Making Miracles Happen With Chiropractic

This little guy happened to be born the week of infertility awareness week!  Why is that significant?  Let me tell you!!

His mama came to me pregnant with her first baby about 3 years ago now.  She was pretty far along and pretty miserable!  Her precious baby boy had been conceived by assisted reproductive technology (ART).  The journey started with 2 rounds of clomid with no luck.  Clomid is a medication to induce ovulation.  

Then they did 2 rounds of IUI again with no success.  IUI is a procedure where mom's ovulation is forced (like with clomid) and dad provides a semen sample that is taken and put into a centrifuge to be spun down to get the best quality sperm in that sample. The spun down version of sperm is then inserted by a doctor into mom. 

Unfortunately, IUI was also not successful, so they moved onto the next step which was IVF.  IVF is a long journey of mom having to do daily injections of hormones to prep for surgical retrieval of her eggs.  We usually only release 1 egg each cycle naturally.  These medications and hormones cause a release of many more eggs at one time.  Once the eggs are retrieved, egg and sperm are put together in a petri dish to fertilize to create an embryo.  The embryo is then inserted into mom.  First round did not take for this couple.  Second round did but resulted in a miscarriage.  The third round 2 embryos were inserted and both “stuck”.  One of the embryos showed no development early on and started to shed at approximately 12 weeks.  They had thought they lost the viable one also until they heard his heartbeat for the first time in the emergency room that night.  So the third round of IVF was the charm and a precious baby boy was born 9 months later.

After that little guy arrived mom continued chiropractic care.  We had many discussions over the weeks, months and years about her PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) diagnosis.   We started adding supplements to give her body the essential nutrients it needed.  We ran blood work and added additional vitamins over time from our findings.  As we continued with chiropractic care and the added supplements, we started seeing her cycle go from 50 days to 40 to 30 and finally her "normal" around 21 days.  A normal cycle length is anywhere from 21 days to 35 days.  This is a woman who had never had a regular cycle and never ovulated on her own that she knew of.  The only time she ovulated was drug induced!  

In addition to the specific supplements, after about a 1-1.5 years I was finally able to convince her do some diet changes that were life changing for her.  We still joke about this and how long it took her to be convinced to try it!  

Keep in mind!  This entire time her and her husband were not ready to have more kids yet.  We were working on her health for her!  Our cycles are a huge indicator of our health so it was obvious with hers, we had some work to do!

We worked on her health for about 2 years.  We were finally getting to a place where her cycle started becoming very consistent and she was feeling so much better physically!

The fertility clinic they had worked with previously, called to get approval to refreeze their embryos from there IVF journey.  For anyone that has gone through ART, you know how stressful it is.  That call made her really start questioning if the approach of achieving health we had been working on would result in her being able to get pregnant on her own.  Going through ART is incredibly stressful and she wasn't ready for that again!

We decided to have her use ovulation testing strips to confirm that her regular cycles were also accompanied by ovulation.  She got a strong positive ovulation test on day 14!  For the first time on her own (that she knows of) she ovulated!!  This was in itself an exciting day!  No medications!!  No injections!!  The last 2 years of giving her body the nutrients that it needed allowed her body to ovulate on its own!!  Fast forward to day 26!  On day 26 she decided to take a pregnancy test out of curiosity since her cycle had not come.  After the two minutes of waiting, the faint second line appeared.  She and her husband couldn’t believe it.  Her husband even asked, “What does this mean?”.  She tested ever day between Saturday and Tuesday and watched the second line get progressively darker.  She wasn’t truly convinced until her blood work came back showing a positive pregnancy test!!

Now, here we are 37 weeks later, a healthy baby boy has blessed us with his presence!!

If you are struggling with in-fertility and would like to learn more give us a call or send us an email. In-fertility is not always about the woman. It takes two to create these special little human beings. Dr. Iman works with the couple to help make their journey of parenthood as successful as possible.

georgie

Nutrition and Fertility

Nutrition is often seen as something that expecting mothers emphasize most after conception, but it is just as important prior to conception! If a women is deficient in nutrients prior to conception then the baby could be at risk for less than optimal health. Ideally, one should begin their fertility diet six months prior to conception. The fertility diet is nutrient-dense and has certain do’s and don’t’s that you will want to follow as strictly as possible to optimize your results. This diet can help to regulate your cycle and allow mothers to become pregnant naturally.

What to Eat:

  • Raw, pastured dairy

  • Whole eggs, egg yolks (pastured)

  • Pastured meats with fat

  • Healthy fats: coconut oil, butter, tallow, lard

  • Leafy greens

  • Fruits and vegetables (preferably organic)

  • Properly prepared whole grains

  • Fermented foods

  • Water or pregnancy tea

What NOT to Eat:

  • Artificial sweetners

  • Preservatives

  • MSG

  • Vegetable oils, margarine

  • Canned/processed foods

  • Propylene glycol

Changes to diet can help to treat anovulation and other ovulatory disorders and help to regulate PCOS. If you’re having issues conceiving then making changes to your diet could be the answer. The food you eat today can impact the health of your egg 90 days from now, so feeding your body correctly is crucial!

Written by Jennifer Scanlon, student intern.

If you are struggling with infertility and you have not changed your diet then you need to start here!!  Dr. Iman will be taking appointments for infertility consultations and treatments starting summer/fall 2017.  Feel free to reach out now with concerns you may have.  Lets work together to prepare your body to conceive naturally!