How To Know If Trauma Is Playing A Role In Your Fertility Journey

We’re digging into how the biology of trauma impacts the fertility journey.

If you are like me you can probably take on a lot. I’m a doer. If you want it done call me.

But at what cost to my health?

When I was diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency at 28 I went straight into action.

I didn’t take any time to grieve.

I didn’t stop to listen to what my body was desperately trying to tell me.

I went straight to donor eggs.

And getting stuff done is my superpower. But what I’ve learned after A LOT of inner reflection is that staying busy to avoid the hard emotions doesn’t work.

They will creep back up at the most inopportune times. Mine turns to anger, irritability, impatience and frustration. I used to visualize a brick wall in front of me and me banging my head against it. I know not the most calming vision.

So how do we reframe the fertility journey and release the trauma so that we can rewire our imbalanced nervous system?

Today I'm welcoming Dr. Aimie Apigian to the podcast and we're digging into how the biology of trauma impacts the fertility journey. Dr. Aimie is a double board-certified medical physician in both preventive and addiction medicine and holds double master's degrees in biology and in public health. Dr. Aimie specializes in trauma, attachment and addictions after having personal experience in foster parenting, adopting and then having her own health issues that were the result of childhood and life experiences. In addition to her medical studies which have included functional medicine certification, she has also sought out trauma therapy training since 2015.

In this episode you'll learn:

1. Being on the fertility journey can be traumatic so how do we reframe and make a shift so we can improve pregnancy success?
2. How do we rewire an imbalanced nervous system and how do we know it's imbalanced, to begin with?
3. The three types of biochemical imbalances and how to know if these are a factor in your specific situation
4. Nutrition deficiencies that you may not know about and why they matter for fertility
5. A somatic exercise that can help to reduce the stress response so you can lean into self-compassion and peace as you optimize your fertility

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HIGHLIGHTS:

3:01 WELCOME DR. AIMIE & INTRODUCE TODAY’S TOPIC

4:30 DR. AIMIE’S JOURNEY TO THE FUNCTIONAL APPROACH

• What it was like to be trained in the conventional approach and find her way to functional medicine
• How Dr. Aimie became interested in learning more about healing trauma
• Trauma work was essential for me to get better.

6:04 THE TRAUMA AROUND AN INFERTILITY DIAGNOSIS

• Differentiating between trauma and stress
• Trauma has lasting consequences on our biology.

10:10 OUR BODIES SWITCH INTO SURVIVAL MODE

• The body will do things to avoid feeling uncomfortable
• Being in a dysregulated state is not sustainable
• It’s the reaction of our nervous system that makes it trauma or not.

11:45 THREE STATES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

• How trauma gets stored in the nervous system
• The signs of stored trauma

18:30 HOW YOU CAN REWIRE AN IMBALANCED NERVOUS SYSTEM

• Why we need to work on the body, not just the mind
• If trauma work brings up issues but doesn’t resolve them, it can keep the nervous system stuck in survival mode

20:15 DR. AIMIE’S ESSENTIAL SEQUENCE FOR HEALING TRAUMA

• How somatic work is different from breathwork and other tools
• A lot of trauma is stored in the pelvis.
• Creating a felt sense of safety and support in your body before moving into joy

25:44 DR. AIMIE SHARES THREE SOMATIC EXERCISES

32:41 STARTING YOUR OWN DAILY SOMATIC PRACTICE

35:25 BIOCHEMICAL IMBALANCES

• How our nervous system adapts to our life experiences
• For us to require those patterns that have become ruts we have to have our nervous system optimized for positive neuroplasticity.
• Combining therapeutic modalities with addressing the biological aspects
• As long as you continue to have biochemical imbalances you will have a lower threshold for stress.
• Building resilience on a cellular level
• You can have a predisposition to trauma.
  The main biochemical imbalances that predispose you to trauma

42:41 SARAH’S EXPERIENCE WITH HER SON AND BIOCHEMICAL IMBALANCES

• The disconnect between the conventional approach and the need to address the underlying factors that lead to the symptoms we experience
• Your nervous system drives everything.

47:14 THERE’S SO MUCH YOU CAN DO

47:47 DR. AIMIE’S CURRENT OBSESSION

49:17 A SUCCESS STORY

Book your Supercharge Your Fertility Discovery call here with your partner

During our call, we’ll be discussing what you have tried so far and where you’ve faced challenges. This can feel stressful but is designed to help us get to the root cause of your fertility issues and will help me to give you the best possible action plan at the end of the call. However, to reassure you – on this call we won’t be digging into the trauma associated with infertility/miscarriage/loss – rather we are focused on solutions and an ACTION PLAN as to how our Fab Fertile Method can help you get pregnant naturally.

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Got questions? Join the Fab Fertile Support Group for motivation, support, and education so that you can prepare for pregnancy success.

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Connect with Sarah on social media and learn more about functional fertility solutions that will help you have your baby.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabfertileinc/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sesacoaching/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fabfertile

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahclarkfertilitycoach/

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