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The Edit Alaverdyan Podcast
Welcome to "The Edit Alaverdyan Podcast," the podcast where insightful conversations unfold, and the depth of the human mind is explored. In each episode, I sit down with a diverse range of individuals—thinkers, innovators, and captivating personalities—who share their unique insights and experiences. Together, we embark on a journey of discovery, unraveling the complexities of the human psyche and uncovering the untold truths that influence our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
The Edit Alaverdyan Podcast
Dr. Elena Gregoriants | Reproductive Health, Birth Control Risks | The Edit Alaverdyan Podcast #45
Discover an entirely new perspective on women's reproductive health with the brilliant Dr. Elena Grigoryants. As a former OBGYN and master acupuncturist, Dr. Grigoryants blends the wisdom of Western and Eastern medicine to address pressing questions about birth control and infertility. Could your lifestyle choices or the environment be silently impacting your fertility? Uncover the intricacies of how traditional Chinese medicine views liver and kidney health as pivotal to hormonal balance and overall well-being.
Listen as we unravel the modern challenges women face while balancing career and family planning. From the shifting norms of motherhood to the stress-induced conditions like PCOS, we explore how societal pressures impact hormonal health. Dr. Grigoryants offers enlightening insights into alternative treatments for menstrual cramps and ovarian cysts, challenging the conventional reliance on birth control pills. Understand the long-term effects of birth control, not just in terms of fertility but also on libido and potential cancer risks.
Join the conversation about how traditional Chinese medicine fosters a harmonious reproductive environment. We delve into the emotional and energetic aspects of health, like the concept of "emotional UTI," and how acupuncture and herbal remedies can enhance fertility. Learn about the vital role of education in preparing young girls for a healthy reproductive future. This episode is a treasure trove of knowledge that encourages informed decision-making and illuminates the potential for holistic healing.
I see patients with the early menopausal stage, around 40, 42. So, and the main organ in that period of time it's kidney, and kidney, by time is kind of you know, the kidney is a channel and kidney as an organ is kind of declining.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone. So today's episode is with Dr Elena Gregorians. Now Dr Gregorians is a OBGYN in her country, but here she is a Chinese herbal medicine doctor, so she's an acupuncturist. I really wanted someone of her expertise to come on the show, who's been an OBGYN but also now is studying and practicing Chinese medicine.
Speaker 2:And the topic is birth control and infertility. And I really wanted to get into this episode because I think this is such a major pandemic in our country and it is and I'm calling it that because every other young girl that you see is on birth control and every other young woman that wants to start a family under 40, under 30, is having infertility issues. So my concern is what is really happening? Is this environmental? Is this food? Is this something that we're doing wrong? And what? What is causing all these infertilities? Is birth control causing infertility? Can birth control cause cancer? So a lot of really important topics that I thought every parent would want to know, every woman would want to know. So we dive into those subjects, um, and also we dive into the essential organs of a woman and where it all stems from, like, what organs do we need to nurture? And the subject was wonderful because I learned so much, and I know that I can nurture my daughter better, knowing all of these important knowledge that she obviously spreads.
Speaker 2:So stay tuned and I hope you enjoy this episode. Please subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so. I think it's such an important piece in supporting this podcast, and one really important part of this podcast is our sponsors, and Anita's Tutoring is an amazing sponsor that I want to bring up. She is helping children of all ages working on reading, critical thinking, their English, and so I think that she's such an important piece in any community. Definitely utilize her services and message her. I will definitely link her tutoring center into the YouTube and into my Instagram. Somebody so wonderful works great with teachers, works great with students, and what I love about Anita is that she has been a teacher for some time now, you guys, so she has all the experience that there is in private and public schools. So, anita's tutoring, thank you for being a sponsor and we appreciate you and enjoy this episode everyone with Dr Elena Gregorians Hi Elena.
Speaker 1:How are you, hi Jada, I'm okay. How are you?
Speaker 2:Good, good, it's so nice to connect with you. Thank you so much for accepting my invitation. Thank you for invitation too, of course. I'm so excited about this topic because this is something that I think is not really talked about. What we're about to get into it's not discussed, it's not really talked about, and I think it's important for people to hear that there's many other stories behind topics and it's really good to educate themselves before leaning into other things. But before we get in, can you just briefly tell us about your educational background? I know that you practice in your country as an OBGYN. Here you are a master acupuncturist in Chinese medicine, so walk us through your education a little bit.
Speaker 1:Okay, I graduated from Russian Medical Academy. It's Ivanova Medical Academy. I have been practicing as obstetrician and gynecologist for 11 years, so basically, I'm from the Western field, I have a Western background. So I graduated in 2016 from Yosan University here it's a university of Chinese medicine. So and I'm practicing since I have been practicing since 2018 and I'm running my own business, panacea Acupuncture. So I'm a licensed acupuncturist and master of Chinese medicine.
Speaker 2:Do you think that there is, so do you think that there's a difference between, like Western medicine, and I believe that Chinese medicine is Eastern medicine, correct?
