There is too much misinformation in healthcare and not enough solid, scientifically valid and results oriented information available for those seeking real world solutions to their health challenges. This is especially true in regards to women’s health, and, especially fertility concerns. We will strive to answer a few of these questions from another article we have done on infertility:
- Why are new birth rates decreasing from a healthcare perpective?
- Does the healthcare provider who supports the woman wanting to establish a healthy pregnancy have access to the proper skills and training to be able to help the woman structurally, chemically and emotionally?
- If you (as a woman) have had difficulty getting pregnant, have you been able to identify if the problem is with yourself or your partner?
- Could the challenges you have with getting pregnant be due to emotional causes?
- Could the challenges you are having with getting pregnant be due to chemical causes such as a toxic liver, kidneys or colon?
- Do you have allergies?
- Is it possible that you could be allergic to the sperm of your partner?
- Are the challenges with your getting pregnant pregnant a result of your having an unhealthy thyroid? Or, could you just be extremely depleted?
- Could your difficulties with fertility be due to inadequate protein intake?
- Could your difficulties with fertility be due to undiagnosed, mysterious infections?
- Do you have a problem with heavy metal toxicity and don’t even know it?
You have to remember to put The Skolnikoff Method’s Triad Of Health at the forefront of your mind when considering any type of health concern. WHY? Because every single health concern on the planet has at least three causes: structural, chemical and emotional. The Skolnikoff Method address all of the necessary structural, chemical and emotional causes of your health concerns to bring a deep and permanent resolution to your health challenges. Going to a fertility clinic to get pregnant may not be a good idea because the fertility drugs are toxic and the Allopathic approach does not honor or respect your body’s subtle energy systems. Your body is your temple and you have to live with it your entire life. Treat it well.
Structural Examples: bones, joints, ligaments, organs, glands, hair, lymph, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, injury
Chemical Examples: air, water, food, personal care products, poisons, toxins
Emotional Examples: thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes, mind, spiritual, conflict, phobia, fear, doubt, religion, trauma
What are some of the Holistic Healthcare and also Conventional Medicine professions that can fit into these three categories?
The Conventional Medicine Medical Doctors do not have any therapies other than drugs, radiation and surgery. You may have a few symptoms go away temporarily using Conventional Medicine / Alopathic Medicine, but they will always come back if you do not address their causes. ALL OF THEIR CAUSES. All of the main root structural, chemical and emotional causes that lead to why you are having trouble conceiving. How was your birth? Did your mother ever experience postpartum depression?
Postpartum Depression
How do we begin?
We need to begin with The Skolnikoff Method Fertility Exam and Wellness Screening. This will help us to get the right starting point so we can measure our progress as we go along. Examination using The Skolnikoff Method is exceptionally effective in finding the cause of functional conditions unique to the female. The answer to the problem will often be found with the techniques discussed in other blog posts that nearly always involve four crucial aspects of healthcare that this author references below. These four crucial aspects of healthcare are often go overlooked. Could the reason that these four aspects go overlooked be a result of their simplicity?
THE FOUNDATION OF HEALTHCARE
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Water
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Protein
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Digestion
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Blood Sugar
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Relative Hypoadrenia Cause
When the woman’s endocrine system is thoroughly and completely evaluated with various tests for hypoadrenia such as the urinary Konigsberg test. We will also talk a bit about saliva labs and how they can help. They are far, far, far more accurate than blood labs when we are looking at hormone function because the majority of the active hormones travel in the lymphatic system and not in the blood.
Here’s how the Konigsberg urine test is typically performed:
Urine Collection:
You must not eat anything when you wake up on the morning of your test. YOu will be collecting a 24-hour urine sample. This provides a comprehensive measure of how well your kidneys and adrenal glands are functioning over a full day.
Analysis of Sodium and Potassium:
The primary focus of this test is to look at the levels of sodium and potassium in the urine, as the adrenal glands play a key role in regulating electrolyte balance.
Sodium: Under normal conditions, the kidneys should retain sodium in the body when the adrenal glands are functioning properly. When the adrenal glands are underactive (hypoadrenia), the body may not retain sodium effectively, leading to low sodium levels in the blood and potentially higher excretion of sodium in the urine.
Potassium: The adrenal glands also help regulate potassium levels, particularly through the action of aldosterone, which helps balance sodium and potassium. In cases of hypoadrenia, aldosterone levels may be low, leading to high potassium levels in the blood and lower excretion of potassium in the urine.
The main chemical solutions needed to perform the test are the chemical reagent Silver Nitrate (AgNO3) (titrant), Postassium Chloride (KCl) (indicator for the Mohr method), and Sodium chloride (NaCl) and also potassium chromate (K2CrO4) (sodium chloride and potassium chloride react with silver nitrate).
Interpreting the Results:
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Low Sodium, High Potassium: This pattern is indicative of hypoadrenia. When the adrenal glands are insufficient, the kidneys cannot retain sodium properly, leading to low levels of sodium in the body. The body may also be unable to excrete potassium correctly, which can result in high potassium levels.
