Fertility Rewire Podcast

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Fertility Rewire podcast. Now, it's been a while. Again, I've taken a break.  I've actually really, I've got quite a neck injury and I've been wearing a neck brace and have had the same sort of battle with my healthcare that I know you face a lot with your fertility, but you know, I've stuck with it. I've got to the route that I need to be taking now and things are improving massively. So I'm back doing everything that I was before. So you may have seen me on TikTok more recently talking quite a lot about spotting and signs of low progesterone. And these videos have created lots of conversations with people getting in touch with me. And we are really starting, I think in the fertility community.  And when I say that, I mean you guys who are trying to get pregnant really starting to try and understand, I hope, about progesterone and people are starting to see it as a potential reason why they're not falling pregnant. Now it may well be, but like all things, it's a symptom and we need to look for the cause. So if your progesterone is low, then there will be a reason for that. And the reason in itself might not only affect progesterone, but it may affect other aspects of fertility. So a sticking plaster is not necessarily what we need now. So I'm going to explore in this episode with you a little bit more about spotting because I know that you'll be told that spotting is normal potentially. And you know what? For some people it is. But we have this gauge of normal, don't we? So, if you are spotting, join me by listening into this episode listened, and think what factors might be there. If you need any more support on how to find that out, then please get in touch. You can get in touch by email kat@fertility rewire.com. You can get in touch with me via socials on Instagram and TikTok. It would be great to hear from you and also if you've got any thoughts on the podcast, you know, how are you enjoying it, what more would you like me to do? Is there anything specific you want me to cover? Then please get in touch. But as ever, take care. https://proovtest.com/products/proov-test-strips Use Code FERTILITYREWIRE  https://www.tiktok.com/kat_fertilityrewire   

It was a great pleasure to chat with Hoopsy Founder Lara Solomon in this episode where we discuss hope, support and saving the environment when trying to get pregnant.   Hoopsy provide resources and information to those trying to conceive, as well as an eco friendly pregnancy test, made from99% paper (that doesn't get wet) and is 99% accurate at a comparable cost to plastic single use tests.   Lara talks about her realization about the amount of single use plastic used during her own IVF treatment and it prompted her to start investigating the possibility of an eco friendly version.   We also discussed the upcoming ovulation tests, and an online support community coming in February.   If you wanted to get a free sample of the pregnancy test, you can do so via the link below https://www.hoopsy.co/pregnancy-test-giveaway

It can be a time of dread and fear cant it?   Family gatherings, the questions you know you'll get asked.  But what will you reply?  Do you smile politely, still keeping this very personal subject to yourself, or do you let them have it: None of your business!   Its a time for family, and the sense of loss can be huge, overwhelming even.   I want to give a sense of hope this christmas. My wish for you is that you start to understand what could be affecting your fertility, that you have can put steps into place to enhance your fertility and ease the emotional burden you carry.   I've helped 100's of couples achieve this and I'm sharing my knowledge and proven treatment plan with you in the digital packs.  And for a limited time offer you can access free support from me.   You can access the digital pack here

Feeling lost is something I hear a lot from my clients and people i speak to about their fertility struggles.   The thing about being lost is that we are often looking for the way out, but before we can truly do that we have to know where we are.   I discuss how we can do that, how we need trusted sources and once we know where we are we can get help to get to where we need to go, or help to know where we need to be going next.   I also announce the launch of the new Conceivable digital programme  You can get your hands on that here, and fo a limited time I'm trialing a free support option too (DEC 2022)

It's hard to stick to all the things that you are trying to improve your chances of getting pregnant, especially if you don't really know why you are doing them or know if they are working.   I was recently called out on this a bit with my own business.  What was my motivation? Well my motivation was to of course get clients that I can help, and to educate and advocate for couples through my podcast.   So why haven't recorded an episode for months?   Well I've been poorly, my kids have been poorly, I've had covid, I've had migraines, I have my clients and limited time.   Was I feeling  deflated, do I lack motivation?   Well actually what I have been lacking, is discipline and I talk about this in this episode regarding your fertility journey?   How can you be motivated when you don't see results? Are you looking for the big result and not noticing the micro results that are adding up?   Do you understand, trust and believe in the actions you are taking, or is this lind faith because someone else has done this?   Are your stress/worry levels so high due toall the things you are trying with no results, of having no answers?   When you trust in the process or the person advising the process, you can get discipline your actions because you trust them?   Well this is how I support my clients, every day.   Click here for my free guide 6 things stopping yu getting pregnant

It's a viscous circle: stress affects ovulation, and as you no doubt no ovulations affects stress.  As a result it can also impact other areas of your life. In this episode I discuss the stress of ovulation, why it impacts your fertility and what you can do about it. So there is potentially a lot, you don't know, but there is a lot you can know. So if you want to get more answers, if you want to get the answers or even find the right questions, so you can get the answers, then I can help with that. So if that's something you want to reach out, get in touch, can get me on socials at fertility, rewire or kat@fertilityrewire.com or book an insight call. TRANSCRIPT In this episode, I'm going to talk about the stress of ovulation, which if you've been trying to get pregnant, whether that be with your first, second or further children, you may well really identify with this and see this as being an issue. So my first question for you is, do you know when you ovulate, have you always known when you ovulate, are you still unsure or have you recently found out that it's not at all when you thought it was.  I often talk about how, what we're taught in school. Isn't actually relevant to what we need to know when it comes to trying to get pregnant. We often have this idea that we all ovulate on day 14 in the holy grail of 28 day cycle. But actually, even if you had a 28 day cycle, it's not guaranteed that you would ovulate on day 14. I know some people have been informed from a medical professional that they will ovulate 14 days after their period starts. And other people have been told that they will ovulate 14 days before their period starts. None of which is a guarantee, none of which is true for all. I have worked with some clients over the years where the only issue in their fertility journey was that they weren't completely sure when they were ovulating. Often it's that they were ovulating a lot later than they thought. So it was when working together quite a quick win for many. And sometimes it can be as simple as that, but we know it's not, we know, as I've said many times that there are many, many factors involved. And we also know that we are not looking for further information when we're going through the doctors necessarily.                                 Ovulation signs So do you know your signs of ovulation? Now, this is something I discussed earlier in the podcast in episode six. So that's worth the listen, if you haven't already listened to that one where I talk about ovulation signs.  So naturally, when you ovulate, think about us as animals, not as logical overthinking at times, humans, but as animals, your body tells you it's time to reproduce. So your libido will be increased and you will have changing cervical mucus that will change over this fertility window. The type of mucus varies as we get nearer to ovulation, it's very choosy early on as to which sperm it let through. And the nearer to ovulation, as I've talked about in the episode six, it's going to let anything through at this point. So it is important to know what that mucus means and what it demonstrates.                                 Stress and Ovulation We know that stress, anxiety, worry, fear affects ovulation. It's a very natural process in the body. It's a fantastic process to keep you safe because ultimately the first job of your body is for you to stay alive. It's second job is for you to have sustenance for you to continue. So to stay alive in the moment of danger and then to stay healthy and alive. And it's third job, and this is a hierarchy is procreation. So unless those other two are in place, as I've talked about before, procreation is going to come very, very low down on the list. So at times when your body feels you are in imminent danger in the past, this would be with predators. And I talk about tigers a lot, and Tiger Taming is something I work with my clients. It's a way to address this stress, worry, anxiety, and fear, and bring your body back into balance and help your fertility.                                 So, when you are faced with a tiger, then your body, your hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal access is working to ensure that everything is put into staying alive. And when everything is put into staying alive, then other aspects are switched down or switched off and ovulation can be one of these. Okay? So it could be that ovulation comes later, or it could be that you don't ovulate at all, as well as that, what we also know is not only can, and I hate using the word stress, but, but when your emotional health is, is, is unbalanced. When there is fear and worry and anxiety in place, it will affect ovulation, but equally ovulation can in fact be the cause of the stress, the worry and the fear. So it's in effect of, um, working with this to try and get the balance. Now, as you know, I hope you know that I will never tell you to just relax. Relaxing can be really, really difficult. So, when we look at your tigers, and again, I've talked about this many times before, but I'm going to talk specifically about your ovulation tigers and your tigers are your thoughts, your fears, and your worries. So what are the thoughts that are running through your head around the time of ovulation? What are those thoughts? What, what ifs do you have? What if I'm not ovulating? What if I don't get pregnant this month? I may never get pregnant. How do I know that this is the right time? How do I know that I'm ovulating? What if it's me? What if your partner isn't going to be around during the magic window and What is your magic window? What is the time you have put aside, or you have in your mind that is your magic window. And I hope your answer will be the period of seven days before ovulation. So that's what I work with, with my clients. And we look at that in different stages in order to maximize your chances of getting pregnant, because remember the egg lives for up to 24 hours. The sperm lives for three to five days can be up to seven. And I've repeated this time and time again. I know, but if you think about that, the design of the body is that the sperm needs to be there, ready. It needs to be there ready and waiting for when that egg is released. If you wait for ovulation, you may well miss. Also, if this is the first time you've had sex in a while at ovulation, you could be some quite dodgy sperm. That's not a medical term, but you know what I mean. There could be some dodgy sperm in that ejaculate at that point, the other thing is, what are you doing to analyze when you are ovulating? Are you using your body signs? Have you used ovulation predictor sticks before, or perhaps temperature charting?. And if you know that you're very regular and you know, when you ovulate, are you still peeing on ovation sticks around this time? Or do you have irregular periods now, or maybe even you have absent periods?  I have clients who have a cycle every 28 days who aren't ovulating. So you can have anovulatory cycles and there are many things that cause this, that we can look into that we can start to learn more about. But if you are peeing on ovulation sticks every month, this in itself can cause a stress. This in a sense can cause that anxiety and switch down those natural signs of ovulation and maybe even be switching down ovulation itself, also ovulation predictor sticks. aren't always accurate. So if you have polycystic ovary syndrome, particularly you will have quite regular hormone surges potentially that don't lead to ovulation. So what can you do?  What can you do to support yourself at this time to know more about ovulation and to get in a better head space for it? So rather than reading everything and sending yourself crazy with your Google searches, I would suggest that you choose some, just a few sites that you find useful to support your fertility journey. You could work with somebody like myself to support you. Of course, when you are looking on the internet, when you are looking at social media, and I've mentioned this phrase before, don't just look at what Jane did, because the factors affecting Jane might be very different to the factors affecting you and also going to be a bit controversial, but this is my message, don't just believe what your doctor is telling you. I'm sorry, but your family doctor is not a fertility expert. And when you go to the fertility clinic, what you are really looking at there are assisted methods of conception. So if you really want to get a handle on ovulation, then it's important that you truly know and understand what is going on personally for you with ovulation, that you understand your body's signs. Now I've talked about ovulation pain before in an episode, ovulation pain is not a positive sign, always of ovulation. So don't think, oh, I get pain. So that's really good. So I know when I ovulate, we need to look a little bit further into that, especially. So when you understand your body and know the signs, you can develop a sense of trust in your body. And when you have a sense of trust that can in effect, start, start to support the reduction of the fear and the worry and anxiety, and the more understanding, and the more sound information with an action plan that you have, the more in control you can feel because let's face it. We don't feel in control of this at all. You can of course use ovulation predictor kits, but it's important to know when to use them. And it's important to identify what stress they in themselves are causing for you. So when I'm working with clients, we monitor the cycle. And I say, we, because I ask my clients to gather the data and I analyse the data because looking at that data and trying to analyse what it means can send you into anxiety, worry, stress, and fear. So whether you are doing your basal body temperature, and it's important to know the right way to do it, first thing in the morning, as soon as you wake, before you do anything else at all. And I encourage my clients to chart this on an app called fertility friend, it can be a bit overwhelming for you as an individual, but it gives me an incredible amount of detail about all parts of the cycle, not just ovation. We can see slow rises in ovulation. We can see a strength of ovulation and that's really, really key as well. And also the magical Luteal phase. If you are using a fertility analyser, such as MIRA then you can see there, your oestrogen and your lutenising hormone to give you that picture of ovulation, but what you can also do now with their additional wands that they have is that you can measure the progesterone as well. And that's really, really powerful. And don't forget that progesterone production starts after you ovulate. So if you've had a blood test to look at your progesterone and the progesterone is low, if it's super low, that might mean you're not ovulating, or if it's low, it might mean that the ovulation isn't very strong. So there's lots that progesterone can tell us as well. It's also really, really important to look at the wider aspects affecting fertility. Remember your egg is a cell. So your cellular health is really key when it comes to nutrition and also oxidative stress can have an effect on your cellular health oxidative stress that is in the body as a result of emotional stress, as well as physical stress on the body. So it's key to look at some key deficiencies that might be affecting your cellular health as well. And of course the pelvic health itself. So is there sufficient space in your pelvis in episode nine, I chatted with Claire Mockridge about, does your womb have enough room? You know, is it trying to do its job from behind a wardrobe in effect? So what is the pelvic space like? What's been affecting that particular area. What might be impacting ovulation? Have your reproductive organs got enough room in there? Is it been affected by endometriosis or possibly any adhesions or scarring? And also if you've had a previous child and you're trying to get pregnant again, there might be effects from your previous pregnancy and birth that could be having an impact as well. And we also know that ovulation and when you ovulate changes, it's not always the same as it was. It does change throughout your life cycle So there is potentially a lot, you don't know, but there is a lot you can know. So if you want to get more answers, if you want to get the answers or even find the right questions, so you can get the answers, then I can help with that. So if that's something you want to reach out, get in touch, can get me on socials at fertility, rewire or kat@fertilityrewire.com or book an insight call.  I hope that there is sufficient information here in this podcast. And in the podcast episodes, I've mentioned episode six and episode nine, that might give you more information and might arm you with the information to get the answers that you need, and to be able to interpret those answers as well. If you haven't heard already. I have a group program: as well as working one to one with anybody experiencing fertility issues. I have a group program that where I'm working with people who are trying to get pregnant again. So trying to extend their family and the specifics involved in that. And then also, just before I go, if you have these tigers that need taming, if you have an ovation tiger, a timing tiger, a getting pregnant tiger, a worry, you know, these tigers that are there. I do have a tiger Taming program, which is a four week online program. and if you want more information about that, then again, reach out and I'll point you in the right direction

