Navigating Fertility with Dr. Susan Fox

Welcome to the Wellness Sherpa Podcast, where we engage with passionate leaders, holistic thinkers and disruptors who courageously share their personal journey, mission and wisdom with you. Together, we create a safe space to empower you to live your best, most vital life. Thanks for being here. Well, hello everyone. I am thrilled to be here with Dr. Susan Fox today. She is a doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture. And our topic today is fertility. Yeah, and this is an important topic especially I continue to see articles that our fertility numbers are declining. And so I want to get into that and what folks can do to address some of these and where it's coming from, what's causing it. So I think Elon Musk has been very vocal that our fertility numbers are declining rapidly. And you and I had a brief conversation about environmental, so would love to turn it over to you and if you could share a little bit more about your background and how you came into this and then we'll get into the topic of fertility.

Happy to. Thank you so much for having me. It's a delight to be here. I am Dr. Susan Fox. I'm a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the San Francisco Bay area. And I've been working in the field of fertility for about 23 years. So I've watched this progression question of increasing infertility. I actually challenge the word infertility and I use the term sub fertility because I think infertility sounds irreversible, whereas most of the time it is, it is quite able to be improved if not reversed. We do have, you know, come some scary statistics out now where, where one in five people of reproductive years are determined to have some level of infertility. And I want to have the conversation about let's take care of this so that by the time you say it's go time, you've done the things to be able to not be one of those statistics. My, my deepest wish is to reverse this con, this trend so that, you know, five years from now people have done the things they need to do to have healthy bodies, healthy minds and spirits, healthy babies. And then, you know, future generations will also be benefiting from it as well.

Fabulous. And can you share more? What are the fertility years?

Because so pretty much, I mean, obviously from. From the start of your menstruation, so it so early right through to menopause and or perimenopause. We. That's where a lot. So, so anywhere from, you know, typically it'll be in someone in their 20s through their early 40s or mid-40s, that, that are, you know, wanting to have, have babies. You know, again, it's possible for someone younger to have babies, but it's not, it's not healthy for them. Not. I find that it is women who are in their, you know, mid to late 30s to early 40s, that because they've gone through school, work, relationships and, and all of a sudden they're, they're now at a point where they're saying, okay, I do want to have a family, so it's time to, to take a look at this. And that's when they find themselves on their heels. Because for all the years they were on contraception, for all the years they thought they were so lucky because they weren't getting a period for whatever reason, it's it, you know, back for them to really take a look at so painful periods which can, you know, be an endometriosis kind of thing. So my goal is to have this conversation with people as, as young as possible long before you want to have kids. I mean, if I could, if I could just go into every college and say now is the time to attend to your fertility while you're, you know, having your contraception. So that, so that when you say it's go time, you are as healthy as can be and can successful pregnancy, successful, you know, healthy baby and postpartum.

Yeah. So what are some things that young women can do to start preparing their bodies and everything? Right. Because it's all connected.

Absolutely. So yeah, as we were saying a little bit ago, a lot of the problems in my observation have to do with the toxic load that we suffer with every day. And some of it is, is environmental, some of it is our personal care products and, and our, you know, soaps and shampoos and toothpaste and all of that. Some of it is the level of nutrition that we're taking in. So these are little tweaks that we can make, you know, and make significant improvement. For instance, if we just eat organic, reducing the pesticide load, that's going to make a marked improvement if we switch out our, our, our home cleaning products so that we're not having scented this and you know, infused that we will not be breathing and touching and putting then to our eyes and mouth these chemicals that are forever chemicals, if we choose, you know, the natural fibers of cotton, silk and so forth. And then we're not, for instance, lying on sheets for 8 hours with formaldehyde running through our bloodstream because those wrinkle resistant sheets, guess what makes them Wrinkle resistant or your clothing, it's, it's toxins. So these are the kind of things that someone can do. Obviously we are, we are beings who are meant to move and are in. Our lifestyle has become what I call a Zoomie Zumbi land. So, so I, so, you know, make, make an effort to, you know, mark off your calendar so that you can get up and move and put your face to the sun so that you're also, you know, doing either your blue light blockers or you're turning off devices for at least an hour before bedtime so that you can get better sleep, better circadian flow. Because how you fall asleep affects how you wake up. How you wake up affects how you fall asleep. And it can become either a downward spiraling cascade or can be really helpful in that natural, healthy detoxification process that occurs every night if we let it.

