Have you been told your eggs are no good?

How do you cope with negative fertility messages?

Have you visited your GP or gynecologist to find out why you are struggling to conceive? Only to be told your eggs are old, your eggs are no good, your amh is too low and you have low ovarian reserve or your endometrial lining is not thick enough.

How did make it you feel? The hope you held out was lost, did you feel in despair, dejected and hopeless? Has it made you want to run our and freeze your eggs?  Women often have to cope with these negative fertility messages. Some come into my clinic looking for a way to improve their fertility outcomes naturally, not ready to start IVF. Other women come in for treatment to help improve their chances of success with IVF.

But how do you cope with these negative fertility messages? Seriously? It has got to be difficult to be told your eggs are no good or body is failing you and the problem is you.

The first thing I want to say is: believe in your body and believe in your fertility. This may be hard when you are bombarded with negative fertility messages, not getting pregnant, recurrent miscarriages or failed IVF cycles. Believe in yourself, in your ability to get pregnant, and then become or get help from a fertility detective.

The sperm factor

Before going on I do want to mention the sperm factor. To conceive naturally your partners sperm want to have values listed below.

These are different parameters from what you will see on the sperm analysis results. Morphology,  the shape of the sperm, is normal at 4%. That is 96% abnormal morphology, and 8% below of what is needed to conceive naturally.

Now Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, diet and changing lifestyle factors can help to improve sperm quantity, quality and motility. This is very important as your husband/partner also needs to be on board with improving his health and sperm.

Your fertility and what you can do

Now that we have discussed the sperm factor which is often overlooked, lets look at what you can do. And there is a lot.

1. Believe in yourself – those negative fertility can really create havoc with our bodies.
2. Look at your lifestyle habits and dump the ones impacting your health and wellness
3. Be proactive in listening to your body – it really does send us messages if we tune in.
4. Start BBT charting. A BBT chart is a tool that helps us track our menstrual cycle and when we are most fertile, which is before ovulation. The ovulation sticks may not be accurate and you can use the BBT chart to see if they are lining up.

There are lifestyle factors that may have contributed to your current fertility health. Often the body has been giving you signs that all is not right, yet you may have believed that it was normal.

Your fertility can change. Egg quality and quantity can change. Your endometrium can thicken. It may not be a pretty picture now. However if you make efforts to improve your health and lifestyle, your fertility report card may change.

Unfortunately, been given a bad fertility report card by our GP or fertility specialist can add additional stress to our bodies, especially when you are already struggling with fertility. This can negatively impact on your health, and ability to conceive.

You may believe all is lost and there is nothing you can do about the state of your fertility. Maybe you think your only option is assisted reproduction technology.

Not all is lost…. your fertility detective

What I absolutely love about our body is the amazing ability it has to repair itself given the chance.

As a fertility detective, the first step we do is to take out what is not meant to be there. This is done therapeutically in treatments. For example one of the major reasons for infertility in Chinese medicine is cold stagnation in the uterus. In Chinese medicine therapy there are special techniques such as cupping and moxabustion to remove cold.

Then we also ensure you are getting the right nutrients, and they are actually absorbed by the digestive system. You may be eating all the right foods.  But if your food factory cannot assimilate the nutrients then you are not getting the benefit of the healthy diet you are consuming. This is your digestive capacity.

Uterine alignment: Did you know if your uterus is out of place, it can have an effect on your menstrual cycle and fertility. In uterine alignment treatments we spend time de-obstructing and aligning your uterine ligaments including working on adhesions that may be blocking circulation to your reproductive organs. Structure determines function, so we want to ensure the uterus is in the right place.

With the use of Chinese medicinal herbs we may improve your uterine lining, work on improving egg quality, regulating your menstrual cycle and hormones. A thorough health assessment is taken to ensure you are getting an individualized formula for your fertility health and well-being.

Improving flow to your reproductive organs is also vital to ensuring they are functioning, well. The flow of blood, lymph flow and qi. You can do this through acupuncture and fertility yoga.

What you can do:

Download your free 5 fertility secrets PDF or sign up for the online courses Kickstart your fertility and Get your baby body ready. These are online courses developed by me to start you on the journey of improving your fertility by understanding your body and what you can do at home to improve your fertility report card. It is the first step in becoming your own fertility detective.

Support your fertility through acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. In the treatments that may last from 3 to 12 months or longer, we work on regulating your menstrual cycle, egg quality, ensuring you ovulate, have a luteal phase long enough for implantation and improve your uterine lining.

Have at least 3 sessions of uterine alignment therapy sessions, after all structure determines function.

Take some time out this week and write down all the negative things that have been said to you. Include what you say to yourself (your own thoughts are often your worst enemy). Make a conscious effort to identify these and see how they make you feel. Hopeless? Despairing? Not a whole woman? What is wrong with me?

Now write down what it is that you are proud of. You are embarking on a healing journey, it is something empowering, something to be proud of. You are now in charge of your own healing. It is your journey.

You have got this. Believe in yourself.