I ask you to imagine you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself at the point you decided to try to start or extend your family.  What would have been useful and what do you wish you had been told. I also go into detail about what  you should have been told and how my dream is that anyone who is thinking of starting or extending a family should be informed abut.  In ancient times the elder women of the village would share key information, would have cultures in place including foods believed to support fertility.  All of which has been lost to a medical model that provides no support until you are 6 months to a year down the line.  Even at that point there is no real support or advice just interventions.   Transcript Welcome to this episode of the fertility rewire podcast. And in this episode, I'm going talk about, well ask you really, what did you need to know really before you even started trying to conceive? When you first thought about starting a family, what did you really need to know then? And if you could travel back in time to when you first decided you wanted to start a family or to get pregnant this time, if you're looking at extending your family, what would you say to your former self, from what you've learned so far on this journey, what would that be? Are there certain actions you would've taken sooner? Would you have stood up to the medical staff sooner than perhaps you have, or, or perhaps you haven't? My dream is that anyone who is thinking about getting pregnant, whether their first or the next time, that they would get access to this information straight away, that you don't have to wait the six months, or one year before anything is even looked at, and then you get no answers. That you would be given access to testing and that you would have a pre trying checkup. A preconception checkup, a preconception MOT, if you like now, you can't have access to that, unless that is something that potentially you are paying for. And even then it doesn't necessarily fit into the medical health models, but you can do home testing. You can seek therapists or consultants in different areas that do testing. If you're going to do home testing and I talked last week about the stress of ovulation. So I do want to bear in mind about this potential stress that can be caused by the home testing too, because you do need someone to interpret it potentially because even with the home tests, the normal is not what we consider optimal actually for fertility. So you've heard me talk about the MIRA home testing, and to use their Max ones, where you're looking at the progesterone as well. You can use the code FERTILITYREWIRE at checkout to access a discount on the MIRA Website You can do basal body temperature yourself. So you've got an idea of what's happening in your cycle and you can use something like Ovusense, which can take the stress away from having to wake up and, and take that. If you are looking at male fertility factors and I do urge you to, from the very, very start, because all too often, I see clients where, you know, as a female you are looking at what it is wrong with you, you and generally the medical profession seems to go down that line a little bit as well. But even though you'll only get basic sperm test results from a home test, I do think it's worthwhile still looking at that. And you can use a company called ExSeed and there are others available, of course, but this is one that, that I've come across recently. You can use code FERTILITYREWIRE to get a 15% discount. And I'm hoping to do an interview actually with somebody from ExSeed soon so we can explain a little bit more about that. So you're looking at basic information for sure and what I would say in any home tests, if it's coming up as suboptimal or even outside of normal ranges, I would still urge you to take advice from elsewhere and get this looked at in more detail. Definitely. So when we're looking at home testing, you can test your hormone levels. You can test your follicle stimulating hormone now in home tests, you can test your progesterone also. You can test your estrogen and this can be in urine, or this can be with a blood test. Remember a blood test is a snapshot of that day, a urine test, you're generally looking at more regular frequency of that. So that can give you a bigger picture with those and the fluctuations, especially when it comes to progesterone. You can do home tests for thyroid and increasingly a wider panel of thyroid, and also to look for thyroid antibodies, which I've seen in quite a few clients recently. And then we have our autoimmune factors that are coming in there. So even though you wouldn't necessarily be medicated for your thyroid, you can look to natural ways to support your thyroid and to boost it because we know that an underactive thyroid, or let's not say underactive, because then we're in normal and abnormal ranges again, aren't we? A suboptimal thyroid, a thyroid that isn't functioning as you would want it to function is something that needs supporting. Vitamin D is a huge, huge factor when it comes to fertility. So that's the test you can be looking at as well. Now, how can you get these tests? Well, as I said with, you've got mirror for your, um, urine analysis of hormones. And I think I have mentioned before that you can get a discount with Mira. If you use the code fertility rewire or one word, you can look at temperature so you can look at Ovusense. You can also look at ExSeed for sperm tests here in the UK for blood tests, Medichecks is an example. There's lots of home testing, finger prick, testing services that you can use equally within Europe, the US and Australia as well. You will have your own home testing companies. You do, but I urge you to get those looked at now. That's something I do with my clients. There are other therapists that offer the similar services, but do get those looked at because of course you can just become hugely stressed by the test themselves because you haven't necessarily got that feedback from someone or to know your next steps or your proactive next steps also to give yourself some preparation. So, for some people maybe don't do tests, but just assume that there could be an issue, not in a worrying sense, not in a, oh there's something terribly wrong sense, but just assume that there could be an issue. So what could you do to counter that? So can you look at your hormonal balance? Can you see what your cycle is telling you? Remember the bleed can tell us so much about our balance of hormones, the length of your cycle, when you ovulate within the cycle, how long that follicular phase is, how long that luteal phase is, can tell us so, so, so much, but having that interpretation and I urge you not to do that in forums because when you are in a forum often, not all the time, but often you are looking at opinion of others, we're back to “what Jane did”. Whereas you want to be speaking to someone who can actually guide you and interpret these for you, and maybe even point you onto somebody else that can test at a further or deeper level or additional support that you might need. So you need to know about that hormonal balance through the whole cycle. You need to know what your period is telling you, what your strength of ovulation is and what your ovulation signs are. Also consider your own pelvic health. Now,  I alluded to this again last week, when we think about pelvic congestion, any previous surgeries, if you've had a child already, if you're trying for your next child, then were there situations possibly at the birth, did you have a cesarean section? Are there impacts there physiologically that we can look at and also taking proactive steps to improve your pelvic health? There is lot you can do about that. What's your emotional level like? Where are you at with things? Are you stressed anyway, do you experience anxiety and worry? Is there a lot going in your life that could be causing your stress hormones to be switching off or down your reproductive function? Are you feeling safe? You know, and I, I don't mean that in a sense of imminent danger, but I refer to that in that, you know, design of our bodies of our brains to keep us safe about the adrenaline, about the fight or flight reaction, where is your level of worry? And increasingly when we like to have control, we can find that when we're into something like trying to get pregnant, where we seem to have no control, that can really spin us out emotionally, particularly people who are demonstrating levels of a high functioning anxiety. So often you're in a high achieving position you've always achieved. Well, you are organized, lots of very positive factors around this, but the, the downside is that you've got that constant ‘what if' chatter going on in your brain and you might tend to catastrophize and struggle with that feeling of not being in control. And that's something I'm seeing quite a lot with clients that I'm working with at the moment also consider your cellular health. So we can look at optimizing nutrition, of course, but let's specifically as well look at that cellular health because the egg is a cell and the sperm is a cell. So that's really, really important and something that you need to add to your toolkit in terms of preparation. So we are preparing our minds and our bodies to be at that optimal level for conception and the biggest thing… And I have, I've already said this in this podcast and I, I drone on about it constantly perhaps, but do not accept normal. We want optimal, don't think about normal as being okay. And also if we can shift our focus perhaps to not to getting pregnant, but to actually having a healthy baby. And I know that can be difficult in terms of getting ahead of ourselves, but it is our ultimate aim. So it is good to see that as the top aim when we're trying to get pregnant. So I'm wondering, did you undertake any of this when you first stepped out on your journey and chances are you wouldn't because why would you? It's not something we're educated about. And even when you started to experience difficulties and you've gone to the doctors and you've had tests, these tests have never been suggested maybe the, the hormone profile, but not over a longer period of time. For sure. When you think back to ancient times, when we had more of a sense of tribe and more of a sense of community there would've been elders, you know, the wise women in the community who would've educated about fertility, you know, couples who were going to get married or were just married, were given lots of information. And there's lots of cultural diets and specific foods that would be used to enhance and encourage fertility. And there would be that preparation, that sense of preparation and education, which fertility now falls into a medical model of trying to step in when something's wrong and bypass, we're losing that. We're certainly losing that sense of education. And in schools I've talked about before, we're not being educated about what could be an issue when it comes to getting pregnant. You know, we're told it's really easy to get pregnant, and it would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to you. We're not taught about fertility and equally, we're not taught about it in a sense that we might be able to show some understanding and empathy to those that are experiencing fertility difficulties. You know, that saying to anybody, oh, when are you having children next? You know, when they, they haven't had children in your timeframe that you're expecting or, or making assumptions, or as I mentioned before about offering platitudes, when people have miscarriage or loss, and that's something that needs to be educated about so that we have not only a wider understanding of what may potentially happen to us as individuals in the future, but also to have that understanding of what could be going on for other people, we need to be managing diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis better. We need to, you know, not be telling girls and young women when they're diagnosed that we can manage this for now, but they'll have trouble getting pregnant because that's set in an emotional barrier and block already, um, which doesn't serve to support the condition itself. And we need to see P C O S and endometriosis as symptoms. And we need to be doubling back further to look for the root cause. So is any of this resonating with you? if you think, gosh, you know, this would've been useful to be told earlier on in the journey, what would that have changed for you? And it doesn't mean that you can't have that education now, if you haven't already received it. But the medical model needs to change. There needs to be a fertility health check. It could save millions of pounds in IVF, and it could be offering IVF absolutely where it's needed. Because as I've said before, I'm not against IVF. Sometimes that is the option that, you know, clients I'm working with go with. And I support them absolutely through that, but it shouldn't be a first line treatment. It shouldn't be the first thing that's offered in terms of fertility, we should be taking a step back and actually giving this information and this education sooner. So if you haven't already looked at the things that I've suggested, if you haven't had that fuller assessment to be that fertility detective yourself, and be supported on this journey, it might be time to reach out, to look at reputable sources of information, to have someone by your side, to support you on this fertility journey, to teach you or to tell you the right questions you need to ask to get the right answers that can then lead you to the correct proactive steps you need to take. And there are many people out there in the fertility community who can help you with this. It might be that IVF is your preferred option, that it is the right option for you. I'm not the only person who supports people in fertility. Of course you can reach out to whoever speaks to you, speaks to your heart and is answering your questions about fertility. But if you did want to talk to me about it, then you can reach out to me on socials at fertility rewire, or you could drop me an email, at Kat@fertilityrewire.com, book a call with me. What I wanted to do in this episode is just to make you think, but hopefully wider. Think about not only what would've been helpful to you, and actually maybe if perhaps you haven't gone down those lines already, maybe it's time to look into those things. And I hope I've given you a steer on what you can do. If you want to know more about what tests you, you could do again, just drop me a line. Um, and we can chat about that. If you need more support emotionally, you know, be aware of that, be aware of your emotional health, where are you at now? What are those thoughts that go through your head and what effect do they have on you in your daily life? It's important, so important that we consider emotional health, not just before we start to try to conceive, but actually the effects of this fertility journey may have taken or are taking a huge toll on your emotional health. And if that's something that you need support with, then, you know, watch this space, I'm bringing an online resource to you soon, so if you're not on the mailing list, perhaps jump on that and you will hear about that. When I say soon, I'm recording this in July 2022, just for context.  I just wanted to provoke some thought and to you to look back and maybe take a step and consider. Let's just start again. Let's really start fresh and see if we can get some answers, but I'm aware of the huge emotional toll potentially already on you. So it's important to get some support there. And if you're just starting out on your journey or, you know, anyone that's just starting out on your journey, then this is in on their journey. This is useful advice. I hope for you. So as ever take care until next time. If you wanted to chat then please book a call with me.

I'm often reminded of the Meatloaf song. I'll do anything for love, but I won't do that. Will we do anything in blind faith and is that wise?  What's actually needed is more thorough education of what we can do.  And the first step is becoming your own fertility detective, in a controlled and structured way, often with support to interpret your findings.   So what can you look into, well if you've heard me talk before, first off luteal phase and sperm, follicular phase, strength of ovulation and lets focus in on egg and sperm health and pelvic health.. I discuss ways to monitor progesterone and share some discount codes  (FERTILITYREWIRE)  for MIRA fertility Analyzer and Medichecks home testing

Do you feel you should be happy? Or are you made to feel that by society or specifically the fertility space on special media?   I have had a few clients whose Dr has actually suggested that they should be happy with one.  But having another child has such a huge emotional difference doesn't it? It's not about having a child, it's about having a sibling, and guilt can be an overriding emotion in this and lack of community and support.   I'm excited to share that I am launching a group programme for people trying to extend their families and I'm running a Beat version, which means that you can join at a hugely discounted price as I will develop it further based on your feedback. Drop me a line at kat@fertilityrewire.com with which I'm in and I'll send you more details, or head over to the website and pick up some free resources and join the mailing list.

Experiencing a miscarriage is devastating, and when we do, we are not necessarily treated as we perhaps should be by the medical profession and society really.   When faced with someone else's grief and sadness, as humans we offer platitudes, or try to offer our own experience, perhaps as some sort of support? But it's not helpful to hear always is it?   Something needs to be done, but what? Do we need education about miscarriage, about dealing with someone else grief and how to support, how to avoid invalidating their pain?   You will know if you've heard me talk before, how passionate I am about education and further investigation and this stands true to this subject. There are many reasons for miscarriage, but some, and I reiterate SOME, I do believe can be prevented. With knowledge we can explore our options.   If you want to know more about your results and how I can specifically help you, why not get in touch and book a free clarity call.   Want to watch me and listen? check out the episode on you tube   Want to be the first to hear about episode releases, behind the scenes news, updates and offers? Our mailing list is the place to be for that.   For free resources, visit our webpage

When it comes to not getting pregnant, we want to know why, we want to know the cause.   Even if you are given a cause, its important to know that it may not be the only factor affecting things.   A blocked fallopian tube or tubes of course is a huge factor in preventing pregnancy but bypassing tis with IVF will not guarantee success because they may indeed be more than 1 thing, there could be multiple factors affecting fertility. 2 partners each with a number of things affecting perhaps.   In this episode I encourage you to revisit your tests, as I discussed last week in episode 51, and also to try as best you can to step out of what is wrong, and step into what can I do to fully optimise our fertility.   I accept that for many who have tried everything that this could be triggering, and I invite you to ot lose sight of the emotional impact and the clever design of our bodies to keep us safe and that when unsafe, our body is not putting conceiving at the top of its agenda, in fact it can stop it.   If you want to know more about your results and how I can specifically help you, why not get in touch and book a free clarity call.   Want to watch me and listen?  check out the episode on you tube   Want to be the first to hear about episode releases, behind the scenes news, updates and offers? Our mailing list is the place to be for that.   For free resources, visit our webpage

I discuss why your fertility tests may not be ‘normal' after all.  Have you been told that your results are ‘normal'? That there is nothing to be done? That your fertility issues are unexplained? What we have to realise first of all is that our medical model deals with ill health, that test results outside of the wide range represent ill health, but that those within it do not necessarily represent healthy. When trying to conceive you want to be at your healthiest surely?  In this episode I discuss Thyroid Stimulating hormone and Ferritin specifically. I look at how the levels accepted for your thyroid in the first trimester of pregnancy are significantly lower than those accepted when trying to conceive and how considering these 2 states merge, how can that be? I urge you to get a copy of your results and look where you are in the range. If you want to know more about your results and how I can specifically help you, why not get in touch and book a free clarity call. Want to watch me and listen?  check out the episode on you tube Want to be the first to hear about episode releases, behind the scenes news, updates and offers? Our mailing list is the place to be for that. For free resources, visit our webpage

In this episode I chatted with Professor Geeta Nargund, an inspiring woman putting women first Medical Director at Creative Fertility about Natural and Mild IVF and getting the same success as conventional IVF with reduced treatment Burden, reduced complications and improved outcomes for babies. Before I started chatting with her, I wanted to let her know that I've been interested in what Create Fertility has been doing for a long time. It makes such a lot of sense to work with the body, to give a little nudge rather than the pressure physically and emotionally of the numbers game in IVF. You may not know about Mild/Natural IVF, along with so much so many don't know about fertility generally. Mild/Natural IVF produces the SAME success rates as conventional IVF, while reducing the treatment burden, side effect, complications, injections and costs.  So its a win win and hard to understand why its not the norm in more clinics. We chatted about the benefits, research based evidence and this may open more opportunity for fertility for so many listeners. Professor Narunds passion for women's choices, rights and the desire to gain gender equality in fertility treatments is clear and inspiring. Ensuring the safety and welfare of the women is as important as success with informed choice, which as you may know is a key part of what i speak about. If you want any more information, see where you're at or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange Free call Free resources are available including what your bleed can tell you about your fertility and a free visualisation. If you want to keep up to date on information, news, client progress updates, offers and podcast episodes, the best way is to receive my emails . Click here more information about the group programme ‘Conceivable'

In this episode I talk about the 2 week wait, which is generally the wait from ovulation to the end of your cycle or from embryo transfer to when you can do a pregnancy test. But before I even get into the general advice for how you can survive this I acknowledge the fact that you are pretty much waiting throughout your whole cycle, so 2 weeks is in itself a misnomer. In fact when you add up how long you've been trying, the wait so far could be months or years I also discuss how the 2 week wait after ovulation may not actually be 2 weeks and that this information can give us so many clues and answers about how your cycle is affecting your fertility. Before recording this episode, I googled surviving the 2 week wait and I look into the common advice found across various sites and how this may not work for you, why not and how I help my clients through it. Why you can't Just **@! relax, and how can you not obsess about symptoms, how its not so easy to talk to someone when you haven't really told anyone what you're going through I really hope you enjoy the episode and I ask you to share with me how you survive the 2 week wait, or what unhelpful advice you've been given.  Drop me a comment on your platform you're using to listen  or email me kat@fertilityrewire.com For free resources or to find out more about how you can work with me visit https://fertilityrewire

