Latest / Cry It Out Loud: Navigating Infertility, Miscarriage, Stillbirth, Infant Loss & Pregnancy After Loss / PCOS Misconceptions That Are Keeping You From Getting Pregnant and Effecting Infertility

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PCOS Misconceptions That Are Keeping You From Getting Pregnant and Effecting Infertility · Cry It Out Loud: Navigating Infertility, Miscarriage, Stillbirth, Infant Loss & Pregnancy After Loss

• 0:12
  Crying Out Loud, a podcast by Chasing the Rainbows with your
• 0:20
  host Bernice Quisenberry. If you've ever wondered why your
• 0:29
  cycles are irregular, why your pain feels unbearable, or why
• 0:33
  pregnancy hasn't happened yet, you are not alone.
• 0:36
  PCOS and endometriosis impact millions of women, yet they are
• 0:40
  still misunderstood, confused, and often overlooked in
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  fertility care. Today on Cried Out Loud, we are
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  joined by Doctor Angela Potter, fertility expert and PCOS expert
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  specialist, to unpack the differences, the myths, and the
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  realities of how PCOS and endometriosis affect fertility,
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  pregnancy, and loss. Thank you so much for joining us
• 1:01
  today. Again, Angela, it's so great to
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  have you on. Oh, I'm thrilled to be here,
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  Bernice. Thanks for having me.
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  Absolutely. So I would love just to dive in
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  and talk about, you know, what is PCOS and endometriosis.
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  Yes, this is such an important topic because it can be really
• 1:19
  confusing for women to understand.
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  Do I have one? Do I have the other?
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  Do I have both? So I'm going to help get some
• 1:27
  clarity there because they are, when we look at it from the
• 1:30
  medical perspective, they're very different.
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  They're doing very different things in the body.
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  So PCOS is polycystic ovarian syndrome.
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  It is inherently, you know, if we put a global kind of
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  perspective on it, it's a metabolic and a hormonal issue.
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  So when we're diagnosing PCOS, we're looking at ovulation
• 1:54
  issues, we're looking at androgen hormones like
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  testosterone. Those are the male pattern
• 2:00
  hormones that drive hair loss, acne, weight gain, things like
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  that. And then third, we're looking at
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  cysts on the ovaries. So that's those are the three
• 2:14
  pillars that we use for diagnosis for PCOS symptoms.
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  Really common symptoms of PCOS are going to be irregular or
• 2:24
  absent cycles. That's probably the Hallmark
• 2:28
  symptom. But then there's lots others,
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  you know, women could have acne. And this is somebody who's, you
• 2:36
  know, 2535 thinking, I thought acne.
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  I left that behind in high school.
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  Like where is this coming from? Hair growth where you don't want
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  it, like on your chin, your back below the belly button.
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  And then where you do want hair like your head, it's falling
• 2:57
  out. Yeah.
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  Weight gain, particularly around the middle, that's really
• 3:02
  stubborn. And, you know, maybe it's you're
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  gaining weight even if you're not making any changes in your
• 3:08
  life. Poor sleep, energy issues.
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  I mean, PCOS is it's a full body experience, OK.
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  And you can get many symptoms in different parts.
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  And that's, that's why PCOS can be tricky to, I had that full
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  episode talking about PCOS. So to the listener, head over
• 3:33
  and listen to that one first and then jump into this one because
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  there's lots of different aspects to focus on for PCOS.
• 3:43
  So that's PCOS And how does that differentiate from
• 3:50
  endometriosis? So endometriosis, again, let's
• 3:54
  start by looking at it from kind of that global perspective.
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  Well, it's an inflammatory issue, OK?
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  PCOSI called it a a metabolic and a hormonal issue where
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  endometriosis is inflammatory. What's happening in
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  endometriosis is the cells, similar cells to the uterus are
• 4:19
  actually growing outside of the uterus.
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  So it can be found on the ovaries, on the bladder, on the
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  the stomach, in the digestive system.
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  And it really varies to how little it's grown or how large
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  it's grown or, or the area that it's grown in.
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  OK, it might be really localized to just outside the uterus, but
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  it could actually be all the way up in the abdomen, the, the like
• 4:50
  by the stomach and the intestines.
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  And so the hallmark symptom for endometriosis is painful
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  periods, like significantly painful periods.
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  And when when we're looking at, and I mean somebody can have any
• 5:11
  one of us could have a painful period.
