Episode 5: From PCOS and IVF to Natural Pregnancy with The Holistic Fertility Method Case Study

If you want to listen to the full episode head over to: www.wellspringnutrition.co/healing-in-fertility

Transcript:

Hey there, welcome back to another episode of healing in fertility, the mini podcast series where we explore functional medicine, nutrition and lifestyle changes for naturally enhancing your fertility. I’m your host, Annabelle Clebenar. And in today’s episode, we have a really fun story, we have a special guest, who is a previous client of mine, her name is Amanda. And she’s going to share her story and some of the challenges that she had with getting diagnosed with PCOS, some of the ups and downs during that journey. And she’s also going to share some of the different things that she had tried in the past before we started working together. So different diets, different practitioners, and really a lot of the frustration and overwhelm that comes with dealing with fertility struggles. Amanda’s story is so inspiring. And I’m really excited to dive into it. So if you’re someone that’s either dealing with PCOS yourself or just struggling to get answers, or maybe you’ve tried different diets, and are also feeling confused about things, I think this episode is going to be so impactful and so insightful for you. And I can’t wait for you to listen. So let’s dive right in. All right, Amanda, I’m so happy for you to come on the podcast and share more about your story today. Why don’t we just start off with you telling us a little bit more about your fertility background, what was happening before we started working together. And a little bit like of some of the struggles that you faced.

Amanda:  

Totally, I have always had super irregular periods ever since they first started when I was like 13. I mean, I would go years without a period or I would have two in a row. And then I wouldn’t have one for 10 months. And in high school and college, I thought I was so lucky. I like to hear horror stories of my friends who are having all these painful periods or just having not having a tampon and I was like, Ah, I never have to worry about this is so great. And then as I got older, I started going to see you know, the guy No, regularly, of course, and mentioned the irregular periods. And that was never a red flag for anyone. But I started discovering that I was having cysts regularly, there’s just pain and a couple of different ultrasounds and whatnot. And I remember when I was about 25, one of the gynecologist that I’ve been working with saying something about, you know, your symptoms with the irregular periods and the common cysts, you know, sounds kind of like PCOS, but you’re, you’re too skinny for that. And so I never, I didn’t really know what she meant I had never really heard anything about it.

But a couple years go down the line. And my husband was military. So we moved a lot. So I also didn’t have the same doctor for a long time. And I think that was part of the struggle with taking a little bit longer for me to get diagnosed. So new Doctor new state new location. And you know, my husband and I am probably 29 at this point. And my husband, I know that in the next few years, we would like to start having kids. And I started thinking through like I’ve really irregular periods. I feel like maybe this is something I should look into. I had had an excellent on for a long time, even though I never had periods. And with the next one on I don’t think I’d had a period for years. years. But I think that was also normal. So I wanted to start talking to somebody to figure out what is there something that’s a bigger issue, is there an underlying issue? And so we did a little bit of testing still was on next been on and realized that I had PCOS. And I had lean PCOS because there’s not as many of us with the Lean PCOS because generally the population of those who had PCOS, maybe have a larger BMI. It’s it goes a lot more undiagnosed, I learned.

So when I came home with this information, the doctor also just basically said you need to go on a keto diet you need to be super low carb. Here’s a list of vegetables and fruits that are higher carb but look into keto s low carb diets. And it was so daunting, so overwhelming. I try you know reached out to a bunch of people found a bunch of accounts on Instagram that I’ve followed some that told you to go dairy free, some that said to go sugar free. Some said Go gluten free Some said Go keto. And so I kind of tried all of it. And over the course of probably six months or so, I lost a lot of weight. Where my symptoms really that much better, I don’t know, because I also had milder symptoms and other areas. The main one was the irregular periods, but you know, and also have some hair growth. Or I would have, you know, some mood swings here and there cramping, common cysts, things like that. Nothing super, super severe the acne or things that unfortunately a lot of people have to deal with. I was lucky enough to not have that. But through this whole process was really large time to educate myself. I also found out that PCOS can be hereditary. And one of my sisters went and got tested. And she now has we’ve found has PCOS.

