Miscarriage
One miscarriage is one too many.
And if you have experienced miscarriage, I wish I could give you a warm hug and say it will never happen again.
One of the most frequent questions that pop into my DM’s is “how can I prevent another miscarriage.”
The cold, hard truth — that breaks my heart every time — is that we can't prevent miscarriage.
Supporting egg quality and preconception care can help reduce miscarriage risk… But we can’t completely prevent it.
I know this feels heavy and everything seems out of control.
And yes, there is still so much we don’t know and so much that is out of our control.
But here is what we do know: the most common cause of miscarriage is chromosomal abnormality or genetic error.
And we can control that, with the right nutrition and lifestyle choices.
Please, please, please don’t start blaming yourself for every tiny little thing you think you did wrong.
That glass of wine you had every Friday with your girlfriends or the pie you eat when visiting your mom are not responsible for your miscarriage.
You did absolutely nothing wrong.
Unfortunately miscarriage is very common — 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in miscarriage — and I know this doesn’t make your loss, or losses, less painful but just know you are not alone.
Miscarriage and recurrent loss might not be preventable, but there are elements you can control!
🥑 Nutrition
🚴 Exercise
🧘 Stress
🌙 Sleep
💧 Hydration
☣️ Toxin load
During the 3-4 months before ovulation, your egg goes through a major transformation in size and starts producing much more energy. The egg is essentially genetically reprogrammed — picking & choosing chromosomes — at this time. If something goes wrong during this time, there may be chromosomal abnormalities, which could lead to miscarriage.
The same is true for sperm.
An egg can overcome some abnormalities in sperm, but not if there are too many programming errors.
To further reduce risk of miscarriage, both egg & sperm quality should be nourished during the preconception phase.
Nutrition & lifestyle play a major role in the quality of both egg & sperm ➡️ decreasing chromosomal abnormalities ➡️ decreasing risk of miscarriage.
Research shows:
✨ deficiency in B12 increases recurrent miscarriage
✨ low folate status increases risk for early loss
✨ unmanaged hypothyroidism increases risk of miscarriage
✨ low selenium is associated with increased risk of miscarriage
✨ unmanaged PCOS increases risk for miscarriage
To get to the root cause of recurrent loss, we have to look at the whole body and work with it to optimize fertility.
Your fertility goes waaaaay beyond your ovaries, hormones and uterus!
Even if your OBGYN insists on repeating the same labs and exams or — even worse — tells you you need to start IVF.
Reproductive technologies are fantastic when needed, but if we don’t get to the root cause of what’s causing recurrent losses nothing is going to change.
Sure, what you eat and what our body is able to use, is a major piece of the fertility puzzle.
But it’s not the only aspect to optimize in case of recurrent miscarriage.
Here are the areas to explore and how to investigate:
Thyroid function
How to diagnose: blood work, basal body temperature, symptoms, and hair mineral testing
Male health
How to diagnose: sperm analysis and penis microbiome can specifically play a big role in miscarriage
Gut & immune system function
How to diagnose: stool testing, like GI map
Sex hormone levels — especially progesterone
How to diagnose: blood work
Blood clotting disorders
How to diagnose: blood work
Physiological history — abnormalities in cervix or uterus
How to diagnose: OBGYN exam and evaluation
Stress/ nervous system regulation
How to diagnose: hair mineral testing
Nutrient deficiencies
How to diagnose: hair mineral testing
If you’ve suffered more than one loss consider digging deeper, maybe with the help of a functional medicine specialist.
And always remember you’re not alone and whatever you need I’ll be here