Miracles Happen Every Day: Infertility Awareness
Approximately 1 in 5 women struggles with infertility in America. This means they either have trouble getting pregnant or carrying the baby full term. For a woman to become pregnant naturally, there are many moving parts to the process that can impact the success or failure of the pregnancy. Let's explore the pregnancy journey to understand better where the issues arise. To become pregnant, she must first ovulate that month. Ovulation occurs when her body releases an egg from her ovaries, and it begins its journey down through the fallopian tube to the uterus. The egg needs to be fertilized by a sperm. The fertilized egg becomes an embryo and will eventually attach itself to the inner lining of the uterus. There's an opportunity for challenges at absolutely every step of the process concerning the proper functioning of her reproductive system and at least one external factor involving her partner's ability to provide quality sperm for fertilization.
To conceive naturally, a woman must be ovulating. She has quality eggs. The egg can travel through the fallopian tubes, enter the uterus, and find quality sperm for fertilization. The uterine lining needs to provide an adequate environment for the embryo to implant and begin to develop into a fetus. Beyond the logistical demands of the system, her hormones must be balanced to send the appropriate signals to her body for fetus development over the next 40 weeks to birth. Impaired fertility or infertility refers to a woman's difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy full term. Although this term refers to the woman's ability (or lack thereof) to get pregnant, some issues begin with the male partner and are not a result of the woman's reproductive system not functioning correctly.
Medical Conditions Impacting Fertility
Some of the common reproductive health conditions caused by hormonal imbalances that impair fertility in women include polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and thyroid, adrenal, and pituitary issues. Approximately 6 million women suffering from PCOS have ovaries that release more male hormones, such as testosterone. The imbalance of male hormones appears in many ways, including excessive weight gain or struggle to lose weight, excessive unwanted body hair, including on the face, but not limited to the face. Other significant symptoms of PCOS include delayed ovulation due to longer menstrual cycles and excess androgen production. Excess male hormones and infrequent ovulation are the main contributing factors to infertility. Women who struggle with their weight likely have an excess of insulin, stimulating the ovaries to release the male hormones. Actively lowering your insulin levels can help balance the hormones and even allow you to lose weight.
About 10% of women struggle with endometriosis. This condition results from the tissue similar to that of the uterine lining that grows and attaches itself to cavities outside of the uterus. This irregular growth can appear anywhere in the perineum, pelvis, bowels, bladder, and especially the ovaries. Pelvic physiotherapy is a special therapy than makes a huge difference in pelvic pain and bladder control. Women who suffer from endometriosis will often experience painful periods, chronic fatigue, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is the leading cause of infertility in women. When a woman has endometriosis in her fallopian tube lining, the tissue may keep the egg from traveling to the uterus, causing impaired fertility. Although typically, 70% of women with endometriosis will still go on to conceive and have children.
Uterine fibroids are another form of irregular growth in the wall of the uterus that is noncancerous and often appears during a woman's childbearing years. Women who have symptoms often have a compromised quality of life due to pain, discomfort, bloating, problematic periods, and sometimes infertility. Women with fibroids are more likely to have problems during pregnancy and delivery. This doesn't mean there will be problems. Many women who struggle with fibroids go on to have decent and safe pregnancies. The most common issues seen in women with fibroids have to do with the birthing stage of the pregnancy. A pregnant woman with uterine fibroids can often have a breech baby, premature labor, false or missing labor altogether, and ultimately cesarean section surgery.
Thyroid disease is the general term used for a health condition that prohibits your thyroid gland from producing the correct dose of hormones. Since hormones play such a critical role in the reproductive system's function, it is no wonder why this condition can have such an immense impact on fertility for women. Although entirely different nervous systems are in play, our biological makeup of hormones is still very much intertwined and co-dependent on one another. Sufficient zinc levels are required to convert your thyroid hormones, and alternatively, a deficiency is associated with low metabolism. Taking a zinc supplement has been proven to improve the circulation of the thyroid hormones and raise the basal body temperature in women struggling with fertility due to thyroid deficiencies.
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Impact Fertility
More than 20 million cases of sexually transmitted infections (STI) are reported each year in the USA. However, many cases go unreported, so that that number may be much higher. There are several STIs without symptoms, causing people to go undiagnosed for months or even years. So what this means is that not all STIs will make themselves known, and some of them can have adverse effects on fertility in women.
Chlamydia
Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States. Most cases are diagnosed in young people between 15 and 24 years old. Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease considered a silent disease because it can go undetected. Chlamydia infection can result in scarring of the fallopian tubes, ovaries, and endometrial lining, which increases the risk of future ectopic pregnancy and tubal infertility. The good news is that most women diagnosed with it can often treat it with a week of antibiotics, and it is entirely curable.
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is an infection caused by the bacteria Neisseria Gonorrhoeae. It is the second most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. According to the CDC, many women who have contracted gonorrhea don't even have any symptoms. If gonorrhea goes undiagnosed and untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic abdominal pain, scar tissue that blocks the fallopian tubes, and ultimately difficulty getting pregnant. Pregnant women can also transmit the infection to their baby during delivery, which can cause severe problems in an infant. You can see why it is so important to get tested for such STIs and be aware of your status at all times. The standard treatment for the disease is to take a one-time single dose of the antibiotic Ceftriaxone in addition to oral antibiotics.
