By Aimee Raupp, MS LAc

This article was reviewed AimeeRaupp.com's editorial team & is in compliance with our editorial policy.

I LOVE sharing success stories with you!

Every time I ask what you want more of the answer is always, “more Stories of Hope!”

So today I’m bringing to you another Yes, You Can Get Pregnant Story of Hope!

Here Is The Full Transcription Of The Video

Hi, Facebook. How are all of you? I'm Aimee Raupp of aimeeaupp.com-

And I thank you so much for joining me. As always, I come to you live once a week, and talk to you about tips, and tools, and strategies on how to optimize your health, your vitality, your auto-immunity, your fertility, what have you. We talk about lifestyle. We talk about diet. We talk about supplements. We talk about the emotional, spiritual components to health, because as I always say, health is mental. It's emotional. It's physical. It's nutritional. You cannot separate them. And this case is actually a classic example of that. And so, this month, the month of August, we've been coming to you live, talking about what we call our Stories of Hope. We have a regular blog post on my website, on aimeeaupp.com, that we've been running for years at this point, called the Story of Hope. And so, each month we would highlight a case for my clinic, or from my coaching clients, of a woman who came to me looking to optimize her fertility, get pregnant faster, overcome fertility challenges, what have you. So, for this month of August, we decided to do one live each week, where I'm literally pulling faces from the clinic, and reading to you directly from there.

This is a case that I actually discussed live with the client several years ago. I think it was about three years ago when we did our fertility solution series, so some of you might recognize this case, but it's a while ago. But, I think it's such a good one, and that so many women will be able to relate to this case because this is a very healthy young woman, who herself, is a health coach. Right? Herself, knows what to do, diet and lifestyle wise, is preaching that to other people. She is a healthy living lifestyle expert, and yet her cycles were not regulated. She had access to other health coaches that regulated periods for women, and her cycles still weren't regulated.

Her and I met at an event, and she expressed interest in working with me. She was 31 at the time, and had kind of, sort of, been trying to get pregnant, but had irregular menstrual cycles, and so she knew that something wasn't right, and she knew she needed to regulate her cycles to get pregnant, and she was eager to get pregnant, but she was more eager to be the healthiest version of herself.

So, as I've been doing, I'm going to go through her new patient intake. The things that she reported to me.  I'm really doing this because I think all of you will see yourself in these cases, right? And take away some nugget of truth. And that's really the goal here is that to A, to know that you're not alone and B, to understand that fertility challenges are overcomeable. This woman's case in specific had PCOS. Totally manageable. Totally overcomable. Totally got pregnant, naturally. Totally worked out. But ,you'll see, we'll go through the case. Okay?

So again, 31 when she came to me, which I know for some of you you're like, “Oh my God, she's so young.” But, for others, this you relate, because you're 31, and you're not getting pregnant, and you get so annoyed when people are like, “You're so young. You have plenty of time.” So, what does the main reason you're seeking treatment? She said, “I want to regulate my period.” And at this point she had already read, Yes, You Can Get Pregnant. So then she said, “And I want to get my palace ready for a healthy pregnancy.” So, she was using terminology from, Yes, You Can Get Pregnant, where I talk about preparing your palace. She had had acupuncture before. At the time she was taking cod liver oil and evening Primrose oil depending on her moon cycle. So, another practitioner had given her this advice, so alternating cod liver and evening primrose. She had a low vitamin D, and high LH so that was her diagnosis for PCOS.

She was taking vitamin D, and then she tells me a brief history, “In high school, I had very irregular periods. I remember one lasting two weeks. Then I got acne mild on my face. My gynecologist recommended topical medications, and then birth control to regulate my period.” How many other girls think birth control regulates your period? I've just got to tell you right now, that's a bunch of BS. Birth control pill does not regulate a period. It just shuts down your system, so it appears that it's regular, but you're not really bleeding. It's a fake bleed. It's a false bleed. It's a withdrawal bleed. That's what they call it. When you stop taking the estrogen, the lining sheds, but you do not ovulate, and you do not menstruate on your own. You're just withdrawing from the estrogen pill that you're taking every day. PCOS does not regulate a cycle. It covers the problem.

