Afraid of Not Getting Pregnant

I received this email from a patient today:

“Just an FYI... after my GI bug 2 weeks ago, I had horrible epigastric pain for about 10 days.  My fatigue that had started after ovulation last cycle has continued.  I had an upper respiratory infection which began on the day of my insemination on Monday.  I am starting to feel better (as far as the cold) but now I have dark circles under my eyes which had gone away in the last couple of months.  My skin is still pretty good and I am sleeping better.  I don't really have any irritability and only become depressed when I find out month after month that I am not pregnant.  The depression is not a premenstrual symptom.  I feel like I am going backwards.  Also, in my reading I have come across a few other herbs that I have questions about...would huang qi or shan yao help me?  The GI bug and the cold are unusual, as I rarely get sick”

I am sharing this email correspondence because it illustrates so clearly how the journey can sometimes go as my patients are trying to conceive.  Nobody comes to me at the beginning of the journey though I wish they would. They come to me when everything they have tried has failed and they are ready to give up but they are going to try one last weird thing… Chinese herbs.

Here is my response back to her. I want to address everything that is concerning her:

“When you have a GI bug it can really drain you. Make sure that you eat really well and you should take a probiotic to get the intestines back in order.

I don't think that Huang Qi would be good for you. It can create a lot of bloating and heat. I have added American Ginseng to your formula in hopes of increasing your energy. Shan Yao is good but it is pretty mild.

The dark circles around your eyes are coming from a "Kidney" deficiency not a "Spleen" Qi deficiency. Lots of herbs in your formula address this. You are not slipping backwards. You just had a GI bug.

Make sure that you get a lot of sleep. This is going to help the most.

I know what you mean about feeling depressed about not getting pregnant. I wish there was something that I could say or give you that could take this depression away but you have a real reason for this feeling. If we take away this feeling it wouldn't give the full respect that this feeling deserves. We can't drug away or herb away your longing for another child. You have this feeling that there is a baby wanting your love and you can't seem to get to this little soul. The thought of this makes me want to cry and I haven't even met you in person..

I will tell you something personal about me as it might help you. I was never able to have children myself. I had ovarian cancer. I am fine so don't give a thought to this part of the story. I couldn't believe that I was never going to have children when I was struggling with this. I LOVE kids and I wanted one of my own. I thought my life would be horrible without them in my life every day. All of this happened a long time ago for me(I am much older than you). Anyways, now I have to admit that it is completely okay that this never happened for me. I LOVE my life and there doesn't even feel like there is a big hole in it like I thought I would always feel.

I am telling you this to let you know from personal experience that no matter what happens for you around this, you will be okay. I hope that you can find the place inside of yourself that knows what I am telling you is true. Perhaps you need to go off by yourself, preferably in nature which will remind you that nature is much bigger and wiser than we are, and connect to your inner wise woman who can trust that you will have an amazing life no matter what happens with all this. I think it might give you peace so that you can continue this journey without letting the depression and fear take over.”

And this is how she responded back:

“Thank you for your very kind words and all the effort you have put forth in my behalf. Your words made me cry.  I consider myself very lucky to have your support in this journey.  I appreciate your compassion and most of all your honesty.”      

The truth is that she is right. I do everything I can to help my fertility patients. I have so much compassion for their difficult and lonely journey. 

Fertility Herbalist
Patricia Karnowski M.S.O.M.

910-420-2194
www.fertilityformulas.com

Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 9am to 7pm EST

Natural and Effect Help for Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

Poly cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) can be one of the most difficult conditions to have when you are trying to get pregnant. Woman with PCOS have a hormone imbalance  where the testosterone levels are too high. The developing egg is trying to grow in this high testosterone, bad environment. Sometimes the eggs don’t develop at all. The egg won’t ovulate (release from the ovaries) and women will not have a menstrual period. Women with PCOS can go months without a period. 

Sometimes rather than an egg forming and releasing, a cyst will form. Not all women with PCOS will have cysts on their ovaries but most do. Some will have a row of cysts developed over the months. In the worse cases her ovaries will look like a bunch or grapes with many cysts covering the ovaries. A waxy coating will form over the top of the cysts making it even more difficult for an egg to get through.

So what do we do? How can we get the testosterone levels to normalize so that a good quality egg will form? How do we help clear the cysts? How do we clear this waxy coating? 