Well, hello, it's been a while hasn't hit?   For those of you that have listened to this podcast from the very beginning, it's been quite a gap. I'm sure for those of us that have caught up later. It may still be a gap and for that, I apologise.   What happened was I decided to take a break between season one and season two and that break was going to be about a month or maybe two months. That was April 2021. It was also around tht time that the UK was to some extent re opening.   I was able to open my clinic doors and see my clients on a face to face,  increase my online clients as house became empty at times again.  I  always had the intention of starting up again but in terms and work life balance, something had to give and it was, I'm afraid the podcast.    I've had lots of lovely messages from people asking where I am and if I'm okay and if I'm still working and yes, I am. I had just taken on a little bit too much.   But I'm back and I'm very excited. I've got great plans for lots of new episodes. So I hope you'll stay with me.    So in this episode, what I thought I'd do is catch you up on what's been happening  with clients and a couple of case studies. As I'm sure you're aware, I say  it's a game of two halves. Fertility issues are 50% female and  50% Male, I know the burden is  generally on the females but I had two clients that started seeing me around the same time and both had come and said that there was reasons they weren't getting pregnant. One had  irregular periods, with physical and emotional symptoms pre menstrually. One had a diagnosis of endometriosis.    What I did with both of these clients, as I always do, is in order  to get the full picture, took a full history and lifestyle of both partners and suggested that they got a sperm analysis for both male partners, which they did.  Within about a week of each other these tests came back and they were incredibly similar.  If you've listened to the podcast, you'll perhaps of heard me share that the WHO ( World World Health Organisation) guidelines for sperm analysis is that anything at or above 15 million is considered fertile. Anything below is considered to have some fertility issue. You'll also know from listening to me that I think we should be going well above that.    If you listened to Dr Sheryl Homa speak on the podcast you'll have heard her say that 15 million is not really optimal.   So,, both of them had sperm results that 0.03 million, significantly lower.  We discussed lifestyle factors and changes including antioxidants, we looked at supplementation, specific fertility supplementation and reducing inflammation but also his partner told me that he had really hot baths, which he had mentioned  at fertility consultations. And had been told that it wouldn't explain this this  very, very low result. And the only option was ICSI.   So we worked together and I said just for three months lets drop the hot baths. While taking the supplement he stopped them, but what proved difficult was the opinion of family and friends   things like your 'dad had hot baths and we had you, We've always had hot baths and it's not an issue for us. Getting together with friends and going to a spa he didn't get in the  hot tub, but friends said, it'll be OK.    So it brings to light this aspect doesn't it about people not being supportive of things both in the medical profession and also your social  circle. But anyway, they stuck to this and he didn't have hot baths for three months and he stuck to his supplement regime.  There was some hand reflexology moves that I'd provided by video in their coaching support, which  were being regularly every month that he was doing, or his partner was doing and after three months he has his semen tested and it went from  0.03 million to 30 million,  30 million! From  being told that he would have no chance of conceiving a child naturally, making these small lifestyle changes to having absolute optimal result. And that is just incredible. But it's not surprising, not surprising to me at all. Because I've told you before I've discussed it before that this male factor is grossly overlooked, and if we could just look into this a little bit more, if we could just pay a little bit more attention to the quality and the quantity of sperm, then we will be making incredible changes to Fertility.   The second couple that I worked with, had the same result of 0.03 million,  they had a child already. So something had happened.  When we started to look into more detailed history, if you refer back to the Sheryl Homa episode where she spoke condition called a Varicocele, it was something that just struck in my mind when we had a chat because he was getting this kind of a ache that he'd had for a while and he just put it down to something else. He assumed that it might be related to his job or related to the fact that lifting weights and it was something that he put up with. To give you more background, the doctor in this case, I have to say , his bedside manner and communication skills were horrendous. I think he said something along the lines of well you're never going to happen with a child with a result like that. And because they already had a child, the only option available was IVF, which would need to be self funded . Many questions arose such as, Would that be possible financially? Would it work?  Anyway, as well as similar supplementation and hand reflexology input, I encouraged him to request or ultrasound of the testes. If it was just about fertility I'm sure the answer would have been no, but because he had a symptom, because he had this is kind of low level ache he pushed and he pushed and he pushed and he got an ultrasound. He also came to see me because he was a face to face client for a reflexology treatment and the reflex area that represents the testes on the side with the pain did feel different and now we don't diagnose with reflexology, but it did have some characteristics that had alerted me . So he had the ultrasound and yes, he had a Varicocele and he's pushed and pushed for the surgery and he has had it.  When they went to do the surgery, to remind a  Varicocele is a varicose vein that is supplying the testes. If you think about  the heat that is generated there is going to pretty much kill the sperm, but also the blood supply is affected as well. It's not getting through this vein that was completely blocked when they did the surgery and they've had to put six stents into it. Now, we don't know what effect that's going to have. We certainly hope that the pain is going to go away. It also, as many of you, I'm sure are thinking actually provided a potential answer to the years and of trying for a second child unsuccessfully. So I think my point is that, as I've said many times and  as I say to my clients, we can't just accept that this is unexplained. Or we can't just accept that if you've got a low sperm count the only option is ICSI.   There is a lot that can be done to improve sperm counts. There is a lot that can be done to improve sperm quality. And again, not necessarily with everybody but unless we try unless we look into this, unless we are prepared to be that detective to look to travel upstream and get the answers we won't get answers.   It just made me reflect on so many couples over the years, even before IVF came into the world that haven't become parents and I am so incredibly passionate about this. Fertility really has to be investigated further.   As a woman, you have your hormonal levels checked. You have ultrasound of uterus, and you have the potency of the fallopian tubes tested, as a man a very basic semen analysis which tells us little, purely for signposting to fertility Treatment.  I've said that before and Dr Sheryl Homa said the same. It is not about identifying a cause of your fertility issues, It's about identifying which fertility treatment is going to be better.    Interestingly, IVF was developed for women with missing or damaged fallopian tubes initially,  a way to bypass that and now it is used much much more readily. Again, I'm not anti IVF , I'm very pro it when it's needed. I just feel we can investigate this a little bit further and also if you are having IVF taking steps that actually improve the quality of the sperm is going to be hugely beneficial.   So the sperm count is an example that I've talked about but it goes a lot further. Remember I've said things will remain unexplained If we're not looking in the right places, and if we're looking in the right places, we might just be able to get an explanation.   So I wanted to just bring that to your attention in this first episode in the second season. I've got exciting plans ahead, we have an interview that I've done already, that we're just editing at the moment, but I wanted to let you know that the podcast is back.   I work with people one to one  face to face in Nottingham or online all over the world, One to one is not always the right option for everyone whether that's a financial option or not, but what I am working on right developing a group programme.   In it you will be able to access me and to the coaching material on a group level and al have people with you in that group. Now you can get as involved in that group as suits you and discussions and support as you want. But that is something that's coming so I will open a waiting list for that and if its something that you are interested in you will be able to find details of that on the website.   If you want to get in touch you can get in touch with me at Kat at fertility rewired.com. The podcast is also on YouTube. And you can access that you can subscribe to the channel fertility rewire where you can have you can pop comments in there to me directly. You can contact me by email kat@fertilityrewire.com or you could find me on social media which I've been not been very present again, but will be popping in.   Well thanks for your patience. I'm excited to bring  more information to you in the future. Take care now. Relevant podcast links Dr Sheryl Homa  https://fertilityrewire.com/podcast/male-fertility-factors-with-prof-sheryl-homa/ Sperm - more than just a number  https://fertilityrewire.com/podcast/sperm-just-a-number/ Male factors in fertility  https://fertilityrewire.com/podcast/14-2/

How fantastic would it be to be able to run laboratory tests to identify your hormone levels and give you accurate data on when you are ovulating? In the US, more testing and more often is available, here in the UK, not so much, and certainly not after initial investigations. Well you can, Sylvia Kang, CEO and co founder of the Mira Fertility tracker explains in this episode how Mira can support you. This marvellous hand held device is basically working to the same technology as laboratory equipment, but shrunk down to the fir on the palm of your hand.  I’ve been working with data from clients who are using the Mira App for some time now and I have been incredibly impressed. Analysing a urine sample shows the Oestrogen and lutenizing hormone and develops a bespoke picture for an individual.  I’ve seen great insights in clients with PCOs specifically.  As with this condition there may appear to be a number of ‘attempts’ before ovulation actually takes place. Sylvia ran me through her background, which is impressive and why she was driven to develop Mira. Mira as it stands is an exciting piece of equipment but there is more excitement to come with the inclusion of progesterone testing included.  This will be incredible for all users but for those with PCOS it will give a definitive indication that ovulation occurred.  For many in my client base this will support those who have a lower progesterone, and also will show us the affects our work is having on raising this, which is a huge part of the work with many clients at the moment. An what’s more the ability to test Beta HCG, the pregnancy hormone is also coming I’ll let Sylvia explain it to you. If want to follow Mira on Instagram you can do so @mirafertility  They have a you tube channel with some great webinars, one from myself on reducing stress when ttc.  If you want to get the Mira starter kit, head over to  https://www.miracare.com/mira-shop/fertility-plus-starter-kit/ and use the code FERTILITY REWIRE to get a $25/£25 discount, and what’s more as a Mira user you get a 20% discount off my services. If you want any more information, see where you’re at or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange Free call Free resources are available including what your bleed can tell you about your fertility and a free visualisation. If you want to keep up to date on information, news, client progress updates, offers and podcast episodes, the best way is to receive my emails .      

What is ovulation pain telling you? You may have been told or read that Ovulation pain or mittelschmerz (German for Middle Pain) is normal, maybe even that it is a good sign for fertility.  But actually it can be far from that.  It can in some case ne an indication of something that may actually be negatively affecting your fertility. It could be a mild cramp, a dull ache, stabbing or even debilitating pain, which may last seconds, minutes or hours.  If you are waiting for ovulation pain as a sign of ovulation , when trying to conceive, ttc, you may of course be leaving it too late.  The egg as we know lives for up to 24 hours and the sperm has to travel, so if waiting it could be too late. But when we look at the pain itself, this may be due to factors other than ovulation alone, such as cysts, endometriosis, bacterial infection and more, or it may as I have seen with many of my clients show us that it may in fact also be an indicator of pelvic congestion, and/or inflammation. When we work together one of our first progress indicators is the removal of ovulation pain and I talk about some such cases. Other relevant episodes Tuning into ovulation  Pelvic congestion Endometriosis case study  If you want any more information, see where you’re at or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange Free call Free resources are available including what your bleed can tell you about your fertility and a free visualisation. If you want to keep up to date on information, news, client progress updates, offers and podcast episodes, the best way is to receive my emails .  

The word should is one of the most powerful words we hear and what we say to ourselves. It can be a motivator but also a real barrier to change. When searching for what we should do, there is a risk of overwhelm, fear and also resentment.  It's a word that can trigger deep held limiting beliefs, and can lead to a 'why should I?' The why "should I?" is so key in terms of our thoughts and emotions and can be one or many of your tigers.  You've no doubt heard me talk about tigers before. In this episode I just start the discussion around this really and give you some steps to distance the emotion attached to should and guide you on the possibility of further work. I also share some exciting news regarding the digital packs for both the Fertility Rewire method and Tiger Taming. bTo be amongst the first to know when they are released, you can join the mailing list as thats where I'm announcing it first. Relevant episodes How stress affects your fertility- getting to know your tigers Overwhelm, the unexplained, thoughts and mindset Can you be in control when trying to get pregnant The emotional impact of trying to conceive This is Deeper than Sadness  

It was an absolute pleasure to chat with Professor Sheryl Homa this week on the podcast. Sheryl Homa is an HCPC registered Clinical Scientist with a special interest in male fertility. She obtained her degrees in Biochemistry at Imperial College of Science and Technology and the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. She spent a large part of her career as an academic research scientist in the field of oocyte maturation, funded by the National Institutes of Health in the USA. For many years she served as Scientific Director of several fertility clinics in the UK working in both the public and private sectors. During this time, she became aware that male fertility is considerably marginalised and as a result, opened Andrology Solutions in 2007, the first and only HFEA licensed clinic of its kind, dedicated to male infertility. She has collaborated on many research projects and is the author of numerous scientific articles, abstracts and book chapters in the fertility field. Her studies include investigating calcium signaling in sperm and more recently, the role of oxidative stress and infection on sperm quality. Sheryl has been responsible for introducing and CE marking novel state of the art testing for male infertility, including a chemiluminescence assay for measuring seminal reactive oxygen species. Currently Sheryl is honorary Professor in Biosciences at University of Kent and consultant clinical lead for Andrology at The Doctors Laboratory. We chatted about how men are equally responsible for creating an embryo that would lead to a child, how half of the genetic material is from men and that the child is a reflection of the genetic material of both partners. That it isn't just about getting pregnant or staying pregnant but ultimately the health of a child.    We talked about how sperm and eggs need to be as fit and healthy as they can be and how if the sperm or egg is damaged in anyway this passes to every cell of the child and this is an area that I talk about a lot with my clients: that we need to widen our vision looking further than just getting pregnant.  This helps us make the changes necessary. Sheryl said something that really made sense to me and she said that she advises her male clients to act as though they are pregnant so in the few months leading up to conception to think about their sperm as that they are carrying pre babies. We know that 11 to 12 weeks is necessary for both the sperm and the egg to develop fully and so a preconception preparation plan is absolutely vital and she compared this to preparing for Wimbledon and saying that if you were going to compete at Wimbledon you wouldn't just rush on and play would you? No, you would prepare with training, health and with the right equipment.  I’m a huge fan of an analogy myself, I’ve often used the example of how you wouldn’t ‘just run’ a marathon. We looked at how it's important to consider quality and not quantity and how this is important to maximise your chances of both natural and assisted fertility and we need the best quality egg and sperm. We talked about the sperm analysis and how this is a crucial first step and provides great information but it only tells you if there are potentially enough and we know the parameters are low, too low, and if sufficient are moving. However, it doesn't tell us whether the sperm is capable of getting to the egg or if it is capable of entering the egg or if it has the right triggers to ensure embryo development. Resistance infertility circles was something that we discussed as well and this letters onto the resistance amongst the fertility clinics to undertake two very specific tests that give it so much information about the sperm in terms of fertility but also importantly in terms of miscarriage and how this really should be offered to all couples experiencing recurrent miscarriage and those tests are the DNA fragmentation test and the oxidative stress test on the sperm. Something that comes up for me with my clients and with something that we discussed is how some Doctors and clinics will say that even if the test showed DNA fragmentation or oxidative stress there isn't anything that can be done about it, but Sheryl explained how there might be quite a bit you can do about it. We discussed also how a condition called Variocele maybe a huge factor in terms of sperm quality, how a full clinical history should be taken for male partners, how women have an ultrasound but that men aren’t examined at all. How underlying infections which are not looked at are an underlying cause of conception and potentially miscarriage as well and how a microbiology test on the sperm is a crucial  test. Of course we discussed the recent documentary by Rhod Gilbert ‘stand up for infertility’ Which led us to chat about physical issues and emotional issues. Not only emotional issues in terms of how they may affect sperm physically but the lack of support for men who are going through a fertility journey. She mentioned a Facebook group the men's fertility support run by Gareth Down which I would urge you to point your male partners in the direction of   We chatted about some basic general advice at the start of a couples fertility journey and we discussed as you've heard me talk about before why trying to conceive at or just before ovulation may in fact be too late and how important a regular ejaculate is because stored sperm is in effect rubbish sperm, and that again it's not just about numbers it's about freshness and quality She will also explained how we were missing a vital piece in the journey and that your GP referring you to the fertility clinic straight away which is ultimately for assisted fertility is like going to your doctor with heart palpitations and the doctor saying let's get you a heart transplant. She explains that IVF is circumvention, how it is not managing fertility and that after initial GP tests, further investigation should take place and treatments suggested to correct possible fertility factors.  Further investigation can be undertaken by an Andrologist. Something of interest that was pointed out in Rhod Gilbert's documentary is that there are 8000 registered Gynaecologists in the UK and only 200 registered Andrologist. It is Gynaecologists with a specialism in Fertility that you are referred to at the Fertility clinic Considering an Andrologist looks at male fertility factors this clearly isn't representing half of the equation is it? She said something which I have been saying you will have heard me saying certainly my clients have heard me say but there is too much emphasis on pushing towards IVF when this may not be needed and if IVF is needed we should be paying more attention to improving the quality of the egg and the sperm . You can find Sheryl at Andrology Solutions  If you want any more information, see where you’re at or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange Free call Free resources are available including what your bleed can tell you about your fertility and a free visualisation. If you want to keep up to date on information, news, client progress updates, offers and podcast episodes, the best way is to receive my emails .

Going through Assisted Fertility, Egg Freezing, IUI, IVF/ICSI in itself is overwhelming.  But trying to keep track of results, medications, progress comparison through repeated cycles and the information required for a second opinion or a clinic move can be overwhelming. Are you using spreadsheets, have piles of paper work, but would like to get a sense of greater control and understanding. This is how Ravid Israel felt.  After a long fertility journey that involved diagnosis delays, numerous cycles, having to seek support from different Doctors clinics and countries she realised that there were 100's of apps for women trying to conceive (un assisted) but not for women going through treatments, and so Embie was conceived. I work with couples where I try to support them with this sense of having no control, compounded by the actual lack in the fertility journey itself, and I can really see the benefits of this app.  I've been having a look around myself and can see the benefits for many. I think what really stood out for me was that ability to have the info to share, for clients to share with me and to share with medics and clinics. You know when you want to seek a second opinion, but you feel awkward asking your current clinic? well you wouldn't need to, because you have it hand.  Increasingly clients are wanting second pinions but it's not easy do that without sufficient information, or feeling that it could cause issues. And of course I discuss male factors because as you know by now this is crucial, overlooked and completely misunderstood. So if you are undergoing any assisted fertility treatments, and you would like a place to store your information, and if it would help you, have access to support and a community of people going through similar, the Embie app may be worth a look. You can follow the Embie app and Ravid on instagram visit the Embie app website here If you want any more information, see where you’re at or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange Free call Free resources are available including what your bleed can tell you about your fertility and a free visualisation. If you want to keep up to date on information, news, client progress updates, offers and podcast episodes, the best way is to receive my emails .  