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  And it doesn't mean automatically that we have
• 5:16
  endometriosis, OK. There's a variety of reasons why
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  someone could have a painful period.
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  But the hallmark symptom of endometriosis is that pain.
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  And so for the diagnosis of endometriosis, it's a little
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  tricky because a lot of us doctors, we want to diagnose
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  something before we have to do something invasive.
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  And with endometriosis, there's no definitive diagnosis just
• 5:47
  based off of symptoms or anything or or any lab test it.
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  The definitive diagnosis has to be done by laparoscopy, which is
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  when a little teeny scope goes in through the skin in to look
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  at the pelvis and the abdomen to see if there's actually any
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  endometrial tissue outside of the uterus.
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  Bernice, what else? Yes.
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  What else can we talk about those?
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  Yes, and you know, it's really interesting as you were.
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  I know I was sitting here like me too, me too, me too.
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  So just to talk about myself just for a second and to over
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  share with our listeners, you know, I went in to my doctor
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  when I was 16 because I got my period later in life, menstrual
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  cycle and I was getting it every other month.
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  You know, it was very irregular, it was very heavy.
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  It was also very painful and you know, going in and just threw a
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  birth control pill at me, you know, and saying, oh, this is
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  normal. Everybody has painful periods
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  just like go home. Here's this.
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  And I know we shared this pre show, but you know, I also as a
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  young girl started getting hair on my chin, on my neck, you
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  know, a little bit on my chest, under my belly button, you know,
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  very staple things. And that really effects, you
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  know, a girl who, you know, you're growing, you're a young
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  teenager, you're trying to figure out life.
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  And all of a sudden you have this hair and you're like,
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  nobody else has it around me or you don't think so, right?
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  And you're trying to manage that, bleach it, you know, all
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  the things. And, you know, bringing that up
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  to doctors and not having this holistic approach with it.
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  And that was like one of the staples, right, when, you know,
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  I was in my early 20s and got diagnosed with PCOS and it was
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  from having almost a cyst rupture and they had to go in
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  and remove it. And then they were like, oh, my
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  goodness, like, this is all like your textbook, right?
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  And I was like, Oh my gosh, like finally.
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  And when someone explained and the doctor explained to me what
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  PCOS was, it was like, I had this aha moment.
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  But there was also like, I knew something else was going on.
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  And it wasn't until we went through one of our births that
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  we found out that I had endometriosis.
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  And it was from having all of that tissue, you know, all
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  around. And they were like, Oh my
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  goodness. And then also just other scar
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  tissue that was forming different things.
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  And it was like, wow, this finally like explains also like
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  I would gain weight in my midsection, only my midsection
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  when I would gain. And it was all depending on the
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  week of the month. And like, that was really weird
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  too, like where I would have like more bloat than than not.
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  And you know, nothing was ever explained to me.
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  But then also the painful periods and getting them under
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  like how you can get them under control, what you can do.
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  And, and it was like finally, like, I understand why I've been
• 8:24
  having this because nothing was working, you know, but I could
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  also then be able to focus on different things like, you know,
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  nutrition and that kind of stuff and what I need to do for my
• 8:34
  self in hormone level and regulation.
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  I think understanding that and what was happening within my
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  body, like you were sharing and honestly having the, the both of
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  them, it's like, how do I, you know, figure this out and what
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  does that look like? And it really did 'cause
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  secondary infertility for my husband and I and trying to
• 8:54
  navigate that and what that looks like.
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  And I couldn't, you know, say more about getting extensive
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  panels done, figuring out, you know, what's maybe lacking that
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  you can take like supplemental wise and things like that for
• 9:06
  this. And you know, after getting that
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  under control, it really did help in a lot of ways.
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  Yeah. I mean, what a journey you've
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  been on, Bernice. Thank you so much for being open
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  about that. And yeah, I'm so glad that that
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  you brought that up because, you know, one big reason why you and
• 9:23
  I are here today is to talk about how PCOS and
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  endometriosis, they happen in the same body.
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  It's not that just because you have PCOS means you're not going
• 9:35
  to have endometriosis and vice versa.
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  And you know, I see it a lot together say endometriosis and
• 9:46
  Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Those are the top 2 Co issues
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  that I see with PCOS. And you know, it's, it can be
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  tricky. And so if particularly if you
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  have both and what I see is that because I'm a PCOS expert and so
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  women are coming to me saying, you know, I already know I have
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  PCOS or I have all the hallmark symptoms like what can we do for
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  my fertility? And that's what we're working
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  on, which again the focus is going to be working on hormone
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  regulation, working on clearing cellular static and so hormones
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  can speak to one another, things like that.