Speaker 1:Yes. So basically, yes, this is two different worlds. One of them it's a Western, completely Western, and another one is Eastern. But I can tell because my education that days I mean during the educational time, training time we had some elements in our program that I have been having in Chinese medicine training. So it's basically observation. So the most important part in my time that I have been studying Western medicine, it was an observation. So the most important part in my time that I have been studying Western medicine, it was an observation. So in Chinese medicine, observation is number one too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which do you connect with more now that you are, because they are two worlds. But what do you connect with more with Western or Eastern medicine connect?
Speaker 1:with more with Western or Eastern medicine. You know I you know I like Chinese concept that there is a yin and yang. Right, the yin it's like a kind of a dark side. I mean, it's not dark, it's a material part, and yang it's an energetic part. I would say Western and Eastern it's yin and yang. Western it's more material and Eastern it's more about energy. But when we connect them, infuse them with each other, it's a very good blend that I feel that it helps me to treat my patient and apply, you know, some Western diagnosis and a Chinese medicine prospect.
Speaker 2:Bringing on and having the knowledge in Western and Eastern medicine. Eastern practices, more on energy, yes, but do you feel that many healings whether you're dealing with cancer or what have you you do you feel, as a professional, that eastern medicine does its job with healing a little bit more substantially and better versus western? What's your opinion?
Speaker 1:okay, my opinion is a long time ago I have I had some issue. Uh, I had some issue. Yes, that relates to, let's say, I was diagnosed with the cancer, but it was a long, long time ago and that time I had minimum knowledge about Eastern medicine. But I decided to do something alternative and I believe it helped me. And that knowledge that you know, I mean the experience that I had that time helped me to understand Eastern medicine more and I would say I have more tools to apply for patients who have been having chemotherapy radiation, because, you know, I have my own experience and I have a knowledge of the Eastern medicine that supports the system. It's because, you know, in the Eastern medicine, because you know, in the Eastern medicine, we don't divide the body by, let's say, brain, legs, hands and internal organs. We see the system as a, you know, is a universe, is a network. This is the main, you know idea and big point to help people with the cancer or some autoimmune disease. Because you know it's a different, different concept compared to Western medicine.
Speaker 2:Oh my. So do you think that the people that are struggling with autoimmune and cancer or tumors it's because their energy is not aligned?
Speaker 1:I would say it's. You know, in Chinese medicine there is a concept Qi is first, blood, second, so yang is first, yin is kind of, you know, supporting the yang and white inverser. There is, maybe you know, three or four different aspects of autoimmune problem and cancer problem. So I would say, of course, yes, it's an energy block in some system. It's uh, if the energy is blocked, it blocked the or stagnate the blood flow, it depends, you know, we just need to find out where is the root of the blockage and because sometimes we see only branches, we don't see the pinpoint, you know the target. So that's why I said the observation, it's number one.
Speaker 1:We need to. I mean, as a practitioner, I need to see the, the whole picture, how the patient looks, uh, what's the like, the how, how is the uh skin color, how's the uh quality of the hair, quality of the skin, if there is, you know, some spots on the face, spots, spots on the hands, I mean it's observation. It's a big, big, you know, like part that helps me to target the problem. I mean, with the diagnosis, if we need to support, let's say, kidney channel, or we need to support spleen channel, or we need to calm down the liver, because the liver is a manager and it's a collector of the blood, like compared to the spleen. Spleen is a producer of the blood, so we just need to find out where is the root and help. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no and help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, that's. That's amazing and that's interesting because I, you know, looking at Western medicine, we tend to, you know, since our topic today is like infertility and birth control, we can just like go right into it. When a woman is having a complex time, you know, having babies I think that that issue is really not looked at, observed, as the way the details that you're explaining. I mean, it's looked at as like a cancer, it's looked at as like a tumor or some type of like a you know something, versus like looking at it from an energetic perspective, a lifestyle perspective, right, a DNA perspective. So I want to say this that I've noticed, as a human being and being around with lots of people, working with people, having friends, that infertility rates are increasing like there's no other, like every other young person that you know is trying to have a family is having difficulty becoming pregnant. Are you noticing this as well in your practice, that infertility is just such an issue right now, under 30?
Speaker 1:Yes, and what is this? First of all, if you look at the ages of, like, let's say I'm talking about women right now so they decided to have a baby after I mean the majority of them they decided to have a baby after 30s. So I rarely see patients before let's say, 26, 27, 28. Let's say, in my time we consider the first pregnancy, I mean the woman who has the first pregnancy at 25, it's kind of, you know, a little um, um, kind of a little late. I mean a little, you know, like, yes, uh, but now it's, we would say, between 25 to 32. It's kind of normal period. But we need to understand that you know, our hormones level and our fertility level is kind of having a peak towards to the 28, 30, and then, you know, gradually goes down.
Speaker 1:And most of my patients, of course, most of my patients it's after 32, sometimes it's 42, 40, 42, and it's the first pregnancy. They just start thinking about first pregnancy. Of course it's going 40, 42, and it's the first pregnancy. They just start thinking about first pregnancy. Of course it's going to be. The rate of the infertility is going to be higher compared, you know, like, let's say, even 20 years ago. This is number one and number two. You just said this is exactly lifestyle, said this is exactly lifestyle and that, um, we are like women. We became, you know, more, maybe muscular, yeah, you know, doing almost the same job and, uh, and taking responsibilities that you know, like the like men, men, that, yes. So of course it affects on our hormone level, estrogen level and progesterone level why do you think?
