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Fertility & Pregnancy

Inositol – The #1 Ovary Vitamin

Testing Your Hormones on Cycle Day 3

PCOS: Beyond What Your Doctor Tells You

Functional Medicine & Acupuncture in Santa Cruz

An Optimal Follicular Phase

Herbal Elixirs Customized for Your Cycle

A Healthy and Fertile Menstrual Cycle

AMH: What Does It Really Mean For Your Fertility?

Optimize Fertility and Prepare for Conception

Acupuncture Increases IVF Sucess Rates

Acupuncture, Herbs, and Functional Medicine for Fertility

Functional Fertility: Female Factors

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Sometimes the best thing we can do for…⁠ ✨ T

Sometimes the best thing we can do for…⁠
✨ The world⁠
✨ Our family⁠
✨ Ourselves⁠
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...is to find moments of peace within ourselves.⁠
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Taking even just 5 minutes out of the day can help you reset, regain clarity, decrease stress, and increase a feeling of peace.⁠
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Need some help to get started?⁠
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Head to the link in bio to receive my free 5-minute breathing meditation.⁠
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#selfcare #love #loveyourself #wellness #inspiration #bodypositivity #gratitude #selflove #health #healthyliving #girlpower #womanpower #femaleentrepreneur #womeninbusiness #bosslady #girlboss #functionalnutrition #healthy #nutrition #healthcoach #integrativemedicine #lifestylemedicine #functionalmedicinedoctor #healing #selfhelp #play #happiness #meditation #trustyourself #innerjourney

Inositol – The 1️⃣ Ovary Vitamin⁠
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🔎 If you’ve searched “supplements for PCOS or fertility” you’ve probably come across inositol.⁠
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It’s arguably the most well-researched supplement for women’s reproductive health these days.💥⁠
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What is inositol and how does it relate to PCOS?🤔⁠
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It is a natural sugar alcohol that plays many important roles in your body, such as regulating neurotransmitters and hormones.⁠
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🔑 For #PCOS and ovarian health, inositol is key.⁠
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It improves all aspects of PCOS, starting with insulin resistance.✅⁠
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Most women with PCOS have some degree of insulin resistance as part of this complex endocrine and metabolic disorder.⁠
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Reversing insulin resistance is paramount to reversing PCOS. Inositol has been shown to work as well as Metformin in this regard, without the side effects.🙌🏽⁠
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It’s documented to:⁠
✅ improve insulin sensitivity⁠
✅ lower triglycerides and blood pressure⁠
✅ increase HDL (“good” cholesterol)⁠
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What else can inositol do for PCOS?⁠
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Women with PCOS often have high androgens (“male” hormones) and low sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) which binds to androgens to lower excess amounts. Inositol both lowers androgens and raises SHBG, a win-win for PCOS.⁠
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PCOS involves disruptions in how the ovaries mature and release eggs from follicles (ovulate). Ovaries have a high need for inositol. This is because they need to uptake a lot of glucose, in order to meet their high-energy requirements.⁠
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In your ovaries, inositol:⁠
✅ Controls the uptake of glucose⁠
✅ Helps your ovary respond to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) for egg maturation⁠
✅ Raises estrogen levels in the ovary, which helps your LH surge – needed for ovulation to happen⁠
✅ Determines how much testosterone is produced⁠
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Inositol is good for egg quality, ovarian response to FSH and LH, insulin sensitivity, ovulation, regular cycles, anxiety, and better SHBG and testosterone levels in PCOS.⁠
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Think you have a hormone imbalance that’s impacting your cycles & fertility?⁠
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Take my Hormone Balance Quiz and receive a free copy of my guide Seven Root Causes of Hormone Troubles.⁠
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Link in bio⁠
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Are you new around here? If so, let’s get to kno

Are you new around here? If so, let’s get to know each other!

Hi! I’m Dr. Laura Paris, a functional medicine practitioner, and doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

🔆 I have an acupuncture clinic in Monterey & Aptos, CA and see functional medicine clients virtually around the US.

🔆 I grew up in Illinois in a Catholic family of 9 kids. We grew all of our produce. I was the only rebel out of the 9!