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  And, and that of course is helping the PCOS picture, but
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  then the endometriosis picture kind of, you know, I really when
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  I'm working with clients, what I talk about is our health is like
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  an onion and peeling back the skin layer by layer can reveal
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  more things. And so when we're working on the
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  PCOS side of things, then that endometriosis can not appear,
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  but it kind of rears its head more or less and it's like, OK,
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  so there's also this picture going on.
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  So we've got to really, you know, PCOS does have an
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  inflammatory aspect to it that's really important.
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  So we're paying attention to that inflammation with PCOS, but
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  with endometriosis, it's fundamentally an inflammatory
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  issue. So we've got to take that that
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  to the next level to help lower the inflammation in the body to
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  get that tissue to calm down. Absolutely.
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  And it's interesting. Like I, I felt like too, like
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  you were saying those onions, right, Like once I could like it
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  really did like I knew something.
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  Once I knew I had PCOS and and got a, you know, a decent handle
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  or tried to at least, then yes, it was like I intuitively knew
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  something else was going on. And like, you know, we're taught
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  from a young age to know our bodies and to know our cycles
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  and you know, I know. And so it is, it really is.
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  And then rearing its ugly head and getting, you know,
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  inflammation. I had no idea how many like
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  foods, like supplements I need, you know, different things that
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  works causing even more inflammation and like just how
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  it would affect your body overall.
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  Yes, yes. Like because it's not just about
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  the uterus, is that what you're saying?
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  Like it's just it's affecting you on this whole body
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  perspective. Yeah, absolutely.
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  And all over and just really understanding how and what works
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  for you and what doesn't work for you and what's needed.
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  And you know, it's just yes. Yeah, that's so key, Bernie, is
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  to bring up that piece because when we're talking about PCOS or
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  endometriosis, one of the biggest issues which actually
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  we're getting into a little bit of the misconceptions which we
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  were going to focus on in a minute.
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  But is that if the the doctor or the healthcare practitioner is
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  highly focused just on this we A1 track vision of with PCO at
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  well in yeah, let me say this with PCOS, it's just about
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  getting the egg out of the ovary with ovulation induction
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  medications or with endometriosis.
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  It's only about getting those lesions gone via surgery, which
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  is very important in both cases, right?
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  You want the lesions to go in endometriosis and you want the
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  egg to ovulate in PCOS. But if your healthcare
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  practitioner is focused only on those things, they're completely
• 13:44
  missing the mark because fertility is a whole body health
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  issue. Like, you can't just focus on
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  those one vision things and expect that your fertility will
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  bloom. And you know, what I've really
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  started talking about with people is the fact that, you
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  know, when you're having struggles with fertility, it's
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  fundamentally not a fertility issue.
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  It's a biological safety issue because the body is in PCOS.
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  It's having issues with hormones that, you know, insulin and
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  cortisol and inflammatory markers.
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  They're all going crazy and they're not talking to 1 another
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  and the the brain is not able to talk to the ovaries.
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  That is all going on. And with endometriosis, there's
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  these lesions growing outside of the uterus that the body's like,
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  what is what? Why do we have this going on?
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  And that sets the body up to say, Oh my God, it puts it on
• 14:53
  high alert and thinks the body is in danger physiologically,
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  because we know that over, you know, since the beginning
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  meaning of human history, our bodies respond to stress and
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  danger signals in the exact same way.
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  So right now, our bodies respond to the stress of high insulin or
• 15:14
  having endometrial tissue outside the uterus just the same
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  as it responded to getting attacked by a lion 100,000 years
• 15:25
  ago. OK, so the body is in this state
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  of panic and protection. So actually the fact that it's
• 15:34
  not getting pregnant is your body working miraculously to
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  protect you. I mean, think about that, just
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  that that mental shift and it's more about shifting the body and
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  looking at it from this holistic perspective to shift it into
• 15:52
  this biological safety where the green light is on for fertility.
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  It's saying, yes, I feel calm, I can rest, I can digest and I am
• 16:01
  ready to make a baby. And so that's the absolutely the
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  key right there is to take that whole body approach rather than
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  just getting that that tunnel vision.