Speaker 2:because you're right we. I think what we're talking about is that we want to be equalized and we have just as more responsibility, like men do. We're out out there working, we're everywhere and we can do all these things. We're women, but we can't do all of them together. Well, so that is affecting us, but in what way do those stressors can we call them stressors?
Speaker 1:Yes, I think so yeah.
Speaker 2:In what way do stressors cause infertility?
Speaker 1:So you know I don't want to be right now is like a more Western doctor. Let me just talk as a Chinese medicine doctor, because you know patients and I'm practicing Chinese medicine. So again, we need to apply by two systems. One system it's a liver, another system it's a kidney. So before 40, 45, the main organ in our body I'm talking about women women body it's a liver, because liver is collecting the blood and supplying the organs with the blood and of course, you know, it's a producer of the hormones.
Speaker 1:Liver is Liver, liver yes, but after 45, 40, 45, sometimes it's even 40. I mean, I see patients with the early menopausal stage, around 40, 42. So, and the main organ in that period of time it's kidney, and kidney, by time, is kind of, you know, the kidney is a channel, kidney is an organ. It's kind of declining, they're really losing their volume, they're really losing their volume, they're really losing their tissue. So basically, we need to just see what the age the patient I mean the patient age or the women age uh, where is she? She's like on the liver side or she's more already close, I mean close to the kidney side, and we need to support this system.
Speaker 1:If it's a liver. We need to support the liver because, you know, like stress, uh, is I like work, um, and a lot of women, you know they're running business. Again it's a stress and you know, uh, work and maybe lack of sleep, lack of you know, um, everything, yeah, so it, if it will affect on liver, so in liver became kind of stagnated. We call this liver cheese stagnation. It creates headaches, it creates even you know that we call the syndrome PCOH. So because of the liver is blocked, and if the liver is blocked it blocks the flow in the pelvic area.
Speaker 1:This is number one. So we need to unblock the liver to lower the stress level to, you know, to give more blood supply. If we apply to the kidney, we need to support the kidney because the kidneys, they're becoming weak and cold. So we need to give more essence, like support the essence. So it's a different treatment. So one of them it's kind of deficiency and excess and maybe heat. Another one it's deficiency, cold, two different, right? So that's why we can say, oh, we need to give the same treatment for two different, you know, like women with different ages you know, like women with different ages.
Speaker 2:So, since we're on the topic of liver and PCOS and you know some of the symptoms the younger girls around 12, 13, 14, 15 that are struggling with like menstrual cramps and heavy menstrual cramps and they're given birth control to help with that heavy menstrual cramps and they're given birth control to help with that Is that a normal thing to do or is it something to look at the liver of these girls and say maybe their body's under stress, versus shoving medicine down their throat like birth control?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, because you know I would, given the birth control. I mean the idea of the birth control, I mean taking the pills of birth control. Yes, it should be applied to. You know the main business that pills is managing. So it's a birth control.
Speaker 1:If you're talking about the young girls, that they have cramps and sometimes they could have some cysts in the ovaries, yes, again, this is the liver. It's exactly liver, blood and liver. We call it, I said, liver cheese stagnation and sometimes this stagnation creates, of course you know, there is no free flow in the pelvic area, the ovaries, and in the uterus and in the system that I mean in the lining of the pelvic floor. So just the floor became over like stagnated and, given the clinical presentation, it's a pain.
Speaker 1:So what we need to do, we need to relax the liver, to stimulate the blood flow in the pelvic area and sometimes it could be again. It could be cold condition and it could be heat condition. We just need to see the presentation. If it's cold, we use I believe you remember we have been using moxa. It's a herb that we burn on the needle, or there is a moxa stick that helps during the menstrual cramps, and in Chinese medicine. We have some herbs that unblock, as I said, unblock the liver and stimulate the blood flow exactly in the pelvic area.
Speaker 2:I think that a lot of mothers with young girls would really appreciate knowing, appreciate knowing this, because we're so led by lack of knowledge and fear that so many parents do give their young girls birth control because they have such pain.
Speaker 1:Because they don't know. You know they don't know. So this is the problem of the education, again that it should be, you know, maybe some educational you know, like talk or educational videos that help young generation to understand that besides, like, of course, we can switch if it's a critical situation like you know, nothing help. But we can go step by step. We can start from the alternative medicine given, you know, like acupuncture, again given herbs, and then if it did not work we can switch to, you know, to the more heavy you know treatment, but we can start from the you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with you. Learn how to put your socks on first, before your shoes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I learned that, Elena. What negative impact does birth control have on the body of a woman?
Speaker 1:You know, I would say you even can Google. When you Google you can see that the problem with the birth control, that it helped, I mean it's um uh effect on the water retention and water retention. You know, like some women, that that they could have a uh gaining the weight emotional, again emotional aspect of gaining weight and water retention. But basically it again affects on the liver channel and liver venous blood. So there is a kind of a side effect of it's not a secret. You can just find out that the side effect of birth control it's a problem with the vein floor, especially again on the pelvic area and legs. Vein, you know, could be involved too.
Speaker 2:And what problems can occur from that.
