimes, there is estrogen dominance and there’s not enough progesterone to actually hold a healthy pregnancy. I do see a lot of chemical pregnancies or early stage miscarriages in women that maybe didn't even know that they had PCOS. But then after we do a little bit of deeper digging we find that they have these symptoms, and then it’s really important to control for blood sugar dysregulation as well as the hormones when they’d go to get pregnant again. Diet becomes super important in those women.
[28:00] You have to understand, the key is getting your blood sugar under control first, and the insulin resistance under control, before you start experimenting with the fasting. In terms of the science behind the diet, low inflammatory, low glycemic Mediterranean diet or a modified ancestral diet, meaning Paleo with lots of vegetables in it, not just all meat, has been the one that has been shown in the evidence to have the most dramatic effect on PCOS. And the bottom line is that most patients with PCOS will respond to a diet that is no more than 80 grams of carbohydrates a day and has about 60 to 90 grams of protein, and the rest being good fat.
[29:59] Vitamin D has been associated with insulin resistance in low amounts. Having your vitamin D tested to see where you’re at is super easy and then supplementing depending on how low you are, with 2,000 to 5,000 units a day, and then re-testing again in 30 to 60 days to see if it’s making a difference on the levels themselves can be really helpful. One of the supplements that Hillary uses when encountering a woman with diagnosed or suspected PCOS is inositol. Inositol comes in a couple of different forms and a lot of the studies that have been done actually show that it’s advantageous to have a combination of Myo-inositol with D-chiro-inositol, at a ratio of 40:1 of Myo-inositol to D-chiro-inositol. The reason for that is, it’s naturally occurring in the body in that ratio. With the Myo-inositol you want to take up to 4 grams a day and the D-chiro you can go up to 1,200 milligrams a day.
[33:19] Another herb or supplement that is used in blood sugar regulation is cinnamon and we use this all the time in Chinese medicine. In fact, the main formula by which most others are based on for treating PCOS is derived from is Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan.
[34:03] The second category to consider when treating PCOS is HPA Axis Dysregulation. Now, HPA Axis Dysregulation is the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal axis. One of the biggest things that you can do for yourself is getting adequate amounts of sleep. The most restful hours of sleep for fertility are actually between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM.
[40:43] Adaptogens are one of the greatest weapons we have, as they regulate cortisol and change our perception of stress. Adaptogens are ginseng, and things like ginseng, Rhodiola, Ashwagandha, licorice, Dang Shen or known as Codonopsis from Chinese medicine, milky oats, Schisandra, also known as Wu Wei Zi in Chinese medicine. Oftentimes if you pick up an adrenal axis formula or some are even named HPA Axis Formula, you will find that it’s a combination of these herbs.
[42:22] The only adaptogen that has been studied specifically for PCOS is licorice. Licorice tends to raise the blood pressure, so if you already have high blood pressure, this is one that you would want to avoid. And in terms of ginseng, even though it’s a great adaptogen, it’s very hot energetically. If you have a lot of symptoms of heat, you’re sweating at night, maybe you’re having hot flashes with it during the day as well. You’ve got red itchy skin, loose urgent bowls, ginseng is not the one for you, you would want something more cooling like Dang Shen. Dang Shen is often substituted for ginseng or Ren Shen.
[46:04] Not only do adaptogens regulate the cortisol, but they also help to regulate blood sugar and insulin.
[48:59] If you aren’t properly eliminating those toxins in your bowel, they circulate back around to your liver which only lessens your liver’s ability to get rid of excess hormones. Making sure that you’re having daily bowel movements and detoxifying to the best of your ability is super important. On the flipside, if the bowels are too loose and you’re seeing undigested food, you’re not absorbing everything that you should be from your food.
[52:46] The other aspect of gut health is leaky gut and that is caused by all kinds of pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter medications, antibiotics, improper gut flora, improper diet, and any major abdominal surgeries, including C-sections. You want to find out if there are any inflammatory food triggers — anything that is causing thinning or permeability of the gut. If you’re intolerant to gluten or dairy and you’re eating it every day, this can build so much inflammation that it eventually thins the lining of the gut, causing toxins to leak into the bloodstream.
[56:41] If you do have histamine intolerance, if you think you’re having an immune response to sperm or you suspect that, that’s part of your infertility, you could include strains in your probiotic that actually help degrade histamine and an overactive immune response, which would be Bifidobacterium infantis (this is found in breast milk), Bifidobacterium longum, and Lactobacillus plantarum. These are helpful as well as soil-based organisms, meaning prebiotics that act as a food source for the good strains of probiotics you are using, as these can help to lower the immune system response.
