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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

How life style changes helped me to overcome premature ovarian failure ( POF ) - a real life infertility success story !

I got this very thoughtful email from my blog reader. Although , I do not support her view that eating organic food or doing yoga could help you conceive , I was really impressed by her detailed account. If it helps someone , inspires someone to make lifestyle changes , I would be very happy.

A word of caution - she is young and that could have made all the difference even if she is suffering from POF. Hope everyone gets lucky as she did.

Hi Manju,

I am an engineer by profession and work in the IT industry.  I am a long time follower of your blog. However,  haven’t gotten in touch with you before..The recent publication of  Sarah Marie’s post makes me write this to you. I have a tangential story to tell..

Me too a sufferer of infertility.  We have been searching for our baby luck for 9 long years and finally found our bundle of joy!. I had severe female factor infertility.  Premature ovarian failure was the diagnosis. I have had 8 failed IUI’s and 4 failed IVFs. At 28, I was told my menopause is  approaching. My AMH was very low.  I responded very poorly even to aggressive stimulation. Very few follicles . Even those follicles did not result in mature eggs. We  know very well, the pain of infertility is beyond anything that words can capture and the emotional trauma of giving up is bigger than continuing to try . Through my  struggles and fears, your blog had been a great moral support. Thank you so much!  I cried when you lost your twins, excited when you chose to have the embryo transfer yourself instead of the surrogate, delighted when you got pregnant and thanked God when beautiful Anisha was born. Indeed, I am so happy for you Manju!

 Coming back to my story, I had produced just 2 viable embryos in all those 4 IVFs combined! They too did not implant. For me, more than getting pregnant, producing a decent number of follicles itself was a huge challenge. I had one tube blocked and the other was clear. I was seriously advised to clip the other one too to prevent embryo implanting in the tubes.  

I came to know of Dr.Malpani through your blog.  I wrote to him, asking for a opinion before starting my 5th IVF. Even Doctors thought I was mad to go for one more IVF after the results I have had till then. But, I had come too far to go back. Dr.Malpani’s reply came back promptly with the treatment options ranging from aggressive stimulation to donor egg. Along with that he had prescribed some supplements and suggested to read the book “Inconceivable” by Julia Indichova. I least expected a book recommendation from an IVF specialist. I purchased the book and started reading it. It was the story of a woman who conceived naturally at the age of 42 after having been turned down by all IVF clinics. She had attributed her success to mind-body work, yoga practice, supplements,  some traditional medicines and a diet that included raw fruits and vegetables. The same list that was bashed and called as quackery in Sarah’s post. I too never took such unproven ways seriously because doctors have told me repeatedly there is nothing I can do to improve my egg quality.  Anyways, I liked the holistic approach. I  decided to try this keeping my next IVF attempt in suspension for a while. I had nothing to loose. I had already hit rock bottom 😃

I realized that I had totally started believing that my body is incapable of conceiving naturally because that’s what every Doctor  told me. I had to recover myself from that mindset first. The book helped me do that. I cannot exactly describe the process. It is about renewing one’s own connect with the body. IVF treatments had basically made me treat my body like a lifeless entity. I looked at it like an object - a place where  I let needles to be  punched in and then step aside to see if a  baby pops out. For five months I followed the suggestions in the book religiously. Grabbed every bit of information on diet that helped improve egg quality. Practiced yoga poses that  specifically help the pituitary glad.  Stopped all medications including DHEA. I saw my period length getting corrected. Getting closer to a 28 day cycle from 24 or 25 days and period blood looking healthier (It is only then, that I learnt how a healthy period blood should look like). On the sixth month I took acupuncture sessions for 20 days.I conceived my baby girl naturally the same month.  She was  born 2 months back. It was a normal delivery.  I  started approaching infertility specialists at the age of 28. I am 35 now :)

BTW, I did not pay for any other programs the author offered. It is easy to brush aside these alternative approaches  as unproven or not scientific. But, tell me  which pharma company is going to fund a research on yoga’s effect on harmonal balance. Who is going to make money  proving life style change can help in conception.  All the research happens only on the IVF drugs. It’s a race run by one man and no wonder he is the winner.  I am speaking from my experience.  My case may not stand scientific probing. I don’t have a  degree in biology. I am just an engineer. I am sharing my experience for  it might help someone out  there with a condition like mine. I just want to say there is hope even after multiple IVF failures.

What changes she did ?

1. Practiced yoga for 45 mins morning and evening (mainly the poses that help with pituitary functionality  Headstands and Shoulder stands).  I had a teacher come home and teach me.

2.Took a green juice every day (wheat grass power or goose berries)

3.Changed from cooked lunch to Raw vegetable salad. Eliminated Rice and Sugar. Switched to millet based diet and organic produce.

4.Took supplements Royal Jelly, Coq10, Shatavari, Wheatgerm oil.

5.Took acupuncture sessions for 20 days straight to correct ying-yang energy balance  (Dr.’s observation was that I had immunity disorder due to stress and male energy was dominant compared to female energy).

I leave it to you if you want to publish Julia’s name or even the letter itself. You built the blog . You are free to not publish content that you don’t agree with :)  I am totally fine with whatever you choose..

If anyone wants her email ID , I will be happy to provide.

Warm Regards,

Deepa





 

Warm Regards,

Deepa

6 comments:

  1. Hi Deepa,

    My story is very similar to yours, I have tears reading your story.

    I am going through issues of secondary fertility. I have one daughter conceived naturally at the age of 30. My periods were always regular until Nov 2012. After which everything went downhill.

    I live in New York. All doctors have closed doors on me. They are said I need a egg donor to get pregnant which is the only option. I am not willing for egg donor.

    My FSH is too high about 24.Scanty to no periods no ouvlation. I have also tried Chinese herbs, acupuncture , Ayurveda herbs. Nothing worked for me.

    There is no chance of IVF or IUI as I have no eggs. Dr says I have reached menopause. I am 36 yrs old and also a poor responder to stims when they are used when FSH was below 15.

    Can I please get your email address
    ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Aditi, You can reach me at the.deepa@gmail.com

      Delete
  2. Hello , I completely agree with Deepa , and believe yoga and healthy food practice helps the body in regularizing hormones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree , but not for women with POF. Because POF has nothing to do with hormonal imbalance. PCOD is a condition which can be successfully controlled using diet and exercise.

      Delete
    2. Women with PCOD can of course conceive with life style changes.

      Delete
  3. I can be reached at th.deepa@gmail.com

    Regards, Deepa

    ReplyDelete

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