So throughout this whole process, I’m kind of trying to manage my diet without really having guidelines. And a couple of years go by, and I’m still doing the same thing. And my husband and I decided, you know, I think it’s time I want to start trying to get pregnant. So let’s take out the next one on. It takes six months or so later, I still don’t have a period. And so I started going to the doctor and we decide we’re going to try Clomid to force an ovulation. So we do the first round of Clomid. And this is 2020. And around that time I catch COVID. Right? in that cycle. It was a really, really easy case of COVID I didn’t lose my sense of taste and smell. I don’t never fevers, just severe exhaustion and a little bit of achiness. But nothing crazy. The crazy thing came two weeks later, when I had severe abdominal pain, severe, severe severe abdominal pain to the point that I couldn’t stand up. And actually I forgot this had happened two years previous, I had a weird situation where I was having these increased periods of periods not the right word, because it’s not a period, these periods times of just severe pain over the course of like three or four days, but come in waves. But it was dilapidated. I mean, I couldn’t stand I couldn’t move. Just crazy, crazy painful and couldn’t figure out what it was at the time. We were in a small town. This was for the first one. The time we were in a small town and I went to urgent care thinking it wasn’t an emergent situation. They had no idea what it was set me up with an abdominal ultrasound had that. Shockingly, the next day they couldn’t discover anything was it with a abdominal so I called my gynecologist at this point, went in had an vaginal ultrasound, and at this point the pain had subsided. So they said that I had some cysts and things looked really inflamed in my uterus and my ovaries but they couldn’t really say for sure if it was an ovarian torsion or if something had burst. They had no idea but just said you know, go home and rest. That was two years prior. Go back, flash forward to take take a Clomid. I’ve had COVID Two weeks later, I have a very similar situation. I can’t stand I can’t move. It’s it was way worse this time. So we go to the hospital. All of the COVID precautions are going on since I just had COVID. They treated me like I was a COVID patient couldn’t figure out what was going on. I had a vaginal ultrasound, I had an MRI, they did all this legwork. And they were contemplating having a an exploratory abdominal surgery to just see what was going on. I’m trying to get my gyno to come in to you know, have a console, they wouldn’t let her in because of COVID things. So she didn’t even she was even able to be a part of it. But we met afterwards. And she said based on the symptoms that you had, I have to think that maybe you had some sort of ovarian torsion you assist. So I think you should go see a fertility doctor. So I went into this conversation with a fertility doctor trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Not necessarily trying to get pregnant, but trying to figure out what happened and get my body in the right alignment. Because clearly something was going on. And the fertility clinic took it to the extreme of oh, we’re about to put you on all these medications. We want to do another out of Clomid, we want to give you all these drugs. Oh, you have another cyst? Let’s put you on birth control to get rid of this USB and this one I just said absolutely not. I don’t want any of these drugs and have anything to do with this. Like I’m gonna take some time away from all of these things and figure it out.

I have thought throughout the years when I was really kind of flailing around with my diet, and not knowing where to go that working with a dietician would have been useful, but there wasn’t kind of an urgent need. And at this point, I just wanted to figure out what was going on and set myself up for success. And so I did some research and I found you and we sort of working together. And it was a really great experience. Also, I found an article around the time we started working together about women who had gotten COVID with PCOS. And there were a lot of case studies starting to come out of women who had had almost identical experiences to me that something with COVID attacked the weaker part of you. And if you had PCOS, you’re at higher risk for your uterus and your ovaries to be attacked in this way.

Anabelle:  

I didn’t think I didn’t know that part about the like, COVID PCOS connection, that’s super interesting.

Amanda : 

I need to like, research that again, and see if they’ve done more, or if there’s more studies that have come out because it was wild reading this article, it was like I had reading my own journal. The women who had had this experience, and the doctors had no idea what was going on. And then both, Yeah, crazy.

Anabelle: 

I remember. back in 2020, you’re telling me this whole story and like this whole saga and today, when when you went to the fertility clinic, did they tell you that you needed IVF?