Speaker 1:So it's maybe the critical situation that could happen. It's thrombosis or, you know like in the future, like clots in the big, you know, veins and it could affect, you know, during you know, pregnancy, some you know women could have with the problem again in the pelvic area. It affects on the rectum, it's hemorrhoids and bleeding in the pelvic area. Um, because, first of all, um the idea of, uh, birth control, it's lower the estrogen level because you know we need to, kind of you know like, um, stop ovulation and also, I mean it's decreased the estrogen and progesterone. Um, I just said about the critical, you know know, sides. But there is another side it affects on the sexual life because low level of the estrogen effect on the libido. So it's kind of you know. So what's the point of?
Speaker 1:taking it no, you know, let's just say that that that time, when they created birth control, it was kind of a revolutionary step for women. We just need to, you know, to understand, because for women, having sex usually leads to, you know, I mean, that days have been leading to having a baby, right, but the women, that days have been depending on men. Right now, we could, you know, be independent, we could run the business, we can, you know, even raise the baby by ourselves, but at times it was like, you know, financial dependence, emotional dependence, so, and you know, I would say maybe, you know, 20, 30 years ago, it was like big, you know, big relief for most of, you know, like, women, even for our mothers and grandmothers, because you know mothers and grandmothers, because you know they, you know there was some, um, high rate of abortion and, uh, women death, and you know like, and young women, you know they, just during the abortion they had some consequences and uh, afterwards, uh, you know, infertility or death.
Speaker 2:Yeah, elena. Do you think that birth control can possibly cause infertility if it's taken for a long time? I don't want to say. There's a lot of studies, I've read research on that, but you know, it's always good to talk to professionals and see what their perspectives are too okay.
Speaker 1:So I don't want to say that it affects on the like fertility one. It affects on the fertility because, again, you know if I'm talking as a chinese doctor it affects on the liver and I already mentioned that the liver is a collector of the blood and it produces the hormones. So if the liver is blocked, less blood I mean blood that goes to the liver channel and less blood supply, of course it's going to. You know, like the pelvic area, it's not going to be priority for the liver to supply and it could create, you know, some cysts in the ovaries or it could be, you know, problem with the lining in the uterus. So it's kind of yes and no, but yes because you know it affects, affects the liver, liver, blood and liver channel.
Speaker 2:So some of the negative impacts of birth control is that it impacts your organs negatively and especially for women, it attacks the liver. If it's taken for a long time, which we're understanding, that liver helps us get pregnant.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, that's why you know there is a. I mean I believe gynecologists they should explain that if you're on the birth I mean not you, someone on the birth control it should be, you know, for five, like maximum five years, and then it should be some checkup, maybe to switch to another alternative birth control. It could be, you know, like a condom. It could be. You know there are a lot of other options, of course.
Speaker 1:Yes To cleanse yourself right, it's a problem with education. The women I mean mean sometimes women they don't, they don't know their choices. Yeah, so they need to know how that there are, you know, like non-hormone choice and birth control, but for five years, maybe you know five years it should be one year to have kind of a rest in time to renew the system, to reload the liver, to reload the blood flow, so to reload the brain. It's just, you know, like for some girls and some, you know, women, it could take even 12 months. Some, you know women, it could take even 12 months.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now that you are in more Eastern medicine, from an honest perspective, how do you feel about birth control? Would you prescribe it now, even if you knew that Eastern medicine existed?
Speaker 1:No, I would again, I would explain in other options. So if the in other options works, uh, even you know, like condom, I would say it's. In some cases it's more safe because you know the kind of protected, you know sex and uh we have. We just did not talk about some diseases that we could be, you know, transfer yes, what about?
Speaker 2:moms are going to say, okay, fine. So then how do I help my mom, my, my daughter, who has severe pain? She has awful heavy cramping, awful periods. How do you argue this with those types of mom? I mean, is Chinese medicine or traditional medicine really effective in helping these young girls who are having these really heavy period pains?
Speaker 1:I would recommend to find a good doctor, doctor of Chinese medicine or practitioner of Chinese medicine. Try herbs, try acupuncture. I'm very sure it's gonna help. At least you know, if not let's say 100%, but 80, 85%, it's going to be better and it's going to affect on the. Not only help is the pain relief, it's going to affect on the mood as well, because you know some women who have been having cramps and pain during menstruation. They kind of have some sort of depression Because when they're close to the period they have depression. Again, depression, it's a problem of the liver channel. So it applies to liver and liver channel, tmg. Like you know some of young women, they have a problem with the pain and the headaches, migraines. Again, it's a liver channel, liver, gallbladder. So my recommendation starts from easy and more natural you know treatments or help, and then, if it did not work I mean if it won't work you can, you know, switch to Western medicine.
Speaker 2:What herbs help with severe cramping?
Speaker 1:So it's basically herbs that we have a lot of formulas and some formulas in the formula. We have herbs that helps to promote the blood circulation, or we call them blood mover. Uh, saffron it's the same family, so, but safflower, yeah, safflower tea or saffron tea, really, you know, could really help with the cramps. Uh, but you I mean someone who has this should take its regular. It's not just you know, I have cramps. Let me just drink.