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  Right. And it really is like it's like
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  self present, like it's really protecting itself when you're
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  saying that. I was just like, yes, Doctor
• 16:19
  Angela and it was, you know, interesting because I go back
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  to, and this is what I said during like when we were
• 16:27
  actively trying to conceive and dealing with secondary
• 16:29
  infertility and everything. I was like, what is causing,
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  like what is the root cause or what is affecting this?
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  And it was really hard to get any answers.
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  And I, you know, you know, just listening and things like that
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  was like, let's do this surgery, let's do this medication.
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  And it's like, that's not an answer.
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  Like that is just a like a throw a Band-Aid on it resolution for
• 16:50
  right now. But when you look at, OK, we
• 16:53
  remove the lesions as we remove the tissue, remove the cysts,
• 16:56
  we, you know, do all the things, OK, but it's going to come back.
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  And so like, how can we like prevent that or or not prevent
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  it necessarily, but even keeping it like at a slower rate or
• 17:08
  whatever. And it was like, where's that
• 17:10
  evidence based medicine for this?
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  As in how, like, what can I do or in myself in other ways
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  that's more holistic than the chemicals of, you know,
• 17:22
  different medications? Yes, exactly.
• 17:25
  And I think more and more people and women are standing up to
• 17:31
  say, OK, we don't want just the Band-Aid solution anymore.
• 17:35
  Actually, I, I want this to be taken care of, but I want to
• 17:39
  feel healthy and vibrant in my body.
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  And you know, it's not that the medications are bad or that we
• 17:47
  should do a complete 180 shift away from that.
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  Because for many families that those you know, what medications
• 17:56
  or like procedures like IVF are the ticket that, that get them
• 18:01
  across the finish line. But I think, you know, what you
• 18:04
  and I are talking about is the fact that one, that people are
• 18:08
  being recommended those things super early on before that
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  conversation of like, well, what is the root cause?
• 18:16
  Why did these lesions grow or why do I have the cysts?
• 18:20
  And you got to have that conversation 1st.
• 18:24
  And it gets you to a point where it's like, OK, you've done all
• 18:27
  this, but we do actually need to do the surgery to get that
• 18:30
  endometriosis out. And but you know that you're
• 18:35
  supporting your body on those multiple levels so that you're
• 18:41
  actually, yes, like you're, you're focused on bringing baby
• 18:45
  into the world. But you're saying, but I
• 18:48
  actually want to reach a little bit higher and feel good in my
• 18:52
  body and, you know, wake up ready to to grasp the day.
• 18:58
  Absolutely. Cause like did the disrupted
• 19:00
  sleep that comes along with this and just like feeling like
• 19:04
  you're running a marathon every day, it's like, Oh my goodness,
• 19:07
  just exhausting points and things like that.
• 19:11
  So yeah, any way to get there? And, you know, and it is making
• 19:16
  those informed decisions like having everything laid out in
• 19:19
  front of you and then you making what is right for you and your
• 19:22
  partner and you know, your future and things like that.
• 19:25
  But really being presented everything so you can see it and
• 19:29
  understand, OK, these are my options.
• 19:31
  These are my steps and asking those critical questions like
• 19:34
  you were saying. Yes, so powerful.
• 19:39
  Yes. So yeah, that takes us right
• 19:42
  into, you know, the misconceptions of PCOS and this
• 19:46
  I cannot wait to hear as well. So.
• 19:49
  Yes, yes. Well, so you know, I think we
• 19:52
  kind of covered that the first one I was going to bring up,
• 19:56
  which is you can't get pregnant without medications.
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  So you know, in the fertility worlds from a from a doctor's
• 20:05
  perspective, right? Their treatment algorithms and
• 20:09
  the PCOS algorithm is to give up to five rounds of medicated
• 20:14
  cycles. And if none of those work, then
• 20:18
  move that patient forward to IVF.
• 20:21
  So that's the trajectory for PCOS.
• 20:24
  And so of course that's going to lead so many women to think,
• 20:28
  well, medications are the only answer for my PCOS.
• 20:32
  But as you and I just really hashed through, no, it's, it
• 20:36
  could be 1 aspect of the journey, but you've got to take
• 20:41
  that holistic whole body perspective to really get your
• 20:46
  body to the next level. OK, so then let's jump into the
• 20:52
  second misconception and that is you have to lose weight in order
• 20:58
  to get pregnant with PCOS. And this one, I just, it just
• 21:05
  breaks my heart. Yeah.