With this case, now I realize when I'm reading this, “Oh, okay. So, she's been on birth control since she was 16.” I have a lot of peeling back the layers of the onion effects here. Gyno prescribed birth control to regulate period. She was on it for 11 years. She'd been off it now for three years. Menstrual cramps. She takes one pill of a Motrin every day, and she was taking a prenatal vitamin. So, all she was taking was a prenatal, now the vitamin D, and then she was alternating cod liver and evening Primrose oil, that again, some other practitioner told her to do, or she read online. She was working out regularly three, three times a week. Bar yoga. She sleeps eight hours. She dreams a lot. Her job is not that stressful.

She eats pretty well. So, she doesn't use artificial sweeteners. She eats regular meals. Her typical meals were brown rice cake with pastured eggs, soba noodles with veggies and chickpeas, fried rice and quinoa with eggs, fish, miso soup, chia bars, almonds. Okay. So, her diet, there's not really, there's some protein in here, but no red meat or animal products really, except for the eggs and some fish. So, that's up first. I think that right away too, like she was not eating enough protein. Emotionally overwhelmed. “A lot of people in my life that need my attention. Time management, I'm always rushing places. Fear around money, fear around the pressure of trying to get pregnant. Too much on my plate.” Yoga gives her peace. She reads. She cooks.

Yeah, she's had a history of migraines. She's had some coaching, no actual therapy. And her real goal is, “Getting my body in the healthiest shape to conceive and bring a baby into the world and then help determine the because of my irregular periods.” So, her symptom checklist, she had quite a few that she checked off here. Thanks for that intro. No birth control pills. Oh, you're welcome. Monique. Anybody else got something? No. Okay, so let's see. So hair loss, blurred vision, poor night vision, decreasing vision, dry eyes, dry skin, nights with bruise easily, cold hands and feet, indigestion, stomachache, indecision, poor memory, too cold. Those are all her symptoms. Menstrual cramps, irregular period, absent period, breast swelling, no pregnancies. So, interval between periods, 35 to 98 days. 35 to 98 days. Those were her period cycles.

Carrie, “I have PCOS, needed five IVFs to get pregnant, had my son six years ago, and in periods 20 to 30 days every month now. Before I would go 45 to 60 days.” Good for you, Carrie, you regulated your own cycle, or pregnancy regulates things too, doesn't it? Okay, so from a Chinese medicine perspective, when I look at this, these symptom checklist, I immediately start to think what we say, blood deficient and cold. So, because we say if there's not enough blood to nourish and hydrate, the skin will be dry. The eyes will be dry. She will bruise easily. There's not enough blood to get out to the periphery. She will have cold hands and feet. She'll have a poor memory because there's not enough blood to bathe the brain. And also, the blood deficiency could be the reason for the irregular cycles. That basically, her body takes a long time to build the blood enough to then shed it again.

Now, of course, I have to think about PCOS from a Western perspective, and everything I know about that, but these are my initial thoughts as the woman managing her case. So, now let's go to my chart notes. Chart notes. Okay, so by the time I meet her in the clinic, right? 31, she had just gotten a period two days ago. She was super excited. She had just gotten the period. Again, she was at this point now taking cod liver oil, liver, vitamin D. She was starting to drink bone broth and she added in royal jelly. She wanted to know how much? So, this is all from reading Yes, You Can Get Pregnant. So, she got a period of two days ago. Leading up, she had like cramps and breast tenderness. Her vitamin D is very low. LH was high. Period, heavier than has been in a long time. Her previous period was December 3rd, and this period came on 3/10, March 10th, so it was over three months between the periods. It was 90-some-odd-day cycle.

She was very excited though, because she had just read, Yes, You Can Get Pregnant. She started incorporating some of the changes, like the bone broth, and the cod liver oil, and I think even just coming, like admitting that she was going to seek support for this, because I do believe that she really wanted a baby sooner than she was able to, and just anxious about that. So, I think sometimes making the appointment, knowing you're getting the support, knowing that you're listing someone who can help you, there's a release, but it was also a 90-some-odd-day cycle, so please keep that in mind. Period heavier than it has been in a long time.