When it comes to getting pregnant have you consider the uterine lining? The uterus is the nest for your developing baby, so it would make sense to consider it wouldn't it? It’s part of the monitoring process during IVF, so if you are trying to conceive by conventional, non-assisted methods it would make sense wouldn't it?  But what should you consider? You will know if you have listened to me before that my views on testing are that you shouldn't have to wait so long, that the propose is misleading and actually it is to identify what assisted fertility method you require. So, the lining is only seen during you ultrasound, but realistically what is being looked at is the structure of the uterus. In this episode I discuss factors that are important to consider: Uterus position What your bleed tells you Lower Back Circulation and nerve supply Uterine thickness and the holy triple layer How the IVF lining measurement criteria may be too low I discuss factors that affect lining, especially when considering a thin lining, and also factors and reference to past clients with endometriosis and the effect of clearing old lining, in fact I talk about this clearing also in terms of the position of the uterus. Also think of what this part of your body is designed to do, what its role is in getting pregnant.  We spend so long thinking about egg and sperm that we can lose sight of this nest.  The place your embryo will nestle and develop.  I give the analogy of a bird nest, and examples of ow I work with clients, both on a physical and emotional level. And this emotional level is something I am coming across extremely often.  What are your feelings towards this area of your body, and I refer you to a blog post I wrote, called a letter from your womb.  And when we start to look at how your womb itself may be viewing this situation right now, how it may feel, if that were possible.  How you can start to work together as a team, developing and strengthening that connection. This is for many a surprising element of our free chat or deep dive call and action plan setting, but it's so incredibly important and is sadly overlooked.  As it really doesn't matter how good a quality the basic ingredients are if you are planting the in un supportive environment. Mentioned podcasts and resources A letter from your womb Pelvic congestion Endometriosis: a case study Fertility massage Therapy      

What you are feeling is real, it can be raw and yes it can be sadness but it can be something so much deeper and its OK that you feel like this. Whats not OK is that its not recognised enough. When you set out on this journey, the journey to parenthood, more often that not it starts with hope, excitement even, but over the time this changes, sometimes overtime, sometimes sooner and the emotions vary. Are you living life in 2 week blocks, or 2x 1 week block and a 2 week block, or other variations? when you get your period, do already know when 9 months ahead is? when you may ovulate, when your next period is due. is not getting pregnant taking over? Are you thinking about this most of the time? are you being triggered? the sight of a birth announcement, seeing prams, hearing people complain about their children? Not getting pregnant and the quest to become parents can be so much deeper than 'sadness' or 'disappointment'.  Its important for you to recognise this, this is hard, this can seen unbearable and you don't have to struggle.  That there is a wider view that you can take and get answers. I share some insights in this episode and I want you to know that I hear you, I know that as we run up to Christmas this is even harder,     

The MIRA webinar "How to reduce TTC stress and boost Fertility" on December 2nd 2020, Registration link can be found by clicking here I work with those trying to conceive their first child and those wanting to extend their family and so in this episode I am discussing Secondary Fertility, or perhaps you have seen it as secondary infertility, thats my first reframe and creation right there! I often find that particularly within this group, couples are looking outside of what aer perhaps considered conventional or mainstream assisted fertility routes.  One of the reasons for this is the financial implications and no access to funding. It is estimated that 1/4 of all couples seeking fertility treatments are already parents and that of all couples trying to get pregnant with their second child, only 1/2 actually seek fertility treatment. Should you be happy? This is something that I come across a lot, should you be happy? Are you asking for too much? some couples haven't conceived theoir first child.  And this can affect them in terms of groups and forums, not wanting to speak up. It depends what side of the fence you are on. But a key issue here that affects getting pregnant with a second child, is that this isn't about having a baby, becoming parents, this is about providing a sibling your child.  The emotional pull for that is something that you perhaps didn't expect the first time you got pregnant. In this episode I discuss the physical factors affecting getting pregnant again, of course some of the are absolutely what I see with this trying for their first child, but there are some subtle differences and commonalities amongst the secondary fertility group. I also delve a little further into the deeper emotional aspects, the sibling aspects and how your mind can take you into the future, so far in fact that you are no longer here. That you want to provide emotional support to your first child at this time with a sibling, that something might be missing. If you want any more information, see where you’re at or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange Free call Free resources are available including what your bleed can tell you about your fertility and a free visualisation. If you want to keep up to date on information, news, client progress updates, offers and podcast episodes, the best way is to receive my emails . The private facebook group is open for join requests too.

At the start of this episode I let you know about the free reset and balance your hormones event running 16th-19th November 2020 You'll know if you've listened to me before that I have strong view on the reasons why many couples are not getting pregnant, and stronger views on the fact that they are not being informed and educated sufficiently before heading down the assisted fertility route, as a first line. So in this episode I share some of the reasons why couples are not getting pregnant and that if more couples were supported and educated earlier, the need for IVF as a first line would lessen. And in doing so the opportunities for more couples for whom it absolutely is their only options can access funded IVF in the UK, and other countries that offer this. So I discuss Ovulation timing: and strength misunderstanding, misinformation Your Bleed: again misinformation and misunderstanding, chances are it's not 'normal' Have you had the free download what your bleed says about your fertility?' How you shouldn't be made to wait a year, information needs to come sooner Period pain and pms are indicators of something that can affect your fertility Sperm is not tested sufficiently and agin you are not informed of the issues regarding DNA fragmentation, I refer you to a previous podcasts with Barbara Scott and Dr Ghadir Scheduling of sex, see the episode 'Lets talk about Sex" for more information Key nutritional deficiencies, common on most of us today, hugely affect fertility, see the supplement advice I provide to my clients The emotional aspects of Fertility and Why you cant just relax and the need for more support How we shouldn't be fooled into thinking there is only one factor affecting fertility if there is a diagnosis such as endometriosis or PCOS If you would like to book a free call with me, you can access the diary here Fertility visualisation tracks Follow me on Instagram  Follow me on Facebook Sign up for updates, news and offers

IVF practices and approaches differ around the world, increasingly as I work with clients from different parts of the globe, this is becoming more evident. It was a great pleasure to chat with Dr Shahin Ghadir, founding partner of Southern California Reproductive Center. Dr. Ghadir is double board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He is currently an assistant clinical professor Dr. Shahin Ghadir is a compassionate and caring physician who dedicates his career to helping people overcome their reproductive challenges and infertility issues to achieve their goals of having the family of their dreams, for both traditional families and the LGBTQ community. He is currently positioned as a top physician for egg freezing, sought out by women all over the world for his skill set in this highly coveted procedure. Dr Ghadir is native Angeleno, his clinic based in Beverly Hills. Dr. Ghadir is continuously voted as one of the “Top Doctors” in the USA by Los Angeles Magazine’s national poll and Super Doctors of Southern California. We chatted about the difference in funding between here and the USA, and during the course of the interview, I am yet again reminded that our approach to IVF in the UK, could be better, although acknowledging that this is hugely impacted by cost and funding. Dr Ghadir discussed the success rates at the Southern California Reproductive Center, Higher than the average in the US and much much much higher than those in the UK, for both pregnancy and live births, and the main reason for this her explained was.the use of Pre Implantation Genetic Testing (PIGT) of Embryos. We discussed egg quality, sperm quality and it was great to hear him acknowledge how lucky we are in London to have access to Dr Sheryl Homer, leading Androloigist and developer of the Sperm Comet Test, used (not widely enough in my opinion) to detect sperm DNA damage.  I discussed this in more detail with Barbara Scott in episode 14 of the podcast. Others areas discussed were Surrogacy, which you may recall I discussed recently relating to Hawaii in Episode 35. We discussed what an incredible 'voice' Dustin Lance Black and Tom Daley have been regarding their surrogacy experience, and How Dr Ghadir worked with them. We discussed Egg Freezing, age at conception for both men and women, How he has helped single women and single men and LBGTQ and heterosexual couples become parents and his view on pre conceptual care. Dr Ghadir also has an undergraduate degree in psychology which I'm sure if you've listened to me before was great to hear and find out more about.  He gave some examples of outcomes of treatment based on mindset. What was interesting is how many people travel from not just the USA but worldwide to access treatment with him, and based on the results, it's clear to understand why. If you want to find out more about Dr Ghadir, his work and what is happening at the SCRC you can follow him on instagram @drshahinghadir  and the YouTube Channel Fertility Talk PIGT is not widely available in the UK, not unless there has been specific cause for its use and is available in only a few centres.  The implications of DNA fragmentation is huge, over looked in my opinion in relation to fertility and miscarriage in terms of the education we receive in the UK. PIGT is not generally available and as ever it brings me back to the root cause and education about what steps we can take, especially with regard to male factors, which in some cases we can address. I'd love to hear your comments, and subjects you'd like to hear more about. If you are new to the podcast, HELLO, it's great to have you here, take a look around other episodes, and subscribe to be up to date on episode releases. If you want to keep up to date and on top of news, products and client updates, you can join the email list or follow me on instagram or facebook If you want to have a FREE chat with me, see where you are at with your fertility, get a steer about what more you can do whether trying to conceive naturally and via assisted methods, find out more about working with me, I'd love to hear from you.

Have you been told that your fertility issues are unexplained? And despite them being unexplained you can access Fertility Treatment? What does unexplained infertility actually mean? Does it mean there is nothing wrong? Well no it really means that based on the limited testing done and the low parameters of what is considered acceptable, there are no obvious indicators of poor or no ovulation, low sperm, and no structural issues in the reproductive organs. I was really surprised and pleased when a client of men attended Leeds Fertility and both herald her husbands Vitamin D was tested, and that they wouldn't start the IVF until their levels were within acceptable parameters.  This isnt common across the clinics that many of my clients are attending for investigations or IVF. Key nutritional deficiencies have a huge impact on fertility and are really tested within the fertility medical model. Also if you have been given a diagnosis Endometriosis or PCOS, it is assumed that everything else is OK and it may not be. What if there is another issue, being put in the ';box' can mean we overlook other issues. I share my passion for the unexplained and talk through my MS diagnosis and why I am so passion about information and the avoidance of overwhelm.  That a much wider approach needs to be take, and through relatively inexpensive testing when you compare it to IVF. But even that testing may not be necessary.  That applying an informed sensible approach to look at the much wider aspects that affect fertility is key.  And this is how I work in the fertility rewire programme.   If you want to discuss this with me in a free call, I'd be really excited to hear from you. There is an explanation, we just have to know where to look. How to find me Instagram Website Group " Its not you its your hormones" Associated episodes Vitamin D and Fertility How to improve Egg Quality  Male factors in fertility  Sperm: More than just a number Overwhelm and the unexplained Mentions Dr Chatterjee

Have you heard of Fertility Massage? Ever wondered what it involved? or perhaps you are interested in becoming a therapist? Absolute pleasure to chat with Andrea Clarke on this episode about Fertility Massage/Womb Massage Therapy. We recorded the episode before the start of the COVID lockdown, and so are thoughts are initially about travel and warm destinations! We decided to hold off releasing the episode and as things started to re open we thought it would be a good time to release. I am as you may or not know a practitioner myself and I incorporate this in my coaching programme, with clients self massaging or their partners massaging. We chat about the therapy, the mind body and spiritual aspects and how you can access a practitioner as well as training to be a therapist. Fertility Massage Therapy is so much more than a massage, yes fascia and tissue is affected by the massage, but there is a deeper level of energy and connection to oneself that can be addressed. Working with the  mind and body aspect, many things 'come up for clients' and this, certainly in my practice lends itself to working with the wider aspects of fertility, which is why many therapist have other fertility therapy aspects to their armoury. Andrea can be found at Root Medicine  and on social media on Instagram and Facebook For details of Fertility Massage Therapy Practitioners near you, check the practitioner page I really hope that you enjoy the episode and is you have any comments or questions, as ever do reach out... You can book a free Fertility clarity call with me here Join my email list and keep up to date with whats happening art Fertility Rewire   

I'm chatting in todays episode with September Burton from The Hawaii Surrogacy Center.  September used to be a surrogacy case manager and now works as a health coach for the centre.  We know that there is IVF tourism, and it of course stands to Eason that people would travel for surrogacy.  In the UK and Australia, Surrogacy can only be altruistic, so no commercial aspects related to it and her in the uk we have laws to ensure this. I was curious to learn more about surrogacy in the United States, and also the tourism aspect to it.  But I was really interested to learn more about the physical and emotional preparation for intended parents and the surrogate and also specifically emotionally for the surrogates family. I'm increasingly (as you know) amazed at the continued lack of preparation for conception advice at the beginning of a couples fertility journey, and especially regrading IVF. In fact preparation is improving but not enough and not enough to hold IVF, which is the potential for a rant. So I really hope you enjoy the episode, we obviously touched the surface only, as this is a huge issue, legally and emotionally. To find out more about Hawaii Surrogacy, visit their website. To find out more about the nutrition course, visit here To find out more about surrogacy in the uk there is a lot of information and support available, and many results on a search.   For information relating to the legal rights in the UK visit here If you want any more information, or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange a free Discovery call Free resources are available including what your bleed can tell you about your fertility and a free visualisation. If you want to keep up to date on information, news, client progress updates, offers and podcast episodes, the best way is to receive my emails . The private facebook group is open for join requests too.

You know the song right? Well we are going to talk about sex, but baby sex.  Not the act itself, as I'm sure you've got that covered, but the emotional side of things when it comes to trying to conceive. And no please be rest assured that I am. not suggesting that you 'just relax'. We start to unpick the instinctive animalistic nature of procreation, that the design is to be driven by desire and being in tune with our own cycle can help us get back to that. We know that the key part of getting pregnant is having sex, It’s not possible to talk about getting pregnant without talking about sex, but it has to be considered in a wider aspect than just getting the egg and sperm together. It is instinctive, animalistic, hormonally driven and this is key, the subtle interplays, switch downs, diversions of hormones impact you getting pregnant. There are a number of reasons that the hormones are affected sufficiently to affect libido, but I want to focus in this episode to look at how a sense of danger, and not in a risky sexy way, affects things, that the fear and anxiety may be in the actual sex itself. In particular, having sex at the right time, If you’ve listened to me before you know that I work around what is required for survival of any species, procreation being the last element and that it cannot happen if the other requirements aren’t in place, namely safety and sustenance it may be that the act of having sex itself is threatening your safety, sounds strange, but remember that the body senses danger by its response to threat That threat can be real or imagined, and when you are in danger, it’s not the time to be reproducing, when the danger passes, it is, but if you are in constant danger, it may never be the time to reproduce and your body will protect you I have an episode on tuning into ovulation, on the podcast, its episode 6, so if your new to listening to me, have a look at that, where I discuss the signs, emotions and feelings, and you are unlikely to easily connect to this intuitive sense if you are experiencing anxiety and fear.  These signs are an interest in sex, in feeling more easily aroused, more riske dreams and here’s something else that’s hugely key, this is a time of the cycle on a energetic level where you are really creative, you’ll excel at creative tasks, if you think about it it’s the time for the ultimate creation itself.  Natures in built design is to make you want to have sex, an instinctive primal desire to have sex.  So, in  order for a species to survive there has to be procreation, and this  is supported by a system of attraction, desire, with hormones to support including oxytocin, endorphins I also have a previous podcast episode on orgasm, episode 25, and why I prescribe them and this is a key part too.  Do you find that orgasm is less in baby sex? And also if you are just having sex around your fertile window when ‘trying’ you aren’t necessarily tuned in energetically to ovulation, because when you are, you will want to have sex, for sex itself, not to conceive. One of the side effect that my clients experience when working in the fertility rewire programme is positive effects on their relationship and sex life. A client who is now pregnant told me that one of the things she found while working with me was that she felt the relationship with her partner became richer. What might sound strange is that in effect we put getting pregnant on the back burner, initially and with it the pressure, the fear, the anxiety ad a whole heap of emotions Another Client recently said that her and partner didn’t really ‘want’ to have sex, it was a sense of needing to, and scheduling.  They are  trying for a second child, and within this scenario sex and scheduling can be an issue any way.  But in moving back into desire, she reported that they had been having amazing sex recently. Moving away from having to is a key part, moving into desire and wanting to, that animalistic nature if you like is key and there are lots of factors that affect this If you think back to a time when you were having sex with your partner, before trying to get pregnant, if you have a child already, before kids. Its different, the time of day, the desrie, it not being planned. So in the rewire programme, we look at this, but what's interesting is that when we support the body from the safety aspect, ( taming tigers), we can name the 'baby sex tiger', the 'ovulation tiger', the 'legs in the air after sex tiger'. Whats going through your mind at these times? When you consider accidental pregnancy, it's often heat of the moment, desire is high, absolute attraction, for this reason accidental pregnancies are common in affairs. I know people and perhaps you do too, who have had children through IVF, and often after long expensive journeys with many attempts and then not long after the birth of  their baby or second baby, they are accidentally pregnant.  They weren’t trying! And no, I am not telling you to relax, if only it were that easy.  But a reduction in fear can improve things. I am not saying all you have to do is calm down, because we know that will cause stress about the stress which is worse that just the stress itself. You're looking for tigers everywhere at this point, your scared, it's hard to 'calm down' to 'just relax' at this point. I not talking about meditation, relaxing activities, although all incredibly useful in your self care practice, I'm talking about dealing with the actual tigers. Right there in that moment of stress, right in the moment when you are face to face with the tiger. It's been a huge part of my life and is at the heart of reducing that sense of danger in my programme. I work with people to start to reduce or remove the ‘tigers’ that cause the fear and anxiety, and sometimes these tigers are tamed through information, knowledge and support and sometimes the tigers need a little more work Just as some background, One of my qualifications is as a mindfulness based cognitive therapy teacher, I am qualified to run the 8 week MBCT course, and I have found some of the practices useful in my life and they have benefited my health, but I’ll be honest with you, I don’t have the time or inclination in my days to meditate for 20 minutes or more I really don’t! So the taming tigers element of my work doesn’t require that, you need to know what to do in the face of the tiger. This is the case for the large majority of my clients. When faced with the 'timing tiger', the 'will it work this month tiger' and the 'baby sex it self tiger' who may indeed all come as a pack, it may not be the best thing to meditate! You can build a level of safety and control which helps to tame the tigers too So we tame them, and then if one appears we develop skills to be safe, relaxation can help, but something at a deeper level, including regular practice, visualisation and a recognition of those tigers themselves.  They are then less lilkely to jump out of a bush! The last place you want a tiger is when you are trying to make a baby.  Think about your body, its clever design, its not going to be working effectively if you are surrounded by tigers.  I’m not talking about, just in the heat of the moment here, just in the act itself, it’s the build up, the anticipation of, because chances are that you already know when you need to be having sex next, if your period comes, right there or shortly afterwards you may be planning when to have sex, and if you have irregular periods, this adds a whole new tiger. Something that I was chatting about with someone recently was that they were advised by a doctor to have sex every other day all the way through their cycle, I was horrified, at this absolute lack of understanding, and this lead to increased stress, discomfort and an impact physically and emotionally not only on her but it impacted the relationship hugely.  The pressure is immense, on both sides and this can start to cause issues at a deeper level. There is a pressure to perform, a sense of having to, and this can be on both sides, which is far removed from why you want to have a baby together, so this is a huge area and something that is missed. A client of mine told me how she had turned down a night out with friends, because that was a night she had to have sex, it was in the diary .  How does it work for you in your relationship if the night, the scheduled night is here and your partner gets home late? How easy is it to have sex at this point? You're angry, they feel got at perhaps? Baby sex becomes very different, it can feel pressured, something that has to be done, planned and the sense of desire, lust and deep love that was there can be lost. If you are trying for a second chaild, chances are that the sex after having a child is different, you are exhausted, timings are not that easy, things have often become more scheduled anyway perhaps and then you try for another child.  So even at the very start, thigs may feel quite pressure. I have a client recently tell me that her and her partner had had amazing sex, pre children sex in fact.  So, just to summarise, I don’t focus on sex specifically with my clients, or be a relationship therapist, or give you advice on what to do, but as a part of the programme, when we are addressing other aspects, balancing hormones, shifting our focus and taming your tigers moving into a sense of trust, belief and to a more instinctive state, and ultimately feeling less pressured, a by product is an increased desire and improved sex and relationship.  Now I say by product, but of course this is the very thing required, its so much more than putting an egg and sperm together, so very much more.. and you can see that by travelling up stream, we are addressing the cause. If you want to know more, discuss any aspect of this, you can get  in touch via the website Instagram and facebook, or , if you want access to me in a supportive, safe group, then the facebook group your fertility matters is still accepting requests and will be opening its doors soon..