Speaker 2:No, no, I was just going to ask that question, elena, and sorry to cut you off. I wanted to add to that that many of us don't believe in these types of herbs and medicines because I think, as people, we want instant gratification. We want instant. But what people are forgetting is that, yes, chinese medicine is effective, or integrative medicine or in traditional medicine is great, but you have to be consistent. It's not just that one time you're explaining like, oh, I have cramps, let me drink saffron tea, and it's going to make it go away. If you know that you have a certain symptom, you need to be consistently drinking that tea, right?
Speaker 1:yes, and also we have a very great formula. It's a combination. Maybe when I pronounce it sounds a little weird we have a formal shaoyao song and job a shaoyao song. So these two formulas one of them, one of those clear the heat, let's help to unblock the liver, I mean harmonize the liver channel, and soft uh, soft flour tea, uh, will just help during the menstruation to unblock the uh blood flow. When there is a stagnation and a blood flow. Yeah, yeah, of course it should be um, some um, daily basis, uh, not treatment, like support. I would say it's a support. You're eating every day, right? You're drinking every day, so this is a part of your daily routine. And let's say, I know that I will have headaches if I don't drink enough water. So I'm just forcing myself and not forcing, I'm just, you know, like recommending myself to drink water. So, the same as the herbs, it could be tea, it could be pills. I mean, it's not. You know, right now we have the form, that very useful form. It's like small beads or small pills.
Speaker 2:Yeah, easy to, you know, consume yeah, um, we from you know our conversation. We're understanding that birth control does affect the liver of a woman, which is primarily responsible for fertility, but does birth control cause cancer? What are your perspectives?
Speaker 1:Um, this studies is not um, kind of kind of I let's say it's weak so far they trying to find, you know, like more uh cases and more like percentage. That it's could be true. But again, I would say, cancer in general it's not only one, you know problem. It's not about that I'm taking something or I'm not taking something, it's a combination. It's, as I said, it's a combination of set of mind because, uh, let's say, in Chinese medicine, everything that we, um, when I do in diagnosis, I apply five elements. So five elements it's a fire, it's uh, uh like wood. But each element has a emotion. Let's say liver.
Speaker 1:We have been talking a lot about liver, right? So liver, it's anger. I mean the emotion of the liver, it's anger. So if the person angry all the time and overthinking or have been having fear, their energy is going to be blocked in some certain levels. So it's like set of mind, and set of mind creates the blockage in certain areas Less blood circulation and less blood circulation collects let's call it some trash that the body should release. But but body is collecting that trash. So, and this one, and, as I, we said that the uh, uh, birth control can stagnate the liver and slow down the blood flow, venous blood flow. So you just can, you know, apply everything that I said. And, of course, you know, if, like, set of mind, poor blood circulation, blockage and emotional aspect, all of this, you know, creates a lifestyle that people, some people, you know, even they don't care about what they're eating. So, like these four elements will, of course, will create some problem.
Speaker 2:So if someone comes to you for their infertility dilemmas, do you ask them what's your lifestyle like? What are you eating? What are you putting on your body? Are you wearing perfumes? Are you are those? Are those things really? Can those really cause infertility in women?
Speaker 1:things really. Can those really cause infertility in women? Yes, of course. First of all, yes, I'm asking what your diet, what's the type of your diet? You, or maybe some people, don't follow any diet, but I'm asking tell me about what you eat and what you don't eat at all. What about your and what you don't eat at all? What about your, again, sugar consumption, because the sugar affects on the blood flow as well and fertility level as well. Second, it's exercising, of course. You know, we in LA I don't know, I'm not talking about any other part of the world, but in LA, all the time we're in the car, right, we're sitting behind the wheel, driving in the traffic, and again it's a stress and all of these aspects. So again, when we have been sitting, we're blocking because of the specific breathing. We're blocking the diaphragm, specific breathing, we're blocking the diaphragm. Diaphragm is a muscle that helps with the breathing. It helps to bring enough blood from the liver channel to the heart channel.
Speaker 2:Because of the.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's another subject. I just want to say that sitting behind the wheel is blocking the muscle, the diaphragm, and collects a lot of stagnated blood flow in the pelvic area. So of course, I'm asking about lifestyle, about exercising and about diet. All these three aspects will affect on the fertility because of the, again, blood flow circulation.
Speaker 2:Can you explain to us how that blood flow, the lack of the blood flow, circulation, affects us getting pregnant and why is that important?
Speaker 1:Because it will affect on the ovulation. First, how, if it's a poor blood circulation, the ovaries they're going to be, you know, will receive less blood flow, will receive less hormone stimulation, and because the main idea for the ovaries it's making you know, like going through the ovulation process right. So if the blood flow is less and all these you know consequences, there is no ovulation. So no ovulation we're not going to talk about, you know, progesterone level and we're not going to talk about, I mean, the lining is going to be thin in the uterus. Because all of this aspect will affect on the lining and the lining it's like an environment that should be warm, welcoming and, again, it should have enough blood.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, you know, I do some treatments for my patient. They could have normal ovulation, but the ut diagnosis called uterus. So it's a particular slow circulation in the uterus and making the lining is very thin. Of course hormone level affects on the lining too, but environmental things like cold, like I said, that's why in Chinese medicine we use the aspect of coldness and cold and heat. So less circulation could create less warm environment in the uterus.
Speaker 2:So it will be effect on the fertility level uterus so and it will be effect on the fertility level. Is that the same thing for miscarriages? Because it's cold and the lining is thin?
