Naturopathic medicine provides excellent opportunities to support female fertility – whether optimizing the body in preparation for pregnancy or addressing specific health conditions that may impede one’s ability to conceive easily and naturally. 

In clinical practice, Dr. Patti uses a unique, individualized approach to ensure all aspects affecting fertility are identified and addressed. Here is an overview on her approach.

Thorough Medical History

A person’s medical history can often provide information and clues underlying difficulties conceiving. Past illnesses or infections, surgeries, medications, or diagnosed conditions give a blueprint of exposures and stresses that affect the body.  

Conventional lab tests (bloodwork, ultrasounds, hysterosalpinography) help rule out major factors affecting fertility, but more often than not, the results are unremarkable. The result is a diagnosis of Unexplained Infertility, which is frustrating for the couple.  Naturopathic medicine aims to look outside the conventional box and provide greater depth toward optimizing fertility.

Unique Laboratory Tests

There are occasions when one needs to investigate more deeply to gain additional insight into a case. Dr. Patti may recommend unique tests such as advanced bloodwork, urinary hormone metabolites, organic acids, food sensitivities, or digestive assessments, depending on her initial assessments. 

Her clinic, Vive Integrative Health Group, also offers the Lifestyle Impact Assessment (LIA) – a suite of in-office tests providing baseline measurements on many aspects of the body.  Read more about the LIA here.

Medical Conditions

There are many medical conditions that affect female infertility.  These include: PCOS, hypothyroidism, endometriosis, and pelvic inflammatory disease, among others. Thorough assessment for these conditions and their symptoms is essential when removing barriers to healthy ovulation and implantation. The Naturopathic tools available through Dr. Patti provide support to help resolve these conditions and minimize their effects on fertility.

Cycle Tracking

Cycle tracking provides useful information on many factors contributing to fertility beyond just defining the window of fertility. Dr. Patti will often highlight optimal ranges and target signs of fertility to ensure maximal chances per cycle.  Patients often find cycle tracking to be empowering and helpful to identify areas to work on and improve.

Nutrition Status

Optimal nutrition status is a hallmark of optimal female fertility. Whether a lack of nutrients from the diet, or an impairment toward readily digesting and absorbing the nutrients in the diet, this area is critical in fertility support. Dr. Patti will thoroughly analyze her patient’s diet and digestive health and provide recommendations individualized to each specific case.  Intravenous nutrient therapy can also be a useful tool to support one’s nutritional foundation and drive better organ and tissue function. Read more about IV Therapy here.

Lifestyle Support

Movement, sleep hygiene, and stress management are all important focuses in female fertility.  From at-home recommendations to in-person clinic treatments, there are a variety of options available to support each individual case.

Toxicity Factors

We live in a toxic-laden world and our bodies are unavoidably exposed to toxins throughout our lives. Research has shown the negative impacts that toxin exposure and accumulation can have on female fertility, including hormone disruption, mitochondrial impairment, and egg quality.  Toxins can also impact the health of a pregnancy and the corresponding health of the child. Dr. Patti may offer different assessments to identify toxin load and make recommendations to decrease exposures and minimize a toxic burden that may be impacting fertility.

Hormone Balance

Hormones play an important role throughout the whole female life and are often the first thing assessed in fertility. Hormone levels determined through bloodwork can pinpoint extreme hormone imbalances, but Dr. Patti likes to dive further into this area through the assessment of tissue hormone levels and hormone metabolites that create a more detailed picture of the whole endocrine status impacting female fertility. Through nutrition, botanical medicine, acupuncture, and other therapies, hormones levels can be improved and balanced to support all aspects of fertility.

Want more information?  For all things fertility, check out drpattiyik.com.