I start off by telling you how excited I am very excited to share the new Facebook group Your Fertility Matters. Do you find yourself saying that other people are worse off, there are starving people in the world? Are you downplaying your own pain, because maybe you don't want to be pitied or perhaps that you feel you should be grateful for what you have. Does you not acknowledging your own pain, not comparing, improve the lives of the other people? It's OK not to be OK. I've said that before, but can you really start to accept that? If you don't feel that, then you are most likely thinking, it's not OK to not be OK. I unpick fear, comparison, shame, beliefs and expectations. I cant mention shame without mentioning the wonderful Brene Brown, and also I mention the wonderful Glennon Doyle and her amazing book Untamed I discuss empathy, the difference between it and sympathy.  How important it is to show empathy and compassion to ourselves. I share some tips, conversational journalling, being, naming your tigers, taming and living with the tigers, stepping out of fight or flight and being able to say to yourself as you would to a loved one, its OK, its OK, I've got you, I'm here.  

Fertility Acupuncture is something you may have heard of, but what is Advanced Fertility Acupuncture? About Naava Carmen Naava Carman is a Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncturist and herbalist who has specialised in treating female and male fertility, gynaecology and obstetrics for over 20 years. Her London practice is focused on women who are 38-45 years old with complex, multifaceted fertility issues, such as autoimmune disorders, unexplained infertility, failed IVF, recurrent miscarriage, hypermobility, PCOS, endometriosis and other inflammatory conditions.Naava is also a committed educator, having run training courses and given lectures across the UK and internationally for a number of years. Last year she launched her own online training platform for practitioners wishing to gain an Advanced Level Diploma in Fertility Acupuncture. Naava is a member of the RCHM, a registered Supervisor for the British Acupuncture Council and a Mentor for Doula UK. Naava and I share many common ground areas in our ethos and thinking within the Fertility Arena. I was particularly interested in finding out more about her acupuncture practice and the Diploma for practitioners. Science based Naava shared some interesting information regarding the effects of acupuncture. If you've heard me speak before, you will know she spoke my language as it was science based, with mention of an MRI study showing body systems affected during acupuncture. We discussed the importance of using Chinese medicine, including fertility acupuncture and herbs along side western medicine. She also discussed a subject I always refer to, the importance of doing the work 3 cycles before conception. Another subject you've heard me take about before is how male fertility factors can be too simply overlooked in the medical profession, particularly DNA Fragmentation. Naava also shared some fascinating research findings regarding sperm health in males conceived via Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). Advanced Level Diploma in Fertility Support Acupuncture The Advanced Level Diploma in Fertility Support Acupuncture developed by Naava has 5 modules and covers more complex fertility issues including immunology factors, PCOS, Endometriosis, obstetrics to name a few. It is an excellent course for acupuncturists and requires a high level of clinical understanding and clinical experience, before yo can be a registered practioner. You've heard e talk about the importance of support before and Naava explains how she too offers support as well as knowledge, expertise guidance and treatment. This is a huge part of working with someone on this important and challenging journey. Her company is actually called the Fertility Support Company. It is always a pleasure to chat with Naava, and I'm thrilled that I was able to bring this episode to you Contact info You can find more details of her and her clinic and a list a registered practitioners here For details of the advanced level Practitioner diploma, you can find more details here Follow Fertility Support on Facebook and Instagram

I'm going to talk in this episode about polycystic ovary syndrome, PCOS, a huge subject. but more specifically the factors affecting its cause and management. It is hugely misunderstood and the emotional aspects of both its root and management are too often overlooked. When I work with clients with PCOS, I know that the challenges ahead of us are as with all couples: physical, emotional, also mindset and energetic as well are evident, but I find the emotional root causes and blocks are specific and quite similar amongst some women with a PCOS diagnosis.   I wanted to really start to unpick this a little. I want to remind you first of all that PCOS is not a diagnosis of fertility issues, its a symptom, and gives us the clues we need to travel back and find the cause. There is a huge amount of information out there, as with all information, some is incredible and some less so, but I lead you towards information about the 4 types of PCOS. I discuss the physical, what cysts are, the difference between PCO and PCOS but really start to unpick the emotional and energetic factors that affect cause and management. We need to understand the difference between insulin resistance and BMI and how the medical focus on weight brings such emotional triggers to the fore. I look at negative message in childhood about being fertile and the beliefs established at diagnosis, how your 'position' as female in your family and society may affect it, how a constant striving and even the relationship with your mother could affect things for some. Why some people with PCOS get pregnant easily and others don't and give you some pointers as to what you can do. If you want any more information, or would like to find out how working with me on the Fertility Rewire Method may help you, then you can arrange a free Discovery call The essential oil blend I mentioned can be found in the shop, where you will also find some visualisations. Free resources are available including the comprehensive FREE fertility Course which is a great stater to help you understand more about your fertility,        

When you started trying for a baby, you may have experienced a sense of hope and excitement. As time progresses, these emotions can be accompanied or even pushed aside by emotions such as fear, anger, jealousy, grief.   And you know that these feeling that are stress evoking emotions, aren't helpful, which further increases the worry.  And we know that if we didn't worry.... These emotions are unwanted and the energy in pushing them away or trying to change then can actually be an increased emotional burden. Today I discuss the theory of accepting the emotion, and I repeat, the EMOTION, not the situation.  I start to look at the emotional aspects an our response to pain  and its impact on you. I reference the FREE Fertility Course, Fertility 101-an owners manual, which throughout encourages you to identify the emotions and thoughts you have, and perhaps a pattern, when it comes to further understanding aspects of your own fertility.

This weeks podcast is the audio from one of the sections of my new FREE course, Fertility 101: An owners manual. It's an incredibly comprehensive course and something Ive felt passionate about sharing for a long time now.  Its here I worked through some technical challenges and Im so excited to announce its here. In this recording I talk about egg quality, age, the theorised fertility cliff and suggest some measures you can start to look into to address quality. Its a snippet of the course but I really wanted to give you a taste of whats included. You can access the course here,  Follow me on Instagram, Facebook or pinterest

Miscarriage is a devastating blow to many and healing is required on 2 levels, both physical and emotional. worry about another or Miscarriage anxiety is incredibly common. In this episode, I share my own miscarriage story and start to unpick some of the aspects at play emotionally, how your brain has processed the memory, how future tripping can in itself can cause miscarriage anxiety. I look at what you can do on a physical and emotional level and that just as it takes 2 to make a baby, that egg and sperm   as the basic ingredients are key in maintaining the pregnancy also. I refer to my previous post on how progesterone plays a crucial part. I've included some advice on how to reframe and apply emotional support tools to support your anxiety and stay present also. If you prefer you can read the blog post or have for future reference,   

Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin has many many important functions in the body, and of particular note is reproduction. You may just associate it with bone Health, but It does so much more. The intake of a mothers Vitamin D affects the reproductive cells in an embryo, and it is especially key when you are trying to get pregnant.  It's a test I suggest to all clients and for many it has indeed been deficient. In fact, many of us are deficient in Vitamin D. If you think about it, being indoors, living in built up areas, diet and sunscreen are all factor that limit Vitamin D.  Because although available in some foods, it's a vitamin that is manufactured by being exposed to the sun. I share how I feel this should be offered as a general baseline to all couples trying to conceive, not just the 6 months or 1 year testing process, where you can get a home test,  I also share the FREE Fertility Test recommendation sheet. For full episode details, follow this link 

It's important to understand how progesterone affects Fertility and why she needs our support. I love all of our wondrous hormones but if I had a favourite it would be progesterone. I want to sing her praises and stop the bad underperforming rap she’s getting. She, is a wonderful calming and supporting influence and without her pregnancy could not occur.   Do you know someone, perhaps even yourself, who is calm and supportive, who is often doing other things at the expense of herself?  Who because she is so calm, gets ridden over and taken for granted, pushed into the background?  Well that’s progesterone. Progesterone and oestrogen are a double act, they are not opposites, they are supporting characters, they can’t function properly without each other, and it’s always been that way, but these days the relationship is becoming a bit one sided.  Oestrogen is stepping into the limelight, and as she gets stronger and more visible, progesterone is being pushed to the back. Why is oestrogen getting so strong? Well Progesterone and oestrogen keep each other in check. Supporting roles. But progesterone is being called on for other responsibilities, I told you she is doing other things.  In order to support the stress hormones to keep you safe from tigers, she is being sacrificed if you like as the same ingredients used to make these stress hormones are used to make progesterone  And while shes called away, Oestrogen is having a whale of a time, shes growing on strength and shes brought some new friends along.  They look a bit like her and the body believes they are the same too.  Meet the xeno oestrogens, found in cleaning products, beauty products and personal care.  So these guys are having a party, but in some parties. There is one guest who takes over, who goes a bit too far and that’s the xeno oestrogens.   Signs and symptoms What I am trying to paint a picture of here is something that I commonly see in many of my clients and that is oestrogen dominance.  Oestrogen dominance has its own symptoms and you don’t have to have all of them but if you’ve got 2-3 then its an indicator, including heavy periods, clotty periods, Bloating or puffiness, Irritability or mood swings, weight gain which you have difficulty losing especially around waist and hips, bottom and thighs, Perhaps even Diagnosis of  fibroids or endometriosis. An effect of this is that the progesterone is overpowered and what can happen is that you present with symptoms of low progesterone, Now the progesterone itself may not be clinically low, but the buffer between the two is too wide. To give us more understanding of how progesterone affects fertility we need to learn more about her. She is natures anti depressant, a calmer, a promoter of sleep and a reducer in anxiety, well if in the 7-10 days leading up to your period you aren’t feeling this, in fact perhaps quite the opposite then we have a clue that the progesterone is either low or it is being completely overshadowed by oestrogen. Symptoms include  PMS 7-10 days before period, feeling anxious, having painful, heavy or difficult periods and painful or swollen breasts before a period. Also brown spotting is an indicator too. Progesterone should be dominant in the part after ovulation and pre bleed, and in this part of the cycle, the luteal phase, it is produced by something called the corpus luteum,  this is what is left behind on the ovary after the follicle has released the egg. So ovulation is key, its presence and its strength. How we know what is happening. So I’ve mentioned oestrogen dominance, low progesterone and ovulation here, and it could be 1,2 or all 3 that is affecting the function of progesterone. How do we know, in the first instance basal body temperature charting, pure and simple. We can move onto blood tests, but remember I said it’s not the levels per se, but the relationship and also progesterone can reduce at times of stress, which may not be demonstrated on the snap shot blood test.  remember a blood test takes a photo of the here and now on that day. Basal body temperature charting will give us an indication of what is happening in the follicular phase, ovulation and luteal phase, were we can see how it affects fertility.  It can indicate our next steps and it can monitor progress of the steps we are taking. Now charting in itself can cause stress, in fact I often refer to the charting tiger, and we know that we need to reduce the effects of the tigers we are with, to live amongst them. How can we create a balance? Reduce the effects of stress, now I know I always say bear with me and please do, I am not telling to relax and all will be well, because trying to relax is not easy.  It is then a case of stressing about the stress, becoming less relaxed the more you try to relax, knowing that you should be relaxing, that this isn’t helping.  so let’s focus on reducing the effects of the stress, not removing the stress necessarily, but reducing its power and in effect taming your tigers, which is the programme I work with my clients It’s important to address both sides of this, so if oestrogen is showing itself to be in dominance we look at reducing this We need to remove excess oestrogen effects and by this primarily the xeno-oestrogens.  I’m not going to get into phyto-oestrogens here because they have a dual role and I don’t want to over complicate it.  I want for to keep it simple I have talked about the effects of xeno-oestrogens in episode 8, Can beauty products affect fertility, and in particular rerefer to phthalates.  So have another listen to this for a refresher, and check your cleaning products, skin care products.  Phthalate free products are big business now, and much more available.  I do believe the best way is to make your own, it can be more cost effective too. We need to be supporting the body to metabolise the oestrogen and remove its waste, in particular the liver, and we can support this in the process and also reduce the load on the liver by removing some of the other substances from our diet and house hold that it is exposed to. When I working with couples we do this through self care and treatments or self treatments including castor oil packs, self massage and self administered hand reflexology, the use of essential oils, not just in a calming relaxing way but also to support the body in metabolising cortisol (stress hormone) and supporting hormonal balance, which I will be sharing more information about separately, appropriate foods and supplements as necessary. We then look at supporting the body’s progesterone, to reduce the demands on it from stress hormone production, to strengthen and support the corpus luteum and use progesterone foods such as Beans, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Kale, nuts, pumpkin, spinach and whole grains and some of these foods also work to support oestrogen metabolism too. What are the next steps? So there is a lot of information to consider, the very first step is that through information we can identify the bodies signs of imbalance and create an action plan, but you have to know where to look, and then implement the action steps.  Now I am saying we, because this is something that I work with my clients, but if course the we can become you at any step along the process depending on the amount of input is needed. Now information is first and foremost the most important step, there’s a lot of it about and it can be confusing, and overwhelming and often contradictory and I am in the process of releasing a free course Fertility 101- an owners guide, which will give you this basic level of information, to allow you to become the detective.  And it may be that you can do this alone, but if you need help along the way then you know where to find me, visit fertilityrewire.com on instagram and facebook I’m passionate about people getting the right information, gaining a sense of control and understanding what is happening in their body, in its primal design, the very design that served your ancestors well and why you are here.   You are amazing you really are