Speaker 1:Yes, almost the same. Yeah, and also it's um. During the pregnancy the level of the progesterone should be higher, but it's not going to some you know certain level. And again, progesterone should create more heat, more warm environment in the uterus. But if the progesterone level goes down, it's going to be coldness in the uterus.
Speaker 2:And is the liver responsible for that?
Speaker 1:Of course, because the liver creates you know that hormones. I mean it supports the ovaries, yeah.
Speaker 2:So this is amazing and I'm learning so much as I talk to you that you know we can sit here and we can talk about birth control and all the research and one can say it's not that bad, one can say it's good. But ultimately, any type of medicine that a woman chooses to put in their body whether even if it's like thyroid medicine, you know, or whatever for autoimmune, by the way, I'm sorry, thyroid, it's a part of the liver too. Yes, yes, yes, yes, for sure, liver and spleen. That's what I'm learning, right.
Speaker 1:No, there is a kidney channel that should be like a fire that support all these organs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. And so, knowing this, I think, as women, we need to understand that, no matter whether you're choosing, there's nothing wrong with choosing to do medicine, birth control, whatever but it's really an essential to understand that, in the long run, it affects one of the most important organs that help us with our hormones, and that's our liver. Yes, and so we need to be really mindful of what medicine we're putting in our body. Elena, how? First of all, I want to ask you this I have a daughter myself. What? How can I help my daughter having a healthier organ system, or a reproductive organ system as she's growing up? What are some things that I can do as a mom to help her better reproductive organs so that she never comes across these types of issues when she's ready to, you know, go through her menstrual cycle and all these things?
Speaker 1:First of all, as a mom, you need to understand that there is a menstruation, that how it works, how it works, yes, yes, and why we have it. What's the purpose of the?
Speaker 2:menstruation. Can you tell us? We all know what it is. We go through the pain.
Speaker 1:But do we know what it is? Yeah, Second thing maybe I still have a very old-fashioned set of mind. I still think that early sexual life will affect on the reproductive uh situation.
Speaker 2:We're all with you. On my followers that meant can you tell us how? How does that?
Speaker 1:affect them. Because you know, first of all, the body. Let's say, if it's before, like 18, uh, 17, 18, the body is not ready. The hormones is, I mean internal organs, they are not ready for, you know, to conceive. I mean, maybe they are ready, but, uh, there is this kind of separation between, um, energetic system and physical system. Uh, we need to, you know the, the brain and the person should be mature enough to you know, understand, because the sexual, you know, intercourse, it's, it's a process that it's not just like having a food. And I would start, probably, with this part to explain that we have a menstrual cycle and we could be pregnant any time, especially before, let's say, because we're starting, you know, our menstrual cycles, from 13, 14, right, we started around that age.
Speaker 2:I'm hearing eight-year-olds now.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, yes, Because, again, because of the lifestyle, because of the diet, because of that we have a lot of sugar in our diet hormones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, added the early menstruation too, and social media and all this. You know things about social media. All of this it affects on, you know on, because I tell, it's not physical, you know aspect, there is an energetic aspect of our, our system. So, and second, there is a sexual transmitted diseases that still, you know, exist and sometimes, you know, I mean, I still believe in chlamydiosis, urea plasmosis. It's a combination of virus and bacterial form that could affect on the fertility as well and sometimes it's asymptomatic and we could not find, I mean, especially men, they could be asymptomatic.
Speaker 1:And having this, let's call them viruses, yeah, and having this, you know, let's call them viruses, yeah. So second thing, if let's say it happens that the early sexual, you know life, I would say maybe it's better to use condom or barrier stuff compared to birth control, because at least there is some protection, kind of protection, kind of a protection, uh, yeah. So I would start, you know, maybe from this point it should be, you know, um, educational, friendly talk, not that, you know, oh, you know you could be pregnant or you could have a disease. Not, uh, you know, like spreading the fear. No, it should be like knowledge, knowledge, yeah, that the young girl would understand, oh okay, if I I'm choosing someone, uh, but we kind of completely forget about emotions, we just, you know, talking as a teacher.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Like you know, it's a, it's like a food that we have to have it, no, first. It's an emotional aspect, you know that will support our liver as well.
Speaker 2:That's right. What are some of the foods that you are aware of that affect female reproductive system?
Speaker 1:Sugar is number one, unfortunately, because sugar is increasing the osmotic pressure in the blood and could create that we have been talking about stagnation, could create stagnation in the blood flow. I mean in the pelvic area as well, area as well. Second, it's, I would say, kind of artificial food that soy, I mean soy meat or something like that that is kind of created, it's not natural, it doesn't exist in the nature. It will affect on the again, because liver needs to detoxify this and the way how we bring in that stuff in the liver to detoxify. We're going to use these resources of the liver Alcohol but right now people, I mean they don't drink so much, they have another, you know stuff. It's uh, drugs and everything that relates to addiction too uh, but again you know, I would say number one for fertility.
Speaker 1:I mean that could create infertility. It's a sugar, it's a high sugar level what about smoking, women smoking. Again, it's the same. We are the same channel. We are, you know, like harassing the same channel, but here it's a different situation. It's from the lung. It's the lung will be harassing the liver. It's on the other side, because of the heat that creates I mean the cigarette or vapes they create. You know the heat that will go through lung channel to the liver channel.
