Today, I share with you another installment of my Fertility Awareness Reality Series. This is an on-air client session with Sarah, a member of my most recent 10 Week Fertility Awareness Mastery Group Program.
In today’s show, we delve into cervical health, cervical mucus production, and how to accurately time sex to optimize your chances of conceiving naturally.
Today’s episode is sponsored by my 10 Week Fertility Awareness Mastery Group Program. I have designed the Fertility Awareness Mastery program to help you master Fertility Awareness and take a deep dive into your cycles. Gain confidence charting your cycles, and gain deep insights into the connection between your health, your fertility, and your cycles. Click here for more information!
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- Sarah’s 3 1/2 year fertility journey since coming off the hormonal birth control
- How Sarah’s chart helped us to identify an issue with her thyroid
- What happened when Sarah stopped drinking coffee
- Timing sex for pregnancy
- The effect of fertility drugs on cervical mucus
- Monitoring cervical position as a secondary sign of fertility
- Using your menstrual cycle chart as a diagnostic tool
- How to advocate for yourself when seeking medical care
- The importance of seeking support especially if you’re struggling with fertility challenges
Connect with Lisa:
Resources & Related podcast episodes:
- Fertility Awareness Reality Series Podcast Episodes | Fertility Friday
- Fertility Awareness Podcast Episodes | Fertility Friday
- FFP 160 | Clomid, Letrozole & IUI | How Effective Are Infertility Treatments? | IVF | Lisa | Fertility Friday
- FFP 124 | Thyroid Health & Fertility, Why the TSH Test Isn’t Enough | Iodine & Thyroid Function | Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome | Dr. David Brownstein, MD | Dr. Denis Wilson, MD
- FFP 143 | Choosing the Right Practitioner | How To Find A Functional Practitioner Who Will Really Help You | Lisa | Fertility Friday
- Fertility Awareness Charting Circle | Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)
- FFP 134 | Optimizing Sperm Health | Motility, Morphology & Sperm Count | Why He Needs To Get Tested ASAP | Marc Sklar
- FFP 098 (Bonus) | How To Boost Your Cervical Mucus Production | Nutrition for Cervical Health | Trying To Conceive | Fertility Awareness | Lisa | Fertility Friday
- FFP 011 | Age-Related Fertility Decline | Using Reproductive Technologies | IVF IUI & IVM | Dr. Melanie McDowall
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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Join the community! Find us in the Fertility Friday Facebook Group Subscribe to the Fertility Friday Podcast on iTunes!
Music Credit: Intro/Outro music Produced by J-Gantic
A Special Thank You to Our Show Sponsor:
Fertility Friday | 10 Week Fertility Awareness Mastery Program
This episode is sponsored by my 10 Week Fertility Awareness Mastery Program! Master Fertility Awareness and take a deep dive into your cycles and how they relate to your overall health! Click here for more information!
Thank you Sarah and Lisa for this episode! You’re rocking it Sarah!!!
I live in the United States so I thought some information about what NDs can and can’t do here would be helpful in the comments.
Licensed Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) can order diagnostic tests such as blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, and, in a limited number of states states, even prescribe prescription drugs and hormones and perform minor surgery. If you are working with a natural practitioner who cannot order labs, then that person must not be a Licensed Naturopathic Doctor.
Few NDs have blood draws set up at their clinics, but all NDs can request blood work orders for their patients to be drawn at a nearby LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics draw site. Some NDs work with special out of state labs where the blood sample gets mailed off to be tested while others have an account with LabCorp or Quest themselves to those teams to run the tests locally.
The caveat is that health insurance in almost every state does not yet recognize NDs for coverage. Therefore, when you have an ND order labs for you, you are paying for them out of pocket which can add up to close to three hundred dollars for even just a comprehensive thyroid panel. Most ND offices price the labs with some degree of a discount to adjust for this inconvenience, but usually $250 for a Thyroid Panel consisting of 7 tests is as cheap as the discount goes, plus whatever the blood draw fee is.
Therefore, most NDs who are open-minded to co-care (which is supposed to be all of them based on the Naturopathic Medicine oath that they take), will write a Test Script AKA Test Order for you to take to your General Practitioner (the one that *does* take your health insurance) so that your GP can order the tests so that all your tests can be covered by that expensive health insurance you’re already paying for, yay!
The caveat to *this* loophole is that your GP may not be on board with ordering *ALL* of the tests your ND is recommending due to deeming them unnecessary as Sarah and Lisa mention on this podcast. GPs do not always recognize NDs as a part of their circle. Therefore, if your GP says no to running the full panel of tests you and your ND want (even after begging, and twisting their arm), you can either research a new GP who is open-minded *or* you can ask your ND to call your GP and have a brief conversation (if you sign a consent form first). It usually only takes them 5-10 minutes on the phone to be on board with each other, but make sure you are asking your ND to make the call to your GP (not the other way around).
I would say 9 out of 10 times, when your ND calls your GP to touch base about your care, your GP will be on board with ordering whatever tests, and assisting you with adjusting medications. This type of co-care is possible, it just requires the patient knowing they the *can indeed* ask their ND and GP to work together on their health cases.