How working with naturopath Charmaine D healed my fertility and supported me conceiving my first baby
When I first found naturopath Charmaine D, I was hoping to heal my skin issues that had been exacerbated by my stopping the oral contraceptive pill after being on it for over a decade. Primarily, I was concerned about my skin. However, I had heard a little bit about the body’s inability to regulate its hormones after being on the pill for such an extended period of time and was curious to see if a naturopath could support me through that.
I wasn’t ready to try for a baby three years ago when Charmaine and I met, but I knew becoming a mother was a desire of mine in the not too distant future and thought it best to figure out what my fertility looked like after the pill now, rather than wait until I was ready to conceive.
Charmaine’s extensive knowledge on women’s health, reproductive health, and hormones was crucial to unpacking the complex nature of what female contraception does to you and your body. From her holistic approach of understanding the ‘why’, Charmaine and I worked through years of my health history and we deduced that I started the pill only a few months after getting my first period due to the irregularity of them. As a fifteen year old, having irregular periods was the absolute worst thing to have ever happened to me. Because of how early I started the pill in my fertility development, Charmaine found that I hadn’t let learnt to ovulate. It is common for your body to ovulate much later than your first period, and because of how the oral contraceptive pill works, my body was never given the opportunity to learn how. This meant, when I stopped the pill at twenty seven years old, I had never once ovulated in my life.
Through questions, testing, tracking my cycle, and understanding the female reproductive system, Charmaine was able to find the problem with my fertility without me even realising there was a problem. Using food as medicine, supplements at specific parts of my cycle, intense tracking and time, I began to have regular periods and ovulate from one ovary. This meant I was ovulating every other month. This was huge progress and helped motivate us to continue our health journey. Not too long after this, I started ovulating every month and my cycles went from 35 days to a perfect and regular 28 days. Throughout this time, I suffered from extreme period pain and discomfort – something I never experienced on the pill. But, after about a year of work and following my protocol correctly, my pain and discomfort left as I became more regular.
Basically, Charmaine taught my body how to ovulate and experience a proper menstrual cycle naturally, after the oral contraceptive pill had blocked that development from happening for me. Fast forward a couple of years, and my husband and I were ready to try for a baby. As I had been tracking my cycle so closely for so long, I was aware of when my fertility window was and when best to conceive. We were extremely fortunate to conceive our son the first time we tried. And although I am acutely aware of the privilege I have because of that, and that not everyone is following the same fertility journey, I also truly believe that the ease at which we fell pregnant was due to the years of work Charmaine and I put into my fertility before I started trying for a baby.
Because of Charmaine’s approach of supporting her clients from the first day she meets them throughout their entire health journey, Charmaine recognised my fertility struggles before I even knew I had them, and ensure I was on the right track to becoming a mother. So many facets of my health have been healed and supported by Charmaine throughout our collaborative time together and I know that she is a huge advocate for me, my health, and my own education on my health.
Without Charmaine I wouldn’t be able to be a mother, and there is no greater gift she could have given me. To find a life-long health advocate and partner in your health journey, contact Charmaine D to see how she can help you and start learning how you can support yourself.