194-SYNCPodcast_InfertilityFINAL

[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today we’re diving into the topic of the top cause of infertility in women. Coming this January, 2024, my newest course is launching on this topic, fertility awareness. I thought I would dive into a few episodes here in the coming weeks to share some basic information for you on this topic of infertility.

[00:01:19] Jenny Swisher: The course itself is both for women and couples looking to conceive, and I am truly blown away at the value that we are delivering in this course. I filmed this course alongside Alyssa Broadwater. She is a registered dietitian specializing in lifestyle approach when it comes to fertility. The videos, the downloadable resources, our proper testing guides, and everything that’s provided is seriously amazing.

[00:01:42] Jenny Swisher: It is a functional root cause approach to infertility. It’s the course that I wish I had had in my twenties when my husband and I were looking to conceive ourselves. As an added bonus, I’ve also thrown in a bonus module on the topic of adoption as well, because as you know, it is very near and dear to my heart.

[00:01:58] Jenny Swisher: It is very much a part of my story, and I wanted to make sure we included just a little bit of information about that as well for couples who are in this very emotional journey. So that being said, I want to take just a few minutes today on this solo round to talk to you about the number one cause of infertility in women.

[00:02:14] Jenny Swisher: So before we go further, let me ask you, do you have any idea what it is? What is the number one cause of infertility in women? Well, if you guessed anovulatory cycles, you would be right. Most people assume that it’s some sort of medical dysfunction or disease, when in reality, it’s as simple as anovulation.

[00:02:34] Jenny Swisher: What is anovulation? Well, it’s essentially an eggless cycle. It means that there’s no follicle that’s being dropped to be fertilized by sperm. Today, we’ll talk about why this happens, how often this happens, and what lifestyle changes can be made to focus more on optimizing your body for ovulation, which is, of course, our fifth vital sign.

[00:02:53] Jenny Swisher: Ovulation is our fifth vital sign. It’s crucial for both potential pregnancy and overall health as a female. If you’ve listened to me for any amount of time, you know that I’m constantly teaching cycle syncing, how to leverage the different phases of your cycle for different things, whether it’s productivity, relationships, your fitness training, your nutrition, right?

[00:03:11] Jenny Swisher: It also goes for women looking to conceive, it’s just for women in general. If you’re not optimizing your body for ovulation, if your body isn’t ovulating, it is a root cause issue. So, whether you’re looking to conceive, listen up. If you’re looking to just learn more about your female menstrual cycle and health, listen up.

[00:03:29] Jenny Swisher: This is for all women. So let’s talk about anovulation. What is it by definition? Anovulation occurs when an egg does not release, also known as ovulating, from a woman’s ovaries. Chronic anovulation is a common cause of infertility. According to the National Institutes of Health, these conditions account for almost 30% of female infertility, 30%.

[00:03:53] Jenny Swisher: So how common is anovulation? Well, anovulation is so common that it’s the cause of at least 25% in infertility cases, if not more. Approximately one in 10 people. People with ovaries who are of childbearing age will experience anovulation at some point in their lives.

[00:04:10] Jenny Swisher: It turns out this was my story. My husband and I had been trying, well actually I would say better yet, we had been removing the goalie for years without a positive pregnancy test. If I’m being honest, I thought every cycle produced ovulation, which is how we had a period as women. In reality, that’s not true.

[00:04:28] Jenny Swisher: You can have a regular period and a regular menstrual cycle and not ovulate. Let me say that again. You can have a regular period and a regular menstrual cycle and not ovulate. That is anovulation. In order for pregnancy to occur, an egg must be present to fertilize. Without the egg, nothing can happen. So, what are the most common reasons for this?

[00:04:51] Jenny Swisher: What are the most common reasons for these anovulatory cycles? Well, again, according to the NIH, which I will make sure I link up for you in the show notes, this article, anovulation is most commonly caused by PCOS genetic abnormalities, or ovarian reasons. But 70 percent of the cases are due to PCOS. I have done two previous podcast episodes that I will link up for you in the show notes on the topics of PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and anovulatory cycles.

[00:05:18] Jenny Swisher: But for now, I want you to know this. PCOS is a diagnosis of a group of symptoms. It is not, in my opinion, the root root cause of what’s going on. In most PCOS cases. Diet and lifestyle changes can make all the difference. Blood sugar stabilization often plays a very large role in PCOS. So PCOS by definition means androgen excess.

[00:05:41] Jenny Swisher: Most importantly to note here are DHEA levels. And many functional fertility clinics which are starting to pop up all over the country nowadays will address DHEA first, both from a female and male perspective. They do this to ensure the health and quality and viability of both the eggs

[00:06:02] Jenny Swisher: I do just want to mention that. We talk about this in the course in more depth, but there is a difference between a functional fertility approach and a more modern medicine fertility approach. So that’s something to be aware of as well, right? Most modern medicine fertility clinics are going to go straight to the injections, straight to the medications.