Amanda:  

They told me that it was likely they didn’t the doctor was I have never dealt with a more condescending doctor, as a male doctor. And not to say that male doctors are always this way. But to be and male doctor working in a fertility clinic to be that condescending and that dismissive. That was one of the reasons I walked out because I had asked him I have PCOS. Isn’t it true? Is there any like diet that I need to be working on? Isn’t it true that I need to be doing X, Y, and Z based on my own research that I had been doing because most of what I had discovered and learned about PCOS, I had to find out on my own, the doctors were not helpful across the board. And this doctor in particular was like, No, there’s no studies that there’s anything to be done. There’s no studies that you can get pregnant with PCOS easier. If you do certain things, you will likely need to end up doing IVF. And at that point, I was like, and I’m done. I you just discounted, most of the things that I had found in my own research, I’ve always been a big believer of modern medicine, obviously. But there’s something to be said about the holistic route. That’s always been like my, my thought process has always been a blend of both is kind of setting yourself up for success in the best way possible, working with doctors, but also eating the right way and taking care of your body and working out and having the whole like mind body spirit, Mental Alignment is only going to help you in your in your health journey. And so for him to dismiss that. So immediately, I was like, We are not a good partnership. 

Anabelle:  

So yeah, it’s crazy that, I mean, there’s so many great doctors out there. And there’s so many that just completely like, for some reason, just shut down any form of nutrition or supplements that can be helpful. 

Amanda:  

I had come to him saying I had this episode, I want to figure out what in God’s name happened. So I was under the impression that he had hurt me because we started doing all this testing, he was doing less testing, because he wanted to see the viability of where I was, you know, right now, and to move into the fertility treatments not to get to the root cause of anything, and I’m always the one that wants to like, let’s get to the root cause and fixing symptoms are fine, but it’s a band aid, like how can we work and, you know, fix it from the bottom up. And that was not his approach. But I remember going in and having conversations with him and he had no memory of ever talking about the episode in the hospital. And there were a lot of red flags. So I was very, I was very happy. My husband was super supportive of like, if this does not feel right to you, we’re not doing this. So it was Yeah.

Anabelle:  

Yeah, that’s, I mean, that’s good. But you went with your gut in that situation. Okay, so you said you found me what made you decide, like to dive in and work with me and go this alternative route? 

Amanda:  

I met with a couple of different people in this space. And I just felt like we clicked so well. You’re so easy to chat with and gab with but you also you know your shit. And I felt like you had a really we you’ve had a very similar philosophy that that I did about like getting to the root cause and aligning that whole mind body spirit, you know, mental mental situation the modern medicine partnered with a functional and at this point, you know, my husband and I were like why not? You know what is what if we don’t do this and in six months wish we had like, working with somebody one on one like this is only going to better you there’s no risk and so There is a risk if I don’t do anything. And I have another one of these episodes. And this one, we just had no idea what was going on. So I think the biggest thing was I’d followed you on Instagram for a while. And I recognize that you knew you knew what you were doing. And you had a really great knowledge base, and just a great demeanor. And I felt like you’re gonna be awesome to work with. And I was right. 

Anabelle:  

I love that. Okay, so fast forward into us starting to work together, we did a bunch of different tests for you, I was about to pull up like your old gi map and stuff. But if you can recall, I know this was like a few years ago now. But was there anything like surprising that happened when we started working together was anything like an aha moment for you or anything like that?

Amanda:  

I’ve shared this with so many women’s sense we work together. But what women are taught about their bodies in school is nothing like it’s so inefficient. And I felt like when we started working together, I was getting educated about my body, like I never had been before. I mean, just learning about not even just me, because I’m one who’s always had irregular cycles, but learning what good looks like learning about the different phases of the cycle, like, oh, no, I had no idea. There were different phases of a cycle, and you should feel a certain way. And there’s different signs that you can tell, if you’re really in tune with your body, that part of it blew my mind, because that’s information that every woman should know, the fact that if you are having irregular cycles are really short, in short, or really long, regardless of what it is, if you’re having cramping, if you’re, you know, getting any of these hormonal mood swings, like the fact that that’s not normal, it’s common, but not normal. That was also revolutionary for me, because that’s not what we’re taught. And so in a way working together broke my heart, because this is not information that is shared widely. And it should be a part of every every, like sex ed for women. And learning that also, fertility is not just about having babies, like your fertility is your vital sign of your health.