• 21:07
  I feel that so much, right, there is so much misinformation
• 21:14
  out there that you know, someone and, and I speak to this because
• 21:18
  I've spoken with the hundreds and hundreds of women who have
• 21:22
  PCOS and they're telling me, well, you know, my previous
• 21:28
  doctor, they said, well, once I lose the weight, once I lose 20
• 21:33
  pounds, 60 lbs, then everything's going to happen for
• 21:37
  me. And I've tried it.
• 21:39
  I've gone on restrictive diets and I'm not pregnant yet and I'm
• 21:43
  miserable, you know, I'm starving, I'm exhausted, I'm
• 21:47
  stressed out, I'm losing my hair and that what's happening is
• 21:53
  that the the standard medical information of just lose weight
• 21:58
  in order to get pregnant. It's completely missing the mark
• 22:03
  because it's again, that tunnel vision on only one aspect of
• 22:08
  that person. And you know, sure, we know that
• 22:12
  weight loss can help with certain hormonal markers, but
• 22:17
  for somebody who tends to hold on to some extra pounds on their
• 22:22
  body can make those markers move without the focus being on the
• 22:28
  weight loss. And when we focus specifically
• 22:33
  on the weight loss, then we forget about egg quality.
• 22:38
  Well, not we I don't forget about these things, but the
• 22:40
  other doctors who are saying just lose weight, they're
• 22:43
  completely disregarding the fact.
• 22:45
  Well, we could actually provide this person in front of us with
• 22:51
  the nutrition recommendations to support egg quality on how to
• 22:55
  set up a nutritious daily food rhythm that is walking them
• 23:02
  straightforward to baby. What research backed supplements
• 23:06
  or support egg quality and how can I help this person in front
• 23:11
  of me be supporting their egg quality?
• 23:15
  Because we know that people who hold on to extra weight get
• 23:19
  pregnant. Weight is not a just a, a closed
• 23:25
  door to pregnancy. No, not at all.
• 23:28
  And so that's, you know, really, but in the PCOS world, that
• 23:33
  conversation is had over and over again.
• 23:37
  And I just want to say it's less about the weight and it's more
• 23:41
  about looking at your nutrient markers, looking at your
• 23:45
  hormones. Well, if you don't have
• 23:46
  progesterone, it doesn't matter what the number on the scale is.
• 23:50
  I really don't care what the number on the scale is.
• 23:54
  I want your progesterone to rise.
• 23:56
  So how am I going to focus on that?
• 24:00
  Yes, Doctor Angela and you saying that.
• 24:03
  So yeah, after we had our daughter Brooke and you know,
• 24:08
  she she passed away, which you know, talk about in our episodes
• 24:12
  and stuff, we went on couple months later to get pregnant
• 24:15
  with our rainbow baby. And we thought we were going to
• 24:17
  struggle because of my weight, because that's what we were told
• 24:20
  all of that time. And to get pregnant, you know,
• 24:24
  with Brooke and, and our rainbow and things, we did have to do
• 24:28
  progesterone shots, which is, you know, what got me there
• 24:31
  because of my levels. But it was being recognized by
• 24:34
  someone who was taking that delicate approach and realizing
• 24:37
  that was it Because I don't know how many times IVF came up, you
• 24:41
  know, IUI, which you know, is needed sometimes.
• 24:45
  But then once we did those, it was like, boom, that was like
• 24:48
  all I, you know, my body was just lacking.
• 24:52
  Right. And it wasn't, it wasn't the
• 24:54
  weight piece, was it? No, no.
• 24:56
  And it was like, no, you know, 'cause like I'm already having
• 25:00
  so much body shame. I'm already feeling that my
• 25:01
  body's not doing the one thing that we're taught from a young
• 25:04
  age to be able to do is have a baby.
• 25:06
  And like, as a woman, like I'm feeling like I'm failing myself,
• 25:09
  failing my partner, you know, have all this, like, oh, if I
• 25:12
  could just do this or this or this.