[00:06:18] Jenny Swisher: And I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that. My husband and I actually did that as well. But I do wish that I had known more about this functional approach. Because I really do think that had I made the right lifestyle changes in my 20s, we could have had a different story. I wouldn’t change my story for the world.

[00:06:33] Jenny Swisher: But at the same time, it could have been a different story. It’s also important to know that dialing in any hormone imbalances that are at play for you, whether it’s progesterone deficiency, which I’ll talk about here shortly, or estrogen excess, or even these excess androgens with PCOS, Or even thyroid and cortisol imbalances.

[00:06:50] Jenny Swisher: There are so many different things that can be at play when it comes to hormone imbalances. Dialing these in can really be crucial for you. In my fertility journey, progesterone was the key. Not only was my low, low, low levels causing issues with migraine, it was also preventing me from having normal menstrual cycles.

[00:07:07] Jenny Swisher: Progesterone, in case you don’t know, is your female fertility hormone. It is what supports your uterine lining for a potential pregnancy. Without it. If you’re in a deficiency, an implanted embryo stands no chance of surviving my level of progesterone on my blood serum when I was 27 years old and in my peak fertile years was 0.08, about a week after ovulation.

[00:07:29] Jenny Swisher: In reality, I now know that it should have been over 10. It was severely low, and it was impacting my ability to get pregnant and to keep a pregnancy. This happens often in women. Low progesterone levels can not only cause issues conceiving, but also with keeping a pregnancy and higher rates of miscarriage.

[00:07:48] Jenny Swisher: Similarly, estrogen excess can play a role as well. Endocrine disruptors that we surround ourselves with and put in and around our bodies on a daily basis cause toxicity within our cells. Things like plastics, skin care, household cleaners, and environmental toxins, they play a huge role in this. Making better choices for these products can change the game for women and couples looking to conceive.

[00:08:11] Jenny Swisher: So what does it look like to take a more functional approach to fertility? Well, it looks like addressing the four fundamentals of hormone balance. Sleep, supplementation, nutrition, and exercise. Those are the same four fundamentals that I teach in my Sync Digital course. Because without all four of these things working in our favor, we can see higher risk of infertility and overall hormone imbalance issues.

[00:08:33] Jenny Swisher: Getting to the root cause of what’s going on for you and your significant other is what is needed. Test, don’t guess. Often modern medicine leads us to taking all the pills, doing all the injections, but they never really help us understand why. I believe that this is why 30 percent or more of infertility is considered unexplained infertility, because truly no one ever looks deep enough to understand why.

[00:08:57] Jenny Swisher: Going on a functional wellness journey, whether it’s just in general or before you conceive, is key, my friends. Finding the right practitioner, getting the right testing, and starting the right lifestyle changes is what is needed in so many cases. While some infertility is unavoidable, genetic predispositions, etc.,

[00:09:15] Jenny Swisher: I do believe that with the right education, with women becoming more hormone and body literate, your fertility chances can go up. At the time that my husband and I were going to our fertility clinic on a weekly basis to do pelvic ultrasounds, to look for ovulation, we were doing injections, we were doing all the things.

[00:09:31] Jenny Swisher: I had no idea what my menstrual cycle was really doing. I had no idea about basal body temperature, about charting with my mucus mapping. I had no idea about saliva patterns. I had no idea about the low progesterone issues. I didn’t know any of this stuff. And I think had I known it, had I been more body literate of my own unique body, we could have had a different result.

[00:09:50] Jenny Swisher: Things could have been different. Well, I’m now 39 going on 40, and I wish that I knew then what I know now. I really do. That’s why I created this course with Alyssa, to help couples everywhere learn this information now. So if you know someone struggling, or if you’re struggling in the area of conceiving, I would love for you to go to sync.

[00:10:09] Jenny Swisher: jennyswisher. com slash fertility and join my email list to be the first to receive information about this upcoming course. We have it all uploaded and ready to rock and roll, and it is seriously going to blow you away. Thank you. So much incredible value. So that’s sync dot jenny swisher.com/fertility, and that’s just an interest list.

[00:10:27] Jenny Swisher: So that would get you on the email list to hear more about when we launch. This is just a small taste of the perspective change on a common problem, and I truly believe that it will change lives. So more to come on the topic of infertility here in the coming weeks here on these solo rounds. So stay tuned for that.

[00:10:43] Jenny Swisher: I’ll make sure to link up in the show notes for you every applicable podcast related to these topics that we’ve touched on today. But I appreciate you. I really do. And I really think we’re making an impact in the world. We’re helping women everywhere just become more body literate, to be more in tune with their unique bodies and to be advocates for themselves when it comes to their health.

[00:11:01] Jenny Swisher: So thanks as always for tuning in my friends until next time. We’ll talk soon. Bye bye.