Endo Fertility

This is quite a personal episode. It is perhaps not as succinct as some of my previous more educational episodes. I wanted to share this insight, as it has changed the way I am going about optimising my fertility and managing my Endo compared to the first time around.

In this episode some of the things I talk about include:

• The difference between functional and integrative medicine
• My garden analogy with the gut microbiome and health
• Endometriosis being a whole-body disease
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Gut and pelvic pain connection
• Fear when talking to your doctor
• My scattergun approach
• Postpartum recovery
• Breastfeeding and baby's gut health and immunity
• Histamine intolerance and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
• GI stool testing
• Impact of chronic sleep deprivation
• Importance of having a healthy body before pregnancy
• 6 take-aways to improve your gut health
• Strategic functional and integrative approach to supporting the body

As always there is more information in the show notes on my website, including references, mentioned podcast episodes, blogs or resources – go to the show notes, where you can also listen:

https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any future episodes – out weekly on Wednesday morning!

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My guest today is Dr. Jessica Drummond, the CEO of The Integrative Women's Health Institute (IWHI) in the US, and author of Outsmart Endometriosis. Jessica explained the importance of a calm nervous system in managing pain signals, before we got stuck into how Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and resting heart rate are great tools that can be used to understand your overall health, stress levels, sleep quality and quantity, and fitness – all of which can be used in an approach to reduce pelvic pain from Endometriosis and also increase overall health, which improves your fertility. Measuring HRV has become so much more accessible and is something you could be doing right now!

In this episode we talk about:

• The nervous system and how pelvic pain and tension affects the status of the nervous system
• Pain management techniques and safety signals
• What Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is and how it is measured
• How HRV can be used to measure our stress
• How HRV can be used to manage our pelvic pain
• What the resting heart rate is and how this differs from HRV
• Whether HRV can be used to determine if the body is overloaded with xenoestrogens
• Resting heart rate as a measure during the menstrual cycle
• Jessica's experience with COVID and her recovery and use of HRV with this
• My crazy heart rates with chronic fatigue and Endometriosis
• Recommended types of devices to measure HRV
• EMFs and how to reduce them when wearing a device

PLUS, get your hands on your FREE copy of Jessica's book Outsmart Endometriosis.

As always there is lots more information about this episode on my website, i.e. what exactly was discussed, mentioned resources, related podcast episodes and blogs: https://endofertilityspecialist.com/ef25-using-heart-rate-monitors-to-reduce-endo-pelvic-pain/

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any future episodes – which will be out weekly at 6am (BST) on Wednesday mornings!

Can I ask YOU a FAVOUR? Could you please leave me a rating and a review – as this helps spread the love to other women in need. Thank you!

Nicole Jardim joins me to dig deep into stress and how it impacts our body, hormones, period, Endometriosis and ultimately our fertility.

Stress comes in many forms, from internal to external, actual and perceived. We are made to incredibly deal with stress, but our world today is more stressful than ever. Nicole explains exactly what is happening with our hormones and also some the basic things we need to do to reduce this impact.

In this episode I talk about:

• Nicole's experience with nightmare periods as a teenager
• Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal-Thyroid-Gonad (HPAGT) axis
• Stress symptoms from sleep deprivation, hormonal imbalance, period problems, skipped ovulation, PMS etc
• Effect of chronic stress on your thyroid and ovaries
• Effect of "sticky plaster" medication for stress symptoms such as anti-depressants & the pill
• How stress affects cycles and periods
• Internal and external stress, including childhood trauma
• Stress and Endometriosis
• How stress impacts progesterone
• Stress impacts on worsening estrogen dominance
• Inflammatory prostaglandins
• Fatigue, stress & Endo relationships
• How stress affects your ovaries and follicle development
• How stress suppresses your thyroid health and affects ovarian function
• Tips to help manage stress

PLUS, we talk about Nicole's Fix Your Period Book, which was released last year and is a book every girl should have!

