Functional Medicine 101 and Your Fertility

Today I’m welcoming Brandy Buskow back to the podcast today.

We’re digging into what exactly is functional medicine and how it can help you get pregnant.

Check out episode #2 for how Brandy overcame anxiety using the tools of Functional Medicine. Brandy and I work together to run our Couples Coaching Program.

Brandy is Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and Certified Transformational Health Coach and EFT Practitioner. She loves supporting women so they can learn how functional medicine addresses the underlying cause of disease or illness.

On this podcast you'll learn:

• Why functional medicine is the future of conventional medicine. Learn more here too - The Institute for Functional Medicine
• When women come to us they are very focused on their infertility diagnosis. They may even have been told their chances of conception are very low. In functional medicine we dig further to look for the root cause. Infertility does not happen in a bubble - there are other health issues that give us clues as to WHY!
• If you have low AMH, high FSH, low ovarian reserve, diminished ovarian reserve, unexplained infertility, Premature Ovarian Failure (POF), PCOS, fibroids and endometriosis, repeat miscarriage or male factor infertility...functional medicine can help.
• Listen in for a sneak peek with how we work with clients in our Couples Coaching Program.
• You'll learn the importance of Functional Testing.
• We discuss how we develop a personalized diet and lifestyle protocol.
• Plus why focusing on emotional health is essential.
• We take a very detailed Health history and ask questions that your conventional doctor may not have considered.
• Such as how were you delivered, vaginally or cesarean, Were you breastfed? How is the health of parents? When did you feel your best and more!
• We complete a full Blood Chemistry Review. This is very important, especially if you have been told all your blood work is "normal". We look at your Vitamin D levels, full thyroid panel (including anti-bodies), ferritin, B12 and more. Even taking the hormonal birth control can negatively impact your nutrient levels and your gut flora (leading to leaky gut, and gut infections).
• We conduct Functional Testing - food sensitivity, hormone (DUTCH), and DNA stool testing.
• Next we develop a customized plan which includes the following:
  • Diet – making sure you are consuming enough fat, ensuring blood sugar is balanced, eliminating processed food, getting enough protein and consuming foods that are right for your body (using food sensitivity testing as a guide).
  • Rest - we focus on sleep hygiene, getting 7-9 hours sleep per night. Interrupted sleep can lead to blood sugar imbalance.
  • Exercise - we always recommend non vigorous such as brisk walking, interval training, weight 3x/week and fertility yoga.
  • Supplements - targeted protocol which includes testing to monitor what is right for your body...this part is key....supplement protocols are short term and very targeted.
  • Emotional Health - Getting honest about the emotional stressors is huge. Mindfulness, journaling, meditation, visualization, affirmations, coaching, therapy, EFT. (Refer to Episode #1 with Amira Posner - going down rabbit hole and Episode #5 with Stephanie Risinger talking about how infertility impacts your relationship)
• A significant number of our clients have gut infections. Patience is key as healing takes time. However it takes 90 days for the egg to renew itself and the life cycle of the sperm is 70-80 days. In a short period of time we can make dramatic impact on your preconception health.
• We have success stories like Danielle who experienced miscarriages and Anna who had low AMH, low ovarian reserve who got pregnant by participating in our Mindfulness Fertility Series.
• For our Coaching Program we have successes like Erin who had endometriosis, miscarriages and had celiac disease. She followed our proven protocol and got pregnant with had her baby girl. And Sarah who had multiple failed IUI/IVF's, low AMH and was told donor eggs were her only option - after following our proven protocol got pregnant naturally within 4 months.
• Because of my willingness to share my story about donor eggs. We have many women come to us who are choosing donor eggs and want to get healthy. We’ve helped women like Ashley and Gillian using functional testing and gut healing protocols have their babies.
• When we treat the whole person not the infertility diagnosis we can optimize preconception health. Going to the Fertility Clinic should be the LAST STEP not the first. It is important to build a strong foundation so you will either get pregnant naturally or increase your success at your next IUI/IVF.

Book your free Supercharge Your Fertility Discovery call. We’ll come up with a simple plan to help you move forward…towards your dream of having your baby.