314: Empowering Women with PCOS: A Comprehensive Approach to Fertility | Dr. Angela Potter

00:00:00 Dr. Angela: Really what I've developed are these important aspects of health that need to get addressed in order for fertility to open up the most and for your fertility plan to be most effective. And so, it's not this just one size fits all approach where we're doing medications, none of that, right? But it's important to talk about egg quality, like, what's going on with your eggs and how can we be supporting your egg quality.

00:00:33 Maya: This is a Healthy Lifestyle Solutions podcast. And I'm your host, Maya Acosta. If you're willing to go with me, together we can discover how simple lifestyle choices can help improve our quality of life. Let's get started. 

00:00:48 Maya: All right, welcome back to the podcast. This is your host, Maya Acosta. Today we are going to dive into the world of polycystic ovarian syndrome, also known as P-C-O-S and fertility. I have a very special guest with us. It's Dr. Angela Potter, and she's a functional medicine naturopathic doctor and leading expert in PCOS Fertility. Dr. Potter is the creator of the PCOS Fertility Protocol, which helps women with an individualized approach to having the best chance of becoming pregnant while having PCOS. So in this episode, we will discuss PCOS, its impact on fertility and what women can do to optimize their chances of conceding. As always, the full bio and the links for each of my guests can be found on the website, healthylifestylesolutions.org. And let's welcome, Dr. Potter.

00:01:41 Dr. Angela: Thank you, Maya. It's an absolute pleasure to be here with you.

00:01:46 Maya: Thank you. I'm looking forward to this conversation for many reasons. On our podcast, as I focus more on women's health, I really wanna offer resources and I've never had a PCOS specialist on the show. I've had other people that focus on women's health, talk about preconception care. We talked about having a healthy pregnancy and in some cases, we even talked about postpartum health, mental health and other things like that. But never someone, who's gonna help us really dive into what PCOS is and is very prevalent. So I'd love to learn first, how did you take interest in this? What is the reason for you wanting to support women with their diagnosis in PCOS?

00:02:32 Dr. Angela: Yeah. Well, I've been in practice now for about 10 years and through that time I was working with women's health and doing a lot more like primary care, women's health. And I just began getting more and more women in my practice who had PCOS. And there was this theme that they were telling me these stories that I was hearing very frequently about. I was talking to my other doctor and was just told that I had to lose weight and that was the only answer. Or I was just given birth control pills and I don't understand how birth control pills are gonna help me get pregnant. And so just this underlying theme of these women getting really dismissive information from their doctors and having been in practice for so long and understanding myself how to get to the root cause of what's leading to these PCOS issues and fertility issues, that's when I was like, there is such a big need here and I'm gonna do everything that I can to be supporting these women to understand what's going on in their bodies and then to get a plan moving forward, which is how I develop my PCOS Fertility Protocol in how to help them have regular ovulation and regular cycles. And then of course, with the goal of getting pregnant.

00:03:59 Maya: So let's talk about, how does a woman even know she has PCOS? What are the symptoms? What exactly is PCOS?

00:04:06 Dr. Angela: Yeah, so PCOS is polycystic ovarian syndrome. And that's really important to know that it's a syndrome. So it's just a collection of different symptoms that make it up to be PCOS. And you also need to rule out other causes of fertility in order to be diagnosed with PCOS. And it's really important, if you're listening and you're struggling with fertility and nobody has asked you yet important questions about PCOS and you've never had that conversation with your doctor, PCOS is the number one cause of female infertility, and it's estimated that around 5 million women have it in the US, and that number is probably low because not every woman is getting tested for that. So just to give you a note there that if you don't yet know if you have it or not, it's important to get that tested.

00:05:04 Dr. Angela: And so there are different aspects of diagnosis of PCOS. There's three pillars of PCOS and you need to fit two of the three in order to get diagnosed. So one is having, cyst on your ovaries, one is having elevated testosterone, and then the third is having ovulation issues. And that can be really surprising for people to realize that having, cyst on your ovaries is actually not a requirement to getting diagnosed with PCOS. So you could have it, but you could not have, cyst on your ovaries. But yet if you have the elevated testosterone and ovulation issues, you still have a diagnosis of PCOS.

00:05:53 Maya: That's very interesting that you say that we are going to talk about, so some of those myths that people have, and I mentioned that I've always thought of PCOS as really the underlying condition or situation that's contributing to that is insulin resistance. But according to you, there are various types of PCOS. Before we talk about those, I'm thinking, like, how does a woman even know to check for this unless she's trying to get pregnant and finds herself being infertile. I had a friend who was diagnosed at age 19 and she was not trying to get pregnant. So how does she know initially that she needs to go to the doctor and maybe get some tests done? 

