Acupuncture improves your fertility

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Acupuncture treatments are one of the biggest reasons women and men struggling to get pregnant come see us at Rooted for our Fertility Tranquility Program. They’ve heard from a friend or read online that acupuncture can help them get pregnant.

It’s true. There are studies to support the use of acupuncture during your fertility journey.

I’ve got patients who’ve only just started trying to conceive and they want to help manage their stress and anxiety during this time. They also want to increase their chances of it happening naturally for them.

I also have couples that come to see me who have started working with a medical fertility clinic. The traditional fertility clinics are great at diagnosing problems and then putting the egg and sperm together and working on timing. What they’re not great at, typically, is egg and sperm quality as well as managing stress, coaching about diet and supplements that will increase their chances of the medical treatments working.

Acupuncture may help in the following ways:

  • relieving stress and anxiety of fertility treatments
  • increasing blood flow to the uterus to help with lining
  • normalizing hormonal function
  • empowering women to know they are doing something. That they are not just waiting for their next period
  • increased success of IVF (invitro-fertilization)

New Hours Available!

We are thrilled to have Dr. Ashley Nelson, ND, join us to expand our acupuncture hours to our patients. She comes to us with a lot of acupuncture experience and a very gentle bedside manner. Click here to book directly with Ashley for acupuncture if you are already a patient of our clinic.

If you aren’t a patient of the clinic yet and would like to know how we can help you with your particular situation, please book a Free Fertility Introduction with Dr. Whitney Young, ND, our natural fertility expert.

How our clinic works

  1. Book your Free Fertility Introduction with Dr. Whitney
  2. Then book your Intake session – either individual or couples with Dr. Whitney
  3. After the intake process you can then start your acupuncture sessions with one of our naturopaths
  4. Please call if you have any questions! 705-792-6717

Wherever you are on your journey to having a baby or another baby, we are here to help.

Dr. Whitney

 

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Infertility – You Hate Moms Like I Hate Dads

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Infertility

Ok, hate is a strong word. But that’s how we feel in the moment.

When all you want to do is see a positive pregnancy test and have your own pregnant belly, seeing other women get pregnant so easily infuriates you.

  • Your co-worker keeps talking about her new pregnancy – you hate her
  • Your sister-in-law “accidentally” gets pregnant – you hate her
  • That young woman walks down the street with a big pregnant belly – you hate her

I get it. My anger is different but similar in a lot of ways.

After my husband died suddenly of a heart attack in September 2015 I couldn’t stand to be around dads.

  • The smiling dad in a family photo on Facebook – I hated him
  • The dad pushing his daughter on the swing at the park – I hated him
  • The dad picking his kids up from daycare – I hated him

But did I really hate him? Was his happiness or his existence really about me and my pain? No. I can’t begrudge other dads for simply being dads and being there. It’s just a reminder of what I don’t have, what my girls don’t have and what Steve’s missing.

Is it ok to miss him? Yes. Is it ok for you to be sad for not having your own baby yet? Yes. It’s ok, your feelings are completely normal. But projecting hate onto others can keep us stuck and unhappy.

So here’s what we can do:

  1. Stop

There are 2 ways you can do this Stop Step.

Firstly you can use the thought-stopping technique – literally say stop in your head. To stop the thought from occurring, then skip to the “Reframe” step below.

Second, try stopping the activity. I had to go off of Facebook for awhile because it was upsetting me to see different photos. I hear this a lot from my fertility patients – that all they see on Facebook is that someone else is pregnant or just had their new baby. You can go off of social media completely for awhile or limit your exposure by not going to your News Feed but instead go to Notifications and only look at what you want to look at.

  1. Reframe

Who is it you’re really angry at? What do you really want to happen? Do you want that particular baby? Do I want that guy to be the dad to my kids? No, I don’t. Likely you want your own baby and are angry it’s not happening for you yet.

So just reframing what you’re really mad about and then using a coping strategy to move out of that moment.

  1. Change

Make some sort of action step, change something up.

I was really nervous about having my daughter’s birthday party after Steve died and having the other dads there. One of my friends asked, why didn’t I just have the kids and moms – a no dads birthday party. The thought hadn’t occurred to me.

If there is an event, a situation, that isn’t working for you, can you think of a creative way of changing it?

For example, could you have an honest conversation with your co-worker about how happy you are for her but that it’s too hard for you to talk about her pregnancy all the time?

If this step is hard, try talking to your partner, counsellor, or naturopath about other ways to take action to dial down the hate.

So, do I really hate all those dads?

No, but I acknowledge my feelings then try to move forward. Life is tough but my hatred doesn’t make it any easier. I love the dads in my life and my girls need other men around them.

I hope you can find some sort of peace with what’s happening in your life. If that sounds like a tall order, I get it. But just move step by step, moment to moment. You’ve got this.

Whitney

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Recurrent Miscarriages

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When a women loses a pregnancy, it can be devastating.  They want to know why, and want to prevent it from happening again.

Here are a few tests worth doing when miscarriage is a possibility.

1.  Celiac profile – there is a disproportionate number of women who have recurrent miscarriages with latent/undiagnosed celiac disease.  A gluten free diet may be all that’s needed.

2.  Anti thyroid peroxidase antibodies (anti-TPO) – autoimmune thyroid disease can be present without symptoms for years.  There is more to thyroid treatment than meds.

3.  DNA defragmentation of sperm – just because you’re getting pregnant, doesn’t mean that it isn’t him.

4.  MTHFR genetic testing – some people cannot methylate the folic acid that they take in.  Methyl folate is easy to find now.  Taking it ensures more will be appropriately absorbed.

5.  Overall immune testing – ANA, sperm antibodies, inflammatory markers.  Optimizing immune health and managing inflammation is important in prevention.

The naturopathic doctors at Rooted have experience in helping women with recurrent miscarriage.  They will also work with you once you are pregnant again, to help maintain the pregnancy.

Book a free ‘meet the doctor’ appointment to learn more.  Call 705-792-6717 or book online.

 

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Chronic Miscarriage

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Chronic miscarriages can be devastating to a couple.  Being able to conceive and not carry to term is exceptionally frustrating and anxiety producing.  It leaves couples on edge with each pregnancy instead of joyously spreading the news.

Sadly, the medical community doesn’t have much to offer these couples.  Unless there is an obvious medical condition causing it that can be treated, there isn’t much to be done.

Chinese Medicine is different.  There are many ‘conditions’ that cause chronic miscarriage that can often be treated with herbs and acupuncture.  It is an area that I have seen great success.

Don’t give up.  Come in, let’s chat.

 

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