Right. And I love that because so many of the things you mentioned, Dr. Susan, are, you know, they're free, right? Getting outside. I love morning sunlight, getting outside in the morning sun. Sunscreens are very toxic if you start. You know, I'm a big person who reads labels. And when I started reading labels on sunscreen, I said something like, I can't pronounce 90. That's on here. Something's not right.

Exactly.

So I started delving into that rabbit hole and looking at seed oils and how that affects us. And so, so many things. Right. But there are so many things we can do, just getting out and walking, getting out in the sun, that actually support our immune system, releasing toxins from the body and the whole thing. So I think that's really important because it doesn't have to be an expensive journey to clean up our.

Exactly.

So that'd be an intentional one.

Exactly. And, and really, it, it does not have to adversely affect your activities of daily living. Right. You can still be social, have a social life. This doesn't mean go into a bubble and, you know, and be pristine. It's just that make every little change one makes that is healthful has an exponential benefit, beneficial effect. And then when someone's getting closer to, yep, it's go time, I would like to have a baby, then there are more targeted things we can do then it really is say, okay, you've been, you know, hopefully you've been doing all the right things. Your cycle is now kind of feeling healthy and normalized. But you know, sometimes our, even our organic food of the soils aren't necessarily going to give us all the nutrients we need for Gestating. So getting the right supplements, it's a wild wild west out there. So please don't just go get it off, you know, some large platform which name will remain unnamed, which you never.

Know what you will get from that large. Large.

Exactly. Because you and I could have a store, collect a bunch of supplements, store them, improperly sell them and, and the person who's buying them is taking really more toxins, more. They're, they're, you know, denatured, they're not providing the nutrients that one needs. And so you know, get, get your information from a, a trusted resource from someone who really is expert in the field. There are a lot of people who say oh, I'm expert in fertility and it's makes me cringe a little bit. I wish they were that. There are a lot of people who just wish they were and claim to be and really don't have the background, the education to really understand how to best help someone. Yes.

No, I love that. And you know, I'm curious about something so contraceptive. There is, you know, I've read both sides of the story. What is your, your perspective on contraceptive and how it impacts fertility or sub fertility? Yeah. And you know, what would you recommend to a, you know, 16 year old woman who's you know, at that age where her, her cycle may be causing some cramps. That seems to be a common reason that women, young women start to, to take contraceptives. Just curious about that.

Yeah, well certainly that would be the woman who I would, the young woman who I would say no, contraception is really not the answer for cramps. You know, there are other things that can be done and one might want to find out what's causing the cramps because it could be again that she is having some, you know, low, low grade endometriosis where that, where she's at a time and an age where she could reverse that. So I would say, you know, contraception for not conceiving. I, you know, I can understand that. You know, so, and, and we are built to clear this provided that we're not on it for you know, 25 years. Because that will change our hypothalamus, pituitary, ovarian, hormonal communication, it kind, it really inter that that natural rhythm and conversation that our bodies are trying to have each, each cycle. So but, but when it's, when it's four issues that really can be resolved healthfully, then I'd say, you know, please don't choose contraception. That, that's, that's really not, that's not the, that's not the point of, of these, these pills. Right? Yeah.

So that's, that's really, I think that's great, great advice. And where we talked a little bit about the five elements. So Ye, can you share about what that is and how it, how it, how we can work with it?

