In my practice, it is far too
common to have an initial consult with a woman who is hoping desperately for
pregnancy, and I can see immediately that her hope is beginning to deteriorate.
With each and every failed intervention for fertility, her viewpoint leans to
thoughts: “Maybe it’s just not meant to be.” She describes that she has tried
in-vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination, and/or losing weight with
little direction for her specific health. These procedures can be costly and my
heart goes out to these women when they feel defeated.
Unfortunately, we live in a
society where we expect whatever we want without much preparation. These women
need direction—and it is not their fault!
In the spirit of Springtime, let’s
look at this example. Rarely does our society see the hard work a farmer puts
into preparing the soil (before the seeds are planted and harvested). A woman’s
body when preparing for conception should be much like the farmer tilling the
soil. She must prepare to grow a beautiful baby.
There are aspects of a woman’s
health history that I can assess for conception. The most important is the
state of the menstrual cycle. Is the menstrual cycle close to 28 days, or is it
irregular each month? Is menstruation light with little pain, or is there heavy
bleeding or clotting with enormous pain? Do you feel relatively okay
emotionally during your period, or are there obvious changes in mood? If you
answered “Yes” to the latter of each question, then optimal hormone levels
and/or metabolism should be checked.
At The Shakti Healing Center, we
want to check for imbalances in hormone levels and also see how the body detoxifies
these hormones. We do this through specific Functional Medicine labs.
Conventional hormone testing may show the various levels of hormones, but
likely these tests will not give the person information on how their body is
metabolizing specific hormones. For instance, a conventional hormone test may
show normal levels of estrogen, but yet the person still has symptoms of
estrogen dominance.
This is likely due to a decreased
ability to metabolize that estrogen which we can see with focused testing. Then
we can develop a very individualized Food Therapy, Supplementation, and Lifestyle
Plan to create an optimal hormonal profile.
Stress is another major factor in
hormonal health, conception, and a healthy pregnancy. Stress creates high
cortisol levels which increases the risk of an early miscarriage. This is one
of the reasons that we implement Acupuncture with our patients.
Acupuncture can regulate the
nervous system by taking it out of a sympathetic state and into a parasympathetic
state. Studies prove that acupuncture has great benefits in the area of natural
fertility such as:
·
Improved
blood flow to the uterus and ovaries
·
Improved
egg quality (through improved blood supply to follicles)
·
Improved
regulation of the Menstrual Cycle
If you are looking at fertility
options, make sure you are working with a knowledgeable health professional
that can guide you. Do not struggle through various costly interventions
without first getting your body in a better state of health. Prepare and till
the soil!
As the owner of The Shakti Healing Center,
Roshinie Ramdin, MSOM, L.AC is passionate about helping women to heal and
achieve happiness. She incorporates Eastern and Functional Medicine
philosophies to promote and facilitate women's health. For more info,
visit: www.ShaktiHC.com or if you would like to have a consultation
about Natural Fertility options, please call The Shakti Healing Center at 321-972-4452.