[58:09] The other category that needs to be considered when you’re cleaning up PCOS and trying to reverse it is environmental toxins and detoxification overload. Oftentimes, this is happening through your skin and beauty products, as well as your foods that are genetically modified and cause what are called xenoestrogens — bad estrogens — to dock in your hormonal receptors. These are huge causes of dysregulation, as are things like BPA, which is found in the lining of cans, so all those cans of tuna and LaCroix that you’ve been consuming thinking that you’re eating healthy, the BPA inside can be detrimental to your estrogen/testosterone balance.
[1:00:57] The last category: Energy production and mitochondrial function. If you are someone that has insomnia and or fatigue, this category is for you. There’s been evidence that’s been accumulating for the role of CoQ10 in the treatment of mitochondrial disorders and infertility for some time now.
References:
Continue Your Journey:
@ladypotions4uon Twitter
@ladypotions4uon Instagram
My Website: Ladypotions.com
Disclaimer * You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.
EPISODE 41 | WHAT TCM HAS TO SAY ABOUT YOUR CYCLE | PT 2 Your Period & Aging
Description:
Our periods are signs of how we are interacting with our environment, both internally and externally, and a way for us to use certain signals for fertility. Today, Hillary talks about what to stop and consider about your own period, how to change the quality and quantity of your uterine lining, decreasing inflammation to help clotting and cramping, certain foods to build up the blood, and how to turn back the clock in aging.
Takeaway:
[1:45] The symptoms of your period are not something to be flushed and forgotten. They are your body’s way of telling you that something is out of balance.
[2:36] The amount that you bleed is important and should be a steady flow with 1 or 2 days that are heavier, for a total of about 4 to 5 days. In order for the embryo to be nourished and grow, the lining has to be thick and well-vascularized. One important thing that often gets missed is the shedding of the lining every single month, so you don’t have old blood sitting on top of the lining. If you are a scanty bleeder, it is a good indication that your uterine lining is insufficient.
[5:26] Foods that help build up the blood include eggs with the yolk, clean sources of red meat, full-fat dairy and healthy fats such as seeds and avocado. It is also advised to not over-exercise during this time and resort to light stretching, walking, and gentle movement.
[6:53] The clot that you see in your menstrual blood has been forming way before you have your period. So what’s the problem? Implantation depends on establishing a healthy, thriving blood supply. But the whole job of a clot is to stop the flow of blood! A clotted uterine lining is one that is stale and stagnant. It doesn't have the fresh surface it needs to allow implantation to succeed at a high rate. It is important to stay away from inflammatory foods, and employ abdominal massage, and possibly employ a vaginal steam bath.
[9:29] When you feel cramping, it really is your uterine wall spasming. Severe cramping — also called dysmenorrhea — isn’t just a drag, it’s counter-productive for conception.
[11:07] It is common to have one day of heavy bleeding, but the other days should be more even with bright red blood rather than just one day of intense bleeding then right to spotting. Heavy bleeding can indicate an issue with spleen chi deficiency, where your body doesn’t have enough energy to open and shut the uterus and control the blood flow, leading to a feeling of strong fatigue.
[12:02] Red raspberry leaf may be used to tone your uterus, and then Cramp Bark when you are having your period. Some traditional Chinese formulas that include herbs from blood building and breaking categories.
[13:33] Many factors including diet, stress, environment, and even things we were exposed to while in utero can affect our eggs. Even more so for the eggs in our 120-day queue, for what’s called a germ cell to become a ripe and fertile egg.
Does age really matter when it comes to conceiving?
[15:13] You can turn back the clock. The Chinese had the idea of two ages which we can scientifically prove now using telomeres or a structure at the end of a chromosome. If you are interested in seeing what age you are according to this science, you can order a telomere test.
[16:28] The Chinese had a different take on the Western idea of the advanced maternal age of 35. They say men and women mature differently, and every 7 years for a female and 8 years for a male was a huge transition. Age 27 is when we see the first decline in FSH and AMH, two hormones that collectively approximate what a woman’s ovarian reserve is. There is an even more steep decline at 35, especially in egg quality increasing the risk for miscarriage or birth defect There is hope if you have waited! Egg quality can be positively affected by things like acupuncture, herbs, meditation, proper nutrition, and other various stress reduction techniques.
[18:31] Paternal age matters as well. You can reference a previous episode with Dr. Zev Williams from Columbia for more information on how much paternal age matters when it comes to single gene mutations that can cause things like autism, bipolar disorder, and other mental/emotional disruptions.
[19:02] There are categories of herbs that are said to have been taken by royalty because they were said to help them live forever. Zinc has been shown to help sperm fragmentation, and alpha lipoic acid has been touted to help egg quality in a woman of advanced maternal age when taken 3-6 months. DHEA is a precursor for the other steroids in our body, and studies have shown it helps the quality of the eggs. It is recommended to get your levels tested before taking this, and talk to your provider to see if it’s something to consider.
References:
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You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website or in this podcast.