Cycle, day one, the cramps were intense. A seven out of 10. Dark. Needed Advil. She had to curl up in a ball. Seeping through pantyliners. So, this was heavier for her than it's been in a long time, and she was still just using a panty liner. So, to me, it's very clear, “Oh, this girl is very blood deficient. Very, very, very deficient” Because you want to be feeling on your heavy day, probably two to three supers in a day, or two to three super pads a day. That's what you want to fill for at least one, maybe two days, and then you go to a regular, and then you have a day where it's light. Like you want a good three days of a healthy flow. This girl's filling a pantyliner on her heavy day. Okay? That's not good. It's fixable. Don't get scared, but it's not good. And she's calling this a medium flow. She was using the thin liner and changing it at kind of regularly, but still, just a thin pantyliner.

Cycle, day two and three, same. Start to get lighter. So, she was following a moon cycle system. I'm not sure from who. I could suspect, but I don't want to jump to conclusions. And she was switching between, like I said, cod liver oil and evening Primrose oil. That was not working for her obviously, she had a 90-day cycle. But, stopped using it. So, body temperature, cold, especially hands and feet. Skin dryness, she was completely, she said, “I have no moisture in my body.” Vaginal dryness as well. PMS, she gets hot at night, which is another sign of what we say … I know women worry about that they're perimenopausal if they get hot flashes. It's really just a sign of we say not enough fluid to put out the fire. Heat starts to surge as we get closer to our period, and so we basically need to nourish the Yin, is what we would say in Chinese medicine. So, we need to be more cooling substances. Fluid, blood, water, that kind of thing is cooling. And so, what she needs is, if I nourish her, if I hydrate her, get her to eat more fat and more animal protein, and really things like bone broth and ghee, and taking the liver pills, I'll build her blood, and that will cool her down, and those hot flashes will go right away. Anybody relate to that?

Her digestion, times when her stomach can hurt. Massage helps. She gets cramping. No diarrhea. No constipation. She has a bowel movement every day, but she does get some aches. She wakes hungry. She eats within 45 minutes, and eats throughout the day. She's thirsty. She prefers warmer room temperature. Her urine is clear. She will eat meat if she craves it, but she lost weight over the last year without trying. She eats. She doesn't deprive herself. I asked her about her thyroid, and she said it was fine upon blood work. Whenever I hear that, I'm always like, “Mm-mm (negative). I need to see the labs.” Because fine for some doctors, is not fine in a functional world. So, I said, “I want to see the labs.” Her progesterone was low. We talked about thyroid antibodies. I brought that up to her right away because I suspected maybe there was some Hashimoto's. Let's see, her periods were October, December, and then March. That was it. And she feels like she did see ovulation signs and symptoms.

So, then I saw her again, three weeks later. She was getting hot at night instead of cold. Not freezing as much. So, her body temperature just seemed like it was getting warmer. She's the bone broth. She increased the meat. A major change in energy. So, since increasing the animal protein, specifically red meat-based protein, good quality, pasture raised. She already ate a ton of vegetables. I didn't have to really change much there. I just needed to increase this red meat, the bone broth, and the red meat. Major change in her energy. Feels alert and stronger. She hasn't seen signs of ovulation at this point. We talked about the MTHFR mutation, which because at this point, I also looked into her prenatal, and she was on still something with a mix of folic acid and methylfolate, so I had her switch entirely. So, we talked about getting progesterone tested in the cycle to then determine when she's ovulating

Let's see. Her melasma was also changing. She had had some melasma around her cheeks and everything. Then, let's see, next visit, slight tired the next day. I put her on Chinese herbs. At this point, now she's like cycle day 30, or so. She has a slight dull ache in her lower abdomen, but then she said “Maybe I store my emotions in there. Maybe it's nerves.” And no positive OPK, yet. Let's see. Definitely less cold at night. Possibly getting warmer. Dreams. Oh, yes. Sleep is good. Dreams are less lately, because she would have a lot of dreams, like a lot of anxious, anxiety type of stuff.

