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My Story

Hi there, welcome to my blog. Yes I am a drama queen and yes I have been deemed “infertile” by a few of the medical experts in the great State of Colorado but that hasn’t made me give up my quest to have children quite yet. My husband and I have been on the emotional roller coaster of infertility since March of 2009 when I stopped taking birth control after being on it for ten straight years. I have been keeping a journal since the start of this process and thought I would share it with all of the other incredible women out there who may be going through the same thing or similar thing that I am. At age 28, I have been diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Failure (POF). With no history of fertility problems on either side of my family and normal periods before going on the pill, I was left to accept that I have this condition and that there is no medical explanation for it. Since receiving this diagnosis from a fertility specialist in May 2009, I decided I simply wasn’t going to accept that I wasn’t going to have children with my own eggs. I jumped into the world of Eastern Medicine, worked with an Endocrinologist and even went on a fertility diet trying to get my ovaries to start functioning normally. The conclusion I have come to is this…..having Celiac Disease (Gluten/Flour intolerance) and continuing to eat flour throughout most of my childhood and part of adulthood caused my body to produce anti-bodies that have now started attacking the organs/glands in my body. After a visit to an endocrinologist in December 2009, it was determined that I have ovarian antibodies which are essentially antibodies produced by my body that only attack the endocrine system. No doctor has actually confirmed my self diagnosis that the Gluten Intolerance caused this but Celiac Disease is an auto immune disorder and any auto immune disorder can cause your body to attack itself. I am currently waiting to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist to see what the next steps for me will be. I have read that doctors can try and stimulate the Pituitary Gland to get your Endocrine System running again or that you can be given steroids to help restore ovary function. I am hoping to receive one of these treatments in the near future but only time will tell. In the past 10 months, I have watched many of my close friends become pregnant while I remain a sad statistic. This blog contains my thoughts as I struggle through the process of figuring out what in the world is going on with my body and how I continue to try to stay upbeat and positive about my fertility and enjoy my life. I hope that my blog can help others would love to hear from other women going through the same thing, inspiring stories or anyone who just needs encouragement. I know and understand how difficult every day can be once you have received the POF or infertile diagnosis and want you all to know that I am here for you. Please note that some of you may feel I am sharing to much information (TMI) and for that I am sorry. If you want to read my blog…you get all the details. You never know what will be helpful to someone else right? God bless everyone and I wish you luck on your fertility adventures:0) Remember mind over matter!

My intent is to raise awareness of the issues. Please do not rely on this or any other article when making decisions that will affect you and your health. These are things I have decided to try after much research.
I am sorry I have to even ask, but this research stuff is starting to get expensive. I am just asking for $1.00 donation for posts you feel have helped you. I will use all donations to help fund my research and doctors appointments and of course report back to you. Baby dust to all of you and dont worry we will all find a way to have children.

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Today on Economically Organic:
Save the carrot shaving from your juicer and make carrot cake or carrot muffins yummy! You can also save them to put in a salad.




Infertile – a horrible word used to make women who are already feeling bad about themselves want to jump into a pool of chocolate fudge and eat their sorrows away only to realize that not only can they not get pregnant but now they don’t fit in their clothes. A word so easily tossed around by doctors that they don’t even realize they are saying it and a word that you never under any circumstances should google unless you want your brain to explode.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The Cleanse