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Normal or Imbalanced Sodium and Potassium: If the levels are normal or do not show the expected patterns, it might indicate that the adrenal glands are functioning properly, or other conditions may be contributing to the electrolyte imbalances.
Another great test… Adrenal Stress Index
Another great way to determine endocrine function from a laboratory perspective is by doing the Adrenal Stress Index from Diagnostechs. Diagnostechs is the leader in the field and their tests can be very telling. The website for diagnostechs is https://www.diagnostechs.com/
Adrenal Stress Index (ASI): Provides a comprehensive snapshot of cortisol levels over a 24-hour period, helping to assess adrenal function and stress response.
Female Hormone Panels: These can offer valuable insight into estrogen, progesterone, and other hormone levels, which are critical for fertility.
Custom Flexi-Matrix: Allows for a tailored approach by selecting a combination of saliva and other tests based on specific patient needs. You can check for estradial, progesterone, testosterone (T) and DHEA-S. Here are the tests that should be done if you want to be extra super duper thorough and complete and not miss anything under any circumstances:
Cycling Female Hormone Panel (FHP) This test is designed for women who are menstruating and trying to conceive. It involves taking multiple saliva samples throughout the menstrual cycle to assess free hormone levels. The key hormones measured should include:
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- Estradiol (E2): To assess ovarian function and follicular development. Esstrogen has many effects in the body, especially in the genital tract and accessory sexual organs, as well as general effects such as on the skeleton and on the mtabolism and deposition of proteins and fats. However, it is hard to deposit proteins and fats where your body needs them if you are not eating them! Vegetarianism and veganism is not recommended for pregnant women or those trying to get pregnant under any circumstances.
- Progesterone: To evaluate ovulation and luteal phase function.
- Testosterone: To assess for any imbalance that may affect fertility, such as high levels found in PCOS.
- DHEA-S: A marker of adrenal function, which can influence fertility.
- Cortisol: To evaluate stress and adrenal health, which can also impact fertility.
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Thyroid Panel: Thyroid dysfunction (both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism) can significantly affect fertility. This panel measures thyroid function and includes:
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- TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)
- Free T3
- Free T4
- Reverse T3 (important to assess for thyroid resistance)
- Thyroid antibodies (to check for autoimmune thyroid conditions such as Hashimoto’s)
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FSH & LH (Follicle-Stimulating Hormone and Luteinizing Hormone) Panel: FSH and LH play crucial roles in ovulation and the menstrual cycle. Imbalances in these hormones may suggest issues like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or ovarian insufficiency. These tests can help evaluate how the pituitary gland is functioning and its influence on fertility.
Male Hormone Panel (for couples trying to conceive): While not directly related to the female reproductive system, male fertility factors can also impact conception. This panel measures hormones like Testosterone, DHEA, and others that can affect male fertility. Even though it’s focused on male hormones, understanding the male side of fertility can help guide the approach to conception.
Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR): While the ASI measures cortisol levels over a 24-hour period, the Cortisol Awakening Response specifically assesses cortisol levels immediately after waking. A high or low cortisol response can indicate adrenal fatigue or dysfunction, which can disrupt the hormonal balance necessary for conception. The CAR specifically measures the changes in cortisol levels during the first 30-60 minutes after waking up. This provides you with insight into how your body reacts to stress upon awakening. The test is fabulous for evaluating adrenal function and its direct link to chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue, and mood disorders. Four cortisol tests will come in your kit when you get it. They are all taken at the beginning of the day within just one hour after waking.
You should also consider doing a Complete Blood Count (CBC), a metabolic panel, a lipid panel, and any other tests such as those tests needed to check for heavy metal toxicity and thyroid disease.
You should likely figure out what is going on with your thyroid. The thyroid extender panel is a blood lab that includes the following components:
- TPO (Thyroid Peroxidase Enzyme)
- TGA (Thyroglobulin Antibody)
- Free T-3 (active thyroid hormone – triiodothyronine)
- Free T-4 (inactive thyroid hormone – Thyroxine)
- T3 Uptake
- Free Thyroid Index (FTI)
- Thyroxine Binding Globulin (TBG)
- TSI (Thyroid Stimulating Immuglobin)
- Reverse T-3
- Glucose
- BUN (Blood Urea Nitrogen)
- Creatinine
- Uric Acid
- Sodium
- Potassium
- Chloride
- CO2
- Calcium
- Phosphorus
- Magnesium
- Total Protein (Albumin and Globulin)
- Albumin
- Globulin
- A/G Ratio (Albumin / Globulin Ratio)
- Bilirubin
- Alkaline Phosphatase
- GGT
- LDH
- SGOT
- SGPT
- Iron
- Lipid Panel
- CBC/Differential and Platelet Count
- Urinalysis
Here is a nice little chart for you of some of these lab values that should be considered and INTERPRETED properly by someone with the proper skills and training to actually help you. Those skills and training that I am referring to will go far, far beyond basic functional medicine. You most likely desperately need The Skolnikoff Method to have the secrets of a healthy and happy and successful pregnancy and child… the secret to a better life. Your thyroid labs should be within these ranges and not the ranges shown in your actual lab work.