Yes, sure. Thank you. I love talking about this. So, you know, especially in the realm of fertility, you know, I can draw from very different theories of Chinese medicine, but I love the five element model because I think it resonates with a person because it includes the physical, physiological symptoms, but it also includes the mind body, which I think is so missing in, in the conversation of fertility. People are running off to get their fertility treatments and they're suffering inside. And that suffering, that mind body connection is almost having an adverse effect, you know, overriding some of the, some of the medications because it's increasing stress. So the five element model claims that we are elements, we are nature. And it has taken aspects of, of our minds and bodies and said, you know, there are patterns that really help us understand our constitution, if you will. So for instance, there is the wood element. The wood element in Chinese medicine governs what we call the liver organ system. And so it has to do with growth, reproduction and aging process. And it's, but it's creativity. It's that, that, that impulse in us that says, I want learn how to play the piano or I'm going to hike the Camino Alto. It's that it. Or I've, or I've got a, a novel that I want to write. So it's usually a creative process. And when that creative process is suppressed or repressed, we can get depressed and we get what we call liver Qi stagnation. But when you think about that creative energy it wants to express, so our reaction is that we will get maybe road rage, PMS because there's too much energy that's not allowed to flow as it wants to and needs to. And so we have, you know, procedures and recommended dietary adjustments that will help open that flow of G. That's the term we use for, for energy. And so, so that that wood element can flow just by comparison. Another element, for instance, would be the water element. I won't go through all five because I think it might be tedious for the listeners. Element has to do with our, our hormonal system. It, it's, it is our kidney organ system in Chinese medicine. And we say it really governs growth, reproduction and aging through the hormones. And so the, the, the water element person, if she is, if she is in harmony, she's really got this in touch, she's in touch with her innate wisdom. You know, she really can trust her instincts and her, her knowing. And if she's not feeling in, in balance, well then her, her hormones will go out of balance for sure but emotionally she'll feel a little bit more of that dread, fear, when is the other shoe going to drop that, that thing that really affects our adrenals, thus again hormones. So we want to help her with this sort of nourishing her, this, this kidney energy so that, so that she can also get back into balance. And that would be, you know, again a lot of this has to do with nutrition, hydration, proper supplementation, activities of daily living. So we would treat those two individuals slightly differently. We have all of the aspects right. We're not, we're human beings, we have all of, all of the elements but we tend to recognize ah, I've got, I'm kind of predominantly one or the over another. Yeah.

So I was just going to ask. So like we're right handed or left handed? We have a preference. Right. And so how do we get out of balance? How does that happen?

Well, life, you know, we, it is, it is a constant practice if you will discipline to sort of stay imbalanced. That's why even in the, most of the ancient medical models include things like qigong, tai chi, meditation, yoga, because these are ways of living in the world that remind us that we are more than you know, our, our frontal cortex. And so things like that that will help us get back into balance. And once again it's shifting to the proper food groups and nutrition and like that. So you know, whereas somebody may need perhaps more of the orange vegetable kind of food and with lots of beta carotene and vitamin A and the more warming spices, someone else may need a little bit more salty food to help nourish, nourish her body so that things are getting better so that her, you know, her electrolytes are better. Imbalance.

So how would one go about finding out what is imbalance and out of balance?

Well, well, what a perfect question. I do. I actually have designed a quiz. It's called your fertility quiz.com and it, and it governs, you know, it goes through fertility related questions but it also asks questions like, you know, the state of one's mind and spirit and, and, and one's food preferences or flavor preferences. And then the results will, will assign, you know, like oh, this, you are predominantly a Wood element. Here is what that means. Here is where you might go out of balance. These are the foods and, and such that, that will help put you back into balance, and these are the activities that might put you back into balance. So once again, that, that wood element person, I would say she probably is good to shake it off. You know, she's got a lot of energy. She wants to do the dance party in her living room. The, the kidney person would need to do a little bit more restorative, maybe walks in nature, things that aren't going to be quite so taxing because she's feeling a little deficient. So your fertilityquiz.com is a good place to start.

I love that. And is that for men and women? So it's for women. Okay. For women.

I, I consider doing it for men as well, but it would then become so cumbersome. What I will say is men have the elements as well. So, you know, aside from the fact that we're focusing on female reproduction in the, your fertilityquiz.com quiz, you know, a male can take it and say, oh, well, you know, actually I see myself in, you know, in some of these other areas of, of inquiry, like, you know, how's my sleep and am I more prone to anger irritability or am I more prone to feeling dread or am I more prone to feeling manic?

Right, okay, fabulous. Because I believe that testosterone levels continue to drop as well. Right? Yes, yes, yes. And so is that also. Same thing, the environment, the toxic load.

It is, it is. You know, you'll see the reactive oxidative species in the seminal fluid in the semen of men. And so that then therefore will have an effect on their hormonal communication and, and they'll become more estrogenic. They might even get, you know, kind of breast buds and, and their, and their testosterone will lower my caution to a person who, who, a man who might, who might be having these kind of symptoms is, is don't go run out and get testosterone.

Right?

