Good fertility naturopath in Melbourne

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good Naturopath who specialises in fertility in the South East of Melbourne. I used to see one but I would like to try another one. My only one time being pregnant was after seeing her for about 4 months, but unfortunately that ended in a missed miscarriage in feb. Nothing else is working so I think it might be time to see another naturopath.

What have other people done (naturally) to improve their ovulation and progesterone levels? I have started Vitex today, but want to do everything possible.

many thanks

Hello. have you used vitex before? the reason I ask is that in some people it can do more harm than good.

Have you tried false unicorn? its a little pricey at $50 per jar but very effective in maintaing a perfect environment for conception and works hand in hand with vitex.

Also I believe in taking evening primrose oil before ovulation, and then fish oil between ovulation and the end of your cycle.
There is a great website called "fertility naturopath". If you google that, there is heaps of information and also plenty of FAQS.

HTH

There is an amazing woman in the city! It might be further than you wish to travel, but I would suggest that she's worth it. There are a few girls on here who see her, LisaL being one of them, hopefully they will see this post and let you know about her.

Hi Stillhoping,

Firstly I'm very sorry for your loss.

I used natural fertility management for a year (starting at age 35) but did not have any success. I was also prescribed Vitex but it did strange things to my cycle so I stopped it.

I was just wondering how long you had been TTC (you mentioned you have been trying for four months with this naturopath but did you only go to see her after some time?) Also, if you had had any tests done as you mentioned issues with progesterone and ovulation.

Sorry for all the questions.

Kind regards,

Mel

Hi Girls,

Thanks for all your posts. We have been trying for 21 months. First time fell pregnant after 10.5months, so it hasn't been quick. We started ttc in Feb 05. I have taken Vitex before with other things in a liquid form from the naturopath. What can it do to you? I am also having short periods and not having a good time with them and I noticed Vitex was good for regulating the body.

I am now seeing a FS who put me on Clomid for 3 cycles, but I had bad side effects so I am now off it. I see him on Monday to discuss our options, but I am very hesitant to take more drugs, and prefer natural.

My progesterone at CD21 this time was a very bad 4.55, probably because I got AF the next day, but other cycles it was 18 and 25 on the first cycle of Clomid.

i use OPK but never get a strong positive, which I am guessing means I don't ovulate very strongly.

danni, I used to take epo and fish oil combined, but during the whole cycle. Is that ok to do?

Hopefully someone can let me know about the lady in the city

thanks everyone. It has been a hard road, as most of you would know.

with your progesterone being so low, that would mean that ccyle you didnt ovulate, however with the clomid it looks like it did the job!

EPO should not be taken after ovulation, it can affect implantation.

Vitex can elongate some peoples cycles to 30-40 days, it can also suppress ovulation and do all the things it isnt supposed to do.

There is a herbal concoction called "pregnancy drops" which you can order over the phone from Newtons Pharmacy in Sydney. they seem to work for a lot of people.

Good luck

I had the opposite reaction with vitex - it brought my ovulation back into line (CD 14 rather than CD 18 or 19 of a 27 day cycle).

You could try googling Fertile Ground, and there is also someone at Dartnells pharmacy in Surrey Hills with a good rep.

Good luck!!

Yep Vitex wound my cycle back and interfered with ovulation. I'm not sure why I was given it really. But I have heard that with people who aren't ovulating or if they have irregular cycles, it can be helpful.

SH, I have heard from friends who have taken it that Clomid can be hard going sometimes. I was asking about testing because I wasn't sure at what stage of the process you were. I hope the meeting with your specialist goes well and you come out with some new ideas for treatment.

Just as a side note, I had acupuncture at Fertile Ground. I saw Milly there. It was also handy as it was just down the road from my clinic in East Melbourne.

Re the lady in the city ... I know she has been mentioned on here more than once but I can't recall where. Will be back to edit when I find out more.

Edited on Sunday to add: I can't find the link ... sorry. I hope someone will notice this thread (maybe Kelly or one of the mods) as they have mentioned her before.

Rory, my friend goes to Doreen and likes her too.

I saw a woman named Doreen Schwegler in Essendon and her number is 9331 0951. she hekped me out when I was trying to get my body back to normal after depo provera and apparently has a great success rate.

Hi there,

I'm seeing a wonderful lady in Mitcham called Irene Prantalous for Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs. She really is amazing and is the first person I've seen who actually LISTENS to me. Her number is in the Yellow Pages, or e-mail me and I'll give it you you if you're interested!!

Good luck!

I think the name of the fab woman in the city is Antonia Ruhl(???).

I will PM Lisa and let her know that this thread is here. She will have more info for you.

thanks ladies. I think Mitcham and Essendon are too far for me to travel. I may have to swallow my pride and go back to the lady I was seeing last year. She is only down the road. I'm thinking all the good naturopaths would be booked out for a while. i checked the Fertile Ground website and it looks very impressive. Has anyone gone there?

thanks for all your posts.

Hi stillhoping,

I have been going to Melbourne Holistic health in Fairfield they are wonderful and have every thing there, and theres a great high street for a coffee and yummy cakes to.lol

Ive been going there for a while and so do most of my IL family also my FS recomended to go there and i said i already was.lol

I am also a huge advocate of Fertile Ground. I see Milly for acupuncture and Margaret for naturopathy. Just as an example of how good it has been....after three and a half weeks my cycle had gone form 56 days to a far more reasonable 33. And this last cycle was an oh soperfect 28 days so something is going right somewhere....I so love what they are doing to my body....even peole around me have commented on how well I look, how clear my skin is etc......now I just have to get pregnant!!!!

