Show notes
On today's episode, I'm going to talk about five things you should look into if you're experiencing fertility challenges. And some of these things may actually provide answers if you have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility. It's important to note that this episode is not meant to give any medical advice and it is not meant to override what your healthcare provider has diagnosed you with or has advised you to do, but it is something that may help uncover a lot of questions that you have. So, staytuned. In this episode I will go over: -Common ways to uncover hidden reasons for unexplained infertility. -Why your gut can be a key factorin your fertility health. -What type of doctor you should choose to get baseline tests Click here to save your spot in the Winter Cohort of The Wholesome Fertility Transformation! https://www.michelleoravitz.com/Fertility-Transformation-Group-Coaching Pick up your free e-book mentioned in the podcast here: https://www.michelleoravitz.com/making_the_clean_choice_for_fertility For more information about Michelle, visit www.michelleoravitz.com The Wholesome Fertility facebook group is where you can find free resources and support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/ Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus Before I get to today's podcast episode, I have an exciting announcement to make. Over the past few months, I've been working very hard to create a program that gives you the main things you've been asking for. Hands on support for me, access to my proven foundational framework, and community and accountability. Most importantly, I've created this program to take you off the roller coaster of your fertility struggles and give you the tools to transform your fertility in just eight weeks. I am honored to introduce you to The Wholesome Fertility Transformation. A live eight week coaching program designed to guide you through a proven, evidence based method of my signature program called The Wholesome Fertility Method. And that is the framework, but it will also provide hands on support with me to help you improve your chances of conceiving. So I'll be running this program only four times a year, and each cohort is aligned with seasons, winter, spring, summer, and fall. Because each season only supports 10 people, it will have limited spots available. I will be putting a link on the episode notes that you can find it, and if you're interested, I would definitely do it as soon as possible because I am limiting the amount of people because I want to make it an intimate experience for all the participants so that I'm really able to help each individual. This program not only includes coaching calls, but it also has an initial onboarding call with me, which is a one on one. So it definitely. is catered to customize your specific needs and your specific questions. And I'm so excited to announce this. It is the first time ever that I'm doing this and it is open for a limited time. So if you are interested and you've been listening to this podcast , and you feel aligned with the things that I've been sharing, this will be that times a thousand so it really is my heart and soul poured into a program. It's also something where I will be there live with you to walk you through and help you to absolutely boost your chances of conceiving. And I work very hard to make sure that everybody I work with gets the most benefits and gets the outcome they signed up for. So I look forward to seeing you there! [00:00:00] Welcome to the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. On today's episode, I'm going to talk about five things you should look into if you're experiencing fertility challenges. And some of these things may actually provide answers if you have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Now, this episode is not meant to give any medical advice and it is not meant to override. What your healthcare provider has diagnosed you with or has advised you to do, but it is something that may help uncover a lot of questions that you have. So, stay tuned. So the following five things I'm going to be talking about are things that I think can help uncover, especially if you have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Number one, I'm going to talk about testing. So hopefully you guys have already been tested, but this is something that sometimes I do get patients and they're experiencing fertility challenges and to my surprise, they [00:01:00] haven't gotten baseline tests, which can really help a lot. Especially just to rule out anything major. So number one, I do suggest that everybody get baseline tests with their doctors. And most of the time. Either your OB will cover these tests, and a lot of times they do. A reproductive endocrinologist is a better choice just because they specialize in reproductive medicine. And the OBs usually do understand a little bit, but they're not as well versed as a reproductive endocrinologist. And typically a reproductive endocrinologist will pay a little more attention to things like your thyroid and more anything really that has to do with fertility. So they are types of doctors that I recommend going to if you are experiencing fertility challenges, just because you're going to get a lot more of a [00:02:00] thorough workup. And some of these baseline tests they usually do are day two, three of your period. And typically blood is drawn during that time. And they check for lots of different hormones, but that's where they find out your FSH and how high it is. And if that means that your ovaries aren't responding as well. And then they also check typically a full thyroid panel. So basically it's a bunch of different hormones that give a lot of insight to the doctor to figure out what's going on. And again, this is a baseline and typically this is really where a lot of doctors will start. Another thing that they