• 25:14
  And it's like, and then like, how do you not want to comfort
• 25:16
  eat during those times? Like, I mean, I can't help
• 25:18
  myself. Like I'm literally feeling bad
• 25:20
  and then like starving and then like you get to a point that
• 25:23
  you're like, I'm just going to eat everything now at night
• 25:25
  because like I was trying all day to be so good, but you know,
• 25:28
  you just can't help like it. It really is like a vicious
• 25:31
  cycle and it's very misconstrued the way that it can be talked
• 25:36
  about or said to. And like we're already putting
• 25:39
  so much pressure on ourselves. Like the last thing I need to
• 25:41
  hear is like, especially as a woman body image issue, like
• 25:45
  don't need you to say that. Like, please don't.
• 25:46
  Like there's other things. And and so that just, I
• 25:50
  appreciate that so much. Yeah.
• 25:52
  Well, thank you so much for sharing your personal story with
• 25:55
  that because, yeah, I think that'll help really driving that
• 26:00
  fact that, yeah, we need to look at so much more than just the
• 26:05
  weight piece. Yeah.
• 26:08
  So let's then talk about the third misconception, and that is
• 26:13
  that you can't get a regular period when you have PCOS.
• 26:18
  So the hallmark, you know, of PCOS is irregular cycles,
• 26:22
  absence cycles. You know, I work with women who
• 26:25
  haven't had a period in the last year or three years and they,
• 26:31
  you know, and, and the misconception you can't get a, a
• 26:34
  natural cycle on your own, right?
• 26:37
  Birth control is the only way to regulate your cycle with PCOS.
• 26:43
  OK, That's the misconception that we're going to cover here.
• 26:45
  And you know, again, birth control as a tool is exactly
• 26:52
  that. It's a tool, but it's created to
• 26:56
  stop someone from getting pregnant.
• 26:58
  It is a form of contraception. And so now that we've moved into
• 27:03
  this period of medicine where we use it to regulate periods with
• 27:08
  PCOS, because for someone with PCOS who has irregular periods,
• 27:13
  birth control, hormonal birth control, the pill I'll be
• 27:15
  specific with that is the the treatment for it.
• 27:20
  And one that's basically dismissing a woman's body to
• 27:23
  say, yeah, you can't do this on your own, sorry.
• 27:26
  We're just going to give you these fake hormones, which
• 27:29
  again, the fake hormones aren't bad.
• 27:31
  We need them if you're trying to not get pregnant.
• 27:34
  But for you listening, if you are, you've got PCOS and you
• 27:38
  want to get pregnant. You don't want to be on
• 27:39
  contraception just to regulate your periods.
• 27:44
  And yet that just, it gets in the psyche that birth control is
• 27:49
  the only answer. But what's happening is that
• 27:54
  birth control, it's, you know, it's a synthetic or fake version
• 27:58
  of estrogen and progesterone that you're taking.
• 28:00
  And what that does is that it just blocks your brains
• 28:05
  communication system with the rest of your body because that's
• 28:10
  what it wants to do in order to stop you from getting pregnant.
• 28:13
  So it stops the complete cascade of your body moving into any
• 28:18
  sort of fertile mode because it blocks hormone messaging, it
• 28:22
  blocks your brain from Speaking of the rest of your body.
• 28:25
  That's what it's doing. So from an outside perspective,
• 28:29
  the fact that you're getting a bleed every 28 days, it looks
• 28:33
  really nice. It looks like, oh, wow, actually
• 28:36
  my body is doing what it's supposed to and I've fixed it.
• 28:40
  But that's not what's happening internally.
• 28:44
  And that's the disconnect, particularly when somebody comes
• 28:48
  off of the pill and is like, whoa, whoa, hold up.
• 28:52
  Like I thought I was just going to be ready for baby, but now my
• 28:58
  period hasn't come in the past six months or it's really
• 29:01
  irregular. I was told the birth control was
• 29:05
  supposed to fix everything and it doesn't.
• 29:09
  And you know what needs to happen?
• 29:11
  Because in my practice, 9 1/2 times out of 10, the women
• 29:16
  working with me are getting their periods back and they're
• 29:19
  getting them back consistently. It's we've got to look at the
• 29:24
  wisdom of the human body and because having a menstrual
• 29:30
  cycle, a regular cycle where you get a period roughly every month
• 29:36
  is the body's natural resting place for someone who has female
• 29:41
  organs. It's just that.