Because if you want to reproduce, taking exogenous testosterone will, will downregulate your ability to produce. So you'll feel better, you might get some muscles again, but are not going to be able to produce sperm because they're missing the testosterone. So there are medications that the fertility special specialist doctors can give for that. But, but I, I see too often that people come in saying, well, I'm taking testosterone and still having trouble with my, with my semen analysis. And I'm kind of like, yeah, yeah.

You'Re like, yes, I know, I understand why. Uh huh. Yeah. You know, we're in this interesting age where you have access to all kinds of information and you've got to sift through it because some it's accurate, some of it's not. And I think Dr. Google is a blessing and a curse, right?

Absolutely.

Because there's a lot of, I see it in my clinic of folks who read something and they start taking a supplement that they've bought at a big box place and it's, it's full of heavy metals. It's, you know, it's not what it says it is. And they get worse, not better.

Exactly, exactly. And sometimes it is a supplement that your best friend used and, and had success with, but you're not your best friend's physiology. So it could, you could be taking something that is absolutely wrong for you to take and could be worsening the picture in terms of, you know, regulating your cycle.

So how do you work in your practice?

I, I have a private practice. Yeah, I have a private practice here in the Bay Area. But I also have designed a course so that people don't have to make appointments. You know, like crazy, we're all running around far too much for, for appointments. It's the, the, the, the website is called healthuniversity.comnot.com and university is spelled Y O U. I'll forward, I'll send you the, the links. Okay.

That would be fabulous.

Yeah, I designed three courses. One is kind of like the, the Cadillac if you will, the premiere. Because if somebody is like, okay, I wanted to get pregnant yesterday and I'm struggling, then there's more that circulation using infrared and using a TENS unit to really, really drive blood flow. And then it of course includes qigong and mind body, you know, guided imagery and nutrition recommendations. Then if someone says, well you know, I want to do it someday. This is the person who again, if I could go into every college, she, you know, she can just do the mind body, she can do the qigong, she can do the nutrition. She doesn't have to do this targeted circulation at this point. She, she'll probably, you know, self regulate. And then if someone says forget about the mind body, I don't believe any of that stuff, then, then we have just the nutrition component as well. So, so that, you know, there are different tiers that someone can choose from. I would say that if somebody is choosing that, you know, wanted to get pregnant yesterday and, and needs to do the targeted circulation component, I, I require a, an assessment, a conversation because there are folks for whom it might not be appropriate. If they are having some kind of cellular proliferative condition or if they've got metal in their body, then you know that this may not be right for them. The other courses you can just take because, you know, we all, we all benefit from, well, from mind body with guided imagery with binaural beats. Fantastic Qigong videos. Fantastic.

Yes, absolutely love that. And I'm assuming you also use acupuncture?

In my private practice, I use accurately in your course. And then the research is there. And these protocols with the infrared and the TENS unit, they call it teas, Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation. They are. It's acupuncture without needles. It's acupoint stimulation. We've taken traditional acupuncture research and extrapolated and design protocols that will have the same effect without having to run off to an appointment. So you can just, in the comfort of your own home, you know, have a little downtime and have the infrared or, and, and, or have the, the TENS unit working for you.

I love that. And so you can do it six.

Days a week as opposed to one or two days a week. And of course, you know, within it, it is much more than, than two times the benefit is about ten times the benefit because it's, it's something that really just, you know, it increases our, our blood flow and the, and the health of our, our organs and tissues down to the level of our ovaries and uterus.

Yeah. That's amazing. And I assume, you know, as you're talking, that doing all these things when you're younger helps you go through menopause and everything else in a much easier.

Right.

Because your body is now in, aligned to nature in the flow. The elements are all aligned, working together. And I would imagine, like things would be so much simpler.

Without a doubt. Without a doubt. This is not just, you know, a, A, a moment in time, discreet from anything else. We are, we are continuing our life. And so, you know, what we do now will affect our reproductive health from fertility through perimenopause through menopause.

Yeah, menopause does not have to be hard. Right.

I couldn't agree more.

Yeah, I see that a lot as well. So what are three things that, you know, let's say a young woman who is, you know, considering, you know, pregnancy in the next two to three years. What would be the three most important things? I know you've provided a lot, but where would you guide somebody regardless of whether they believe in mind, body, what's the most important to, to start preparing themselves.