will recommend, and it is a little bit more of a procedure, but it's not terrible. It's not like they put you under, but an HSG to make sure that your tubes are clear. Again, it's a, bit of a procedure, it's not the most comfortable thing in the [00:03:00] world. But once it's over, typically, you should feel fine. And I do highly recommend doing that because You could look into everything and not figure out why things aren't working But then when you find out if your tubes are partially or fully blocked it's important for so many reasons because you need to know if that's the reason why you're not conceiving and then it can also lead you into Looking into other things like was there pelvic inflammation, or you can also look into possibly endometriosis, like what could it be that's possibly blocking your tubes? And that can kind of lead you into a whole host of other things, but things that are actually really important to look into. And also, if it's partially blocked, it can cause an increased chance of ectopic pregnancy, which is dangerous. And that's something that you really want to look into. So, those [00:04:00] are the reasons why I think it's really important to look into an HSG, because everything that you're doing, taking care of yourself, you can go to acupuncture, you could do lots of different natural ways of trying It's not going to make a difference if your tubes are blocked. So that's something that's really important to look into. Typically they'll also do an ultrasound and that's where they'll look at like your number of follicles and how they're growing. If there are too many, which typically you'll see with PCOS and they call it polycystic ovary. And the cysts are actually lots of follicles that are growing, but they're not fully maturing and not fully ovulating. So, that will also give you insight on which direction you should go into. And then also, let's not forget about the men, a semen analysis, and they also do ultrasounds, and they look into the sperm and how they're operating, if they're Shape is optimal, and that typically will be the morphology, the look at the number, [00:05:00] is it high enough to make a difference, and also the motility, how they move, and how much semen there is. Sometimes they can be dehydrated and not have enough seminal fluid. So all those things are definitely important to look at and then with an ultrasound They'll look to make sure that all the parts are okay and like with women they'll look at like the tubes and men Sometimes they'll see that there's a varicose cell, which is basically An enlarged vein that can cause issues with the sperm as well so it's important to really just get baselines for everybody and typically that will be covered with insurance and But that really, it depends on the office, it depends on the state, I don't know, like, or it depends on the type of insurance you have, but typically labs. Are covered by insurance and so that's number one. You really want to rule out like the big stuff and that is with mainstream medicine [00:06:00] conventional medicine baseline testing you want to make sure that You just rule out like all the big things. So that's number one I think everybody should be doing this regardless if you end up wanting to get IVF or not I think a lot of people get hesitant about going to a fertility clinic because they think That that means they're going to do IVF. They may suggest IVF. You don't have to say yes or no you could just go and get the tests One thing that I can say is they will know what they're doing as far as the testing goes So it is important to at least just gather information and they will be better to go to them for information when it comes to fertility Then your OB because your OB does a bunch of other things, but they're not specifically specialized in fertility You want somebody who's specialized and really understands what it means and what the body's supposed to do And what is out of whack and what are things that are like red flags to pay attention to? So that's something that I definitely [00:07:00] suggest Number two, connected to testing, but functional testing, so that's a little bit different. It's a little bit more detailed, so for example, the Dutch test, that's something that I run. It stands for Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones, and it really is an amazing test. I love it. And all you have to do is really urinate at a certain time of the month, and that basically, they'll have you urinate at different times of the day so that they can see how your hormones fluctuate. That's really why this test is so superior is because Usually when you go and get tests, it's one snapshot at one time of the day and this test will take those snapshots throughout the day throughout to see like what is your waking cortisol and are you waking up enough? Do you possibly have signs of adrenal fatigue and sometimes [00:08:00] even though we're not diagnosing, sometimes you will see patterns that typically happen with low thyroid, but what that could do is it can alert. The person that you're working with or, you know, as a practitioner to go and get further tests done with your doctor. And also we can look into progesterone. So perhaps you might need progesterone. It also looks into how your estrogen is metabolizing in your body. And if you're estrogen dominant, if you have the right type of estrogen, your, your body's really processing it correctly. It also looks at your melatonin at night, which is really important. It's important for many different reasons, and it also looks into your DHEA and confirms if you're ovulating. So there's so many things that it does, and it even looks into certain nutrients that you have in your body. Like glutathione or B12. So, do you need to supplement with [00:09:00] more glutathione? It gives the practitioner a little more detail and a little bit more guidance on how to treat you