That was another thing that rocked my world and made me wish I had done done this years ago. Because if you’re having consistent periods, and you’re having them, you know, as normal as possible, then like, you’re healthy in a way, like that’s a huge sign of whether or not you’re doing well. And that was also just crazy. So I just feel like you’ve dropped a lot of knowledge that was really, really valuable. And I’ve shared that with a lot of people to who friends and family who also had no idea which that was really great. The meals are also bomb, I make them still regularly, I still have plenty of my go twos. And so that was always really fun learning about all of the results of my tests and walking through them about like, this is elevated, or this is lower than it should be in the symptoms, or that could be this it was like, just kind of getting a peek behind the curtain of what’s going on. And that was really cool, too. I felt like once we started doing the testing, doing the diet, doing the supplements directly related correlating to my test results, I started feeling like gut health wise, almost immediately better, and energy levels better and sleeping better. And it was just almost immediate, which is you don’t get results like that very regularly. So it was just, it was a really cool experience. Really, really cool.

Anabelle:  

So happy to hear this. Also, I learned all of this stuff really late in life too. Which is why when I learned it, I was like everyone needs to know this needs to know everyone needs to know. Yeah, we’re going to be teaching our our little boys about Oh, absolutely.

Amanda:  

I’ve already thought about that. Yeah. This is information that y’all need, as well as if we have girls. They need it just as much as the boys do. Very true.

Anabelle: 

Okay, and then so tell me obviously the big moment. Yeah, we started together. 

Amanda:  

The biggest surprise was that three months and because I think we were going to work together for six weeks. We did work together for at least six months. But I think we had signed up. I’d sign up for a six month period, three months in almost exactly. I got a positive pregnancy test, which was wild, totally wild had no idea wasn’t expecting it. We were like I said wanted to get pregnant. We were trying but not really we had kind of put it on the backburner and put my health upfront. So it was a surprise and it wasn’t at the Same time, but it was actually shocking. I never expected to get that result and to get it so fast. And now I have an 18 month old and he’s wild and thriving and so fun. And you’re such a big part of that. So no, so cool.

Anabelle:  

Can you share more about your pregnancy I remember, if I recall, it was like a pretty smooth, easy breezy process.

Amanda:  

It was. We worked together for most of it, I believe. Um, and that was really wonderful. I feel like that set me up for such success I have I know everyone’s pregnancy is so different. So some of this, I think I also just got lucky. But working together, I attribute so much to having such a healthy pregnancy and you helped me get set up for postpartum so well, too. So I hardly had any nausea. first trimester, a little bit of discomfort, you know, low energy, of course, a little bit of nausea, a really not much. second trimester really felt amazing, the only kind of struggle that I had was third trimester, just how he was sitting, my hips, and growing and low back, were not happy. But that was not anything to do with anything that we had worked on. We you helped me with meal plans throughout all of pregnancy, getting ready for postpartum. And birth was really incredible. If you gave me all these resources for different stretching, and different things you can do to kind of prep your body for birth, yoga and meditation along with just like staying active. As well as the stuff that we worked on together, I felt like really set me up at an amazing birth. It was, I mean, almost couldn’t have asked for an easier birth. And the dates and the raspberry leaf tea and the you know, all the different things we did to kind of prep my uterus. And then also you gave me all these resources for meal prepping, nesting during the nesting period to have smoothies and muffins and frozen meals and things like stashed away and I had a good stash for when my husband went back to work and for us to eat off of for, you know, probably four to six weeks after he came. So that was really great. I feel like that your hormones are out of whack, obviously, afterwards. But again, I think so much of it is luck of the draw. But I had a pretty even keel postpartum. Obviously, it was really hard. It was exhausting. There were some of those mood swings. But it was really, really balanced. And I think a lot of that was just knowing what snacks I need to be grabbing, not the super sugary ones, making sure they have protein, making sure there’s a fat like the basics of how people need to eat or another thing that I was taught through working with you that is not taught widely. And so I think all those things just help support through the whole process so much.