Well, I survived “the cleanse”. It was an interesting experience but I learned a lot and feel a lot better. For the first time in five days, my stomach doesn’t feel like it is in knows and the gas is gone! It wasn’t anything like I had pictured, it was much better and I am glad I did it. So glad, that I am going back tomorrow to get another cleanse done (I will explain later). All day yesterday I kept having to run to the bathroom, the big D was visiting again. I was kind of scared of having the cleanse done on a day that my stomach felt like that and I barely made it to the therapist’s office and had to run into the bathroom. I was hoping that the therapist wouldn’t judge me for trashing her bathroom within the first 3 minutes after I walked through her door. That is why I was coming to see her right? I still felt awful and to make it worse it was a tiny bathroom with only one toilet so everyone had to share….and 28 years of “elimination” does not smell like roses…and that is all I am going to say. As I exited the bathroom, I opened the door and looked both ways, no sign of anyone around to be able to blame me, in fact I seemed to be the only one in the office not even the therapist was back from her lunch break. I sat down in the lobby and begin filling out the paperwork that had been laid out for me. It was a four page questionnaire that started out with your name and age. As I worked my way down the first page, I wrote about my medical issues, current daily stressors and other concerns I had with my body. The next page asked you to rank items as Rarely, Monderately or Everyday as they applied to my life growing up. The items included, exposure to industrial pollution, fast food, antibiotics, white flour and white sugar (). The rest of the paperwork was just more on my background and then a sheet stating that I understood I am electing to get this procedure done and any treatment/supplements the therapist shares with me is merely a suggestion and does not have to be followed/taken. My therapist, lets call her Mrs. W, walked in just as I was finishing my paperwork. She walked up and introduced herself and asked me to follow her back to her meeting room. Outside the room, she asked me to remove my coats and my shoes which I did and then I followed her in. In the room there was a bed (more like a cot) along the far wall with some blankets on it. Next to the bed were two chairs with a basket of items in-between them and then on the other side of the room, there was a shelf with bags of supplements and a water filtration system. Mrs. W asked me to sit in one of the chairs and said she would be right back, that we were going to start with an ionic footbath while we discussed the information in my paperwork. “A foot bath” I thought? Now we are talking! She reappeared with what looked like a clear plastic storage container with a lid over it. She slid it in front me and took the lid off. There was a metal device in the water with wire coming out. My first reaction was…um I’m not supposed to put my feet in water especially when there are live wires and a metal device in it. Mrs. W assured me this was safe, so in my feet went. As I slide my feet in the plastic tub, Mrs. W placed a long infrared light on my stomach and explained that infrared light was very therapeutic for the body. It is the healthy part of sun bathing. Here is what I found on ionic food baths on http://ezinearticles.com/?What-an-Ionic-Foot-Bath-Did-For-My-Family&id=330832


This man is talking about how foot baths changed his family’s lives. His young granddaughter was diagnosed with cancer and were looking for a way to get her body healthy again.



“In a common plastic bucket, you place the metal array in clean water that has a little sea salt in it. The array puts out a very small current with positive and negative ions that circulate through the body. The oppositely charged toxins attach to them and by osmosis the toxins are pulled out through the pores of the feet. The clean water starts to change color depending on what organs are detoxing.



Dark brown/black- is the liver detoxing

Orange- the joints

Yellow- urinary tract

Dark green- gallbladder

Black flecks- heavy metals

Red flecks-blood clot material

White foam- lymph nodes draining



In all fairness, the water will change color to some degree without feet in it because the metal, water, salt and minerals will react. But what you are looking for is the sludge that floats on the top of the water that stains the sides of the bucket. We found some independent studies done with and without feet and it showed the mucus in the water that just the water, salt and the metal array wouldn't produce by itself. In my research on the subject, some say, don't worry about what color the water changes to. Instead, notice what it is doing for you. I saw before and after pictures of blood samples of someone doing a foot bath. Before, the cells were clumped together in chains, and the after picture showed free flowing cells. I was so impressed by the ionic foot bath, I purchased one for myself”