Speaker 2:Ilana, have you seen a success rate with? You know family that is trying to get pregnant and you know there's an infertility issue. Does Chinese medicine genuinely help with fertility?
Speaker 1:Yes. Issue Does Chinese medicine genuinely help with fertility? Yes, I would say I have a lot of patients that most of them they're going through IVF procedures and of course it increase fertility rate and because of that they could have more. They create more eggs in the ovaries and maturity of the eggs and I even recently I had a patient she have been going through. She have been freezing her eggs and it's a long way. So the first time when she have been doing this. The first trial it was unsuccessful, but after the treatments I have been seeing her two times a week for like a month and she got what she wanted. Finally, she was really happy because she was already close to her 40s. She was 39. And of course, you know it's a chance for her to be a mom in the future because you know, as we have been talking before, the older we are, the kidney essence, kidney channel is kind of declining. So yeah, that's amazing. Chinese medicine is definitely helps with the fertility.
Speaker 2:And why do you think it's not promoted more? Then why are we so quick to jump to other options? I mean, are we? I don't know. I mean not, it's not talked about. Do you think it's not talked about as much?
Speaker 1:I think so because you know this um uh, there are some in the Western, I mean Western medicine. Anyway, it's fast.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh seriously, it's fast, it's noticeable, you know.
Speaker 1:Yes, and a lot of. Of course. You know a lot of money is kind of invested in research in Western medicine than you know in Chinese medicine, because it's, again, you know, it's kind of a type of the business that you know it's difficult to compete. I mean Chinese medicine can't compete with the Western because of, again, money-wise and insurances you know that covers, I mean I can tell that some, I mean most of the insurances they don't cover fertility. I mean fertility treatments. They cover pain, but they don't cover fertility, I mean fertility treatments, they cover pain but they don't cover fertility.
Speaker 2:So this is the answer. Why? Yeah, yeah, this is just fascinating to me, that I'm I. This is why I love doing what I do and I love learning that you know, being a mom, too, of a daughter, that it's really important for me to know that she has a little liver and that liver needs to be nurtured and taken care of, and her kidneys, like. We don't think about things like that. When we think about infertility, we jump immediately into the reproductive system and, oh, something's off and it's like you visualize it. But when you look at it from a deeper perspective, something's off and it's like you visualize it. But when you look at it from a deeper perspective, it's like her organs are not properly working. There's something there. And we have people like you that are knowledgeable and say, hey, like this is what we need to attack, because you observe the body, right, you check the tongue, this, that.
Speaker 1:So you immediately know yes, and of course you know I don't want to say that I disregard blood work. No, I really ask, I mean ask my patient to bring the blood work, because I want to know, uh, what's going on in the system, especially with the, like, hemoglobin level, this very time level, this hormone level. Of course it's important uh, because you know I can, it's kind of a feedback that we can uh see after the treatments. Let's say we have done some sessions and then, uh, after, like at least it should be two, three months after the treatment, that we can check the blood work and say, oh, okay, we have this, you know situation.
Speaker 1:And right now we jump to the new, completely new level, because you know, even sometimes the very simple thing that the women I mean a woman could have a very low hemoglobin level anemia. So what kind of? We can't talk about fertility in this case. We just need to. You know it's already. She has an essence deficiency, yeah, and blood deficiency. We need to fix this first. Chinese medicine can help this too. We need to fix this first and then help this too. We need to fix this first, and then, you know, we can talk about fertility.
Speaker 2:The body. Yeah, yeah, elena, for the people that do not believe in acupuncture, okay, because there's this visual, and I've heard a lot of people say this how can sticking a needle in a body help you with fertility? Can you briefly explain to us how does a needle help with fertility, fertility?
Speaker 1:Okay For fertility. We use points on the abdomen, on the lower part of the abdomen, that kind of correspond to ovaries and uterus, and we have some points on the legs of the abdomen that kind of correspond to ovaries and uterus and we have some points on the legs. So basically, you know our body it's like a network and it's a freeways, because we have channels, 12 channels, and they kind of merge in each other. But basically, what I'm doing and we are doing as practitioners, we're placing the needles that area that I said that corresponds to ovaries and uterus. We stimulate with the needle and electro-stimulation we stimulate that area, we attract more blood flow there, we remove the stagnation. Just, you know, we're making the blood flow uh normal and uh free.
Speaker 1:Uh, second thing when the blood flow is sufficient, it's warm up the uterus too. Uh, after, when the stimulation is over, I apply Maxa. Maxa is a herb that applies on the needle, or I apply on ginger it's a good treatment too. Or direct Maxa, the same. It stimulates more blood flow and it could help to keep the blood flow sufficient, at least for four more hours. And these four more hours, you know, will stimulate the ovaries, will stimulate the uterus, the uterus lining. So some points we have on the legs as well, especially kidney points. It's close to the ankle area. To stimulate that area we bring in more essence, we bring in more blood to the kidney. So for fertility we need to balance liver, kidney and support the spleen, because the spleen is the main organ who is going to transform and transport that we have in our digestion system.
Speaker 2:From this conversation. Another thing that I'm picking up is how important it is for your body to be warm.