I’m feeling a bit Dr Ruth here, but Yes, I really do.  I’m talking about the female orgasm how orgasm affects fertility and why I prescribe them, here and yes I do prescribe them, well certainly recommend them. And this is one of those episodes where thoughts and feelings may come up based on what I’m saying and these thoughts and feelings may be key. So what I want you to do, which forms part of my coaching process is to just stop for a moment and gather the thoughts and feelings going around in your head as I talk about this.  What are you thinking as I say this?   What are the feelings associated, because these are important.   We cannot separate the physical from the emotional and when it comes to you being given information about your fertility, yet more information about your fertility this could trigger a response and this response is important First of all what I am not saying here is in order to get pregnant you have to be able to orgasm during sex, what I will be doing is discuss some areas around this topic, namely Could orgasm help you get pregnant, does it really make a difference? and what are the benefits? Now an important point to mention here is that a female orgasm can be achieved in a number of ways It is reported that Between thirty and forty percent of women claim never to have experienced an orgasm through vaginal penetration alone – though many more can orgasm through clitoral stimulation. And of course clitoral stimulation this done to you or by you,  Perhaps you’ve never had an orgasm, perhaps you dont have them anymore, things change, perhaps you don’t want one, perhaps quite frankly you just haven’t got the time or the energy. perhaps you don’t want to orgasm, and that’s important to explore  But what I wanted to explore was whether the female orgasm is important for fertility? The Upsuck! Well years ago a phenonamon called the up-suck, yes, nice term right?  was coined.  It was based on a theory that the contractions of the uterus help "suck up" the semen that gets deposited in the vagina, near to the cervix and stated that the orgasm then helps to move the sperm through the uterus and onwards to their journey into and along the fallopian tubes, makes sense right? One study actually measured the amount of semen "flowback" (how much semen leaked out after sex.) and they discovered that when a female orgasm occurred a minute or before male ejaculation, sperm retention was greater. No pressure there then? But what if orgasm happened after male ejaculation? Which might be more of the norm for you? Researchers found that as long as the woman has an orgasm up to 45 minutes after, sperm retention was higher.  The link as to whether this affects pregnancy success were not explored. So we cannot say from this that it correlates directly with fertility, but we can say that less sperm leaves the vagina,  Now of course it is only at certain days in a womans cycle that the sperm can actually enter the cervix, and the research does not state whether the woman was in her fertile window This theory has been questioned by researchers who have stated that it is not essential for pregnancy that an orgasm and its associated upsuck occurs So the up-suck itself may not be an essential part of actually getting pregnant but. The hormonal release during orgasm is worth exploring further The Orgasm cocktail What is important to note is that during an orgasm your brain is concocting a very potent cocktail of chemicals dopamine, which is associated with anything that feels good, and makes us want more and is such a better feeling than the stress and anxiety about whether it will work Along with this is oxytocin which is the love hormone that produces feelings of closeness and empathy, its associated with bonding Endorphins are also released  These are powerful and useful hormones Evolutionary Theory Another theory is that the female orgasm was once important but through evolutionary changes is no longer essential for getting pregnant.  This theory suggested that an orgasm in our ancestors may have actually triggered ovulation, This is how it works in some mammals. For example, with cats apparently if they don't mate, they don't ovulate. And even more fascinating regarding cats is that the clitoris is in the vaginal canal, that sounds a lot simpler and perhaps a much better design doesn’t it? We know that ovulation today occurs I a cycle, for the majority of women on a monthly cycle or near to it whether or not we have  sex. So in earlier humans, could female orgasm have triggered ovulation and why doesn’t it today? Clitoral stimulation induces feelings of pleasure, along with a release of hormones and muscular contractions. It is thought that these hormones and contractions may have in fact signalled the ovaries to release an egg in ancestral humans   The theory goes on to explain that as we humans evolved, and ovulation began to occur regularly, without sexual stimulation, the clitoris moved further away from the vaginal canal.  This doesn't mean female orgasm has no purpose in conception, but it does imply its significance perhaps decreased in relation to ovulation I have talked before about how negative emotions, fear, from your modern day tigers such as stress, and anxiety can reduce your chances of getting pregnant, via hormonal imbalance, hormonal diversion, muscle tension and so on, so we can see how these wonderous happy hormones I mentioned earlier can perhaps support fertility by reducing the stress, fear etc. So another thought is that the clitoris is where it is as when a fetus develops it develops from the same basic plumbing and becomes a boy or a girl, and the clitoris is where the penis is and vice versa.  I dont want this to add to the list of things you must do to get pregnant, I don’t want your lack of orgasm to be another factor that you feel you absolutely have to change, another thing to add to the list, further increasing overwhelm worry and stress and yes a new tiger, the orgasm tiger! What are the wider benefits of orgasm? What I want us to look at is what happens during orgasm, and how this might benefit you in many ways  At the point of orgasm the muscles of the vagina anus and uterus involuntarily and rhythmically contract and relax, which gives that sense of release At the same time your brain is concocting that very potent cocktail of happy hormones I mentioned earlier A study in 2006 showed that a woman hippocampus and amygdala showed decreased function during orgasm and these 2 are big players in fear and anxiety Helps you stay present, you don’t often get this in mindfulness courses, but the focus needed to reach orgasm, really keeps you be in the present moment, and can in effect perhaps push your stress and thoughts away,  Having an orgasm induces a sleepy feeling so if falling asleep is tricky for you it can improve your sleep quality and we know as discussed before how poor quality sleep can negatively affect fertility It can actually increase your libido.  Now a drop in libido is caused by hormonal imbalance, especially low testosterone, yes females have this too.   Also baby sex in itself can affect your libido and your enjoyment.  We know that when we really want to have sex, our bodies are ready, we really want to, and this makes a big difference, so wanting rather than having to is key, and if the more orgasms you have the more your libido increases, that must be a good thing if It can increase your interest in sex Your pelvic floor is getting a work out too and your bottom and inner thighs Your blood flow to the vagina and pelvic organs is increased, which is hugely important, vaginal lubrication is increased,  During ovulation orgasm can be more intensely felt because of the increased blood flow to the pelvic area. Now you may not feel that his is something you would really want to do, but it can help with menstrual cramp relief and also headaches, where we come back to the endorphins which are both just stress releivers they are also pain killers There is also a suggestion in some research that it can temporarily improve your immune system, an increased level of certain types of lymphocytes (white blood cells that help your immune system fend off illness) was noted after masturbation and orgasm in a study So whether it is during intercourse or masturbation, I recommend that you increase the orgasms you are having, maybe this can be added to your self care regime What if you cant orgasm? Between thirty and forty percent of women claim never to have experienced an orgasm through vaginal penetration alone – though many more can orgasm through clitoral stimulation. And this is one of the questions I ask my clients in our initial consultation is whether they can achieve orgasm I then ask whether that via penetrative or external stimulation or both? I also ask if they have ever experienced an injury to their coccyx, tailbone, because an impact on the pudendal nerve is a significant consideration Fertility massage therapy addresses this as part of the therapy, and this is something that I have been able to help my clients in address themselves also, without having to see me which is key in these times of isolation and not being able to see a therapist There are a wide range of psychological aspects that can affect a womans ability to orgasm also, and this is too big a subject to explore here and now, but it is something that may be relevant for me to explore when working with a client. What I suggest you do is return to. The thoughts and feelings that came up for you if any during this episode, and if you want to know more or its highlighted an area that you may want to look further into, drop me a line So, that is why I prescribe orgasm and regular orgasms, 

Are you Future Tripping? If so Im going to share what you can do about it. So in this episode, I'm talking about future tripping. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but it's a term that I came across recently. And it is exactly what it says on the tin. Catostrophising I have in my past due to emotional triggers and situations been one to catastrophize not catastrophize everything. but things regarding health of other people, not my own health, but the health of others. And this became a real issue in relationships that I formed. And certainly when I had children. My mind could go to scary places with this. And one of the things that "helped" me in this or I thought was helping me in this was a need for order and control. And this was one of my coping mechanisms, but this in itself actually became an additional anxiety. And future tripping is the same. Now, this isn't something I experience, particularly anymore. I have normal anxieties that you would expect. And I am able to notice when I start, or when I'm in a process of going down this particular line, but it's key in many people, but particularly those who experience anxiety generally. And it's also referred to as anticipatory anxiety. And all of us do this to some degree or another. It's part of the human condition of peering into the future and anticipating the outcome. Now, it isn't always a negative outcome , future tripping can be positive, and it is something that we use in a lot of mind coaching tools, not so much tripping, but seeing a future and seeing ourselves in a different future. Peering into the Future When peering into the future and anticipating the outcome isn't always negative, because our wondrous human brain gives us the ability to do either. And for a person experiencing anxiety either generally or over something specific, such as fertility, it is not always easy to see the positive. So in the work that I do within my fertility coaching, and with the clients there, we look at this area if it's relevant, and sometimes it might be that we delve in, and we travel upstream, and we find the initial event that cause this need for vigilance, a fear of the future a non positive outlook and we can address it. Sometimes we don't need to find it, and we can use strategies to cope with it and perhaps change our outlook. Whats happening in the Brain? But before we look at this, you need to understand what's going on in the brain. And this is really key to me because you have to understand what's happening. You have to understand how your fertility works, you have to understand how your body works to be able to look at addressing change. So let's have a look at what's going on in the brain. How the intrinsic design of us as humans, well as mammals, in the first instance, can't adapt to the evolution of the human brain. The whole premise of the fertility rewire programme that I have developed is to indeed rewire it, rewire the fertility system, and rewire the emotional responses to today's world, and our humaneness. So a basic intrinsic design, which will win out in any situation is the need for safety. And so enter stage left our star player, the sympathetic nervous system. Its counter its other half , its working opposite is the parasympathetic nervous system. So this is the autonomic nervous system and it has these two states, the sympathetic nervous system is fight or flight and the parasympathetic nervous system is rest and digest. We sit in rest and digest until we are faced with a crisis we are faced with a life endangering situation. That is the design. So when fight or flight is at play, and I've discussed this before, in terms of coming face to face with a tiger back in our ancestral day, we need to fight or run like hell to safety. And we're designed to deal with this acute stress. It keeps us alive and we learn from it. Same as if you touched a wood burner and burned your hands. You wouldn't do that again. Its tthe same with emotional pain. We learn from it and often what happens is we then learn to avoid. But when this is regular throughout the day, repeatedly or constant, your body thinks that you are surrounded by actual tigers. Because it doesn't know the difference your brain doesn't know the difference between what's real or imagined, you respond to emotions, which have come from thoughts and those thoughts have come from beliefs. And that belief is is triggered in the situation. The situation itself is backed, that is fact and cannot be denied. But the situation you are in leads to a thought often from a belief to an emotion and then there's a response. So what's happening is at this point, your body is also shutting down non essential systems when in fight or flight. A bit like we're experiencing now to be honest with our crisis management of the corona virus. non essential is a time used a lot. These systems that are being shut down or turned down are immunity, digestion and fertility. These are some of the big players. Also within that is, is the whole heap of hormonal interactions, the thyroid, the pancreas and its effects on insulin, the adrenals are at play and they need all of your attention. Because of course, none of these systems matter if the tiger gets you. But as soon as the tiger passes as soon as the danger passes, your systems return to normal. So you probably need to get out of that Tiger pit right now. So how do we do it? Well, key player is the wondrous human brain, the part of the brain that makes us human the frontal cortex known for its logic and reason. It is not in play, when we are in fight or flight. There is no time for decision making. It's instinctive, it's primal. It's hardwired you can't make rational decisions in a state of anxiety. So what is key in this state are number of things and ways that we can work through and support ourselves. When we step into future tripping. The first one I want to talk about is being present. Now, it's not always possible to be present in the moment of anxiety, but with regular practice at being present in non emotionally charged times, we are able to develop this skill and utilise it. One of the things that the Mindfully Fertile part of my programme brings is the ability to be able to notice thoughts. You are aware of your tigers, and this leads you to noticing your thoughts WHEN you are in the anxious moments. You are not always looking for your Tigers but you are able to respond and react accordingly. And sometimes that means letting them sleep. And sometimes that means being with them. And what this enables you to do is to get to the place where you can distance your thoughts, your tigers. So when I say distance, I don't mean remove them, but in saying here is the thought that, here is the thought that I won't get pregnant. Here is the thought that I won't ovulate. In that moment you are acknowledging a thought. Not the real danger your brain perceived. So here is the thought that….. you distance it once I notice I am thinking the thought that……… you distance even further and this is what we call acceptance. I always say bear with me, don't I? So acceptance is not a sense of giving up accepting, there's nothing you can do accepting that you just have to put up with this. It's a sense of accepting that this is what is happening. This is what you are thinking in this moment, and when we see these as thoughts, we diffuse their power, we dilute it basically. Naming your thoughts So something else is to name the thoughts. So back in my castrophising days, I was able to recognise it starting. And I would say, Oh, Hello, Miss catastrophe. But I think I've got this, nice to see you here, to be honest, not out loud.     And it's something that I use with my son. He was about six and he went through I think I've talked about this before a hand washing phase. Which came with some anxiety. And he had Mr. Wash your hands say he would say, Oh, Hello, Mr. Wash your hands. No, I'm okay, this is all good. This recognition and externalisation is really powerful, but you often can't just start it straight away. You have to practice being present and recognising this in that non emotionally charged situations, which is why it's really important to stick to a practice of being present. Just you know, regularly. So I've been treated. I'm doing big sharing today I've been treated on and off in the past for clinical depression. And one of the key areas that this has really supported me was in being able to recognise the feelings of depression or to be honest, the feelings of sadness or lethargy, which in fairness to anyone who has never been diagnosed with depression or has been taking medication, that's hat's how they might see it. They might see it as a sense of sadness of lethargy, or perhaps an understanding that this will pass. But for many if you have been diagnosed and treated before, you go down this spiral of, Oh, no, no, this is depression. Here it is again. And this is future tripping in full swing. You don't know that that's what happening, but you've recognised it. It's your wood burner, you've touched it, you've burned and here it is, again, and a really, really good book for this, there are lots of books around about mindfulness and the deep intricacies of it all, but 'how to be human" by Ruby Wax and a neuroscientist whose name escapes me and a Buddhist monk is a really, really good book and I particularly liked it on Audible, but she talks about, through her depression to be able to recognise it and let it Sit with her. And this is a practice that I've worked a lot on and as I do with my clients. Through practices around the cognitive process, I said earlier the situation the thought, the emotion, the behaviour or result, awareness of thoughts and being present, I am able to say, "Oh, hello depression, take a seat, sit with me. I'm just going to watch the TV today". Do you see how acceptance is not giving in? but accepting that this is how it is right now. Right now in this moment, and I do have a choice. So in effect, inviting your Tiger to tea. The Tiger who came to tea is one of my favourite children's books, by the way, but perhaps you are taming your Tiger letting it sleep, not tiptoeing around it or in fear of waking it, but trusting that you have this. They're just there. You've invited them there. They're under your request. So being present is one thing. And then being aware of thoughts is another. Another is to seek help. If your car breaks down, what do you do? Do you ask for help immediately? Do you get out and have a look at it? Kick it around, maybe you try to fix it, maybe you try to do something beyond your limitations and beyond your control, or do you worry about what it might be or if it's this that's going to cost money, and then what impact will that have and I'm going to be late and this is going to happen, or do you seek the help of a prefessional iommediately? I am not always a wise sage, personally, I just have to say that but I do tell my children and often when saying to someone else, it's a self reminder. Because we are really good at recognising things in other people and giving advice because we're set in that calm, rational state because it is not happening to us. So what I say to My children is, if you worry about it, you might have to go through it more than once. If you worry about it every day, you're definitely going through it more than once. If you don't worry about it and see what happens, you might not have to go through it at all. So it's a bit like giving someone else advice, isn't it? And what I'm trying to say is that you can turn that on yourself. You can get yourself in that calm situation. And you can give advice and you know why? Because when it's someone else, your brain of logic and reason steps in, it's not emotionally charged. So I'll give you another example. I said about the car earlier, obviously with all that worry about the car breaking down, at what point do you call someone else for help? And are you still worrying about the future or do we wait and see what they have to say? Difficult to say? Unless you're in the situation. Here's another driving example. If you're driving a car, and someone cuts you up, or a big one for me is you let them through and they don't say thank you. You might react. You might react quite angrily, depending on who's in the car with you, but it stirs an emotion. It triggers something. It really triggers something that often goes deep deep back, But if you're the passenger, so I'm thinking about me sitting next to my husband when he's driving. And, and I've spoken about this on the podcast with Alexia Leachman, actually about my trigger. If you're the passenger and the driver gets cross, you may have some sage and rational advice. And here's the thing because you didn't step into fight or flight you didn't step into the sympathetic nervous system. It didn't affect you emotionally directly. It didn't trigger something in you. You stayed in rest and digest and Oh Hello rational thinking! This is another coaching tool that I use and you can selfcoach with this , one element is asking for help. There's a lot of self coaching you can do with this. When you write down your thoughts and emotions, read them through. And imagine a dear friend or relative is telling you this. In your sense of calm and reflection, your rational mind your solution focused mind can give some great advice. We then explore what prevents you. What prevents you from taking this advice. We explore your current your Won't your shoulds and your should not. Planning comes into this but rational planning which as I said earlier, requires the wondrous human part of the brain, who can't step in until all is calm. So when you're faced with your tiger, it is not the time to sit down and make a plan. It's why crisis management requires crisis planning. It's why we have fire drills. So we know what to do in an emergency. Practice can put something in place as a system as a system we turn to it's something that we just instinctively then know what to do. Your brain says, Oh, yeah, we've done this before. This is when we file out, it's very different filing out of a building with a fire alarm for a test and a building that you think might be on fire. But that familiarity allows you to do it while you're in that emotional response. So This is Future Tripping, how to avoid it, or to recognise it and step in and be present. But as I said, You We'll need learning to do that. Recognise your thoughts, write them down, revisit them as a friend and ask for help. Do you experience future tripping? Has this made sense to you? Is it something that is at play often in your life and it might be a significant emotional trigger? Is it something that really has come to the fore with fertility, which might be triggering a past emotional response? It might be. But as all these podcasts and all the information I give to people, this isn't just about fertility. This is about your health. And you cannot separate your physical and emotional health and you can see how with the brain this all inter plays and plays with each other. If you want any more information about what I've discussed, fertility related or not, or you want to know more about fertility coaching, the mindfully fertile programme, or anything else fertility related or otherwise, just drop me a line, or arrange a FREE chat.