Four, seven, so exactly, yeah, almost exactly 30 days after her last period, she saw egg white cervical mucus. So, we're going to have another pretty decent cycle here. It feels tight in the lower abdomen, kind of always not cramping. So, remember she seen me kind of regularly for acupuncture. Probably two to three times a month, which is what I had recommended in the beginning that until I started to establish a cycle, I want to see them regularly, and then I could push it back. A lot going on in her life. So, this is where we start to unpack more of the emotional stuff. She's got a lot of anxiety because she's feels really spread thin. So many people need her. She's got all these clients. She's just busy, busy, busy. A lot of demands on her time, and a lot of anxiety.

So, that's also another thing. Like it was partly her diet, but emotionally she was so drained, and she was just giving so much, and we say that's how you can deplete your spleen, which then your spleen is the organ that takes the nutrition from your food to build your blood. And so, if your spleen is compromised because you're just giving of yourself all the time, and not taking time for you, you will also be blood deficient. And so her spleen was very weak, and her heart pulse was always very weak. So, we started talking more about … And this is kind of how I work. Once I get to know somebody, then I start to really unpack the emotional piece, and so I don't know if you guys see yourself in this, but it was diet, and it was emotional. These are two definite huge changes. But already, just with some slight changes, we're going to have a 40-some odd-day cycle. I think that's pretty decent for first round.

About a week later, she feels like she's gained some weight, which she was happy about. She was busy doing a lot of work. Let's see. She's on her bone broth, on her herbs. She feels pre-menstrual, and she did. She got a period on 4/28, so that was 3/11 to 4/28. That was a pretty decent cycle. I was very happy about that. As the first month I'm working with this girl. Her previous cycle was a 90-day cycle. I basically cut her cycle length in half with just one month of acupuncture, diet changes, herbs. One month, we cut the cycle in half. Cramps, but didn't need to take anything. Cycle, day one, she soaked a pantyliner and filled a tampon. That is increase for her. Then it got even heavier overnight. She used an overnight pad. Cycle day two, medium for her. Soaked her panty liners. Cycle day three, they were all bright red. So, she felt so positive and inspired by that because it was a really positive change.

May. She was, May 8th, so a week later. Let's see, 4/28 to 5/8, so 10 days into her cycle. Cycle day 11, feeling good. Her energy so much better. She then starts Mayan abdominal massage, which I had recommended as well. So, she saw the Mayan abdominal masseuse one time. Then I see her on cycle day 20. She had done the Maya massage. She also did a vaginal steam, and she thinks she's ovulated on cycle day 18 or 20, and they try that month. So this was the first month we're going to try, because now she was feeling really confident in her body. She felt crampy, has been doing her massage. She's taken her herb, she's taken, now she's added in her Baby and Me every other day.

Let's see. And then works stuff is really going well for her too, and she feels like she's managing it well. So, let's see, you guys tuning in here? What is your feeling on bone broth capsules versus the liquid? I would definitely do the liquid. Obviously the capsules are a good second, but if you can do the liquid, that's the best. Okay. Then I see her on cycle day 29. She tested for ovulation again, which … Let's see, I'm trying to see. Okay, so then we get another period, so we're not pregnant here, but again, we had another, we had a 43-day cycle. So again, we kind of still cut it in half, and at this point, what does she say? Oh, then I didn't see her for a while. I think she was traveling. So, I see her or mid-June. Possibly saw ovulation last week. It was the most mucous she's ever seen. She's feeling slightly crampy. Breast tenderness. And then she does, she gets a period 10 days later. Is that right? Yeah. So she has a period again on 6/28. I'm just missing … Yeah, so that was actually an even shorter cycle. So, then we got like I think in the 39-day cycle, so I think we went 90-something then 40-something, then 40-something than 30- something.

