I don’t normally run guest posts on this blog. But this topic is very close to my heart and my mate Kate Callaghan and I have been talking about this issue together for a while. She recently emailed to share she’d become pregnant only 15 months after being told she was infertile and kids were a pipe dream. I’ve watched her systematically shift her reproductive health one change at a time, and have implemented many myself, too. I always promised that whoever proved the doctors wrong first would have to share their tale of victory on my blog, since I know many of you here reading this are in the same “barren” boat.
Kate, bravo to you and congratulations…over to you…
A few years ago, I lost my period. I was diagnosed with a condition called hypothalamic amenorrhea, which basically meant that my brain had stopped communicating with my ovaries, thus halting my menstrual cycle and ovulation. Why? Because I was a stressed-out, over-exerciser and under-eater. You can read more about that here and here.
I was infertile, and I was told by many doctors that I would be unable to conceive naturally and should commence assisted reproductive technology.
The thing is, I’m pretty stubborn, and when someone tells me I can’t do something, I will go out of my way to prove them wrong. Plus, I intuitively knew that my body was capable of healing itself – it just needed a little time and TLC. Fifteen months after implementing some pretty significant changes, my husband and I conceived naturally. Here’s how I reversed my infertility:
1. I quit cardio
As a group fitness instructor who taught Body Attack, Body Step and Body Pump for a living, this was a tough one. I was doing at least one hour of cardio every day, sometimes up to three hours. I loved the endorphin hit these classes would give me,