The subject of today's podcast is control, or more specifically, a sense of a lack of control of not being in control. Can you really be in control when trying to get pregnant? Do you need to be? This episode is sponsored by the Fertility rewire Self Hypnosis /visualisation  pack, one track of which is about control And this affects all aspects of life. But it becomes really, really prevalent for many people when trying to get pregnant because it is beyond your control. Now, as human beings, there is a need for a sense of control and a lack of this sense of control can leave us feeling powerless, that there is nothing that we can do. Or it can make us feel what  we don't want to be and that is being powerless. We want to be in control of our fertility and our emotions, perhaps we don't want to be controlled. That's another issue. And, this fear of not being in control. I see this so much with many of my clients, not always fertility related. So I see people in my wider practice with regards to something they want to change about themselves. So we work on things like anxiety and weight loss and habits and phobias.   When I did a lot more reflexology, just during our chats, something would come up that would indicate this need for control and many clients (and I find this a lot in fertility) actually say to me, that they are a control freak. So where does it come from? When is it a problem? Do we need to know where it comes from? SIGNS OF THE NEED FOR CONTROL There are things that I really wanted to try and pick about just a little bit today. Some of the things that you might notice about this need for control is that: There might be a need for perfectionism There might be a degree of obsessiveness  You might need and be more comfortable with rigidity  You want a sense of certainty You need an understanding of how things work. ​ Needing to be able to predict what happens because the not knowing is a horrible, horrible place to be When we are experiencing this lack of control , it affects us negatively emotionally, as I've talked about before, the chemicals that are produced will make physical changes on the body. You are in survival mode and your fertility will be slowed or shut down while you are experiencing this. So it's it's just a vicious circle really, the need for control the fear of lack of control is affecting your stress response in your body which is affecting your fertility which further feeds into a lack of control.  Do you need all your ducks in a row? DO YOU NEED ORDER AND CLEANLINESS One of the big areas that I will pick up on this need for control if it hasn't been presented in any other form, if people haven't said that already, or it hasn't come up in a conversation is when I talk with people about changing their cleaning products in the house.  A look of horror comes across the face of a few people because they're one of the aspects of control for them is this need for order and need for cleanliness that can involve some brutal chemicals.  When I suggest that they change to more natural substances, due to the hormonal disruptive nature of the chemicals.  Sometime it's the need to smell the chemical that tells them it's clean. So that's one aspect. Is cleanliness a real issue? Do you get freaked out by a lack of order?  And do you have trouble delegating? Do you feel that you need to micro manage everything? POWER AND TRUST And as I've said, completely normal as a human being, to need that sense of control, because what is in that is a sense of power and trust. With power, you gain power by taking control and acting. With trust may be that you're able to pass this to others, you know, trust in the medical profession and when we're In that loop, and you're not getting any further and you're not getting what you're asking for, and it doesn't seem to be moving in the right direction, or it's not working. And that becomes a lack of trust. So control is, is a huge, huge, huge subject. It might be that you have these issues already. It might be that fertility itself and your quest to become pregnant is actually triggering. It might not be something you've noticed in other aspects of your life, but certainly you have this real sense of not being in control.  SO WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT? I've said that you can gain power by taking control and acting. That can happen if you gain a true understanding of how things work and you know, one of the things thats a  big part of the Fertility Rewire programme and the work that I do. And that first consultation is when I give people the information about how their reproductive system really works, the intricacies the interactions with other aspects of their body, how the emotional, how emotion affects fertility, how all those interplays are in place. It can be a real lightbulb moment for a lot of people. And it's "why did nobody ever tell me?" this issue of trust again, information, vital information, helpful information has been held back. Information in itself is powerful. I think there's a quote "information is power"Too much information can lead to a sense of overwhelm and when we experience overwhelm, we're not in control. It's about getting the balance right.  For  some people that level of information is sufficient. "Here are the tests that I suggest that you have, these changes may benefit you, this level of self care, introducing this undertaking this may support you." That's enough. But for other people, there might be a sense of questioning and I've said this to you before, you know, when you're listening to anything I say, I would suggest that you notice the thoughts that come into your mind if there's a significant thought with a positive. "Yeah, that's great. I'm going to try that". or negative. Well, that's all very well for you to say, other people are getting pregnant and they're not having to do that. And they're not having to change that or why should I where's the proof? The doctors aren't supporting that. THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS What thoughts are coming into your mind and when I'm saying this, and it might be something that we need to delve a little bit deeper into and maybe support the emotional triggers that are occurring at that point because they come from somewhere. And this is the thing with control. So everything comes from somewhere, you as a human being, learn from things that happen to you, your brain stores that memory to help you stay alive. So if you touch a fire, a wood burner, something like that, you burn your hands, your brain logs that as dangerous. Let's not do that again and it becomes a learned behaviour. Its the same happens emotionally. So if something happens and you have a negative emotional response that releases the stress hormones that we've talked about before, then that memory may get stored attached to that emotion if the response was significant. Because it doesn't know what the danger was, but there was danger. I see this with people with a fear of public speaking, something happened and often it was when they were four or five, first school play. They dropped the baby Jesus. And everybody laughed, some children would find that funny. Some children would really not like that at all, and feel uncomfortable, feel embarrassed. And when they are in front of a group of people, the brain says, "Oh, no, we don't like this. This is dangerous." So you can see how our core beliefs are laid down. CAUSES OF THE NEED FOR CONTROL With regard to control causes of a real need for control for rigidity. And for the need for certainty and for perfectionism, this may come from a traumatic event.  Now, when I say traumatic, it could be hugely traumatic, or It could be traumatic for the perception of the age you were when it happened. So it might not seem huge, if you think about it now, but that four year old five year old may indeed find it really, really huge. And this is where a rewire really, really comes into place. Because you can just sort that memory  appropriate to the age that you were, reframe it and replace it, if that makes sense. And so it can be a traumatic event  from a lack of trust. anxiety itself, it could be a symptom of anxiety. So the issue Control might not have been a causative factor, but it's a symptom of your anxiety. your values, belief   from a fear of failure. And that goes deep that goes deep regarding fears of abandonment. And this is really common.  So it might be that these are areas that you can look into, and you can rewire and that's certainly something that I do with people so if you want to know more about that drop me a line. And we can have a chat.  ACCEPTANCE But perhaps we can just develop strategies. And one of these is comes from the Eastern philosophy of accepting what is now bear with me here... I want to sound  a little alarm alert at this point. Because I'm not saying, accept that this is it and there's nothing you can do about it. I don't mean that acceptance is giving up either. What I mean is accepting that this is what you are feeling right now in this moment. And there are lots of strategies that you can use to this but one of the most powerful is to implement some mindfulness now. You know, sometimes people hear me say that and think, Oh, I haven't got time to sit and empty my mind and it's not emptying your mind. You can be mindful walking along, you don't have to sit and do a meditation practice. Being mindful means that you are aware of what you are thinking in that moment.  So for example, what happens within mindfulness and mindfulness programmes and practice is that you can get to a point where you are able to say, here is the thought that Okay, so this is never gonna happen. This is never gonna work. There's nothing I can do might be thoughts going through your head.  Being able to separate that and distance it slightly by saying, Here is the thought that that is never going to happen. Here is the thought that there is nothing I can do.  You can distance it even further by thinking, I'm noticing that I'm having the thought that.... I would get you to practice that yourself find that thought that triggers you find that thought that is so emotionally intense. Say it.   I'll give an example. And this isn't related necessarily to fertility in general.  So people who might think that they are not good enough.  'I'm not good enough". They say that and that's so emotionally charged.  So then I asked them to say, "I am thinking that I am not good enough". Or "here is the thought that I am not good enough". And to rate how those two things feel. Then we move on to, "I notice I'm having the thought that I am not good enough". And then the emotional charge becomes less and less. So, again, if that's something you're interested in, have a look over on fertility rewired calm, drop me a line, and it's something that you can work with.  So that is what I mean by acceptance. Okay, accepting that this is a thought and this is what you are thinking now, in this moment, because what it does is it takes away the emotional charge, which takes away the stress hormones, which takes away the survival response in the body, which stops the diversion of necessary hormones, and substances for reproduction. What I wanted to give you, a kind of insight into is where the need for control may come from. And it is innate in part. But if it's really affecting you negatively, has it always affected you? Does it affect you in other aspects of your life? Or is it just flaring up when a stress response is in place? Do you need to look into where the issues are? And if so, then as I've said, drop me a line, we can have a chat. But let's use some strategies. Let's use some strategies and put those in place. Let's be able to say, this is what I'm thinking now. This is what I'm thinking this is a thought. Okay. And we can build and work on that definitely. Yes you can be in control or at the least gain a sense of control when trying to get pregnant. So I hope that's been helpful. And if you've got any questions around control the feeling of a lack of control or anything about mindfulness, then just drop me a line.  I hope you can take something from it. And we'll do a more detailed episode about this concept of acceptance and about mindfulness based cognitive therapy.  One thing to add information is power. I will reiterate that it can be overwhelming though. So maybe it's the trust that you need? for more information about working with me, please get in touch

Can Unexplained Fertility be explained is a big question many if you are asking and Unexplained Fertility is the 'diagnosis' given to many couples, but is it really unexplained? If you follow what I write and say you'll know that I truly believe if we look beyond the limitations of the standard tests (whose purpose is to signpost you to the relevant fertility treatment), we can find answers. This is something I work with my clients with in my own coaching programmes, what clues is the body giving us and what effects is our own internal fertility reference system causing, and how can we find and clear this, and we find that the answers may in fact lead us to the solution. With some of my clients, the physical clues lead us to a need for deeper answers We've talked on the podcast before about sensitivities ,  gut health and inflammation before, but I wanted to dig a little deeper into testing etc.  ABOUT SARAH CLARK When Sarah Clark was 28 years old, she received a diagnosis of premature ovarian failure. She accepted the diagnosis and had both her children through in vitro fertilization. Years later she realized the root cause of her infertility was a food sensitivity and later a gut infection.  She is a certified life coach with accreditation from the International Coaches Federation and a health coach with training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.   She is the author of Fabulously Fertile - Supercharge your Fertility Naturally. Her fertility coaching program, which includes functional lab testing, supports couples to make diet and lifestyle changes that dramatically improve the chances of a healthy pregnancy and baby!   On her Get Pregnant Naturally Podcast she shares that with functional medicine and natural fertility solutions we can eventually reverse infertility.   A CONVERSATION WITH SARAH CLARK We chat about yeast infections, food sensitivities, testing, elimination diets, auto immune, motivation, emotional blocks, self care and more. So settle down, grab some paper, there's a lot of information... If you want to read the full transcript, you can see that here. FINDING SARAH Sarah can be found at https://fabfertile.com  Her Get Pregnant Naturally Podcast is available on iTunes and Spotify 

In this episode I start to explain how your brain is acting as a filter for information, and is giving you what it thinks you need to support your current thinking, beliefs and to exactly what your current focus is. I explain how and why on journeys, I notice every yellow car that I and my children see. Do we have an obsession with yellow cars, do we particular like yellow cars, well no, we don't, but due to a game played by my children we notice even single one! We have  engaged something called our Reticular Activating system which is the filter, or algorithm if you like, just like a social media feed suggestion of what you may like or the google search bar. Think back to the last time you bought a car, and before you did, perhaps you looked into it, you researched it and decided on your preferred make and model or make a models and maybe even a preferred colour. When you went out after that on the roads, how many did you see?  Suddenly everyone has one, but they were always there, Hello Reticular Activating System. It's got quite a few functions, but one of them is filtering. It's filtering the same way that online searches and social media platforms do. Your conscious brain processes about 40 pieces of information a second, on a conscious level, and your subconscious brain processes around 11 million pieces, 11 million pieces of information a second. You may see different figures reported, I've seen much higher.  The point I'm making is the difference between the two figures and whatever figures you look at the difference is huge. So how does your brain decide what stays in the subconscious? And don't forget that's stored for future reference? And how does it decide what is directed to that valued space in the conscious. All of the images, colours, sounds, tastes, feels around you retaken in. There is so much information that it only lets through, and what it allows in is what it thinks is important to you. How does it decide? it filters based on what you are focusing on. its as though you are being given tings to support your current situation, thoughts and beliefs. If we look at this specifically with regard to fertility, if you believe you won't get pregnant, does that mean you won't get pregnant? Well, not necessarily. But you will be shown information to support that, you will see the negative supporting information. What changes after that is your reaction to that information. And we know how the emotions can trigger a reaction that changes our fertility. So we know that if we exposed a group of people within different circumstances to the same situation or fact they would respond differently. What are you focusing on? What is yourconscious mind giving attention to, for a large part of your day? What negative self talk and labelling is going on? If anything, I'm not good at this. This won't happen. And you're in this circle of self talk,  proof,  belief. The belief leads to more self talk, you're given  more proof, your belief gets stronger. And we know that the negative emotions that result or can result from this negative spiral fuel our stress system, adrenaline and cortisol are within the body, which will negatively, can negatively impact your fertility and you've heard me talk about this before. Because if you are surrounded by Tigers continually or at really regular intervals, and there are no or insufficient safety windows for your body to reset, your fertility will be affected. It is the emotional response that is key and this powered the RAS, the strength of your focus, the regularity of your focus. You may see a pregnancy announcement and think, when will it ever happen to me, it's not fair. And these emotions can then rollercoaster onwards and they can lead to feelings of anger and jealousy. this is then often followed by guilt for actually feeling that way.  Others might think that will be me soon and actually start to plan how they will announce theirs.  why, well we come back to events that shaped core belief, past emotional triggers or just a different disposition, but we can work with it. It's the biological design of the body to shut down non essential systems and focus on your survival. And you might not think your negative self talk is a tiger. But your body doesn't say oh, well we'll do this amount of adrenaline because this is a real danger. We won't do as much adrenaline because she's thinking about it. Your body cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. And your stress response will happen to thoughts and emotions. So we can reset the reticular activating system to look for the positive. I'm losing weight. I'm great at this but you've got Believe it, it's got to ring true. So you're not just going to say something that you don't believe. And let's look at that a bit more. So the things that affect the RAS  are: opening your awareness, reframing gratitude and affirmations around some of them and, and stick with me here. If you think I'm going a little bit Woo. Remember, there's science behind everything. So, opening your awareness is demonstrated by the yellow car.  Perhaps looking at positive fertility stories, or refocusing and reframing away from infertility and failed fertility, to more positive aspects. Now, what we've got to consider here, again, it's your reaction to the stories that's key. So if you're looking at positive fertility stories and thinking well that's never going to happen to me, you RAS will give you info to support it.  Can you just become positive? Maybe you can think more positively about the stories, or perhaps you can't. Maybe finding where that fear, worry or lack control comes from is necessary, and it's something I work with many clients with at a deeper level. Establishing appropriate affirmations is key. That's another thing we can look at. Because some affirmations aren't right for some individuals and they can trigger past emotions. And some they just don't believe, you have to mean and believe what you are saying. And you also have to want to do it. So it's not any affirmations you know, you could chant them off.  They might not fit right with you. So I would always say if you're looking at set affirmations read them. and feel what you feel in response to it? If it feels good, then go with it. If it just doesn't feel right, it's not the right one for you. And you can dig deeper and find out the why or you could just not use that one. So, for example, I know what my body needs to work effectively. And in doing that you've come away from the word fertility. So you're using some reframing there as well. You've come away from that word, it's not that whole focus, or perhaps I choose to eat to support my fertility or I choose to eat to support my body work for you. It in these emotions that come up, that we start to notice common emotional triggers that occur in a lot of people. And the big ones are, "why should I have to?" "other people don't have to and they get pregnant". That's triggering something from a long time ago, This is something that I work with my clients on that we can find that trigger relatively easily and in a quick time, and it can change that whole emotional response to just relating to fertility to to many aspects of life. Gratitude At some point towards the end of the day, most days, I list 10 things that I was thankful for in that day. And they're not huge things. Im not talking about manifesting money, a bughouse or a super car, although you could do that too I gues. It's not health, family, a roof over my head. They're small things specific to that day, and it's something I encourage my clients and I'm going to encourage you to do this too. Sometimes I write them down. Sometimes I just list them off in my head. You may find it really really hard at first, so do stick with it. I searched and searched initially.  So they can be things like, I got a perfect parking space today. I was on time for school pick up. The supermarket had my favourite snack on special offer. I had an extra hour today when my one o'clock appointment had to cancel, there is a little bit of reframing in that one, as well. And after some time, your reticular activating system starts to show you things clearly that you can be thankful for. And you start to think, Oh, that's great. That's great. I've got this and you feel better, like things are going your way, more positive. When we are being negative, we are being shown information to support that belief. So we can't suddenly become positive. But if you change the filter, if you change the algorithm if you like, then you'll start to reframe, you'll start to just see more positive things. Reframing One of the things that is, is really, really key on on an individual's fertility journey is when you hear about other people getting pregnant. Now, I am NOT trying to tell you here that you HAVE to be positive. But I am suggesting that some simple reframes could be of benefit and if as I said earlier, you're triggered. It may be that that Past trigger whatever it is, may need some work. So, you will have heard me talk before about stepping out of the fertility focus, to refrain to use health as a goal to take the pressure off to turn around the control aspect or this feeling of lack of control. But for some, we need to find the triggers have a go at some of this, you know, go out and play yellow car nip nip and see how many there are, unless of course, you yourself have a yellow car, because chances are your filters already set for you to spot them  regularly because they're not the most common colour that you would see try it with orange cars or a different colour car. If you're not a driver,if you're out and about so here in the UK at the moment, it's quite common. If you're looking in the garden you might see a Robin that you'll see more if you look for them. And you'll see more if you notice them if you say out loud I don't know if you'dsay Robin Robin nip nip no return but you know just just see what sits well for you. What I wanted to do with this is to just raise your awareness towards how this system can work for you. And if you want any further information or you want to chat about any help with this at all, then just drop me a line at Kat@fertilityrewire.com  or put something in the comments and, it'd be great to hear just how many other cars you're seeing.   n

