At the age 43, I was fortunate to have my daughter, being able to conceive in a short amount of time after making the decision to do so, without having to use In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). I don’t think I would have been able to do this had I not been working on my own health from a functional medicine perspective for over a decade prior to that.

I had restored gastrointestinal balance and worked on eliminating overgrowth of candida, SIBO, imbalanced bacteria, optimized my hormones, supported thyroid function, reinstated adrenal health, eliminated toxins, optimized insulin sensitivity, eliminated inflammation and silenced autoimmunity, and reached a peak level of physical performance and exercise capacity,

I had my share of health challenges earlier in life, all caused by inappropriate unnecessary prescription of antibiotics and oral contraceptives “to regulate periods” that propelled me into a cycle of inflammation and autoimmunity. I was fortunate to choose to continue my medical education and learn or relearn principles of health and how to eliminate disease through Functional Medicine.

My daughter brings so much joy to my life and helps me grow into a better person every day, there’s nothing I want more than to continue to help my patients successfully conceive and experience the joys of being a parent.

Together we will thoroughly and appropriately evaluate your hormone levels. When it comes to the testing of female sex hormones, when to measure, how to measure and how to interpret the data is very significant when it comes to getting correct answers as to what may be going on.

Correctly identifying thyroid problems is also crucial when it comes to infertility. Hypothyroidism is both under diagnosed and under treated and there is a degree of neglect in conventional medicine of what constitutes low thyroid function. Conventionally only highly abnormal lab values are addressed when it comes to diagnosing and treating hypothyroidism as far as TSH values go. If Lab values are not severely abnormal, patients symptoms are generally ignored even if they are classic hypothyroid symptoms. As far as testing conventionally one TSH is used however not testing other values results in many hypothyroid patients not being identified or treated.

Environmental toxins also play a huge part in infertility being that they are endocrine disruptors. Identifying toxin body burden is also very important, since toxins directly get in the way of hormone balance and egg health and quality. We will also optimize methylation and identify any genetic mutations and methylation defects that can negatively affect fertility or healthy pregnancy outcome as well as investigate autoimmune status. We will also look at nutrient status and identify nutrient inadequacies or deficiency and support those pathways with targeted research based supportive nutrients for fertility optimization. Lastly we will identify any adrenal problems and address your adrenal health and stress factors. By taking into consideration the above and more we cover more bases when it comes to infertility and not only help conception but help secure a healthy pregnancy and birth outcomes.

Whether you conceive naturally or seek the help of a reproductive technologist it is imperative to get your body healthy, and optimized before ‘trying’.