• 29:43
  And so trusting that innate wisdom that we've got to figure
• 29:49
  out why, OK, what it what is the driver that is keeping this
• 29:54
  particular person from having regular periods because it's
• 29:59
  there. And, you know, I talked to so
• 30:02
  many women who are saying, well, my doctor told me my labs are
• 30:05
  normal. So I don't really know what's
• 30:07
  going on. They're telling me they don't
• 30:08
  know what's going on. And I'm just like, I want to hit
• 30:12
  my head on a wall because from not because of the person
• 30:16
  telling me this, but because another doctor has told that
• 30:20
  person like, well, your labs are normal.
• 30:22
  No, no, your labs are not normal.
• 30:24
  I can tell you that without even looking at your labs because
• 30:29
  you're not having a regular cycle.
• 30:31
  So physiologically we already know that there's something off,
• 30:36
  that there's at least one hormone or you know, a nutrient.
• 30:41
  Something is not going to be normal on your labs.
• 30:46
  And so from my perspective, it's just about finding that it's
• 30:50
  about reading those labs from a thriving perspective, not a
• 30:54
  surviving perspective. That's another issue is so many
• 30:58
  doctors are reading labs from that survival perspective, not
• 31:03
  going to help you when you want to have a baby and you're having
• 31:05
  trouble getting pregnant. So you need that thriving
• 31:09
  perspective. And, and so just, that's what I
• 31:13
  do is help this person figure out, well, why is it that you
• 31:17
  haven't had a period in the past six months?
• 31:20
  Usually it's an issue with cellular clearance or the, you
• 31:24
  know, there's too much static in the body.
• 31:26
  The, the, the hormones can't speak to one another or maybe
• 31:31
  it's a nutrient issue. But that's what we do in order
• 31:35
  to bring this person to a place where she's able to have regular
• 31:39
  cycles to ovulate and be set up for babies.
• 31:43
  So it is not true that someone with PCOS can't have a regular
• 31:48
  period on their own without birth control.
• 31:51
  Yeah, Doctor Angela, thank you. Yes.
• 31:56
  And I mean, just from my personal experience now I have
• 31:59
  regular menstrual cycles. I mean, they're still very
• 32:01
  painful, very, you know, and I can monitor them as much as I
• 32:04
  can. But yes, like I feel like once
• 32:07
  you do have a control or can at least understand what is
• 32:11
  happening, you can make so much more like informed decisions
• 32:14
  about yourself and what to do from a month to month basis.
• 32:18
  And just yes, it really does like open your eyes to so many
• 32:22
  other things. But isn't it true too?
• 32:25
  And I know we, I'm pretty sure we discussed this in your last
• 32:27
  episode that it could even be like other things like your
• 32:30
  thyroid, different things like that and necessarily not down,
• 32:34
  you know, in all your baby making area, it could be
• 32:36
  somewhere else that isn't being found or looked at.
• 32:40
  Yes, thank you for bringing that up because that yeah.
• 32:44
  And that goes back to that. It's got fertility is that whole
• 32:48
  body approach. And when I'm talking about, you
• 32:51
  know, there's static in the hormonal messaging, it's not
• 32:55
  just about the progesterone and the estrogen.
• 32:59
  No, it's, I mean, we have many hormones in the body.
• 33:03
  They are all talking amongst themselves.
• 33:07
  And so if you're not looking at the thyroid and we're not
• 33:11
  looking at cortisol levels or not investigating insulin levels
• 33:16
  and just looking at a glucose level, like those are all
• 33:21
  missing pieces that are going, that are going unnoticed and
• 33:27
  untaken care of for someone. And that's, we've got to do that
• 33:33
  because, you know, over and over I, I see someone again will come
• 33:37
  to see me and he's like, well, I've been trying for the last
• 33:40
  six years, I haven't been able to get pregnant.
• 33:44
  And I look at their labs, they haven't had a thyroid panel done
• 33:49
  and, and particularly not a complete thyroid panel done.
• 33:52
  And I'll run that and I'll look at their cortisol And I'm like,
• 33:56
  right there, right there. I can tell you This is why you
• 34:00
  aren't ovulating. And, you know, and then we work
• 34:04
  on that, we fix that and they're pregnant in another two to three
• 34:07
  months. And so it's.
• 34:10
  Yeah, thank you for bringing that up.
• 34:12
  It's absolutely looking about all the different systems.
• 34:16
  Absolutely. And I feel like the hormones in
• 34:18
  our bodies are such a puzzle, right?
• 34:20
  And if the pieces don't fit perfectly together, it's not
• 34:23
  going to be that big picture and the puzzle's not going to be
• 34:26
  complete. And it really does need to be,
• 34:29
  honestly. Yes, right.