As always there is lots more information about this episode on my website, i.e. what exactly was discussed, references, and the mentioned podcast episodes, blogs or resources: https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

My guest today is Angela Heap, a leading fertility nutritionist and expert in the UK. Angela and I discuss genetics, fertility and Endometriosis. It was a real education into the 'hardware and software' of our bodies, a Angela describes it! We discussed how our surrounding environment and exposure to toxins can change our genetics, or trigger various conditions and diseases, including Endometriosis. Angela discusses this subject in "plain English" so we can all understand the potential genetic issues associated with fertility.

In this episode I talk about:

• What we mean by genetics and epigenetics
• What a 'SNPs (copying error)' is and how these are caused
• How our genes are turned on and off by the environment around us
• How our genes can influence our fertility
• MTFHR gene, folate and folic acid
• Miscarriage and the part that genetics play and can inform us
• How genetics and SNPs play a part in PCOS and Endometriosis
• The importance of brassicas and leafy greens for liver detoxification
• The COMT gene and liver detoxification
• How to improve egg quality and fertility
• Importance of fibre for the microbiome
• Why you should test for your genetics when working with a practitioner

As always there is lots more information about this episode on my website, i.e. what exactly was discussed, references, and the mentioned podcast episodes, blogs or resources: https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any future episodes – which will be out weekly on Wednesday morning!

And, if you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you could leave me a rating and a review – as this helps spread the love to other women in need. Thank you!

As a continuation from Episode 22, and as part of improving people's understanding of Endo during Endometriosis Awareness Month, I wanted to present the advantages and disadvantages of surgery – the considered gold standard treatment for Endometriosis when considering it from a fertility perspective. I then go onto to talk through the actions used in a functional approach to support the body to enable it to heal by itself.

In this episode I talk about:

• Surgical intervention
• Excision and ablation surgery
• Questions to ask yourself if you are considering surgery
• Hormonal medical treatment post-surgery
• Nutrition
• Digestion
• Liver Function
• Hormones
• Nervous System

As always there is lots more information about this episode on my website, i.e. what exactly was discussed, references, and the mentioned podcast episodes, blogs or resources, including the link to download your free "Fast Start to Optimal Fertility" E-Book – only available during Endometriosis Awareness Month: https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any future episodes – out weekly on Wednesday morning!

I would love it if you could leave me a RATING and a REVIEW. Thank you!

For the first episode in Season 2, and as its Endometriosis Awareness Month, I wanted to talk to you all about how your fertility can be affected by Endometriosis. This is not to scare you, but to present you with what is known and understood, so that you can then understand why certain actions to improve your health and fertility are recommended.

Medical knowledge of Endometriosis is still underway and continually evolving with new science – this is why in allopathic medicine there is no known cure. In functional medicine, there is an understanding of the systems that are affected by Endometriosis and this gives a roadmap of what steps and tools are needed for your body to heal and optimise your fertility.

In this episode I talk about:

• Endometriosis statistics
• What Endometriosis is and does to your body
• Three direct ways your fertility is affected by Endo
• Five indirect ways fertility is affected
• The use of massage to improve blood flow, breakdown scar tissue and unblock fallopian tubes
• The importance of improving gut health and its impact on your fertility
• Why you should share your personal story with Endo with your family, friends and strangers

As always there is lots more information about this episode on my website, i.e. what exactly was discussed, references, and the mentioned podcast episodes, blogs or resources: https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any future episodes – which will be out weekly on Wednesday morning!

And, if you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you could leave me a rating and a review – as this helps spread the love to other women in need. Thank you!

