Discover A New Way To Be More Fertile

It is so hard to be going through infertility and it can help to try to have a laugh or giggle throughout it because there are lots of dark times and that is ok. 

Remember, you’re stronger than you ever knew and there is hope with every exciting or difficult step. Having the right support and guidance helps you to find strength & heal.

“I didn't know I could be this strong and there is hope with every exciting or difficult step.”

When people are faced with adversity of all types, they are often surprised by what they’ve been able to do, overcome, or survive. In many cases, they may say they had no choice but to be strong and to keep moving - though they didn’t feel at all strong at the time.

But upon reflection - the strength is evident, the growth obvious, and the hope powerful.

For many couples, IVF may provide a viable solution to help them get pregnant. What's important to know is that a cycle of IVF can be unsuccessful for...

A toxic thyroid nodule can be a cause of unexplained infertility. It causes hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid). This occurs when a single nodule (or lump) grows on the thyroid gland causing it to become enlarged and produce excess thyroid hormones.

The thyroid gland needs iodine to produce the thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine. Iodine is needed for egg and sperm quality. If iodine is lacking in the diet, the thyroid initially cannot produce enough thyroid hormones. Low levels of thyroid hormones cause the thyroid gland to grow as it works harder to absorb as much available iodine from the bloodstream as possible in order to make more thyroid hormones. 

The symptoms of a toxic thyroid nodule are a result of the high levels of thyroid hormones in the blood, increasing the rate at which the body is working. Similar to those of hyperthyroidism, these symptoms include insomnia, problems with heat regulation and weight changes.

Signs are similar to those of...

Heavy metals are part of our modern environment and have a direct influence on both male and female fertility. Industrial pollution, modern technology, and consumer goods are the route of exposure for most individuals. Our bodies can normally handle small dosages of these metals but larger doses are very serious stress on the body and are a leading cause of failed IVF cycles and unexplained infertility.

It is impossible to completely avoid exposure to toxic metals as they are found in the air we breathe, food and many other sources. This is why it is important to learn how to manage them correctly and also how to find new ways to reduce exposure through healthy lifestyle choices.

The key way to manage these to improve fertility is to improve your ability to detoxify and eliminate these metals. When the liver, kidneys, and gut are healthy and functioning optimally they can eliminate most of these poisons.

Heavy metals can compound health problems and deepen fertility problems if...

Leaky gut syndrome and food sensitivities are at the root of many major health conditions linked to unexplained infertility. Food allergies and food sensitivities (or food intolerances) are two types of food sensitivities that can be very destructive to the body and cause IVF to fail.

Food intolerances can often lead to elevated levels of whole-body inflammation that can cause poor egg and sperm quality and other reasons for IVF failure. Many people go through their lives without ever understanding how food intolerances can lead to these fertility challenges. They never suspect that the food they are eating every day is silently blocking their fertility and their doctors never advise them to look at how they are responding to their diet.

Reproductive hormones can so easily be influenced by digestive health. This is because the gut plays a role in over 80% of the immune system and has a direct connection with the brain through the vagus nerve. Poor bacterial balance or dysbiosis is associated with every digestive tract disorder as well as auto-immune conditions and unexplained infertility problems. The health of the body and reproductive organs are especially dependent upon the health of the human microbiome.

The ideal ratio of organic to pathogenic microbes is thought to be 85:15. Most Australians today have this ratio flipped in favor of the antagonistic microbial communities. This is called dysbiosis or bad bacterial balance. Dysbiotic conditions are due to the influence of environmental toxins that wipe out organic species and create an environment conducive to parasitic growth.

The Comprehensive Stool Analysis comes in varying levels and detects the presence of pathogenic microorganisms such as yeast, parasites,...

The Comprehensive organic acids test is my personal favorite tests for getting to the cause of unexplained infertility as it gives a wealth of information on what is going on in the body.

This is a simple urine test that looks at complex biomarkers from various metabolic pathways involved with reproductive health. These biomarkers give an overview of several major systems in the body linked to fertility and an analysis of nutritional deficiencies in the body that contribute to low egg and sperm health.

The organic acid biomarkers are metabolic intermediates that are produced in pathways of central energy production, neurotransmitter breakdown, detoxification and intestinal microbial activity. When an specific organic acids are found accumulating they often signal a metabolic insufficiency and this can be a cause of fertility problems. These insufficiencies could be related to toxicity, a nutritional deficiency or an inherited enzyme deficit.

How can BUMPFertility help?

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Micronutrient testing is highly recommended when you are preparing for pregnancy or struggling to conceive either naturally or with IVF. It provides the most comprehensive nutritional analysis available by measuring functional deficiencies at the cellular level, which is why it is so beneficial for egg and sperm health.

The benefit of micronutrient testing is that it is an assessment of how well the body utilizes vitamins, minerals, amino/fatty acids, antioxidants, and metabolites, while conveying the body’s need for these micronutrients that enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones, and other substances essential for proper growth, development, and good health.

This test is beneficial for both men and women as it provides the basis of a personalized, functional approach in addressing a broad variety of clinical conditions that influence fertility, including autoimmune disorders, insulin resistance, diabetes, metabolic disorders, hormonal problems, and...

One of the fastest rising health conditions linked to unexplained infertility in Australia is low thyroid functioning or functional hypothyroidism. The most common symptoms experienced are problems with ovulation and irregular or heavy periods, lethargy, depression and weight gain. The Complete Thyroid Report we recommend at BUMPFertility is designed to help uncover undiagnosed or misdiagnosed thyroid problems that are stopping you conceiving either naturally or with IVF.

Thyroid problems are the most misdiagnosed conditions in our society because testing is limited to a basic TSH or T3/T4 test.

This means most fertility evaluations never look at thyroid antibodies, Reverse T3, Free T3 & free T4 and this is an enormous oversight when it comes to fertility health.

There are other Lab tests needed for assessing thyroid health and it's a possible influence on fertility like vitamin D, CBD, homocysteine, CRP, and magnesium. 

How can Narelle help?

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A common question both practitioners and patients have is, when should I test my hormones? This depends, of course, on whether someone is having regular cycles, how long their cycles are, and if they are near menopause.

Testing sex hormones in a woman with regular monthly cycles is best done during the mid-luteal peak. This is about 1 week (5-7days) after ovulation occurs. In a 28-day cycle, this would-be days 19, 20, 21 or 22.

This is the time in the menstrual cycle when progesterone should be at its peak for the month and when estrogen should be at the height of its luteal plateau. The image below, of the menstrual cycle, describes this beautifully.

On day one of the cycle (which is also the first day of the period), both estrogen and progesterone are very low. Estrogen then starts to rise until its ovulatory peak. The corpus luteum, which develops from the ovarian follicle (egg) that is released, produces progesterone. Progesterone, then starts to rise as that follicle gets...