For those of you that are about to Google ionic foot baths STOP and let me first say that like everything with Eastern Medicine there are claims that this works and claims that it doesn’t work. People believe what they want to believe. Someone could be doing acupuncture and/or ionic foot baths but if they are not changing other aspects of their lives like diet and stressors, the benefits will not be good as someone that is also changing those other things. Let me also tell you that when I put my feet in the water it was clear, Mrs. W slid the lid to cover my feet and when we were done going over my paperwork and discussing her journey, 40 minutes later, the water was dark brown with what looked like dirt sticking to my feet and ankles. From what I read online, this dirt was toxins that had come out of my body through my pores and judging on the color my liver was detoxing. I really didn’t feel much at all, a few pulses here and there but not really much of anything and after doing some research, I want my own foot bath to use at home..now! As my feet were soaking, Mrs. W started to explain her journey and how she came to have this profession. Mrs. W was really sick as a young girl and started having extremely heaving and irregular periods at age 10. When she was about my age, she was trying to get pregnant and couldn’t. She said that was the best thing that could have happened because that is when she discovered cleansing and a whole different outlook on life. She started getting colonics and detoxed her whole life. She has since had four babies, never had an irregular period again and is now 65 and other then her period going away, never had one menopausal symptom. She said she chose to be a Detox Life Coach because she wanted to help people heal themselves just as she had. We talked about the fact that I was trying to have a baby and she told me another story about a woman who had been trying for years for a baby but seemed to have one health problem after another pop up. This person happened to come into Denver to see a family member and stopped in to discuss possible treatment. Each of the five days she was in Denver, she had a colon cleanse and an ionic foot bath. About one month after returning home, she called Mrs. W and told her that she had gotten pregnant! I know what you are thinking, this woman was trying to push all the right buttons but she doesn’t strike me as someone who would pump pooh out of someone for a living if she didn’t believe it worked…get my drift? After sharing some success stories with me, we started working through the rest of my paperwork. She started explaining the questions about my childhood. The antibiotics are important because they attack the good bacteria in our bodies allowing the harmful bacteria to attack. They should put that on the prescription bottles! We then discussed my gluten allergy and the fact that I was exposed to both white flour and white sugar on a daily basis my entire life up until I was diagnosed with Celiacs. The human body was not built to digest all of the white flour & sugar the average person ingests on a daily basis in today’s society. The situation is twice as bad for someone with Celiacs which means my body has been screaming for help! For someone with Celiacs, gluten, when ingested basically takes a hack saw to your internal systems. Mrs. W went on to explain how my body shutting down certain systems was its way of saying “hey, you need to put down the slice of pizza and soda and help us out here”. Our bodies should be made up of 70% good bacteria and 30% bad bacteria. Unfortunately due to the commone diets in today’s society, with most people this is reversed. When there is more bad bacteria then bad, the bad bacteria or “candida” think our body is shutting down and begins helping with the process and this is where cancer and other sicknesses/disorders are created. She said that the changes I have already made and will continue to make will probably end of saving my life because if systems were already shutting down, my body was already attacking itself. I know, lot’s of information being thrown at you…just think how I felt. I scrambled to get everything down I could. Mrs. W said I needed to get more protein since my body is going to need to heal. She said to go and buy nutritional yeast at a healthfood store. She said to dig my hand behind what is in the front of the container and get the yeast that hasn’t changed color from being exposed. This yeast is gluten and diary free and can be a yummy topping to air popped popcorn or sprinkled over vegetables. Here is what I found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutritional_yeast