• 34:32
  And you know, because it's a puzzle.
• 34:34
  I love that analogy. You don't want to do that on
• 34:37
  your own. You don't want to be putting
• 34:40
  these pieces together. Because I also talk with a lot
• 34:43
  of women who are saying, I feel like I've tried everything I've
• 34:47
  got. I'm on this list of supplements.
• 34:49
  I've tried a couple different diets and I, I, I really want to
• 34:54
  get pregnant. I really want to feel healthy,
• 34:56
  but I feel like I'm, I've tried everything.
• 34:58
  What else is there? And when they read their list of
• 35:02
  supplements, maybe they're on a prenatal vitamin D and Co Q10,
• 35:07
  all really well researched backed supplements, right?
• 35:12
  You could go right now and find a bunch of research studies on
• 35:15
  the benefits of those, but what's happening is that they
• 35:19
  aren't specific to what's coming up for that person of why she
• 35:26
  isn't ovulating, why she doesn't have a regular cycle right now.
• 35:30
  And so trying those supplements, it's just like or, or trying to
• 35:33
  put those puzzle pieces together yourself.
• 35:36
  It's like throwing spaghetti at the wall.
• 35:37
  Like, I really hope this is going to stick, but when you
• 35:41
  want to get pregnant, you don't want to be in that mindset of
• 35:46
  let me just see if this is going to work.
• 35:48
  Maybe this one will work. No, you want a road map and you
• 35:51
  want to know particularly what your own Physiology is saying
• 35:56
  that it needs in order to to get you to a place where you've got
• 36:01
  that green light on and you're in that biological safety to say
• 36:04
  yes for baby. Absolutely.
• 36:07
  And you're so right with the blanket things, you know, like I
• 36:10
  know I don't know how much money over the years, you know, prior
• 36:14
  to finding an individualized approach did I spend on
• 36:17
  supplements that, you know, were research based?
• 36:20
  Great. But it wasn't individualized to
• 36:23
  me like these supplements everybody, you know, could take
• 36:26
  or anybody, you know, they were on the market.
• 36:27
  But it was like what particularly maybe I'm lacking
• 36:31
  or needing more of or changing it up to fit me as a person.
• 36:35
  And and having someone to navigate that with is so
• 36:39
  important that I'm not just guessing off of what I find from
• 36:43
  research because like I said, I don't know how much money and
• 36:45
  time was wasted. And as we know too, with
• 36:48
  fertility, you know, we already feel like we're on an egg timer.
• 36:52
  And so, you know, however we can, you know, do right by
• 36:55
  ourselves to get to baby is just so important.
• 37:02
  Yes, yes. Doctor Angela, what would you
• 37:06
  love to leave our listeners with in this episode?
• 37:11
  I want to leave you, you know, regardless of if you have PCOS
• 37:15
  or endometriosis or both, I want you to walk away today knowing
• 37:21
  that your body is not broken. Your body is actually working in
• 37:26
  this miraculous way to protect you right now, and it's just not
• 37:32
  ready to be pregnant yet. You have to figure out what it
• 37:37
  is that's going to move your body into being able to switch
• 37:42
  on that green light for pregnancy.
• 37:44
  So know that you're not broken, OK?
• 37:48
  You just have to find that missing link so that that green
• 37:51
  light switches on for you. Wow, it's so powerful.
• 37:55
  Thank you, Doctor Angela, for that.
• 37:58
  Thank you for being here, for talking about the differences,
• 38:00
  the misconceptions, and really defining what it is in the
• 38:03
  symptoms that can occur with it. It really means the world to
• 38:06
  have you. Oh, well, thank, thank you for
• 38:08
  having me. It's just wonderful to be here
• 38:10
  with you and I. I love talking with you.
• 38:13
  Absolutely you too. Thank you for our listeners.
• 38:17
  Your pain is real, your cycles matter.
• 38:19
  Your fertility journey matters and deserves answers.
• 38:23
  Whether you are trying to conceive, navigating
• 38:25
  infertility, or grieving a pregnancy loss, any type of baby
• 38:28
  loss. You are not broken, you are not
• 38:30
  alone, and we are here for you. Thank you so much for tuning in
• 38:33
  and please reach out on Chase and the rainbows.org if you need
• 38:36
  help and support or looking to volunteer.
• 38:39
  Thanks again.