Hormonal Birth Control Impacts Fertility
The most common form of hormonal birth control is the birth control pill, available in many different brands, but basically, all work the same way. The pill is designed to stop your ovaries from releasing an egg for you to ovulate. Typically, women will often choose to take birth control to manage their menstrual cycle and avoid pregnancy. The issue is that this lifestyle drug is manipulating an excellent working system in the body, which is often done for many years. There are many side effects to hormonal birth control aside from anovulation. Manipulating a woman's hormones leads to extreme mood changes, reduced libido, and even a drastic change in who she finds physically attractive. After many years of manipulating the reproductive hormones, when women stop taking hormonal birth control, there are often challenges to becoming pregnant for years afterward. The issue is that women's ovaries are already losing thousands of eggs each year naturally. Once you train your system to stop releasing eggs altogether, the pattern can become hardwired and does not naturally activate the intended initial flow of the reproductive system again.
Keyways to Optimize Fertility
If you are a woman looking to get pregnant naturally, you want to maximize your chances by optimizing your fertility window. To identify your fertility window, which is the 5 to 6 days in the month around the time the ovaries release the egg and you ovulate. Once you identify this fertility window, you want to have unprotected sex often during this time so that your egg can become fertilized. A sign that you have ovulated includes a clear watery discharge, without arousal, when you go to the washroom and wipe yourself. This is the easiest signal to identify. Tracking your basal body temperature before getting out of bed every morning is another way to determine your ovulation day. The day your temperature increases signals that you ovulated the day before. It is best to already have the sperm inside the vagina before ovulation; however, pregnancy can also occur from sperm entering the vagina within six days of ovulation.
Fertility Awareness Methods
Once you understand how to maximize fertility by having plenty of unprotected sex during your fertility window, you can flip this around and avoid pregnancy by avoiding unprotected sex during your fertility window. When used correctly, this is commonly referred to as the Fertility Awareness Method and is just as effective as the condom and hormonal birth control. You can only become pregnant during your fertility window, so once you take the time to identify your fertility window by charting your menstrual cycle and ovulation signals, you can use this information to maximize or minimize your chances of conceiving. Plan out sexual intercourse within your fertility window (if you're trying to get pregnant) or exclusively around your fertility window (if you're trying to avoid pregnancy).
Medical Professionals Can Help You Optimize Fertility
Suppose you need support managing or optimizing your fertility. In that case, there are many traditional and contemporary measures to increase your chances of getting pregnant and having a baby and seeking help from a fertility doula or practitioner to help you with tracking your menstrual cycle and population signals. A hormonal naturopathic doctor can help balance your hormones with herbal supplements to improve natural fertility. Finally, if natural forms of optimizing fertility to conceive naturally, there are alternative manual methods, including IUI and IVF. These treatments include manually implanting an embryo in the uterus of the woman. This can be helpful if it is difficult for her to produce or release an egg. It is not always beneficial if a woman doesn't struggle to get pregnant but struggles to carry full term.
Holistic Approaches to Optimizing Fertility
Herbal hydrotherapy, now more commonly referred to as "vaginal or yoni steaming," was historically used in African culture as a form of self-healing. Women would heal the body using the four elements in this purification process: fire to heat the water, the earth (herbs), and air (the steam). This form of therapy takes the benefits of medicinal herbs and addresses issues with the reproductive system that may be impeding fertility or womb wellness. It is considered herbal tea for your reproductive system and therefore requires you to have a different entry point to digest the tea directly through the vaginal canal.
It is essential to have a healthy lifestyle to ensure your body is in the best shape possible to carry you through a pregnancy. Although fitness is vital, this does not refer to physical fitness exclusively. You want your body in shape to carry a baby, but you also want to make sure all systems are in good working order and your hormones are balanced before pregnancy. Your hormones will constantly change throughout the pregnancy, so you should start with a balanced system.
Infertility Journey Success Stories
If you or someone you know is struggling to get pregnant, know that you have plenty of options available to start your family, and I strongly recommend you start with the natural holistic methods. I've worked with many women between the ages of 45 and 46 looking to conceive naturally, and we achieved that goal within two years. This was attained with regular herbal hydrotherapy, cycle tracking, and fertility optimization.
For Tina, a woman who struggles with PCOS and miscarriages, we worked on improving her nutrition and water intake. She was also dedicated to hydrotherapy and came in for regular yoni steaming sessions to improve the condition of her womb postpartum. She successfully carried full term within six months of working with a Fertility Doula.
Nia also struggled to become pregnant for at least five years. She struggled with pH balance and low libido. She didn't have any specific diagnosis related to infertility, so this is often referred to as unexplained infertility. I worked with her for almost two years before becoming pregnant with her first son. She was 39 years old and had never been pregnant before that time. Natural holistic remedies are very effective and rewarding. They are often less invasive than the more contemporary medical options readily available at the hospital.
Tia Mowry struggled with endometriosis for most of her life and even went undiagnosed for many years, suffering in silence like most women. Luckily, she could do the endometria surgery to clear out the endometriosis. After removing the endometriosis, Tia Mowry could go on and have children naturally after this operation.
Gabrielle Union struggled with infertility for most of her adult years. She suffered a series of miscarriages and failed IVF attempts with her husband, Dwayne Wade. Despite her failed efforts, she and her husband remained hopeful and moved on to hiring a surrogate to help them bring their daughter into the world alas. So keep in mind that even when you've tried everything to improve your reproductive system and try the manual methods of conception, there are still more options. A surrogate mother is a great way to bring your child into the world with your DNA when your body cannot carry a baby to full-term. A surrogate mother is a woman who has your embryo implanted into her uterus so that she can carry the baby on your behalf for the nine months of gestation. When your body is not up to the task, the next best thing is to utilize someone who can.
Parenthood Can Happen In Various Ways
Of course, if all else fails and you cannot find a surrogate or the IVF and IUI is not successful, the final option is to adopt a child in need of a home. There are so many different ways to go about it. If becoming a mother and starting a family is essential to you, and you have given up on treatments but not on family, then this is the option to discuss with your family. You could mean the world to a child in need of a family and a home.
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