I went to see Doreen Sweigher in Essendon. Sorry that is not the correct spelling but I will find it and post later. She is fantastic and has been trained in Francesca Naish's natural fertility methods. We had lots of tests like cellular tests and took specific vits and potions and fell pg in the first month of TTC. We are now TTC#2 and I haven't been following the same things so maybe there is something in it. Also I had the perfect pg, no m/s and Amy has been very healthy. I have heard good things about Antonia Ruhl but she is very expensive.

Stillhoping,

Hi sweety - I am one of Antonia Rhil's clients. I have been seeing her for a couple of months now and I am really happy with her treatments and she says im well on my way to my first HEALTHY bfp in over a year and a half. Ive been pg before but both ended before 8 weeks. Antonia is trained by the tribal medicine man of the Amazon. her father was a dr and her grandmother a natural medicine healer. She also has proper qaulifications to supplement her learnings in the Amazon. She has assited many women concieve through her herbs, accupuncture and blood tonics. Her treatments vary and she creates a program to suit your specific needs. I take herbs, tonic and I use a progesterone cream for the second half of my cycle. All her methods are natural and safe. One of my BF's got pg within 4 cycles after two years of ttc with no success. Someone I know was told to stop ivf as her eggs were too old and she wouldnt concieve her own child, however after being on Antonia's program for 5 months, she is now pg and due in a few weeks with her first little boy.

Antonia will be able to tell you on the first visit whether she can help you and how long it might take for you to fall pg on her program. She does have a website (you can PM me if you want details), but she is located in Collins Street in the city. The centre is called Natural Stress Therapy (just need to google it). It gives a brief description of her and her learnings etc on there.

In terms of expenses I can tell you that for 3 months of herbs for me - it cost me around $700, plus $60 each visit (about two visits per month). But once you do get pg, all your appts are for free - you see her once a week for the first 13 weeks and then you get a free pg massage each month. So if you compare costs to other treatments you might find she is within a reasonable range.

Good luck, wishing you a bfp soon
Lisa

thanks everyone. I have called Dartnell's Pharmacy and I am waiting for Vanita to call me back. I am going to see if she can make me something up if I tell her what is wrong.

Wishing everyone a BFP for Christmas.

I'll post after I hear from Vanita, for others who might be interested in their services.

Vanita called me back and I just told her my 'issues' and she is making me up a herbal mixture and some EPO and Fish Oil which she said was very important. Easy as that. She will send them out to me in the mail and I paid with credit card. Good for those people not close to a good naturopath etc. and can easily explain their problems over the phone. I have taken these herbs before so I know they are safe for me. If you are a first timer, I would recommend seeing someone in person.

Thanks Blackbird for putting me onto her.

The BellyBelly Centre has heaps of great fertility specialists and is located in Canterbury. They are all so lovely too :)

Kelly, are they naturopathic or normal specialists? Also, where can we go to find out their fees?

I had years of unexplained infertility. I had huge mood swings with Clomid so had to stop it.

I tried a naturopath (Ruth Sharkey before she retired) - it didn't work.

I had been told twice (in two different relationships) by FS's that I needed IVF.

I tried Vitex and had two pregnancies whilst on it but both resulted in early miscarriages. If you google miscarriage and Vitex you will find a lot of anecdotal evidence that a lot of women have early losses while using it.

I tried using EPO at 3 times the usual dose for a week before O (stopped when I could tell I'd O'd by temping) and conceived the first time I tried it. I very rarely saw any EWCM but got it when I used the EPO. Unfortunately I was also on Vitex at the time and bubs did not stick.

I am 38 weeks pregnant at the age of 42 (wasn't doing anything to aid conception at the time of conception) and I believe the reason I suddenly started to get fertile at such a late age was cutting out trans fats from my diet. Google it and infertility and you will see studies that have linked it to infertility in some women. Just a couple of months after eliminating it from my diet I started to have success. I do not believe it was a coincidence.

I wish you the best of luck and encourage you to keep trying natural methods as medical methods don't work for everyone.

Not sure what you mean? They are naturopaths with lots of experience!!! One has a certificate in natural fertility education. Also traditional chinese medicine practitioners can also help a great deal with fertility, two of them have been working with leaders in their field in fertility and unexplained infertility.

hello, im seeing a good acupuncturist/chinese medicine practitioner in Balwyn...PM me of you would like more details...
ive been TTC for 12 months now, and had a MC in December. He is getting me sorted out so that i can conceive again soon!

Mabello, I asked the naturopaths:

:

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"Kelly, are they naturopathic or normal specialists?"

Mmmmm....

That's a difficult one :)

We are fully trained Naturopathic physicians, who have studied Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Nutrition, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Wellness Analysis etc.

We are normal (I hope), but definitely Naturopaths, not normal specialists.

x Nicole

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Thanks Kel, that was my main query, whether they were "fertility specialists" or "naturopaths".

Thank you :)

Ahhh I see what you mean. All therapies can specialise - Nicole as above has her certificate in fertility education and thats what she specialises in, fertility. Also our TCMS specialise too - Justin has been working with a leading expert in the field and Sharmaine has been working with someone who has an outstanding track record working with unexplained infertility - so they do extra learning and experience to specialise in fertility. If you check out the pregnancy centre page you can read their profiles.

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/pregnancy-centre

Hi Stillhoping - I am another advocated for Fertile Ground in Melbourne. I have been going there since January - one month after my late loss. I see a naturopah (Gina) and Kinesiologist (Amanda). They specialise in women's health and fertility. Good luck!

:

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Thanks Kel, that was my main query, whether they were "fertility specialists" or "naturopaths".

Thank you :)

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Me too. As long as we are all clear that there is a difference between a medically qualified fertility specialist (ie. those who practice in assisted conception technologies), and a naturopath specialising in fertility.

I'm not knocking naturopaths by any stretch, but the distinction needs to be made.