Traditional Chinese Medicine sees this condition as a problem with a poor transformation and transportation of food function within the body. Maybe we in the west would call it a “slow metabolism”. This is causing stagnation to develop. Phlegm can easily develop with this type of stagnation. Chinese Medicine would call this a “phlegm accumulation” that is strangling the ovaries.  

There are Chinese herbs to clear this “phlegm” and also herbs to improve the food transformation function (improve metabolism) of the body so that the PCOS patient does form more “phlegm” (cysts). 

Okay so we can clear the cysts and we can treat the underlying cause of the cyst forming but what do we do about the high testosterone levels? This is the part any woman with PCOS is going to absolutely hate. She must change her diet. It is hard for anybody to change their diet but it is worse for women with PCOS because this imbalance will make her crave sugar. She has to fight the intense craving for about 7 days until the cravings stop when she stops eating all sugar. 

When a woman with PCOS eats foods that are high in sugars her blood sugar will go up very quickly and then drop just as quickly which makes her crave more sugar. When the blood sugar is doing this it will not allow the body to metabolize testosterone.  Doctors have started giving women with PCOS a drug called metformin to try to regulate the blood sugar levels. 

In China where the culture is very pragmatic the Chinese medicine practitioners don’t talk about “blood sugar levels” but instead they say, “Eat this and don’t eat that”.   When you examine what they have been saying you will see that they have known for thousands of years that the blood sugar must be regulated for these women to get pregnant. 

I am going to give you a perfects day’s meal plan to do this. Keep in mind that I am not a dietitian. I am a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine living in a Western world so I will give you my recommendations based on Chinese Medicine but tweek enough that you can go to the grocery store in the west and get the ingredients.

Here are the rules:

• You have to eat all the amounts and types of food I suggest

• You have to eat 3 meals (300 calories per meal) a day

• You have to have 2 snacks a day (150 calories per meal)

• You have to eat breakfast within one hour of waking up in the morning

• You have to have 30% proteins, 30% fats, 40% carbs (Use thedailyplate.com to log your food and keep track of these percentages.

• No more than 50% animal protein (chicken, fish, red meat including pork, veal, turkey, goat. You can only have one egg a day but you can have as many whites as you like)

•  All grains are WHOLE GRAINS

•          Vegetables are your first choice for carbs followed by fruit then whole grains.

•          Fats are best eaten in the form of nuts, seeds followed by olive oil

•          Aim for 1200 calories a day but you can go as high as 1500 once in a while.

•         Before bed take 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in ½ cup of water.

 Here is an example of what would a day of meals look like?

Breakfast

·        1 egg plus 3 servings (9 tablespoons) egg white

·        1 multi whole grains toast (“Healthy Life Whole Wheat Bread” is low calorie, high protein)

·        1 fruit (med size apple, pair, ½ banana, 6oz berries or melon)

·        1 cup light soy milk

Morning snack

·        ½ cup nonfat cottage cheese

·        ½ cup cucumber, red bell pepper, onion

Lunch

·        ½ cup lentils (other beans are good too but if you get them out of a can rinse them to remove the salt.)

·        2 servings egg white (6 tbsp egg beaters) (high in protein but low in calories and carbs)

·        1 cup cooked vegetables

·        1 whole grain tortilla

·        1 tsp olive oil

Afternoon snack

·        1 oz dry roasted peanuts

Dinner

·        6 oz wild salmon (best choice), other cold water fish, chicken or turkey breast  

·        8 oz vegatables

·        1 fruit

There are so many egg whites in this plan because they are high in protein but low in fats which is always the biggest challenge to create in a meal.

Your “blood sugar” will be well regulated with this meal plan.  The “food transformational function” of the body will be nourished.   

An added benefit of this diet is that a woman with PCOS will lose weight which is almost impossible for with this imbalance. I have seen many young women up to age 26 who find that their cycles regulate and get they pregnant even without herbs.

Okay okay… I know it is hard to make such a big change in your diet but isn’t worth trying before you take drugs with all the side effects. The women who call me have tried the drugs with no results when this diet has helped.

Good Luck,

Chinese Fertility herbalist,

Patricia Karnowski M.S.O.M.

www.fertilityformulas.com