Special Report 2022 Step 1 - Know the “Why” Understanding the underlying mechanisms is the fi rst step to a truly successful treatment strategy. Clinical research has revealed that treating symptoms for too long makes recovery even more di ffi cult. But why you ask? By not properly addressing root cause ( s ) , the real problem worsens. What’s more so, is the issue that treatment of symptoms with medications and the wrong supplements have their own side a ff ects while altering labs which then makes true discovery of the real problem more di ffi cult for an untrained individual to reveal. To let you in on a little secret, its never just one problem. 1 The Bigger Picture In the typical treatment of infertility, the root causes are not being properly addressed. The most common approach is to look only at hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle while missing the background functions that control those. This approach misses the in fl ammation that is commonly behind infertility. Recent research points to in fl ammation playing a role in nearly all infertility cases. Egg Damage The issue with not identifying the type and cause of in fl ammation is that while its disrupting function in the body is it also damaging the egg quality and diminishing ovarian reserve. This worsens fertility rates and damages the future health of the unborn children. Ovulation LH, which triggers ovulation is disrupted by poor sleep, stress, vitamin D de fi ciency and in fl ammation.. INFERTILITY REPORT An integrative perspective on infertility Special Report 2022 The Role of Insulin The fi rst place to begin looking is insulin resistance, now you may be saying to yourself ”of course, I knew that insulin was important.” But what you didn’t know is what insulin actually does . Insulin’s role in the body is to conserve energy. Too little insulin causes the body break down, known as catabolism. Too much insulin suppresses thyroid hormone and growth hormone. These are key to hormone balance and fertility. Fatigue after meals, or getting “hangry” between meals are often symptoms of disrupted insulin levels. Most standard testing isn’t thorough enough to catch these issues. Essential = Necessary Next steps are identifying nutrient de fi ciencies and supplementing to get them optimized. It's estimated that 74 % of the U.S. is below the requirements for necessary vitamin D intake. This is an essential vitamin, and that means it’s necessary in order for a normal functioning body. Vitamin D de fi ciency has been show to cause a disruption in ovulation, implantation and fertility. Even more so is that it has been linked to miscarriage. This is only one of many essential nutrients. Once de fi ciencies have been identi fi ed and addressed, follow up testing is important to be sure that correction has been achieved. 2 Nutrient Dense Food How did we all get so nutrient de fi cient? That actually has to do with 3 major factors with food consumption. 1. Commercially available foods are grown in soils depleted of naturally occurring nutrients. 2. The foods we eat on a regular basis is limited in variety and therefore limited in the diversity of nutrients. 3. Our digestive systems are weakened from numerous causes and cannot properly absorb the already limited nutrients in our foods. As you can imagine, fi nding truly nutrient dense food to satiate our body and minds is just hard to come by and most of us don’t know the difference. Not surprisingly though, choosing the wrong foods out of frustration actually worsens the problems. So what to do? The fi rst is to buy organic and shop local farmers markets when possible. The next step, fi nd out what nutrients you are missing and supplement with just those that you need.