In the second part of the chat I had with Sue, we explore Massive mistakes 6-10, in women who are busting a gut to be invincible.  If you haven't caught part 1, mistakes 1-5, then check it out, its Episode 19. Lets continue 6. If you want something doing ....you know the rest This can be related to control, perfectionism and  appreciation.  Will delegating this to someone else actually take longer and maybe wont be as good as you could have done it yourself and probably in less time? I raise the point could it also be about someone else getting the praise and recognition for your idea?  the issue of control is huge in many aspects of life and its need for can be deep rooted, but it is a huge factor with many of the fertility clients I see, so this was of particular interest to me.  is this something you recognise in yourself? As with all the mistakes we discussed, the issue here is is it creating a negative response, could you be living your life better and fuller?  What is it from your past that triggers this, what is the root cause?  it links into many of the other mistakes, but especially 10. 7.  My body will somehow keep going regardless Sue discusses how having a slipped disc and supposedly  for 6 weeks didn't mean that she was actually off work, just not in the office physically.  She explains how this was detrimental to her recovery and how he feels this was linked to control and again perfectionism. We discuss how for both of us having an auto immune disease was a huge wake up call, and that looking back we could recall the gentle and not so gentle nudges our body gave us, until ultimately we were in effect thrown to the ground. What signs is your body giving you about your health and more specifically your fertility?  What is bleed telling you.  You'd be surprised just how much this can tell you.  If you haven't seen it already you can get my free download here. 8. List make the world go around Are you a list maker? I am, but a much more productive list maker now.  Sue raised the point of people adding some thing that they had already done to their list just so they can tick it off.  I had to put my hand up and admit to doing that! what is that about? achievemnet, evidence of how ell you are doing, or does it shoe you at he end of the day that you havent achieved what you had wanted.  then what does tha evok? Oh well, tomorrow is another day, that means I'm behind, Ive fgot so much more to do, or perhaps a sense of failure. Our dear friends control and perfectionism rear their heads, appreciation, recognition, they are there too. We both discussed our list strategies and Sue explained how she makes 2 lists, one for her and one for the universe, which is something I too do now, but I also link my planning to my monthly menstrual cycle.  Something else I'll discuss in more detail soon. If this isn't something that sits comfortably with you, I can give you the science in a later episode. A taster is the Reticular Activating system in your brain, its a super algorithm basically that gives you information relative to what you are thinking about! a bit like, pages you may like on Facebook based on what you like already, or programmes you may like on Netflix, a suggested for you if you like. 9. I can't trust my own judgement this brings up self doubt, self trust and I suggested that this may be affected by your monthly cycle, particular periods of stress, overwhelm or reactions to events, or it could be a constant. Sue also discusses how this may include comparing yourself to others and this is something key in fertility.  These days 12 week scan pictures just appear on your social media feed, pregnant women and pregnant women stories are everywhere.  This again links back the reticular activating system, but also as Sue has raised, aspects of your life, childhood, relationships and the associated emotional triggers. Does this resonate? Can you link this back to your childhood or relationships? S elf labelling is key too. Im no good at...... Something you may have been told as a child, and quite unintentionally, not with malice. 10. if I ask for help, and I'm a failure We discuss how if a friend were to ask you for help, you would, you'd be happy to, and you don't consider them a failure do you?  That maybe you should treat yourself as you would a friend.  letting someone help makes them feel good, so perhaps you can view it as doing good for someone else in asking? It also comes back to something we said earlier in that you are not a mind reader, so are you considering yourself a failure? Sue gave the analogy of us seeing ourselves as an incredible mountainthat just can do everything and is invincible.   It will just go on somehow just taking more and more on load it, But the reality is we can't and perhaps we're actually punishing ourselves. We also discussed the communication barrier between logoc and emotion lead thinking. rather than wanting someone to understand and guess what we need, we have to ask specifically for it. I talked about a conversation I overheard with my son and two of his friends ( they are 11 years old) I heard one of the boys say  women are so complicated! My ears pricked up. And he said, so when they say they're fine, they don't mean that. They are not Fine. Fine doesn't mean fine, but you don't know what they mean, A broad generalisation, but he's 11, it relates to the logic and emotion though. I asked sue about how she works with people, and she explains how she works intuitively towards healing, past events, experiences that have shaped us today. Sue explained  " I'd rather help people make the changes now before they get to a crisis point with their health. So that they can they can start making those changes before they get to the real low point of everything falling apart and collapsing. Because if you continue to live life this way,  it's not a case of IF you'll get sick, it's a case of WHEN,  it is inevitable. And, you know, we need to live life to the full every day because life can be good and fun and brilliant, and why shouldn't it be ? " if you wouldlike to know more about Sue, you can find her at www.sue-ritchie.com  

Are you trying to be invincible? maybe not on a conscious level, but on a sub conscious one.  I chat with Sue Ritchie, a transformational  coach, author and speaker who works with women to address long held beliefs that affect their daily lives. Why is this relevant to fertility?  Well its relevant. to your mental and emotional health and as I've said throughout all podcasts and part of the Fertility Rewire programme.  If you feel in danger, if stress hormones re at play, if survival mode is in play, then yes fertility is affected, but all health is affected.  Sleep, health, stress levels are all a result. Sue has identified 10 massive mistakes made by women who are busting a gut to be invincible?  Wow, that makes your ears pick up up doesn't it? You may not think you are doing them so let's see if any ring true? I have separated them into 2 parts so lets look at mistakes 1-5 first of all. Ready? 1. My best is never good enough. Is this something that rings true for you? maybe not all the time, but you do you think this?  Do you know where it has come from? why would you think this? what could the root cause of this be?  we discuss this and I share how at age 10, getting ready for a ballet lesson I heard someone say something that I know shapes this in me, triggers that response, those feeling.  This also gets tied up with perfectionism too. this can be a part of your home, personal or work life, but when it comes to fertility, it can specifically play a part too. Can I just add at this point, you are good enough. 2. completing tasks comes before people and fun Have you cancelled things that were about you, time with friends, loved ones, exercise, time to your self, because something needs doing at work? you choose to stay late, work extra days? This is something that affects so many people, the nourishing restful activities in life take second place.  More pressure, more triggering of the survival mode.  Sue discussed how this may be triggered by the need for approval which also represents security and how again a lot of these patterns will have started in childhood. we discuss standing in your power, which sent my thoughts to Wonder Woman, (an absolute hero of mine, I might add at this time!) 3. Taking time out is pointless. If you are addicted to business, taking time out may appear a waste of time or hard to just do.  but having that down time, which doesnt have to be resting or meditating, I might add, although both hugely beneficial.  For me resting is doing something that fills my heart, lets me just be, could be exercise, sorting out a cupboard even, its taken a long time to be happy pottering!  The key thing is time away from busyness. We discussed finding out who you are, which sounds very deep, but equally can be confronting, being in the quiet can be a daunting feeling. Are you still connected to work when on holiday, is it a sense of control or is it the need to be seen to be present, what will people think?  Its hard nowadays with phones and constant access, can you switch off from it?  If you cant this could be something as with all of these mistakes that finding the root cause of, may indeed be beneficial. Sue also discusses how clients have seen greta shifts on their life and personal relationships when they start to take care of themselves more in this way of time away from the busy busyness. 4. Doing nothing is lazy. And here it could be that that's is your thoughts, or you think others may think it of you?  Could it be a sense of competitiveness, or a judgement passed on you at some point. We discuss meditation and as with mistake number 3, the importance of relaxing, or nourishing activities which can be active, but time for the mind to settle and be. 5. Busyness equals appreciation Again this could come down to the need for approval and Sue shares her own experience of needing her Dads approval.  When you get praise for doing something, or reprimanded for being lazy as a child this can embed the core belief that you have to be busy. I have found throughout my life that I have never been seen being busy, and some people can do this perfectly, maybe they are not doing anything generally, but can be seen in the moment they are. Perhaps this is true for you at work, others are getting the praise, the recognition/. This is a really strong trigger and we look into this need for approval. We also talk about the inner judge and how she can be vicious. I really hope you enjoy the episode, and perhaps you might identify some traits.  You may need to dig a little deeper to find that trigger and if so what not get in touch with Sue.  You can find her at www.sue-ritchie.com.

In the second interview with Joanna, we dig deeper into the effects of your gut health on your general health and of course your fertility. We hear a lot about good and bbad bacteria, and the message gets a bit confusing, for example, did you know that taking a probiotic isn't always the best thing to do? I love chatting all things Fertility but as ever this is about taking a step back, looking upstream and actually looking at your overall health. We hear a lot about gut health, how taking some good bacteria can be helpful.  But it can be a mistake to take probiotics if you don't first address the issues of potential damage in you gut Joanna Plant talks with me in this episode about the importance of addressing your gut health, in terms of your genral health and obviously more specifically your fertility, or to be honest any body sytsme taht you are experiencing imbalance within.  If your gut is in poor health, or perhaps you have leaky gut, then we know as ever that the body is dealing with something big and may be in survival mode so your safety is affected. If you are not absorbing nutrients as a result than your body is not receiving the necessary sustenance especiall for normal functioning and yes for reproduction. We are more prone to auto immune with increased permeability in the git.  It was a fascinating conversation and if you prefer to read about it, you can do so here. Joanna explains how healing your gut is a process and requires a specific approach, putting in the good bacteria as many people focus on, is not the first step. If you prefer to read the transcript, you can find it here Joanna can be contacted via linked in or at Jonna@joannaplant.com.

What is inflammation, and how does it affect Health and Fertility specifically? I had great pleasure in discussing this with Joanna Plant, Nutritionist and Functional Medicine Practitioner. What does a Functional Medicine practitioner do?   Well, they uses advanced clinical testing and personalised nutrition to prevent, diagnose and treat health conditions and illnesses. So rather than suppressing symptoms, which is quite often what you'll get if you go and see a GP, you'll be given some sort of medication, which tends to be to treat the symptoms that you're getting, rather than addressing the cause. Joanna came to this line of work after healing herself from depression which she was diagnosed with at the age of 16, and recovery from significant digestive issues. As with many therapists, this journey of self discovery lead to to a pasion to learnmore and help others. Yes, Inflammation can be a factor that negatively impacts fertility, but its much bigger than and as ever we travel up stream to improve the whole body and general health and wellbeing. Joanna gave an excellent analogy of likening our immune system to an army of soldiers, but these soldiers are overworked and rent being equipped with the right equipment.  As a result resources are drawn from other areas and these areas  are being shut down, Reproduction being one of them. We discussed how its important to add to the diet first of all, rather than looking at removing things, which for anyone who has  tried to make changes Im sure youll agree will be an easier option. As we know getting pregnant isn't always as straight forward as it should be, and when this leads to restriction, it can make our Fertility journey all too consuming. One of my take homes was thinking about the army of soldiers, how I can support them to do their job and adding chia seeds to everything! It adds some texture and crunch and doesn't taste of anything, but a great way to add more omega 3's. If you want to read the transcript, its available here You can find more about Joanna via Linkedin Her website is being updated currently or you can contact her at joanna@joannaplant.co.uk

Such a great pleasure to chat with Alexia Leachman about the emotional aspects in Fertility, relationships and life itself which may impact Fertility. As I've discussed many times, the intrinsic fertility design of the body can only work effectively if you feel safe.  The negative emotions that we experience feed into a fight or flight response and therefore can reduce or even halt fertility until the danger perceived is passed. Alexia specialises in helping people to overcome their fears and achieve what’s on the other side, whether that’s a great business, life or having a calm, fear-free birth. At the heart of her work is a new emotional clearance technique that she’s simplified so that creating head space is something we can all do whenever and wherever we want. Alexia helps people to get the best results from using the Head Trash Clearance Method through her online courses, group programs, live events and private sessions. She is also a speaker, trainer and coach who works with business leaders, TV personalities, creatives and entrepreneurs. Links   Find Alexia on Twitter Fear Free Childbirth Web twitter Facebook Instagram Head Trash  Web Facebook Instagram   Fertility Rewire webpage Fertility Rewire Facebook Fertility Rewire Instagram

In this episode I share my own experience of overwhelm, how that correlates with experiencing fertility issues.  The wealth of information is huge, it can be misleading, conflicting and how do we know where to start. I discuss what unexplained infertility is and actually how it could be explained if only we looked deeper. Your thoughts are key and also your mindset, how can you use these to your advantage? Fertility Rewire Website If you would like to work with me, let's arrange a free 20 minute discovery call. Fertility Rewire Facebook Fertility Rewire Instagram

I Absolutely thrilled to chat with Barbara Scott, founder of Reproflexology, a specific fertility reflexology protocol.  We covered so much, I would take a seat, and really absorb this.  We chatted about Male factor issues in fertility and the sadly overlooked impact in todays fertility model.  The podcast relating to the sperm decline can be found here We chatted about the decline in sperm numbers and normal from. Sperm morphology relates to how well the sperm are formed.  In the 1960's this was 80% normal forms, today 4% is considered the norm.  So 96% of sperm are not of healthy form.  So 4% of 30 million is perhaps OK, but 4% of 3 million, 15million,  or even 100 million is not so great. DNA fragmentation is not routinely tested.  DNA fragmentation s a huge huge issue. The video regarding Made in Chelsea Actor, Ollie Locke who underwent the sperm comet test and was surprised at how poor the results are can be found here Andrology is the study of sperm and detailed testing can be undertaken at Sheryl Homers clinic, Andrology Solutions, also  Brian Woodward at X and Y Fertility The examen clinic details regarding the DNA Frgamentaion can be found here Research looked at 239 couples experiencing Unexplained fertility found that 80% had sperm DNA fragmentation, and this is not something tested unless you specifically seek it.  Additional testing, and more specific lifestyle changes are imperitive and should be taken on board.  You can support for this: A reproductive refloxologist can be found here if you want to get in touch with Barbara or attend her clinic in Wales, you can find her here WE mentioned fertilise and Proceed.  There is an issue with availabliliy with Fertilix currently, but If you want to check out the DNA fragmentation risk factors, Fertilix do have a questionnaire you can fill in. We also discussed how men are treated within the Fertility system and mentioned Fertility Fest, you can check it out here Fertility Rewire Website If you would like to work with me, let's arrange a free 20 minute discovery call.   Fertility Rewire Facebook Fertility Rewire Instagram We mentioned fertilise and Proceed.  There is an issue with availabliliy with Fertilix currently, but If you want to check out the DNA fragmentation risk factors, Fertilix do have a questionnaire you can fill in. We also discussed how men are treated within the Fertility system and mentioned Fertility Fest, you can check it out here

I was thrilled to chat with Barbara Scott, Founder of Reproflexology, and the Association if Reproductive Reflexologists . Perhaps you've wondered about reflexology or perhaps even discounted it?  I chat to Barbara about the science and the data that supports its efficacy. Links to finding a practitioner appear in the show notes at https://fertilityrewire.com/fertility-reflexology-the-science-and-the-data

When it comes to the gestation of a baby, we should look at it in terms of 12 months not 9.  That is because the it takes 3 months to make sure the ingredients are correct!. Addressing issues up stream in a rivers formation will massively affect the health of the river and the same applies here.  Even with the advances in medicine, we still need the same basic ingredients after all.