Preparing for an Egg Retrieval

Getting ready for an egg retrieval is a combination of hopeful anticipation, and dread for a potentially bad outcome.  Like most other milestones of (in)fertility, you want good things to happen but know that their is no sure thing. 

What steps can be taken to prepare for an egg retrieval that might improve your outcome?  What steps can be taken to improve the way you feel each day as the looming event nears? 

Let’s take a look at how Chinese Medicine views this process and find the small measures that makes it easier to get through.  

What happens in an egg retrieval?   

Your doctor will make a stimulation prediction based on the variable factors that were identified during your diagnostic cycle.  Gonadotropin injections- injectable hormones- stimulate the ovaries to produce several follicles at once, overriding the natural tendency to produce only one or two follicles at a time.  This allows the doctors to try and produce as many healthy and mature follicles as possible, in the hopes of gathering lots of egga t once for fertilizing with sperm and making embryos. 

Follistim, Menopur, Bravelle and Gonal-F are the main medications used, all of which have a specific function in growth and regulation of the signals to the ovaries.  They all contain FSH, the chemical from the brain that stimulates the ovaries into ovulation, but also have other properties that allow the doctor to address numerous factors as your cycle progresses. 

From a Chinese medicine perspective, these medications are like the sun, stimulating the crops to grow.  Too much sun or not enough sun you don’t get a good crop yield.  But the medications can only stimulate what is present, they can’t contribute to theb health of the cycle or replace things that aren’t there. 

The axis for producing a healthy set of eggs comes from the heart-kidney connection in TCM, where the eggs are housed in the kidney aspect of reproduction, and the brain chemicals are delivered as an aspect of the Shen or “heart-mind.”  An abundant source of kidney water keep the ovaries moist, nourished and supple, which then keep the eggs and follicles rish and abundant.  When water is diminished from running the engine too hot and too long, then the ovaries suffer and egg quality or quanitity diminishes. 

If the medications work like the sun to stimulate growth then the ovaries water needs to be abundant for the crop yield to grow healthy and lush and not be scorched. 

Since the medications override the natural signaling of the mind, this puts the body in a state of heart excess, where the medications provoke more than is natural from the heart-mind.  This can feel like heart palpitations, chest tightness and various kinds of anxiety-type feelings.  When the heart should be cool it is overly stimulated and heightens the emotional side effects.  

When we are working on egg retrieval as a function of TCM, we do a lot of work to balance the heart-mind and nourish the kidneys' water.  When this fire and water are harmonious a healthy load of eggs will be produced and side effects are less bothersome. 

This is how meditation, good sleep, a healthy circadian rhythm, work-life balance, and a healthy heart and mind all have an impact on ovulation and egg retrievals.  This is the hardest part for many people to understand or appreciate,  but the way your brain and spirit are functioning has an impact on how your ovaries can respond. 

If you’ve ever been inclined to try a meditation or mindfulness practice, now is the time.  

Supplements to “boost” egg quality are functioning as fertilizers in this scenario.  Different combinations of chemically active ingredients, vitamins, minerals, peptides, etc. can all act as a kind of fertilizer to improve the nutrients available that produce a healthier or more abundant crop. But not every body needs every fertilizer, so choosing the best ones for you can be hard.  

Another consideration is how your estrogen should rise as a a function of follicular response, but excessive estrogen production causes a lot of risk and potentially even cancels a cycle 

In TCM, we focus on the health of the liver to manage the hormone medications and the way that estrogen increases in the body.  A healthy liver with smooth-flowing energy will distribute the medications more effectively and maximize the response as a result.  Healthy livers can break down and remove excessive hormones more easily, which helps to prevent a build-up of estrogen that becomes damaging and toxic.  

The most effective strategy for preventing this side effect is prepping the liver before medications are ever administered.   For 2-3 weeks before you start ER stimulation medications, try focusing on these liver-clearing foods and lifestyle habits every day.  

Eat a variety of cruciferous vegetables and/or leafy greens every day:   

Eat roasted beets or drink some fresh beet juices.  You can roast the beets, have them pickled, have them juiced or in a smoothie works too. 

Eat lots of fresh green herbs like parsley, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, oregano, lemon balm, etc. 

Add spirulina, chlorella and blue-green algae to your days.

Drink warm water with lemon or lime a few times a day, or make an raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar drink with living probiotic content.

Get a good sweat going a few times a week and get your heart rate elevated for 10-15 minutes each day.

The worst foods for your liver right now are refined sugars,high fructose corn syrup, alcohol, artificial sweeteners and sodas.  Take a break from these as much as you can while you focus on improving your liver health and function.

Now that you’re liver is working better let’s focus on priming the ovaries.  

Foods to improve the ovarian response are:  

Keep eating some of those green vegetables to keep assisting your liver and circulation as your medications increase and estrogen rises. Focus on adding these extra nutritious foods every day as you approach your egg retrieval.  

You can also add trace minerals and/or electrolytes to your daily hydration as well, even if you simply drink coconut water or make the adrenal cocktails that are recommended in the ER nutrition guide.  These will help keep your systems processing effectively, reduce side effects, keep you feeling energetic and hydrated and may reduce bloating.  

Preparing for an egg retreival means you want to reduce any inflammatory load as much as possible and clear the pathways for a healthy response to medicated stimulation.  Changing your diet for a few weeks leading up to an egg retrieval to encourage ahealthy liver function is helpful.  As is adapting the egg nourishing foods listed so that plenty of nutrition is available.  

Your mind and your heart influence the whole process, do’nt discount the importance of having a healthy mental and emotional space to relax while you are undergoing treatment.  Take steps to improve these circumstances which could beneift you in the long and short term of your fertility journey.