Anabelle:  

That’s awesome. I like forgot that we did that all the birth prep. And it’s so huge. So I’m glad to glad that we did do that

Amanda:  

I actually have one of my best friends is having a baby in October. And she was asking me the other day like what I heard something that dates what is that? And I went and found your notes about like how many dates you say, and the raspberry leaf tea and I sent her like the smoothie meal, this could be like meal prep thing to like here, this is what I did. It was amazing. Go to TJ Maxx and get the massive thing a day.

Anabelle:  

That’s all so. Okay, so last or second to last question here. So anything that you would tell someone who’s thinking about working with me or another functional nutritionist, like maybe they’re thinking about joining a program, like what would you tell someone, if you could go back and tell like yourself back when you were kind of deciding what to do.

Amanda:  

I mean, do it. It’s an investment in your health. It’s an investment in you. And it’s an investment that’s only going to make you feel better and hopefully get you the results that you’re wanting faster. While you never know what the future holds. And you never know whether what type of fertility journey you will end up having, this is only going to help you prep for whether it’s IVF or natural pregnancy or whatever the case may be. This is such a worthwhile investment. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself. I mean, I have the 18 month old sleeping downstairs and I like I said I attribute so much of that to you. I think you were the first person I told that I was pregnant. I think I hadn’t even told my husband yet because I wanted to get a second one to verify it and then I got like a little gift and gave it to him later but I’m pretty sure you were the first person I met So, because you were such an integral part. So if you’re thinking about working with Anabelle do it. She’s amazing. 

Anabelle:  

Oh, thank you. Yeah, that I mean, I like remember it like, it was yesterday you sending me the picture of your positive pregnancy tests are like oh my god.

Amanda:  

I mean we’d only been working together for three months. It was crazy.

Anabelle:  

Yeah, crazy. And then last question for you for this little podcast, if you could put a monetary value on your experience and transformation, what would that be?

Amanda:  

Oh, I don’t know. Um, I mean, it’s priceless, right? Like I said, I have the little tiny human downstairs and he’s worth, you know, everything to me. I think I paid a couple $1,000 I don’t remember the exact amount. And I was really toying with is, does this make sense? You know, should we invest this what, like, there’s so many other things we could do with this money. You know, if you want to trip we could buy XYZ, you know, and I think it was my husband that was like, sometimes you have to take a step back and just invest in yourself as if that’s this is this is a straight up investment in yourself. And if it means you’re healthier, and happier than it’s, it’s worth everything. So I would definitely pay what I paid, and more knowing what I know now and working with you. It was great. And I’ve actually thought about, like, Oh, it’s 18 months later, like should I should we kind of level set and do some testing again, I’d love to see where my hormone levels are. And you know, work with you a little bit more just to make sure I’m I’m balanced like I should be. So I’ve even thought about like diving back in. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. I know it’s a lot of money. And it can be scary to put that much money into something so unknown for so many people. But I guarantee you will come away with things that you did not know about your body and yourself that will you’ll be able to use for the rest of your life. Like I don’t even think about the meals that I make at home. Now I don’t even have to think about like, is there enough protein so that you know all the things to carbs. It’s just kind of innate now and I’m sure I could be doing better. But I definitely not doing what I was doing before.

Anabelle:  

That’s awesome. And yay for supportive husbands.

Amanda:  

Yes. Yay for supportive husbands and equal partners and parenthood and life.

Anabelle:  

Yeah, yes. Awesome. Well, this was so so great. And like so wonderful to just have an excuse to reconnect with you and your story again, and I really appreciate you taking time to chat.

Amanda:  

Oh, of course, of course, anything for you. It’s it’s I can’t believe it’s been so long since we’ve really talked to which is oh, you said a couple of years. And I was like there’s no way but no, there is a way.

Anabelle:  

Yes. Babies later and here we are babies.

Amanda:  

Couple countries. Couple states later. Yeah, here we are.

Anabelle: 

Awesome. Well, thank you again. This was fun. This was great. And I hope it was helpful for everyone listening. And if you have questions, obviously, you can reach out to me on Instagram. So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode and the interview with Amanda. And I hope that you learned a few things and also maybe just felt that connection. And if you’re looking for more support on your fertility journey, stay tuned for the next episode because I have a really exciting opportunity for you and a special discount code as well. So head on over to the next episode, and I’ll see you soon