It's time to change . . .

I am at a pivot point in my business and personal life, and things are going to change around here. The whole fertility space evolves over time, and I need to change with it to keep serving in the best way that I can.

Over the past few years I have been on the leading edge of holistic fertility support, but that is a tiring space to work in. Since joining Naava Carman's Fertility Support Trained group of specialists practitioners I have been part of a small, but persistent set of voices which have helped countless couples open their eyes to the poor advice and support they have received from less knowledgeable holistic practitioners, from their GPs, from their fertility consultants and from their IVF clinics.

Through my work solving some incredibly difficult cases I have built up a powerful network of specialists - phenomenal holistic practitioners (acupuncturists, Chinese herbalists, nutritionists etc), a top-of-field visceral osteopath, a top-of-field ultrasonographer, some amazing male fertility specialists, urologists, gynaecologists and endocrinologists and a handful of outstanding IVF consultants. Together we have led the way, bringing about literal miracles in some of the most difficult cases. We have openly shared our deeper understanding of the impact of male fertility, we have led the way with a more holisitic understanding of how to support egg quality in older women, the importance of microbiome testing and support and a far more nuanced understanding of issues such as low AMH. We work with our own clients, we speak on podcasts, write blogs, write countless instagram posts and have done an amazing job helping people to avoid unnecessary or unsuccessful IVF cycles.

Yet I am constantly fighting against the narrow minded approach of mainstream IVF clinics and it is exhausting. Some of the nonsense that has come my way recently . . .

• multiple IVF clinics refusing to test progesterone before FET

• men being told they have 'SuperSperm' when they have clear indicators of a semen infection if you know how to read a semen analysis properly

• regional clinics advising my clients not to engage with NK cell testing and reproductive immunology (even though we have already run the tests, seen the problem and they have a working plan ready to go).

• women in their early 30s being told they need to consider donor eggs 'because her AMH is low'

• couples being told that 'all your tests are normal, it's just Unexplained Infertility' when they should be told 'all the tests we can run are coming up blank, you need to speak to a holistic fertility expert to get a look at things from a different angle'.

All of this is fairly standard stuff for a holistic fertility expert - there is sufficient research to show people to help them to see that I am not the one spouting poor advice. It's relatively easy to keep them with me so we can get the job done.

The really exhausting cases are where we need to venture off the known paths, where there are indicators that we need to step out into the real unknown in order to make a breakthrough in a case. These cases often involve underlying infections that are more complicated than a simple case of BV or a semen infection - we are talking Lyme's Disease and viral infections such as Epstein Barr Virus or CMV. These are incredible cases to work, they always involve a team - usually a blend of medical expertise and holistic expertise - but to make our way through, I need my clients to trust me.

And sometimes that is asking too much of people.

And that is OK - it really is. It is my job to understand the nuances of a case, to put the right team into place and to support my client physically and emotionally through the journey as best I can - and that means supporting clients to make their own decisions (as long as I am sure they understand the decisions they are making!).

But it makes it very difficult for me because in these cases, sometimes the client is so focused on conception that they can't see the bigger picture. Even if conception can be achieved, getting the pregnancy all the way through to a healthy end can be more difficult as there are risks to both the pregnancy and to the health of the child. So from a practitioner perspective, it is crucial that I have the time and energy that I need in order to serve these cases properly with a view to trying to get more of these cases into a better position before conception.

For reasons best known to the Universe, I am seeing an increasing number of these more complex, multi-practitioner cases, so I need to adjust the way I work. So I am trialling the following changes:

• I will be doing more remote support where I can use my puzzle solving skills and refer on to my incredible network of fertility experts.
  

• I will be seeing less clients in my clinic for Fertility Support & Acupuncture. This means I will be more selective in who I take on and who I refer on.
  

My favourite cases to work are still the same - cases involving low AMH, male infertility, secondary infertility, previously unsuccessful IVF cases. If you would like to work with me, reach out!