And what did she see? Medium cramping, but overall still a good healthy flow. It was about the same as the time before. She started also temping at this point. She felt like she was on the colder side. Yeah. I'm just looking at my notes. Want to see. Okay. Let's see. Now we're regularly cycling. So, we see another cycle day 25 ovulation this month. Temps are still high. She doesn't get pregnant that month. Then she tells me they're going to not try because her husband was traveling. And so, at this point, I say to her too, because her temps were still on the colder side, and it wasn't necessarily shifting up, like we were having 25-day ovulations, which I still think is healthy, but I brought back up the thyroid thing, and so she found another doctor who actually did look deeper into her thyroid issue. I'm trying to see. Dr. Hugh Melnick is his name, on 91st and 3rd. He wanted to do an HSG on her, and a complete thyroid panel. And, I'm trying to see where that went.

So, this is now, now we're a couple months later. So, we're doing everything. Periods are getting heavier. We're ovulating kind of consistently at like 25. Work has been super stressful. So in December, we go to this, RE, I want to make sure we're looking at her thyroid, and that she does a sonogram. She does an HSG. Let's make sure everything else is still working in here. HSG is all clear, finds a cyst on her ovaries. Let's see. Okay. So then, the thyroid, he notices that, I think it was her free T3 was really low, and so he puts her on a mixed thyroid medication. That's T3 and T 4. I think he put her on Cytomel. And all of a sudden, then we get … Because this was … Then all of a sudden we start getting closer to like a 21/22-day ovulation. So, January-

Let's see. Cycle day four. Let's see. Cramping at the moment. BBT, ovulation, pulses feel very full. I said, “We'll test on Sunday.”

Yeah. And so she had started 30 milligrams-

… one a day, of pig thyroid hormone of Armor. Sorry. And goes in for monitoring tomorrow. So, now this is, because he discovers that there's still a thyroid issue, so basically I regulated her cycle well enough. Right? I got her to like a 39-day cycle, 38-day cycle. We're doing herbs, the acupuncture, the diet, and then, but we're still not kind of budging on moving it up even closer. So I was like, “Let's just look at that thyroid again.” 3T3 is low, the RE, everything else looks crystal clear. He's like, “You should be able to get pregnant naturally.” I think I just have to regularly … He doesn't even really see major signs of PCOS at this point. So, her PCOS is technically gone. He sees one cyst on her ovaries, not like a whole band of cysts. And so, he says, “Let's try this, this Armor thyroid. See what happens.”

And then, I suggested, because she was getting anxious, because this point now they probably tried for like six or seven months, and she's not conceiving, and so I said, “Why don't you see if he'll just do monitoring for you? So, just see that you're ovulating, and get the confidence there too.” I see this all the time with girls. If you can get someone to monitor you, just so you could see that really healthy, juicy follicle. And so, she goes in, sees a 19-millimeter follicle on ultrasound today. Feeling crampy, slight cervical mucus, have sex Friday and Saturday, was wet this morning. On meds, definitely have even more energy, and … Let's see. So, let's see. Covered her basis sex wise, that's 3/22, she got her period … So, not pregnant, but we had that really healthy juicy follicle.

And then, we go through another cycle just like that. We did a sperm analysis at that point. Her flow now is like, she's filling like pads every day, by the way. She is super regular. Her cycles are just consistently coming in at like 35 or so days, and then, let's see. Someone in the midst of this put her on Vitex for ovulation, and we actually then had a 63-day cycle. Just noticing my notes, and so I pulled the Vitex the next month. I said, “No more Vitex. Why did you do that?” This is the problem when you treat these health experts who also have a million other health practitioners in their life, or you guys are reading a ton of things online. So, we had a really good thing going. We were having like almost 21, 22 day ovulations and then periods, and she wasn't still getting pregnant. I understand her frustration. She went and saw another practitioner, or she read online somewhere. She started taking Vitex, and she didn't tell me about it until she had the 63-day cycle. And then she says, “Oh, I start taking Vitex.” And I said, “Okay, stop the Vitex.”

So, the next month no Vitex. She's still on herbs, taking her vitamins, taking her thyroid. She ovulated, like same time, around cycle day 19, 20. Less cold. “I'm feeling good.” Again, not pregnant. But, that time she only had sex once that cycle, so I think they missed it. So then, we go to, we're in May now. Healthy cycle so far. She's feeling good. She ovulates on cycle day 20. Had plenty of sex. She's taken her herbs, and then the next time I see her, she's six weeks and two days pregnant. So, basically from when her and I started working together-

… about a little over a year.