more specifically. So, I highly recommend the Dutch test at least once. to really get a clear picture of what's happening in your system. And then if it is imbalanced, I would definitely suggest doing it again after a couple of months of implementing certain diet and supplement regimens and lifestyle suggestions that your practitioner gives you. So that's definitely something that I would look into. So another thing that I highly suggest from functional testing is food sensitivity tests. Because that's going to help you understand if there are certain foods that are irritating your system. If you are sensitive to foods that can cause inflammation, it basically is going to drain your body because when your body is resistant to something and it's causing kind of like a hyper immunity, then it's going to drain the energy of your body. And we don't [00:10:00] want that. That's number one. Number two, if you do end up getting more inflamed, then you're not going to be able to absorb nutrients correctly. You want your nutrient absorption. to be as efficient as possible because you want your energy, which happens from nutrient absorption. You want your energy to be as efficient as possible because conception takes a lot of energy. High energy is required for reproduction to occur. So that is definitely something that I would highly recommend and I think is very important. So related to that, I would definitely recommend, if you can, gut testing as well. And that you could do at home from a functional test for gut. And typically, you'll get a small sample of the stool. It's not as bad as it seems. You just take a little like sample of your poop. While you're wiping and then you send it you put it in a little vial and you [00:11:00] send it in and what that does is they check your microbiome, and they can also look at factors that contribute to inflammation in the body and I've worked with people for months and then once we started to do, we've done a gut test. like months later, my patient decided she wanted to do it. Not everybody wants to do it because it is costly, but her choice to do it actually helped me as the practitioner to see, to get more insight on shifting our supplements. And I'll be honest, that was huge. It was a key factor and it really did change a lot because she ended up getting pregnant. Like shortly after so it definitely helped lower the inflammation. We got a little bit of a better Insight on what was going on in her gut and the guts really important when it comes to fertility health Something else I recommend. This is another test which is often [00:12:00] ignored or Maybe not even ignored people don't even know about it And that is vaginal microbiome testing. So, basically, it's a swab in the vagina and you basically send it in and it tests for the microbiome of the vagina. Like, basically, if also not just the microbiome but also the acidity. And what they found is that there is a correlation, which is fascinating, with inflammation in the uterus. and an imbalanced vaginal microbiome. And there's also a correlation between unexplained infertility and an imbalance of vaginal microbiome. And it's also linked with frequent miscarriages, and it's also linked with failed IVF transfers. So that is really, that was blew me away when I saw it. I remember going to Megasporobiotic, the company that makes it, it's [00:13:00] a probiotic that I highly recommend and the company that makes it, they're called Microbiome Labs, and I went one weekend and saw a bunch of speakers, one of which was Dr. Jolene Brighton, and she talked about this. She talked about the importance of vaginal microbiome, and I was floored because I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe What it was connected to and all of the things, I mean, just to think that women are going through months and months and months and months and not even realizing that this is the case or if they're trying to prepare their body for a transfer and not realizing that they need to protect themselves and, and make sure that this is not an issue because they're spending so much money. So that was fascinating. And another thing that I found fascinating was once I started learning more about this and implementing it. I had one patient who was doing her retrieval and transfer in Spain, and so she already did the [00:14:00] retrieval. She had eggs, and she was going to go for her transfer in Spain. In Spain, it is commonplace to check the vaginal microbiome, and they actually always give vaginal suppositories, so that would be the solution if there is an issue, is vaginal suppositories that are probiotics. And that should start to regulate it. So she was getting ones from Spain. I was really fascinated. And interestingly enough, she ended up getting pregnant. So it was a successful transfer, but I thought it was so fascinating that that is something that is so ignored really in the US. So that's something that I started. to a lot of my patients who are having unexplained infertility, frequent miscarriages or any kind of imbalance that seems to point in that direction. So that's something that I definitely suggest looking into. And what these tests can do is provide more insight on what's going on, more clarity, [00:15:00] really, to understand. So you're not guessing, and you're not trying so many different things for so long, almost like a shot in the dark, without realizing, like, really what's going on. And the difference with functional testing, I mean, the, I guess the con is that they're out of pocket. They're not really covered by insurance, but they're a lot more sensitive to things that are often missed in conventional testing. So that I definitely recommend doing if you can. And then number three. Look into your energy. So I touched on this a little bit on the functional testing about energy and how important it is to have energy when it comes to conception. Conception is a very energy dependent process on your body and it needs a lot of fuel. A lot of fuel. And often times, We are having energy leaks that we [00:16:00] don't even realize are going on. And ask yourself, are you energy deficient? So, typically, if you feel especially after eating, you feel really drained, there might be something that you need to look into with your digestion. Or are you feeling drained at the end of the day? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you sleeping solid throughout the night? Or is it disrupted? It's not even about quantity, it's more about quality when it comes to sleep. Are there things or relationships that are draining you emotionally? I'll be honest, emotions are incredibly taxing if there are like certain negative emotions that you're feeling or sadness or frustration with certain relationships and sometimes you might need to really Make those boundaries firm so that you are not exposing yourself to things that are very energy draining Especially when you're going through this journey. So in this [00:17:00] journey, I always tell my patients my clients It's important to protect yourself. It's important to protect your personal energy and You shouldn't have to feel bad about it. So like if it means learning to say no, then that's what it means you have to learn to say no because ultimately, this is more important and it takes priority over everything and sometimes that means you have to draw firm boundaries around yourself and you're around your spouse and just really protect your own energy and not be around certain relationships or certain people or certain things that can drain that energy. So, it's really important to look into your energy and I highly suggest Even starting to journal could be like a little energy journal prompt looking into what is draining you Are there certain things that you feel like you're putting up with and just writing a [00:18:00] list and I remember doing that one time Because I had a coach that was telling me to do that Like what are the things that you are putting up with? I think that is such a great question What are things that you're putting up with because we all have things that we put up with and then just writing a list and then you can obviously Take out the ones that you can't not put up with. I mean, there's certain things that you just can't avoid. Okay. So that those are important things that you really can't escape, but then ask yourself, what are the things that you really don't need to be putting up with and how are ways that you can shut that down or close it off so that you won't have to put up with it? Because little by little, all that does is it really sheds light. on what it is in your life that's like sucking little bits of energy. So it could be little leaks. It doesn't have to be big. And I'll be honest, I'll give you one example, having a pile of clutter in the corner of your [00:19:00] room that you're like, you know, I'll get to this one day. living with that, every single time you see that clutter, it's going to leak a little bit of energy. So sometimes just taking that day out of your weekend and just saying, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to actually take care of this list. I'm going to get rid of these things that have been hanging over my head. And that is a way to close an energy leak. Creating boundaries with people that drain you. That is another way. Setting boundaries at work, that's another way. I mean, there's little things. Expressing yourself for something that has not been expressed or you've been afraid to express. It might be uncomfortable, but that's another way that you can protect your energy. Because when you are holding onto something that you're not expressing and that needs to be said, That could be draining your energy. That's just like holding on to something that's like slowly brewing and sucking your energy. So forgiveness, that's another way of protecting your energy. Letting go of something, letting go of [00:20:00] certain resentments. I know it's very simplistic and it's not something that's going to happen overnight in certain cases, but these are things to just keep in mind because it's almost like a great example is like iPhone. All the things that are running in the background. Make it less energy efficient. It's not going to function as well So what are the things that are lying in the background of your life and they could be on all levels that are making you? Drained so those are things to keep in mind. Are you also over exercising and then I'm going to actually go into eating because that Definitely can impact if you're overeating that is not energy efficient if you're under eating that is not Energy efficient. So that takes us into number four, which is, are you eating enough or are you overeating? Are you eating what is good for your body? Are you eating energy rich foods? Are you eating processed foods, which are pretty much dead food in a package? [00:21:00] And yes, there are some freeze dried foods that are not so bad and they are made from whole foods. from real grown foods and they don't have tons of ingredients that you can't pronounce. So those are not so bad. They're kind of like in the middle, but are you eating things with lots of processing? Basically food that has no life or are you eating whole foods things that are nourishing your body? Things that your body's compatible with because it could be something that's grown that your body just doesn't respond well to. And that kind of takes us back. See, this is kind of everything's connected. It takes us back to the functional testing, the food sensitivities. Are you eating things that are right with your body? And truthfully, you can figure that out without necessarily having to do a test. Sometimes just writing a journal of how you feel when you eat certain foods, or even just paying attention. Like, you know