🔆 In my 20s I began to have a lot of joint and connective tissue inflammation and weakness that I didn’t understand. I saw doctors with no answers. I thought I was crazy. Lots of tendinitis and generalized inflammation. I felt like it had to do with food and I tried every nutrition approach

🔆 Age 33 I was working as a Feldenkrais practitioner when the joints in my hands and fingers became red, swollen and painful. My whole body was stiff and painful. Finally lab work showed I had an aggressive form of rheumatoid arthritis. It was a relief to find out that I wasn’t crazy, but also taught me a lot about paying attention to early signs because I knew something was wrong for many years before this diagnosis.

🔆 As a career change I went to acupuncture school in Santa Cruz. I managed to keep RA at bay without medication, but I had to do a lot of work with food, microbiome health, stress management, and acupuncture.

🔆 I have to be really careful about my metabolism since having gestational diabetes because I am sensitive to carbohydrates.

🔆 I often still feel like I am pretending to be an adult. I’m a goofball at heart and can’t take things tooo seriously

🔆 My husband is 8 years younger than me - an age difference I highly recommend ;)

🔆 I am crazy in love with my two cavalier King Charles spaniels!

🔆 My self-care and healing became even more prominent in 2010 and the last decade has been pretty amazing. I was able to go through perimenopause with flying colors. Now in my 50s I’m happier and healthier than I’ve ever been in my adult life!

🔆 AND what gets me out of bed everyday is knowing that I’m empowering women by helping them take their health under control

Now, I want to get to know you! Tell me a fun fact about yourself below!

🧘🏾‍♀️ Take a deep breath.⁠ I think a

🧘🏾‍♀️ Take a deep breath.⁠
I think all of us need that today right?⁠
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Need a little guidance to catch your breath with what’s going on today?⁠
.⁠
.⁠
Head to the link in bio to receive my free 5-minute breathing meditation.⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
#selfcare #love #loveyourself #wellness #inspiration #bodypositivity #gratitude #selflove #health #healthyliving #girlpower #womanpower #femaleentrepreneur #womeninbusiness #bosslady #girlboss #functionalnutrition #healthy #nutrition #healthcoach #integrativemedicine #lifestylemedicine #functionalmedicinedoctor #healing #selfhelp #play #happiness #meditation #trustyourself #innerjourney

🔥 What does the word inflammation mean to you?

🔥 What does the word inflammation mean to you?

❓ Do you think of it as a productive and helpful response to an injury, infection or illness?
❓ Or do you think of it as something unwanted, like chronic pain or swelling?

The truth is that inflammation is a smart AND necessary immune response.

But it’s also true that when it does not resolve, inflammation becomes chronic and damaging to your body tissues.🚨

Unresolved inflammation is a player in all of the chronic illnesses and all of the autoimmune diseases and all of the “itis” conditions. It also:

⚠️ Occupies your immune system and makes it harder to mount a fast response against a virus or pathogen (like C🦠v!d)

⚠️ Wears down joints & bone, causing arthritis and osteoporosis.

⚠️ Lays down plaque in your arteries.

⚠️ Affects your brain. Neuroinflammation can cause anxiety, depression, brain fog, and cognitive decline.

⚠️ Causes autoimmune flares, or even the development of more autoimmune diseases.

⚠️ Prohibits weight loss and causes weight gain!

⚠️ Makes PMS and period pain worse.

🛑 Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the doom and gloom.

To “find” inflammation that you don’t see or feel, it may show up on labs, such as elevations in:

🧪 CRP and high sensitive CRP
🧪 Platelets
🧪 Ferritin
🧪 Interleukin 6
🧪 Eosinophils
🧪 Sedimentation rate
🧪 Antibodies
🧪 Triglycerides
🧪 Insulin and glucose
🧪 Cortisol

In many situations, you can simply assume there’s silent inflammation. These are chronic conditions where inflammation is always present:

🔗 Allergies (pollen, food, dust, etc)
🔗 Chronic stress
🔗 Reoccurring infections in your gut, sinuses, lungs, bladder, or vagina
🔗 Chronic stealth infections (Lyme, herpes, Epstein Barr)
🔗 Mold / histamine intolerance
🔗 Autoimmune processes that aren’t in remission
🔗 Hormone imbalance
🔗 Blood sugar & insulin dysregulation
🔗 Excessive belly fat creates inflammation!

