Fertility and The Emotional Journey

Fertility & The Emotional Journey

 

I recently received a call from one of my long-term patients, who over the past 6 months wanted to focus on boosting her fertility health.  She was a regular patient who lead a very healthy, green, clean lifestyle, eating all the healthy organic foods, while carefully tracking her cycle and ovulation.  Everything looked great on paper.  She is young and her hormone levels were perfect, and she and her husband were doing everything right, except the happy couple had been trying naturally to conceive for well over a year to no avail.  I encouraged her to take a break from it all, and I pointed out that her focus was scattered, as she was switching jobs, moving to a new city, and realigning her life.  I had a feeling that when everything had settled and she became comfortable, centered, and grounded again in life, she would receive happy news.  Today, after all the major life changes were behind her and she settled into her new career, her new home, and her new city, she shared with me the good news of her pregnancy. 

 

I vividly remember sitting in one of my women’s health classes in Chinese Medicine school, listening to the doctor explain to us the best realistic advice for a couple going through fertility is to have them take a vacation and get away from it all.  Leave the cycle trackers behind, forget about taking their BBT (basal body temperature), and just enjoy life.  Since being in private practice, I do this with all of my fertility patients.  My goal is not to overwhelm them through their journey, but to help take an emotional load off, as they experience the stress and anxiety so often associated with trying to conceive. The truth is, conception rates increase dramatically when mother (and father) are centered, calm, and stress and worry-free. 

 

Regardless of whether the fertility patient is using hormonal therapy with a Reproductive Endocrinologist, or she is looking for a more holistic and natural fertility approach, acupuncture is an effective and beneficial addition to her fertility journey, as with every treatment, the mind and mind gently ease from a tense and stressed state into a calm and relaxed one.  Acupuncture works in various ways, but most notably by shifting the nervous system into its most healthful state, the parasympathetic phase.  This allows the mind and body to relax, rejuvenate and restore its natural balance, in which hormones and neurotransmitters regulate more easily, thereby alleviating inflammation, stress, all while boosting mood and energy. 

 

After working with hundreds of fertility patients, it is apparent that fear is a common theme in which many women experience.  After all, the medical model is not only overwhelming, but the stigma of fertility lies nearly always solely with the mother-to-be.  Although it is the couple’s goal, it is almost always the burden of the woman to undergo the physical ups and downs associated with the fertility journey.  With NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique), past traumatic experiences, beliefs, and emotions can be cleared to help create a fresh start for conception.  Many times, once past traumas have been cleared from at a cellular level, then this clears the way of the barriers that once prevented a healthy conception. 

 

In the upcoming fertility blog, I will discuss the various ways in which different, specific emotions can directly affect and interfere with conception.