“ It is a source of protein and vitamins, especially the B-complex vitamins and is a complete protein. It is also naturally low in fat and sodium. Some brands of nutritional yeast, though not all, are fortified with vitamin B12. The vitamin B12 is produced separately from bacteria and then added to the yeast. Nutritional yeast has a strong flavor that is described as nutty, cheesy, or creamy, which makes it popular as an ingredient in cheese substitutes. It is often used by vegans in place of parmesan cheese. Another popular use is as a topping for popcorn. It can also be used in mashed and fried potatoes, as well as putting it into scrambled tofu or eggs. Some movie theaters offer it along with salt or cayenne pepper as a popcorn condiment.” Along with the yeast, I am to take a pro-biotic every day so that I don’t get gassy like I have been as I heal. Probiotic pills can be purchased at any natural grocer, she suggested the ones in the organge box. Next she handed me a bag of the “ultimate raw superfood protein” in the chocolate flavor and told me take one scoop a day (maker is sunwarrior). She also gave me a smaller bag of a superfood powder to put in my juice every morning that was to replace the one I was currently using. We then discussed the importance of flaxseeds, flaxseed oil and olive oil in my diet and I assured her that I was already getting plenty of flaxseed and olive oil and that I would purchase some flaxseed oil…and with that it was time for the cleanse. She took me into another room and handed me a towel, asked me to undress from the waist down and then lay down on my left side facing the doorway. As I got undressed I thought “here it goes, remember this is something you wanted to do” and with that I laid down and waited for Mrs. W to come in. She was great at relaxing me and talking to me before the process started. She explained how we would insert the tube and what would happen during the procedure. It was really important to let go and let things happen. Let me tell you easier said then done. As the water begin to pump into my body, I felt the horrible stomach ache from before rumble back into life. I asked her it that was going to be a problem and she said that this was going to help and to not be worried just not to try and hold back or push (wouldn’t want to remove the tool…no she was right, I didn’t). The water pumped up my colon and almost immediately I felt it coming, it felt like I had to go number two and needed to get to a toilet and fast. At first I froze not knowing what I should do. Do I hold back a little? Do I push? Do I warn her? Is it going to get everywhere? While I was trying to figure my next move in my head, “the problem” went through the tube and into the drain without me even seeing it. That was the weirdest feeling in the world, and it happened over and over again as my colon cleansed itself. After the first “elimination” I was able to relax and we chatted about other patients and things she had seen. She told me that she would be surprised if I didn’t get pregnant really soon. In her experience people who were cleansing for this reason usually got to their goal pretty quickly after their cleanses. This statement alone made me think right then and there that this whole process was worth it. Mrs. W also said that for those who do not “eliminate” 3-4 times a day will be 70,000 bowel movements behind when they die…and people wonder why cancer is on the rise? 70,000 is a lot of pooh and I know that I myself have never gone 3 or 4 times at least that I can remember. She also told me about studies she had participated in on autistic children and white flour which was very interesting and then before I realized it…the procedure was done. A few times during the cleanse the water would hit gassy section of my colon and Mrs. W explained that the gas had been trapped in my colon and that the water was releasing it. Your colon is basically a small tube that helps carry waste and toxin out of the body. My tube was clogged to where only a fraction of the wasted trying to exit was able to get out. The tool was removed and I was told to go to the bathroom and let any remaining water out which I did. It wasn’t bad at all..just took a minute. It wasn’t like I was releasing the floods just about a half a cup of water and then nothing! I walked back into the treatment room and got dressed. Mrs. W reappeared with a gallon of ionized water she wanted me to take home and drink before my next appointment which she explained needed to be within the next couple of days. Before I could say anything she explained that for someone like me, a period of intense cleansing was necessary which usually included three cleanses only a few days apart. I told her I was unable to come back the next week and she said two in a row would be fine. Mrs. W explained how important good clean water was and said my homework for Saturday was to bring a two gallon jug to fill with ionized water and to drink the one gallon she was sending me with my Saturday. I was also told to call her if I started to feel icky because my symptoms would tell her which organ needed the most work. I am happy to report that my stomach discomfort is gone…no gas and no big D. I haven’t had any side effects as of yet which either means the cleanse and ionic foot bath really helped or my whole body needs a lot of work..hope it’s the first one. I noticed this morning that my skin was glowing and that my eyes don’t feel heavy. As a whole, I really believe that working through the uneasiness of having a tube shoved up there was more then worth it. Just the research done alone is enough to prove it was a good thing to do but the way I feel today is a confirmation….I am saving my own life and I will be pregnant soon. I am actually looking forward to my appointment tomorrow. For one, the whole process of “letting go” is very therapeutic for me and two, with every cleanse I am allowing my body to get back to where it needs to be. Please feel free to ask me questions. I have some research I have done on water I will share with you next week.

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Reading Materials/Other Items That Have Helped Me

  • Inconceivable
  • Making Babies by Sami S. David, MD & Jill Blakeway, LAc
  • pre-seed Fertility-friendly Intimate Moisturizer
  • restoring fertility - yoga for optimal fertility dvd - you can feel it working!
  • Taking Charge for Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, MPH
  • The Infertility Cure by Randin Lewis, Ph. D.