Sure. I would say the most important is, is our nutrition. Right. So get rid of, get rid of non organic, especially the Dirty Dozen. You know, we've got our clean 15 dirty dozen. If, if, if eating organic is, is problematic for, for you, then at least don't eat those items. And you can just Google Dirty Dozen there. All kinds of charts will pop up. Stay well hydrated. Where you know, we are water and so it is water that will flush our cells and, and, and so we're oftentimes having fluids but we're not having water and, and we need to replenish our electrolytes. Again. This toxic load takes a toll on our, on our minerals in our body. So either purchasing some electrolytes to add to your water or a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of Celtic sea salt and you've got your, you know, your potassium and your sodium right there. That which will be helpful then also attending to, you know, your proper sleep wake cycles. Get those electronic devices off at least an hour before it's bedtime. Bedtime ideally would be between 10 and 10:30, so you're asleep by 11. The Chinese medicine clock does outline 11 to 7 as the important time frames for the organs to detoxify. And we know this in Western medicine as well. So, so, so nutrition, hydration, proper sleep, hygiene and I, I think I would also say, well, socialization, right? We are, we are, we are meant to be social. It, it, it and, and a woman, a person who is going through fertility struggle tends to be more isolated. So you know, kind of get your team, your, your friends, your team, your support system in place, you know, now. And, and may they be, you know, so aligned with you that they carry through with you for the, for the rest of your life. And then circulation, of course. So, so do your socialization and your circular circulation together. Go take a walk with a friend, walk your dog. Right.

And can you share just a bit more about the water? So I'm a huge proponent in water. I'm not a proponent of tap water. Correct. So what do you recommend on the water front for people?

I try to be not too bossy pants about it because I think people can get a little worried about what should I take. So I would say get a good quality as best as you can afford filtration system and maybe that system is really something on your counter. And I don't, I don't mean like the plastic. Brita, no offense, but. Right, that's plastic. Right. So if, if you can find A system that's going to take out as much as much of the contaminants because we do have, you know, metals and we've got, we've got debris from, from, from medications, pharmaceuticals. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So there's so much in the tap water that is really, you know, dangerous for us. So. And if you can't do that, maybe you just, just distill it or boil it or something like that. If getting a system is really not in your ability right now. But yeah, but beware of tap. It's got the fluoride. It's got all of these things in it that are just really not healthy for us.

Right. And if you are going to drink distilled, making sure that you have the minerals back in, because that is something. And in reverse, osmosis, water, Same thing.

Yep.

You're not going to get it from your water. You've got to add it in.

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I, I think that in a perfect world, what we would be distilling our own water, adding our healthy minerals back in and then knowing that we've got just what we need. So. But, but yeah, don't, don't just drink distilled water. That's, that's for your iron. That's not. And by iron, I mean you're ironing the iron that irons your clothes or.

In your nebulizer or something like that.

Exactly, exactly. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. Well, anything else you'd like to, to share?

I. This has been so much fun. And, and I've, I'm, I've really had a good time. I would just ask listeners, you know, even if you're not thinking that you want to have a baby one day or if, or you know, where you are in the time in your life, it's like, no, that's not happening. Know that because again, this statistic is real, that one in five people are having it. So it's. That's having difficulty conceiving. So share this, share this so that. Because I think that, you know, the more we know that what we can do, the more agency we have over our health, our reproductive health, our fertility, and then, you know, throughout our lives. So.

And this is our life force, right? It's our life force energy. And where can folks learn more about the five elements?

So I would say through HealthUniversity code. Okay. And the. Your fertilityquiz.com it'll. I think that's a really good primer to get them started. And you know, if you want to learn more, then reach out to me through thehealthuniversity co. And. And I'm happy to.

To, you know, telemedicine. Do you also do telemedicine?

I don't do telemedicine. And that's why I designed the course is that, you know, I practicing within state lines. So if you're in California, I can do telemedicine. People who are in California, I'd rather that they take the course if they can't get into the physical office, because that's where the acupuncture really comes in handy. But yes, I'm happy to have a telemedicine consult with anyone inside California. I also have a health and wellness coaching certification, so I can do some coaching outside of California, but I can't do any kind of really diagnosis or prescribing.

Got it. Okay.

Yeah.

Very helpful. Well, you are so lovely. Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of information. And we will post your links in the show notes so that everybody can access.

Excellent.

Thank you so much again for being here with us today.

My pleasure. I love. I love the title of this podcast, the Wellness Sherpa, because we really do need to just kind of keep forging.

Yes. Thank you so much.

All right.