Fertility Naturopath Toronto - A Holistic Approach to Fertility

Dr. Fiona McCulloch established our naturopathic fertility program back in 2001 and we have been helping patients to build their families with remarkable success ever since! As Naturopathic Doctors, the White Lotus team is focused on evidence-based and root-cause fertility treatment and can support both natural fertility cycles and improve IVF success. Our team has extensive experience in the treatment of all underlying conditions that affect healthy fertility including PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid disorders, low egg quality, male factor and autoimmune conditions.

Our Naturopathic Approach to Treating Fertility Issues

Our natural fertility treatment is based on improving cellular and mitochondrial health. Oocytes(eggs) as the largest cell in the human body have a large number of mitochondria – the cell’s energy factory. The mitochondria of the oocytes have to do a lot of growing and work as they go through the process of maturation, fertilization and embryo formation.

During this process, the mitochondria and oocytes are susceptible to oxidative stress from inflammation, aging, insulin resistance, environmental toxins, which can damage egg quality and even cause changes in DNA function (epigenetics) that are transmitted to future generations.

These factors also have similar impacts on sperm health, and it is now known that epigenetic marks from both the mother and father are passed to future generations.

As a result, a foundation of our naturopathic fertility treatment is to protect and support egg and sperm quality.

The first step is a 2-hour initial appointment where your naturopathic doctor will carefully review your fertility goals and history, perform physical exams and recommend lab work when indicated.

After carefully reviewing your case, your naturopathic doctor will prescribe combinations of supplements along with a diet program and lifestyle suggestions to increase your ability to conceive. In some cases, we may also prescribe natural progesterone when indicated.

Have questions so far?

How Can Our Natural Fertility Program Help You?

As naturopathic doctors, we believe that each patient is unique and we look at the patient as a whole person. As a result, we can provide help specific to each patient’s needs. Some of the ways we help our patients are below.

Here are some examples of how our naturopaths can help with your fertility

Identify previously missed factors that are affecting fertility with a detailed review
Diagnose unexplained infertility
Provide counseling on environmental toxins that impact fertility
Provide diets to support fertility including those that target inflammation and PCOS.
Provide support for stress management
Provide support and advice on fertility-related health topics
Prescribe supplements and natural hormones if needed to support fertility

Our natural fertility protocols include micronutrients, antioxidants, nutraceuticals and botanical medicines with research to support their benefits for:

Egg Quality
Sperm Quality
Implantation and Lining Health
Hormone Balance
PCOS Specific Egg Quality and Hormone Balance
PCOS Specific Egg Quality and Hormone Balance
Preventing Miscarriage
Anti-Inflammatory Support
Circulatory Health
IVF-safe supplements to support egg quality and fertility*

* Our naturopathic doctors have extensive experience treating IVF patients and will never prescribe treatments that could interact with your protocol

Acupuncture

We also provide acupuncture, using research-driven protocols that have been proven to increase fertility by a substantial margin (40-60% increase in success rates for IVF cycles). Acupuncture promotes relaxation while improving circulation to the pelvic organs and developing follicles as you go through natural cycles, or prepare for your IVF or IUI cycles.

What makes our fertility care unique?

We take a great deal of time analyzing your case. As a result, we are able to uncover causes of unexplained infertility with a high success rate because we have plenty of time to consider every factor.

We offer support throughout the entire fertility process, and whenever you have questions, we are here to answer them!

We work along with your fertility doctor – we’re always open to communicating and collaborating for your best care.

And finally, we offer insight and experience in naturopathic fertility care – we are highly specialized and have worked with hundreds of patients going through the fertility journey. Our team is fully collaborative, we share case studies, and are constantly learning together.

Fertility conditions that we treat include:

Endometriosis
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Poor Egg Quality
Low Ovarian Reserve
Implantation Issues
Autoimmune Infertility
Luteal Phase Defect
Poor Response to Fertility Medication
Thing Lining and Poor Circulation
Clotting Disorders
Hormonal Imbalances
Ovulatory Disorders
Hypothyroidism and Thyroiditis
Recurrent Miscarriage
Male Factor Infertility
Unexplained Infertility
Stress and Fertility Impacts
Early Menopause

Egg quality and Timing

If your naturopath is working on your egg quality with supplements and/or acupuncture, it is important to know that your follicles go through a more than 90 day maturation process in the ovary.

It can take this period of time to achieve benefits for egg quality, though you may see improvements along the way. For other conditions, treatment time may vary so please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Our Doctors taking New Patients for Fertility

Dr Kelly Clinning

Dr Samina Mitha

Dr Fiona McCulloch

Articles on Fertility

Fertility

Antioxidants and Female Fertility. New Evidence

A new study was released from Harvard Vanguard/Boston IVF recently which provided some interesting insight into the role of 3 different antioxidants on female fertility. The study investigated Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Beta carotene, and found distinct differences between the three and time to pregnancy. It also determined that these antioxidants had differing effects based on body mass index and age.

Fiona McCulloch ND December 17, 2013

Fertility

Thyroid and Fertility, Thyroid and Pregnancy | Infographic

We at White Lotus have created this infographic to detail the effects of the Thyroid on Fertility. We hope that you will share it and also that it helps provide some interesting information on the important of Thyroid health in Fertility. We have also included naturopathic information including nutrient requirements of iodine, foods rich in selenium and iodine, and information on the effects of heavy metals, environmental agents and even stress on the function of the thyroid gland.

Fiona McCulloch ND November 18, 2013