what, whenever I eat dairy, I have diarrhea. Well, that can't be [00:22:00] good. So like things like that, like how does my body Feel. Do I get really bloated after I eat bread? I was bloated for years and years and years and I ignored that. And eventually I quit gluten and my energy shot up. So that's another thing. So like, are you eating the right foods? Are you eating a variety of foods? So the gut microbiome loves, again, we're making another connection. The gut microbiome loves variety. Trying to, you know, eating different things, eating different fibers, different like really the rainbow when it comes to your vegetables and your fruits and having healthy fats, having seeds, nuts, you know, things that feel good to your body and give you energy and also not overstuffing yourself because then your body can't absorb correctly your food. Are you taking time to chew when you are eating? When you're taking time to chew, you're helping your digestive system. You're pretty [00:23:00] much preparing it so that it's almost like that sous chef. You're the sous chef for your body's kitchen. And when you're chewing it, and properly chewing it, you're preparing it so that it's able to cook well and transform into nutrients that your body can use. So doing that plus obviously the chewing, but as you're chewing longer, you're also mixing in that amazing enzyme rich saliva. which is also helping your digestion. So those are things that are really important to do. Making sure that you have a really good proper diet that is nourishing for your body. And I'll be honest, the diet alone can make such a difference for fertility health. Just the diet alone. So, on to number five, and this is The last one, and it's a very important one, is your home clean of toxic ingredients? [00:24:00] And I'm going to mention something before I even go into this. Nobody's going to get it 100%. So don't try, because that can cause a whole other level of OCD that I've seen. However, it is important enough, and it really does make a difference, that It is important enough to bring up. There are many ways that Endocrine disruptors can come into our life and one of them which I see a lot is plastics If you can avoid all plastics and not just the ones that say BPA free Really try to avoid all plastics that being said if I'm away And I'm pretty because I know all of this stuff. It does make me a little OCD, I guess, but if I'm away and all I can have is a plastic bottle of water, I have a plastic bottle of water. It's not like you have to do things 100 percent all the time because you don't want to stress yourself out. It can be. too overwhelming. [00:25:00] But if you can, instead, at home at least, you can get yourself a container, a bottle that is glass or stainless steel, and then you can look into like green pan or like more non toxic I honestly, sometimes I'll just, green pan I'll have if I want to do something that's nonstick for certain foods, but for the most part, I will have stainless steel. I just cook with stainless steel. Those are great. There's a little trick to not making it stick. You can actually put the stainless steel. Pan on the fire or like the stovetop for a little while. You let it get to a certain level. One of the ways you can test is you could take a drop of water and put it in. If the drop of water creates a bead. You can wipe it off really quick, and then that is a perfect temperature. Then you can put the oil, and you can put even a chicken, and it will not stick. So the trick with that, with making it non stick, is to [00:26:00] let it heat, kind of like a fun fact, let it heat to a certain point. I actually remember seeing that online. You could find information, you can even Google on YouTube if you really want to see exactly how to do it. You Google or you search on YouTube how to make a stainless steel pan non stick. And so that is the simplest way to have clean products. Ceramics are good too, so you have to just be aware of that and then there are certain ones that have been tested with less, the ceramics as far as plates, not having lead because there have been tested products that have shown that they do. So those are things that you can look into. And then, ingredients for products. There's many ways. There's ewg. org. You know, there's certain ways that you can look it up so that it's not as overwhelming. There are definitely ingredients that can be endocrine disruptors [00:27:00] to make it simple so that it's not as overwhelming I actually created an e book so you could check that out I'm going to put it in the episode notes and it's called making the clean choice for fertility where I really outline Everything there. It'll also direct you to websites and resources where you can look up certain ingredients to see or products themselves to see what their rating is. So that's going to help a lot as well. So just to simplify it without getting into the details of unpronounceable words. That could be really overwhelming. Just check out my ebook cause it's free. It's got all the information and I will cover pretty much like the big ingredients to avoid and what to look for and how to make it really simple and easy. And the truth is once you do that, once you start to just. Change the ingredients of your products, then it's just going to get easier because you're just [00:28:00]reordering and then you just stay on one specific pattern. So it's not as hard as it seems. It becomes second nature, I promise. So those are the five things that I highly recommend looking into if you're trying to conceive. I think everybody should look into it and that is why I created this episode. I do hope you enjoy this episode and if you have any questions for me, you can always feel free to find me on Instagram. I'm there every day. You can DM me and my Instagram handle is at the wholesome lotus fertility. So thank you so much for tuning in today. Have a beautiful day.