Don't Tell Me To RELAX- Your Fertility Podcast

Cervical Mucus. It's something that Katy and myself talk about a LOT. In fact, we first met on Instagram because we were both discussing this topic. I don't know why we haven't dedicated a whole episode to it before but here we are. A whole 30 minutes talking about the wonder that is cervical mucus and why it's so important and so helpful when you're trying to conceive.

In this episode we discuss:

• What is it and how it is made
• What it actually does
• How to check for it
• What is fertile mucus
• How it can help you to conceive
• Why you might not see any
• What to look out for after ovulation
• What discharge is not normal and needs investigation
• Katy’s up coming course 

You can find out more about Katy's Fertility Awareness course and 121 work here.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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Ed Coats is a fertility consultant, hysteroscopic and laparoscopic surgeon and medical director at the Evewell West London clinic. He joins us to share his experiences and thoughts on assisted conception and IVF. He explains, who can benefit from treatment, why and when you might consider IVF as an option.

We discuss

• what is assisted conception and the range of issues which lead people to seek support
• When and why to do testing to explore your fertility 
• Why we need better education, earlier on
• Why you’d choose IUI or IVF
• When to address gynaecological issues and when to proceed with fertility treatment 
• Why there is a difference in the types of fertility treatment offered 
• The importance of researching and investigating different clinics
• Ways you can support yourself as you go through treatment
• How to treat male factor fertility issues and whether they should be addressed before IVF
• How to choose a clinic

If you'd like to find out more about IVF, or the different treatments offered with assisted conception you can lots of information from the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority). For information on the Evewell follow this link.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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We're kicking off Series 3 talking about acupuncture!

I realised that we have never actually done an episode about acupuncture and fertility so I thought now is a good time to address this. For this episode we have swapped roles and Katy is interviewing me. In this episode we discuss:

• how I came to acupuncture
• how acupuncture works
• how acupuncture supports fertility and what the evidence shows
• how acupuncture supports IVF and the most recent evidence which shows acupuncture can significantly improve CPR (clinical Pregnancy Rate) and LBR (Live Birth Rate) among women undergoing IVF
• what's involved with a treatment with us
• when to come for acupuncture
• what's the difference between an acupuncturist and a fertility acupuncturist
• how to find a fertility acupuncturist& why I think fertility support trained acupuncturists are great
• how to work with us

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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This week I am joined by Dr Helen O'Neil, CEO and Founder of Hertility, a company providing at home hormone and fertility tests for women. With Hertility as well as the at home blood testing you also get access reproductive specialist consultations and fast-tracked pelvic ultrasound scan referrals. Given how many people get in touch with us to ask about testing and struggle to get what they want through their GP, we know what a difference companies like Hertility can make.

We discuss:

• Why there is a need for Hertility and why Helen started the company

• How disconnected we are from understanding our bodies and reproductive  health

• How does Hertility work and what the process is to get tests and results

• How Hertility looks at wider areas of your life not just the blood results 

• How reports can provide support and education around your reproductive health

• What are the next steps once you have your results

• How Hertility can link you to scanning places based on your location across the UK

• Who Hertility is for & how regular reproductive health testing throughout life should be the norm

• The impact and importance of lifestyle support and education

• Hertility’s upcoming campaign to help fund further research into Women’s Health

• You can find out more about Hertility here and follow them on Instagram.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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This is a well timed episode on the back of the recent Channel 4 documentary "Celebrity Save Our Sperm" Which I can highly recommend if you haven't already watched it. It really does highlight the importance and the impact of lifestyle and nutrition on sperm.

So for this episode I am joined by Pilar Manzanaro, a registered Nutritional Therapist and certified Functional Medicine Practitioner by the  Institute of Functional Medicine, Pilar runs a highly successful pre-conception and fertility clinic for men and women trying to conceive naturally or undergoing IVF treatment. And in this episode she shares bucket loads of information on nutrition, supplements and lifestyle for good sperm health.

We discuss:

• Why we think it’s important to test men properly and as soon as you can.

• What to remove from your diet.

• What to add into your diet.

• What supplements can support sperm health.

• Environmental toxins and what you can realistically do to avoid them.

• Other lifestyle considerations.

• How to get in touch with Pilar and work with her team.

If you'd like more information please see Pilar's website, she offers zoom consultations for men and women.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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Endometriosis is the name given to the condition where cells similar to the ones in the lining of the womb are found elsewhere in the body. For many people this condition can have a huge impact on fertility. It is estimated that 30 to 50% of people with Endo will experience fertility problems. To discuss this in more detail I am joined this week by Louise Collyer, a highly experienced TCM acupuncturist, Chinese Medicine herbalist and Functional Medicine practitioner, who specialises in women's health, fertility and endometriosis.