Speaker 1:It should be balanced because, you know, yeah, when, let's say, we're getting older, especially women, we could create some extra heat, right, that's why someone could have hot flashes, but again, it's a deficiency aspect, we just need to. If it's too much, we need to. If it's too much, we need to clear the heat, or we need to support the kidney to make them, you know, uh, being more that they could collect that heat and can contain the heat inside it's. Uh, usually, you know, I am, uh.
Speaker 1:There is a visual, very visual thing. Let me just it's very interesting example, but this is true. So when we were, let's say, before 30s, 25, 30s, our kidney, the volume of our kidney, is like that. Can you see, yeah, big cup, right. So after 40s, the volume of the kidney is declining. It became smaller, like physically smaller, but the heat that the body creates it's the same. So there is a difference, right, that we can contain the heat in this volume and contain the heat in this volume, yeah, so in this case we need to clear heat and support the kidney, kidney essence, because it's our bank account.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely. Another thing that I've learned from Chinese medicine, it's that, um, it's important to not consume ice water. Yes, how, how effective is this on a woman's reproductive system?
Speaker 1:So this aspect affects on the spleen, because the spleen, I suspect, effects on the spleen, because the spleen it's a very gentle organ and in order to, if, let's say, we consume the ice water, the body, the stomach, needs to first of all, you know, like digest, to bring the temperature to the same level that our body has, it takes energy. So it takes a lot of energy. In this situation the body is spending more time and energy to digest this cold water and, of course, you know, it will give less to the pelvic area. Pelvic area is going to be not priority, so to receive the blood and to receive the energy. So it affects on the spleen, which is the message deliverer and taker right.
Speaker 2:Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, because it will affect on transformation and transformation. There you go, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Transformation. Wow. So yeah, that's, that's one thing Before we go. I think I am going to speak for all moms when I ask this question, you know, when they're like little babies. I particularly see a lot of moms that have their baby, like baby girls, like barefoot and it's like really cold outside or they're dressed very lightly. Is it important to take care of? I mean, like how, how important it is to keep a baby girl, baby girl, warm. Is that harming their reproductive system when they're dressed lightly and it's cold outside? You hear our parents say it all the time dress warm, it's freezing. But is this just a myth or is this?
Speaker 1:factual. No, it's true For me, I usually, you know, could be a little, not mad, but frustrated when I see the baby with no shoe and no socks. So, as remember, I said when you asked me, uh, how we are treating the um, how it's the fertility treatments looks like, so we apply some needles on the feet area, under the feet, it's around the feet area Under the feet, it's around the ankle area, okay, around the ankle, and this area it's on the feet, it's a kidney. Yeah, so, kidney they're supposed to be warm, head it's supposed to be cold. So, and of course, you know, uh, in the future, this I don't want to say 100%, but they could have UTI problem, uh, they could have, you know, uh, coldness in the kidney and it because I said, the kidney channel, kidney organs, they should be warm, they should be, should keep them warm. Wow, I love that.
Speaker 2:I always, I always think about that. I'm like, how is this mom, this child is barefoot, she's wearing a jacket and socks, but the baby and I always think of that. I'm like these little baby girls need to be taken care of like their. Their private parts, especially starting from underneath the feet to their like private parts, need to be warm. That's what we learned, as you know, our culture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but medicine applies this to the system, to the channels kidney and liver and spleen. Again, it's stopped from the feet.
Speaker 2:Wow. So then the conclusion to this is that majority of infertility issues among women. It doesn't matter whether you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s, it's a high chance. Obviously stressors environmental stressors, but also the organs of a woman, particularly the liver and kidney and spleen right Need to be looked at yes, they should have very good support.
Speaker 1:So one of them should be great and another one should be warm and supported Wow.
Speaker 2:And that's what Chinese medicine supports. It's finding that balance versus these medications and tests and things like that. Wow, I love that.
Speaker 1:You need to be in the harmony in five elements.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, because when you, when you look at the past too, our grandparents were incredibly fertile. I mean, they have five, six, seven children. But now that you're, it's just so different. Now it's the chances are decreasing. So that's why I I wanted to talk about this and this is kind of interesting and and you know what, elena, I don't know if you kind of agree with me, but back then the women knew how to nurture their organs better. They had all these holistic approaches in their kitchens?
Speaker 1:Yes, because we call it folk medicine, right? Yeah, we could say, okay, if someone has a problem like kind of uti, but we haven't taken our drinking, it's a cranberry juice or cranberry no leaves. Yeah, right, so. But now they're given antibiotics and say, okay, take antibiotics. But actually I want to add to the subject, because UTI could be two types of UTI. It could be like real UTI that developed because of the infection, like real infection, and non-specific. In Chinese medicine we call it emotional UTI. You see, two different things and we need to give two different remedies, right?
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Chinese medicine always leads to like energy. That's, as you said, energy, emotion, the well-being of a person. That's fascinating. Yeah, and again, what I'm understanding is that, at the end of the day, whether you choose to birth control or not, it does its effect on female organs, which is primarily needed for reproduction. Exactly Fascinating. Yes, thank you so much for today. Exactly Fascinating. Yes, thank you so much for today. I appreciate you and yeah, you're amazing Wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you, I was really happy.
Speaker 2:I know me too. Thank you guys for viewing.