So, if you see or feel it, or if the above lab markers are elevated, or if you have one of the above conditions – you’ve got unresolved inflammation!

Check out tomorrow’s post for what to do about unresolved inflammation!

In the meantime...what questions do you have for me?

You can take natural supplements or medications to

You can take natural supplements or medications to reduce or block inflammation.
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However helpful, this is always a band aid approach if you’re not finding the root causes. For example:
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🚨 Antihistamines will reduce histamine reactions like allergies or hives, but they won’t redirect your immune system out of overproducing histamine.
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🚨 Humira for an autoimmune disease blocks tissue destruction, but it doesn’t stop the autoimmune process.
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🚨 Ibuprofen or curcumin may help arthritic joints feel better temporarily but doesn’t stop arthritis.
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🌳 It’s important to identify the reasons why your inflammation exists in the first place, and then take steps to fix it.
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It turns out there are different types of inflammation, and once we identify which type you have, we can use the right things to calm it down.
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Types of inflammation:
🔥 General
From period pain to injuries that don’t heal, Omega 3 fatty acids are hands-down the best general anti-inflammatory.
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🔥 Autoimmune
▶︎ Curcumin and resveratrol are excellent autoimmune squelchers.
▶︎ Vitamins A and D can help get autoimmunity into remission.
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🔥 Th2
In a nutshell, this is when you have chronic inflammation, or infection, in your “hollow space” organs: nose, sinus cavities, lungs, gut, vagina or bladder. Think Candida, sinus infections, asthma, allergies, UTIs, vaginal infections.
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▶︎ The ingredients in Th2 Modulator (in my store)
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▶︎ The Chinese herb Sophora flavescens, or it’s active ingredient Oxymatrine.
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🔥 Infections
For microscopic infections anywhere in your body (yeast, bacteria, viruses, amoebae, spirochetes, mycoplasma), use Vitamins A and D and glutathione.
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▶︎ The ingredients in Innate Immune Support help make natural killer cells for viruses.
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▶︎ Herbs to go after specific microbes, on a case by case basis.
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🔥 Histamine and congestion
▶︎ Quercetin and bromelain plus vitamin C for histamine.
▶︎ Bi Yan Pian for noninfectious nasal congestion.
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📌 Save this post to remember these different types of inflammation!
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Curious to learn more about the various supplements?
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Head to the link in my bio to read the blog with direct links!

❎ Are you practicing “Green Pharmacy?” ❎⁠
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Green Pharmacy is when a "natural" medicine like a supplement/botanical is used in lieu of a pharmaceutical prescription.⁠
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This is no different than the conventional "pill for an ill" approach, when medications are used to mask (push down) symptoms rather than solve them (root cause).⁠
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Wait, isn't a "natural" remedy always better than a drug?⁠
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Not necessarily! If the purpose is to mask a symptom, we need to weigh what is:⁠
✔️ Most effective⁠
✔️ Least harmful⁠
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Sometimes the pharmaceutical wins.⁠
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I truly believe that natural isn’t always better. I’ve taken the pharmaceutical route at times for my own health and it was such a game changer.⁠
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But neither take a root-cause approach. A functional approach is to figure out what is causing the symptom or ailment and get to that.⁠
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Who practices Green Pharmacy?⁠
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🟩 Anyone trained in medicine is at risk for doing this because IT'S THE PARADIGM IN WHICH WE ALL OPERATE.⁠
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This is true for conventional and holistic practitioners.⁠
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We holistic practitioners get people on a regular basis asking what to take or what to do in the "natural" arena to get rid of symptoms.⁠
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Understandable!⁠
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❌ Symptoms suck.⁠
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This approach may work for the short term, but it usually ends up being a game of whack a mole, and other symptoms will just pop up – IF THE ROOT CAUSES ARE NOT ADDRESSED.⁠
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Comment YES below if you agree!⁠

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