We discuss:

• what is endometriosis and how does it present

• Why does it take so long for people to get a proper diagnosis

• How to diagnose endometriosis

• Why surgery for endometriosis can be so complex and how long waiting times can be

• How does endometriosis impact fertility

• What are the treatments available for endometriosis

• What is the holistic approach to endometriosis

• Endometriosis and the link with gut health

• Why testing and investigations are important as soon as possible

• Endometriosis and egg quality

• Endometriosis and the microbiome

• Recommendations for how to get proper investigations and treatment

• Louise’s programme for endo support.

You can find out more about Louise's Endometriosis programme here, which is available to anyone across the country. And you can follow her on Instagram here.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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This week I am joined by Farzanah Nasser, a thyroid health expert, nutritionist and functional medicine practitioner. Thyroid health is important for so many functions in the body, including fertility, menstrual cycles and pregnancy.

We discuss

• what is the difference between nutrition and functional medicine 

• what is the thyroid and why is it so important

• the difference between hypo and hyperthyroidism and the different symptoms 

• How to measure thyroid health and the difference between TSH only and a full thyroid panel

• Hashimoto's and ways to address this

• The difference in the ranges for thyroid and what is ideal for fertility

• Why 2.5 or less ideal for fertility and for health

• How optimal thyroid function can support cycles, luteal phase and progesterone

• Why adrenal glad health is so important

• The link to gut health 

• How you can test your full thyroid yourself at home

• How to get thyroxine if you can’t access through your GP

• Farzanah's new course which might be helpful

You can follow Farzanah on instagram here and to find out more about her course follow this link.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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I decided we couldn't do episodes on testing without a dedicated one to the men. So Ian Stones from TestHim kindly joins me this week to look at where we're at with male fertility testing and why we need to be doing more.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why male fertility testing is so over looked

• What current standard male testing does and why it is limited

• What can be the knock on effects of not having thorough male investigations

• Why investigating men more is key for natural and assisted conception

• Why lifestyle assessment and work to make improvements is essential

• Other fertility tests that are available for men

• Where to go to get them

• What the TestHim platform is and how it can help.

As always, we hope you have found this helpful. You can follow TestHim on Instagram here, and listen to their podcast here.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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This week, I'm super excited to have Dr Amanda Chisholm on the podcast. She's a GP and a lifestyle medicine practitioner who's all about the holistic approach to care. We're going to dive into fertility testing from the perspective of an NHS GP and share insight to make sure you get the right testing and investigations to support your fertility and have a healthy pregnancy.

In this episode we cover:

• what the training is like when you’re studying medicine and the approach to women’s health/fertility

• how medicine is disease focused and how women’s health is under researched

• how care and understanding can vary depending on training with each GP

• NHS guidelines and issues that can get you a referral sooner

• My opinion on testing and why I think doing it sooner is a good idea

• Why being in the best possible health is so important for fertility 

• Why sperm testing sooner can be so important and helpful 

• Why it’s ok to challenge and push for your tests

• Why going private can be an option and how you can use alongside NHS treatment

• How to get your GP to refer you to gynae to help assist your fertility 

We hope you find this super helpful and we'd love to hear your experiences of getting the right tests and how supported you felt with this.

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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We think that testing and investigating your fertility should be encouraged more and done sooner. So in this week's episode we look at what the current situation is around testing, what's available from the NHS, what the guidelines say and what tests we would recommend as first step investigations into your fertility.

We discuss

• The range of tests for men and women
• The limitations of testing and how there is no one test for fertility and no test for egg quality
• The complications of fertility testing
• When should you go for testing 
• NHS guidelines for when to go for testing
• Why you should go sooner if you have any underlying issues 
• Why we think testing sooner is a good idea
• Which tests we think are good to start with, including day 3, testosterone, prolactin, thyroid 
• How this differs from NHS guidelines 
• The day 21 progesterone test and why this shouldn’t always be done on day 21
• The limitations of the progesterone test
• Transvaginal scans, what this can tell you and why it’s helpful
• Why Clamydia screening is important when you’re preparing for pregnancy
• Male testing and why it’s important to get this done as soon as possible
• NHS guidelines on sperm testing
• Home sperm testing kits as a good place to start
• How to approach your doctor and why it’s ok to change doctors and ask for a second opinion
• Home and private testing kits and how helpful these can be for men and women
• Why preparing for your GP appt can be helpful and consider taking someone with you
• Take your charts and your data on your cycle to help
• Why we think it’s important to get testing done

For more Fertility Support & Care:

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❤️ Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more fertility tips and information

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