She wasn't trying that whole time. We worked on regulating her period, building up per blood.

Regulating her emotional state. We got her finally on some thyroid meds. She got the right care by her doctor. She found the right doctor. And she went on to have a healthy baby girl. Her thyroid level. Eight weeks, two days, so her FSH was 0.21. Her D got up to a 72. Her hemoglobin was a 12/3, which was a little low. Her progesterone was a 23. Vomited after prenatal today. Vomited three times. She was pretty sick. And then, we, 11 weeks, 20 weeks, 22 and then I kind of stopped taking some notes here, but then we went on to have a healthy baby girl.

So you can see that, perhaps that case took a little bit of time in some of your eyes, but what we really did was work on building her blood up, regulating her cycle, and then getting her the right care. She never needed fertility treatments. She needed patience, she needed time, she needed the right support, and a little bit of thyroid medication. She's still currently on thyroid medication. Baby girl came, healthy easily. She had natural, beautiful vaginal birth, and now her cycles have been completely normal and regular. So, she's never gone back to that PCOS style. She's still on a very low dose of the thyroid med, and feeling great.

So her vitamin D is in good checks-

She's doing all the right things. So do you guys have any questions about this case?

Good to see you. You're so cute. My kid is screaming for me right now. All right, so if you guys want, I have a free fertility training video series for you guys.

If you want to learn more from me-

… and it's free. It's a three-part video series with a bonus video, so you really get four videos. And if you go to aimeeaupp.com/amhvideo. It's going to opt you into the all the free video series. So aimeeaupp.com/amhvideo-

… as an anti-Mullerian hormone. AMH video. Get my free fertility training, and report back to me. Tell me how you'd like it. Okay?

I'm going to go because I have a screaming child. Love you guys. I will see you next week, on Thursday instead of Friday. We're going to go back to my Thursday Facebook office hours. I mean, sorry, Facebook Lives. And if you want more of me or you want to know how you can work with me, anything, get my books, again, I wrote a book called, Yes, You Can Get Pregnant, which this client read, changed her life. Obviously, she used a huge proponent of the work that we did.

Head over to aimeeaupp.com and you can take my fertility quiz there. You can read more Stories of Hope there. You can buy my books through there. You can learn all the ways you can work with me. I have so many workshops and programs, and then also if you want this free fertility training, go to aimeeaupp.com/amhvideo.

“I'm also a health coach, and actually going through recurrent miscarriage. I stumbled on your profile. Realized you were with Braverman. Such a small world.” Aw honey. Well, I'd send you love, and I think you're in the right hands, on Braverman and since, you are a holistic health coach, I can talk shop to you right away. You have to follow an autoimmune paleo diet. Like, 100% have to follow autoimmune paleo, or get my book Body Belief. That is a diet you need to be following. Braverman's team will do all the right blood work on you, and get you the right support, but the autoimmune paleo, and/or slash the body belief diet is where it's at for you. Okay? So send you love.

Okay guys, I'm going to hop. Ciao. All right. I'll see you guys.

***End of Transcription***

Aimee Raupp is a licensed herbalist, natural fertility expert and acupuncturist in NYC, offering natural fertility treatment, care & coaching solutions to women who want to get pregnant!  Get pregnant fast with natural fertility care, Aimee’s online fertility shop & coaching solutions.  Aimee Raupp has helped hundreds of women to get pregnant naturally! Aimee and her team are experts in Chinese Medicine, Massage & Eastern Nutrition!  Get pregnant naturally, achieve optimal health & vitality, take control of your health!  Aimee is excited to work with you at one of the Aimee Raupp Wellness Centers NYC. Aimee's Fertility Coaching Program is a personal guidance along your fertility journey. If you are trying to get pregnant naturally, this program is for you!  Aimee Raupp offers holistic, wellness and natural fertility books. Learn how to enhance your fertility and get pregnant naturally with Aimee’s cookbooks and diet guides!  Shop Aimee Raupp's natural fertility shop with online workshops, videos, consultation and coaching on fertility, meditation and healthy nutrition!

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