Envisioning the tears of joy…
The tears that are from seeing the manifestation of your efforts.
It’s been some time where you focused on yourself, understanding your health and well-being needed some attention.
Your lifestyle at the time wasn’t serving you in the way you’d like it to. You dreamed of having a healthy pregnancy, birth, you and baby. In your heart of hearts, while you tried to focus on fertility, you knew deep down there needed to be a focus on you first.
It takes courage to realize this and strength to reach out for help.
And I’ll even throw in your pregnancy and post-partum health.
It all begins with the state of your Menstruation. And, the state of your Menstrual Health is letting you know what’s happening Physically, Mentally, Emotionally and Spiritually.
PCOS is one of those conditions that I feel like can be thrown off and triggered by any of the above.
So it’s especially important to explore what could be really playing a role for you in particular when it comes to your experience with PCOS.
Is Your Care Plan Actually Treating PCOS?
Traditional forms of treatment and care for PCOS do not really address underlying causes of PCOS. In my opinion and from what I’ve been told by those who I’ve helped in their management and fertility, they made things worse and they felt like it really didn’t help them get their health and well-being in shape. (#PeriodBypassAlert!)
What that means to me is that she’s ready to take more ownership of herself and learn what’s really going on and how she can support herself.
Your needs to support the hormone production and communication between those hormones varies person to person.
Support is Different for Everyone
If you’ve been following me, you know I stress the importance of realizing you’re YOU. You are unique in your own path and journey, therefore, you’ve got to know you to even learn what would benefit you and what wouldn’t.
Over time, the quicker you learn this, the faster you can make adjustments and help your body to respond and align.
Here are my 3 staples to becoming aware, tracking and assessing the impact of your lifestyle changes with PCOS:
- Holistic Cycle Syncing
- Temperature Monitoring
- Micronutrient Testing
Holistic Cycle Syncing
This method is a comprehensive logging of what you’re experiencing holistically (Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual) in your Cycle by good ol’ fashioned pen to paper. There is a deeper connection with yourself as you connect the physical writing with the observations of the mind. The Flow·ology Planner + Journal is a flow-tabulous tool to help you do just that!
Most methods, including apps, don’t position you to become as aware, involved and comfortable with yourself. When you do, not only do you grow confident in what would be helpful for you, but you’re expanding in your consciousness and self-actualization.
You’ll have what you need to track at your fingertips. This helps in communicating with your partner, providers and any others that you invite to join you in your journey. You’ll have documentation of the changes you’ve made in your lifestyle and how presentation of your cycle changed because of it.
Temperature Monitoring
Many argue that tracking your basal body temperature (BBT) doesn’t work for women with PCOS. I’m here to tell ya that it’s because they haven’t come to the best tool to be helpful. This is where OvuSense comes in.
They’re the only sensor I’ve come across that actually helps women with PCOS in tracking temps. I recently had a flow-versation with the CEO and he was telling me how women who were using their sensor didn’t even know they had PCOS before beginning to use the sensor! It was picking up some changes in their body that let them know about it.
How I use this when working with women is that we’re using it to get another perspective on what’s going on with the hormonal shifts, if any, throughout the Cycle.
Also, since she’s implementing changes to increase her fertility, we use the data from the sensor to see if we’re heading in the proper direction. Those shifts we should be seeing are keys to letting us know that the hormones are producing AND communicating effectively amongst each other. Another thing is that we can get a glimpse if she’s potentially pregnant earlier. (Bonus!)
*If you’re desiring to add this tool, use code ‘hiltonhh’ for a special discount on the starter kit to my readers.
Micronutrient Testing
This one can be tricky in so many ways, but I also find it very enlightening especially when it comes to supporting hormonal health and communication from a food and supplement perspective. This is really handy where what you learn is where you’re deficient or borderline in the various vitamins, minerals, amino acids, glucose metabolism and more.
Why would you want to know this?
- You can see where you’re missing this nutrients from your food choices, so you can add them and/or change them.
- You can see the relationships each play with each other. For example, if you’re all “I’m taking zinc because I saw it helps with fertility” but then you see copper is being negatively affected, then you’ll see where you need to back off on the supplementation. This is why you’d want to work with someone when you get these sorts of testing done because often times the perspective and how to properly apply the findings saves you time and money.
- Hormones RELY on nutrients to be formed, to be used properly and to change into one another. Often with PCOS, you can see nutritional deficiencies pop up thus showing how your metabolism and hormonal processes are being affected.
I will note that there needs to be an evaluation or consideration taken as to how you’re digesting as well. This is why you may see some with PCOS say they eat well but still have unfavorable symptoms. It could be in the gut itself and it not be in a position to absorb, assimilate or metabolize the nutrients. (Not to mention the quality of food, too, but that’s a whole other post!)
What’s the Best Tool?
As with any tool, I can not stress this enough…they are TOOLS. You must become intimately involved in what’s going on for you. YOUR Cycle is the ultimate tool!
This is why I encourage logging and tracking first. From getting your baseline first, you’ll really see what’s really affecting you and if it’s in the direction that you’re desiring.
PCOS doesn’t have to rule your life. It’s simply a message of you needing to make some changes in your life to increase your overall health. And, with that, you’ll feel tons better and the bonus is possibly having a healthy pregnancy and holding that precious bundle of joy you’ve wanted to hold so bad.
Playfully yours,
D
P.S. What are some of your best strategies for improving your fertility with PCOS? Comment below!
