Planning to grow your family can be a very exciting time. It is a perfect opportunity to focus more on your health and fertility. Being properly informed and supported by a Naturopathic Doctor about ways to improve your health and optimize your fertility can take the guess work and confusion out of looking for these answers yourself.
There are multiple ways a Naturopathic Doctor and Sage Naturopathic Clinic can support you through this process. Here are top 5 ways we can help:
- Education
Educating you about your menstrual cycle is an important part of preparing yourself and setting yourself up for success. How long is your cycle? What is normal/abnormal? Are you ovulating? What are signs that would tell you that you are ovulating? What is my fertile window to increase the likelihood of conception? When and how often should you have intercourse? What are ovulatory strips and should I be taking by basal body temperature? These are all questions we go through to improve your understanding and connection with your body. - Assessment
Doing a thorough assessment of your body and your hormones is important to optimize your chances of conception. This would include assessing your pituitary hormones (FSH and LH), your sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone), your thyroid hormones (TSH, free T3 and free T4), and assessing your red and white blood cells, iron, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D levels. There is a difference between normal and OPTIMAL levels of your hormones and vitamins. We will review this with you and give you treatment options to optimize your levels. The Naturopathic Doctors at our clinic often partner with one of the Nurse Practitioners at the clinic to facilitate blood work and imaging if needed. - Identify the supplements that are right for YOU
It can be overwhelming choosing the right products sold at health food stores or your local pharmacy. Our job is to filter out which supplements are best for you based on what your individual needs are. All therapies and prescriptions used are evidence based. The supplements prescribed are third party tested, meaning they have the highest standard of quality and are at the highest therapeutic dose to support the natural processes of the body. - Provide acupuncture
Acupuncture can be a great adjunctive treatment to support your hormonal health, menstrual cycle and mental health during the process of preparing to conceive, actively trying to conceive and while pregnant. Acupuncture has two main goals, to bring more blood flow to the reproductive organs and to help relieve stress. There are many studies now showing the benefit of acupuncture in fertility patients. For example, acupuncture has been shown to help induce ovulation in PCOS patients, improve success rates for patients going through IUI/IVF procedures and prevent recurrent miscarriages. Naturopathic Doctors are trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine and can help support you using acupuncture if you are trying to conceive or going through infertility. - Educate on food and lifestyle management
Knowing what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat can also be confusing. Focusing on nourishing your body with high quality nutrients from your food and exercising will ensure your body is ready to become pregnant. Working with a Naturopathic Doctor can be very helpful in setting goals and becoming educated on what foods would be best for you given your current food intake as well as coming up with which exercises would be best for you. These recommendations are individualized to the patient depending on their current health status. - Enhance your nutrient status with IV Therapy.
At Sage we have a beautiful IV suite where we provide a variety of different IV formulas. We have the perfect IV for Pregnancy Support. This IV is tailored to provide you with vital nutrients to support you in preparation of conceiving and throughout your pregnancy. In preparation to conception, this IV will support optimal cellular health and energy. The folate in this IV will prevent neural tube defects and support red blood cell production. When pregnant, the magnesium and calcium will help prevent or treat leg cramps, B6 will help reduce nausea and B12 will help to improve your energy.
We hope for the opportunity to support you through this exciting time. For more information, please book a Discovery call.
Dr. Deanna Walker, ND