If you are immune challenged or autoimmunity challenged and have lots of extra money and free time then you could consider getting these labs done as well to check for any exotic immune system challenges that did not show up in other lab work. I really don’t know that this is absolutely necessary, but many of my patients have asked a great deal of questions about lab work over the years so here you go…
Often the disturbance to your fertility is in a remote system or function such as recurrent bladder infections. You need to consider the interactions of the endocrine system. Do you have a leaky gut and not even know it and don’t even have any gut related symptoms? Do you experience constipation? Diarrhea? These types of questions are what The Skolnikoff Method is so fantastic at answering. Discovering the answers to these questions is what we have been helping many of the local functional medicine doctors with doing for their patients.
If your adrenal glands are depleted, you will end up getting nourishment from your own baby’s adrenal glands during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. This would likely lead to your baby ending up with hypoadrenia. Hypoadrenia results in conditions such as severe allergies, asthma, failure to thrive, possibly autism and autism spectrum disorders among other problems.
Adrenal problems can be behind a lot of female health concerns such as Amenorrhea (loss of your regular monthly cycle) or Dysmenorrhea (an irregular cycle). A major cause of these difficulties may be something as simple as not eating enough protein. Remember the Foundation Of Healthcare. The best source of cholesterol is animal protein from animals that walk or fly and less so from animals that swim. You also need the nutrients needed to metabolize the protein into all of its different metabolic pathways that lead to the main steroid hormones: the estrogens, androgens, pregnenolone, progesterone, cortisol, aldosterone and other mineral corticoids. See the image below to understand a little bit more about the production of these vital sex and longevity hormones. As you can see, the rate limiting factor is cholesterol and Niacin (B3). But you also will likely need other nutrients. Because estrogen and progesterone and LH and FSH are so important to pregnancy and healthy fertility, consider the cofactors to make these substances to be just as important…as are proteins and fats and healthy carbs. Vitamins A, C, E, B5, Folate, and Zinc are key nutrients as are Vitamin D which is not shown here. Vitamins A, D, E and K are all fat soluble nutrients and cholesterol is a sterol which is very, very, very similar to as fat. Choline and inositol are also of utmost importance to help balance sympathetic and parasympathetic activity.
Do you see in this biochem chart how important Vitamin B5 is in the production of not just cortisol but also in the production of Acetyl Choline which is crucial to healthy sympathetic and parasympathetic balance and heart health.
Now that you have begun the never ending journey of looking into some of these sex and longevity steroid hormones that come from the adrenal cortex, wouldn’t it make sense to also consider the other part of the adrenal gland from whence they come? The other part of the adrenal gland is known as the adrenal medulla. Here is the biochemical pathway showing the catecholamines that are metabolized with various nutrients primarily in the adrenal medulla .
You can see from this biochemical pathway above that adrenal gland hormones from the adrenal medulla and thyroid hormones (related to dopamine but different) are very similar. The function and health of the adrenal glands are intimately related to that of the thyroid. They are a lot like two brothers. They are both stress glands that help with stress hormone production.
Wait just a minute, could it be possible that you have a toxic liver and that is leading to your difficulties with metabolism of sugars and fats and these sex and longevity hormones? This is very possible. About 60% of the conversion of T4 to T3 takes place in the liver. If your liver is toxic, you will have major difficulties metabolizing thyroid hormone. Unhealthy thyroid means difficulty or even impossibility of getting pregnant. The other area of concern we see in the image is your digestion. If you have a leaky gut, dysbiosis, or other digestive challenges. This affects approximately 20% of your active thyroid hormone production from Thyroxine (T4). Thus, if you have a gut problem that could be a major cause of your inability to get pregnant as well. The most common challenges that people have with their gut are infections: mold, yeast, fungus, candida, parasites, viruses, virons, bacteria, mycoplasma, spirochetes, amoebas, chimera virus, bioweapon infection, lyme, etc. It is entirely possible that you could have both challenges with liver congestion and digestive problems. After all, if you have stasis of your bile or overly thick bile (bile is produced in your liver), then this can lead to constipation or headaches or other difficulties that would absolutely have a negative impact on the ability to digest and get nutrients from the food you eat.
If you follow a food pyramid like this one below, the huge amount of complex carbs shown eaten daily would cause your cortisol levels to rise. High cortisol levels is one of the major causes of hypothyroidism. Be careful of what you are eating and drinking and breathing and coming into contact with and breathing. I discuss this Old Medicine Food Pyramid and other important topics about fertility in The Skolnikoff Method New Medicine For A New You: Inflammation Solutions Handbook.
It would be much better for you to follow a healthy food plan like the New Medicine Food plan I suggest in The Skolnikoff Method. To be honest with you, even this New Medicine Food Pyramid could be edited a bit to include far fewer fruits and berries and nuts. Plus, it would be better to leave out the mushrooms. No fungus – thank you very much. I don’t think we need the processed pork or hot dogs either.
Do you think we should offer more blog posts like this one? Let us know in the comments or contact us directly at (415) 459-4313 at the office. You may possibly be able to text us at (415) 707-5865. If it is your lucky day you should also be able to reach us Toll Free at 1(866) 849-5752.