It's the last episode of the season!! This episode is all about how functional testing can be used to delve deeper into what is happening in the body. Integrative nutrition and lifestyle techniques can then be applied in a specific and focused manner that is unique to the individual, i.e. you! There is a lot you can tell from your symptoms, these will certainly give a picture of what is going on, but there are a variety of tests that a functional practitioner can use to understand where the imbalances are occurring in the body. In this episode I talk about five types of tests that are great for women with Endometriosis trying to get pregnant. These include blood tests, three types of microbiome tests, including the gastro-intestinal (GI) system, and urine and saliva tests for comprehensive hormone testing in the form of the DUTCH test.

As always there is lots more information about this episode on my website, i.e. what exactly was discussed, references, and the mentioned podcast episodes, blogs or recipes: https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

Importantly, how to get hold of your FREE Seed Cycling Guide for the month of November!

An amazing episode with Lorna Driver-Davies, Head of Nutrition from Wild Nutrition. This is the last interview of the season and boy is it good! We covered so much from nutrition, supplements and then a deep dive into the immune system for women with Endometriosis, and how this affects fertility.

I came across Wild Nutrition about 3 years ago for my personal use and absolutely love so many of their products. I then met Lorna through my clinical work as I recommend many of Wild Nutrition products, in particular their Food-Grown Endo-Complex and Food-Grown Fertility. I found Lorna to be an amazing wealth of information on how to use their supplements to get their best effect and I just knew I had to have her on the podcast to pass on some of her nuggets!

We talked about everything from:

• Lorna's career as a Nutritional Therapist and Naturopath and working at Wild Nutrition
• Henrietta Norton's supplement formulation using function nutrition and co-factoring
• Nutrient doses in Wild Nutrition's Food-Grown supplements compared to synthetic supplements
• Difference between methylated and non-methylated forms of nutrients
• Iron supplementation and ferritin storage levels
• How Food-Grown supplements are made
• Why the Food-Grown Endo-Complex supplement is so amazing for women with Endometriosis
• Local and global estrogen production and estrogen detoxification
• The benefits of the Food-Grown Fertility supplement over synthetic fertility versions
• Key minerals and vitamins important for fertility
• Deep dive into Endometriosis and the immune system and its effect on fertility
• Oral microbiome and link to Endometriosis
• Estrogen, inflammation and cytokines
• Symptoms of immune dysfunction
• Post-surgery recovery and the importance of nutrient loading before conception
• How food and supplementation can improve immune function
• Thyroid health, endometriosis and fertility

AND……how to get a discount on Endo-Complex from Wild Nutrition and Henrietta's Endometriosis Book in the next few weeks after the publication of this podcast episode by emailing [email protected]

There is much more information about Lorna and Wild Nutrition, where to connect with her and the resources discussed in this episode on the podcast webpage: https://endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

This week's episode follows on from Episode 17 on estrogen, in that I am covering progesterone. There is so much to know and share with you, from how our menstrual cycle works, how this influences our progesterone levels and what you need to monitor to understand if you have low progesterone There are several reasons why progesterone might be low and understanding these root causes makes it so much easier to resolve the issue than reaching for a sticky plaster that will not help in the long term. I also talk about how Endometriosis and PCOS affect progesterone specifically, and then ways you can increase your levels naturally at home.

There is lots more information about this episode, what exactly was discussed, references, and any relevant previous podcast episodes, blogs or recipes on the website: https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/

Importantly, how to get hold of your FREE Seed Cycling Guide for the month of November!

This week's episode is all about estrogen, whilst next weeks it will be about progesterone. There is so much to say about estrogen in relation to Endometriosis and then how this affects your fertility, and so this is what I cover. It is an overview in many respects – hopefully not too technical and sciency, but importantly I talk about symptoms of high and low estrogen and then give you actions that you can take away and get on with to either decrease or increase your estrogen depending on what your needs are.

For further information about this episode, what exactly was discussed, references associated with what was discussed, and any relevant blogs or articles, and importantly how to get hold of your FREE Seed Cycling Guide for the month of November go to Ep. 17 on the podcast page: https://www.endofertilityspecialist.com/endo-fertility-podcast/