Who doesn’t love a good testimony?

Testimonies can provide inspiration, insight, and confidence in our own journey when you see someone else forging ahead on the path that you might want to. If you’ve ever wanted the most down the earth, honest, and non-biased testimony of my Functional Fertility program, then this is the one for you!

I am so excited to share with you a very special testimony because this testimony is from a dear friend of mine, Daryl. Daryl came to me about four months into her TTC journey because she just knew there had to be better answers. I am happy to announce that at the time of writing this, Daryl and her husband Jeff are now expecting in January of 2021! Needless to say, they found the answers they were seeking.

Click on their adorable picture below to see her testimony in full. I promise you, it’s worth the 43 minutes of your life to watch it. Want a quick recap? Skip down below to see what all we covered in the video and how by working together as a team, we explained her “unexplained infertility!” 

Click the picture below to view the full Youtube video.

“Unexplained Infertility”

Unexplained infertility is defined as the inability to conceive within 12 months for women under the age of 35 and within 6 months for women over the age of 35 – without any idea as to why. Unexplained infertility is a controversial diagnosis because it is a diagnosis of elimination. Your doctor has determined you do not have this, this, and this problem, and yet, you’re still not pregnant.

You’ll see me put “unexplained infertility” in quotes a lot because I have seen over and over again that it CAN BE explained through Functional Nutrition. Daryl’s story is yet another example of how we can explain “unexplained infertility” or avoid the diagnosis completely by beginning to make changes to optimize fertility before waiting for that dreaded 12 month mark (at which point, most doctors will recommend fertility treatments).  

Daryl’s Story

Daryl and her husband started to try for a baby one year into their marriage. They were young, healthy, and both focused on living a healthy lifestyle which included lots of working out, running, and making good food choices. They never anticipated that starting their family would be a problem, yet, months into their TTC journey they were still not pregnant. The thing that I love most about Daryl’s story is her ability to take action at this point. She didn’t want to just wait around for one year to be diagnosed with “unexplained infertility,” so she decided to take action now!

“I don’t see why I need to wait for one year”

As she states in her testimony, Daryl know that is she just waited around for a year she would be loosing valuable time. Not only that, but what would she even say to her doctor is she went in? Again, she was generally healthy with no underlying medical conditions, but she just felt “off.” If you’ve ever tried to explain to your doctor that you just feel “off” you know that generally you don’t leave that appointment with many answers.

Birth Control, Gut Health and Previous Food Triggers

Daryl knew from her mood swings, fatigue, and general feeling of “terribleness” during certain points in her cycle that something was off and it was likely contributed to the insult of previous birth control use (which can deplete fertility nutrients like zinc, magnesium, folate, and B12) and a severe undiagnosed intolerance to gluten for the first 20 years of her life… and she was right. We not only found that she was depleted in many nutrients, but, even the healthy foods that she was eating were not being properly broken down and absorbed because she had very low stomach acid, or hypochlorydria.

After correcting this deficiency, Daryl was able to actually utilize the minerals and nutrients from her food and supplements to replete her body in a way that would optimize her fertility.

A Shift in Priorities

Being an avid runner, Daryl knows what it means to commit to something and put in the work to make it happen. However, she was also aware that even the best intentions can sometimes sabotage our efforts. This is something I see quite often when working with women to optimize their fertility.

Daryl had the foresight and wisdom to pull back from her running and instead shift her priorities to her Fully Functional program instead of just ADDING another major commitment to her already structured running schedule. Not only did the avoid overwhelm, but also decreased cortisol (a major stress hormones that is assessed in all of my fertility clients). Excess cortisol is not something we want to be battling on a TTC journey, because well, TTC can be stressful enough!

Finding Answers in the Proper Testing

If you are new here, I highly encourage you to go back and read this blog on the advanced hormone testing that I use to dive deeper into fertility concerns. The DUTCH test (dried urine test for comprehensive hormones) is by far the best hormone test out there for anything fertility and hormone related. Unfortunately, this is not a test that you traditional doctor will recommend.

As Daryl states in the testimony, this test gave her the answers that she knew were there but no one could find! I love when she says, “no one wants to be a medical mystery.” Who doesn’t want answers?! That’s why I do what I do… because getting answers gives us something to work on, and that’s how progress is made.

I highly encourage you to watch Daryl’s interview fully. Make yourself a priority by setting out time in your busy schedule to just rest and fill your heart up with inspiration, courage, and empowerment. You deserve it.

“Working in a Functional Fertility program gave me all the tools I needed to feel like I was doing something to help us.”

– Daryl S.