My Own PCOS Fertility Story - A Journey from Imbalance to Balance

My story is a common story, especially at the beginning but then instead of heading down the same path of Western gynecological care as most young women, I chose a different way.

Ever since I could remember, my periods were irregular, severely painful and coupled with intense PMS or as we now know it as PMDD, that greatly affected my mental health in a very negative way. It was a challenge and there were absolutely no answers. I was always someone in touch with my body, eating organic since the early 90s, aware of my sugar intake, never partook in drinking too much in college and became a yoga teacher in the late 90s. Things were still not right, something still felt off.

My Dr.s and gynecologists always told me my symptoms were “normal”. Severe painful cramps, PMS, debilitating periods, irregular periods, are all normal in Western medicine and the only way to “treat” them is by completely shutting them off with The Pill.

In Chinese medicine, all of these symptoms and suffering are actually seen as abnormal. I was 28 years old when I started Chinese medicine school and started learning that what I was always taught as a normal period, was in fact completely not normal at all. That being in pain, suffering with hormonal imbalance and having PMS that would prevent me from living a normal life was simply, not OK. Not only was it not OK but it was treatable!

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In the same year I started Chinese medicine school, I also met my husband and knew this was the man I wanted to make my babies with, one day in the future. I knew things were off with my body so I went to I highly renown endocrinologist in Manhattan. She did detailed hormonal testing and sent me for scans. When I got all of the tests back not only was I diagnosed with PCOS but severe PCOS.

In this moment, seated in the Dr. s office on 5th avenue in Manhattan my life changed. The Dr. looked me right in the eye and told me point blank “ With your FSH levels and severity of PCOS, having children will be impossible, IVF will be almost impossible and if by chance you do get pregnant you will only have miscarriages. “

Yes, this is what the Dr. told me. I looked right back at her with tears in my eyes and said “No, I am in Chinese medicine school and I know getting better and getting pregnant is possible!” She looked at me like I was crazy and I never went back.

Typically, what happens next with 99% of the women out there, (because I have heard this same story hundreds of times in my clinic ) is you start down the path of clomid, letrozol and assisted reproductive technology to try and force things to happen out of a damaged and imbalanced system that most likely will not produce healthy eggs and make it nearly impossible for successful IVF outcomes.

I chose a different route and have made it my life’s goal to help other women do the same.

I worked on my health first.

I decided to give myself a year. I knew that I could maybe change the story of my health sentence that this Dr. gave me by committing myself to Chinese medicine, dietary changes and lifestyle changes. So I did just that. I started getting regular acupuncture. I took my Chinese herbal formulas every week, ate a PCOS Chinese medicine based diet and started really taking inventory on my health and my life. I did what I call now “Preparing The Fertile Soil”

After 6 months my hormones regulated. I went from having FSH levels of 14 which are incredibly high to FSH levels of 7. My periods also started regulating and with that, my mood and mental health started balancing out and I no longer experienced PMS. I decided to keep it going and did 6 more months of Chinese medicine, acupuncture and maintained my new diet since it really seemed to be such an important aspect of my treatment.

In January of 2009, I felt like a different person and no longer had one symptom of PCOS. Everything seemed to of reversed and I felt healthier than I have been in many years. We decided to start trying and within 2 weeks I was pregnant. The anxiety that came over me was immense because I was told by multiple Dr.s I had such a high chance of miscarriage because of my PCOS history but what they couldn’t counter into the equation was that my PCOS was most likely gone.

Nice months later, my son Noah was born as healthy as can, be weighing in at 9 lbs and just two years later, my son Ariel was born weighing in at 11lbs!

My Dr.s were wrong but I also had the privilege to have the knowledge that let me choose a different path. They told me I COULD NOT. But I said NO and then I DID. I believed in my body. I knew there was another way. I did not give up. I never gave up and now 11 years later, I am still PCOS free.

Because I see it time and time again, women given clomid and then other assisted reproductive technology drugs with no success and then told to do cycle after cycle of IVF without positive outcomes, I know that if I chose that path I might not have my boys today. You can force nature but typically if we work on the health of the soil first, the outcome is healthier and more likely to bare fruit. Of course IVF may be the right choice for the right situation but in women with PCOS, ideally doing Chinese medicine for even 3 months prior to starting an IVF cycle has been researched and proven to not only create better outcomes but many time more than none, women get pregnant naturally.

I hope my story gives other women hope. Just know, Chinese medicine really can work, it takes a lot of work and a lot of commitment but not only have I helped myself but hundreds of patients with similar stories.

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Dr. Lauren Dulberg DACM, L.Ac / Doctor of Chinese medicine, Acupuncturist + Herbalist

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