00:06:39 Dr. Angela: So for someone who isn't trying to get pregnant, usually the hallmark that's gonna bring you into the doctor are irregular periods. And it's not just a few days of your period, you know, one period is 28 days and one period's 32 days. That's not really it. It's more like, I haven't had a period in six months, what's going on? And then when somebody is struggling with fertility and needing to know if they need to figure out if they have PCOS, well that's when, of course, having these irregular cycles. And if you're not bleeding months at a time, that's gonna be a big cause for concern for your fertility. And then also a lot of women find that easy weight gain is a big sign of PCOS and then having elevated testosterone and those types of symptoms are like unwanted hair growth, really like on your chin, your back, maybe, kind of that male pattern hair growth and then acne as well. So those are typically the things that somebody you might be thinking, huh, okay, have those symptoms. I wonder if I have PCOS, let me go talk to my doctor to see if I do.

00:07:56 Maya: Yeah, absolutely. That's great to know. So what are some of those myths? I already talked about one of 'em, which I thought it was just really associated with insulin resistance, but no, there's more to that.

00:08:08 Dr. Angela: Yes. Right. So let's talk about that. So many people think that insulin resistance is just a part of PCOS and no, it's not. It's just one type. And there's many people, it's called Lean PCOS, and that's just somebody who has a different body frame than what unfortunately is kind of the stereotype of PCOS. But, so for women who don't have that extra weight gain and gain weight really easily, they're known as the Lean type of PCOS. So, you know, and if you remember what I was just saying about the different diagnostics of having PCOS, insulin resistance isn't even a part of that. And I mean the medical community is working really hard to pinpoint even more what PCOS is and how to diagnose it because we wanna make sure that we're catching people and also not letting people get diagnosed that actually have other issues going on instead of just PCOS.

00:09:17 Dr. Angela: But talking about this insulin resistance and these types of PCOS, if you're not familiar with the types, so the first step is to get diagnosed with PCOS and that's figuring out, okay, do you have the cyst on your ovaries, the testosterone or the ovulation issues? Then the next step, which is most commonly missed at many doctors' offices and many fertility clinics, but that's to get your type of PCOS figured out and there's four different types. You could be very strongly one type, you could be a mix of all four and finding out your PCOS type is just that important to understand the root cause of what's causing your ovulation issues, what's leading to your fertility issues, so then you can get a plan moving forward that's really effective to what your needs are.

00:10:13 Dr. Angela: Cuz again, I was saying PCOS is a syndrome, right? So that means what PCOS is doing in your body is different from your friend who has PCOS and her needs and what she's gonna need in order to help get pregnant. And another big myth with PCOS is just this idea that this one size fits all approach works for everyone. So if somebody goes into their doctor to talk about their fertility issues and they're told, well, okay, you have PCOS, here's metformin and go lose some weight. Well, again, PCOS looks different for you than it does for your friend. And that one size fits all approach just, it's not going to work. Now, metformin, it works for some women and that's so great, like let's celebrate that. But what we're finding is that it's not this amazing panacea medication that works for every woman. And so it's… that's why it's so important to get individualized care so that you understand what it is that's going on in your body, what type of PCOS that you have, so then you can get a plan moving forward that's really specific to your fertility needs.

00:11:30 Maya: Yes. And I wonder if, because they saw that diabetes medication such as metformin was successful in helping a woman conceive. I wonder if that is one reason why many of us think it's an insulin resistance issue.

00:11:48 Dr. Angela: Yeah, absolutely. That could be a big part of it. And insulin resistance is one of the most common types of PCOS, so it's certainly really common. But not every woman has it. So if you're somebody listening and you're like, well, I am pretty thin and so I can't have PCOS like you still could and that's why it's important to get it checked out. Yeah. So insulin resistance is one type. Another type is post pill PCOS, and the hallmark for that is really if you've had regular periods and then you get on the pill or a form of hormonal birth control, like the Mirena IUD and then get off of that. And then all of a sudden, your periods are all over the place, you're gaining weight, have hair growth on your chin, stuff that wasn't happening before.

00:12:41 Dr. Angela: So that's like why you would think you would have post pill PCOS. And then there's adrenal PCOS, and that is when your adrenal glands, which pump out your stress hormone cortisol, they're just overtaxed and your cortisol is not being produced in a normal fashion because it has this really nice, like normal rhythm throughout the day. It's elevated in the morning when you wake up, and then it just steadily falls throughout the day in order for you then, to have low cortisol at night, in order for melatonin to rise, for you to fall asleep. But if you lead a stressful life, I mean, we live in this modern world with many stressors. Many of us are walking around with just this adrenal fatigue, overtaxed adrenals that our cortisol is being pumped in our bodies not at normal levels.

00:13:40 Dr. Angela: So either it could be really flatlined, really low cortisol or what I see most commonly is really elevated cortisol when it's supposed to be low. And that's gonna give you symptoms like anxiety and insomnia and weight gain and things like that. So that adrenal PCOS is one type, a third type, and then the fourth type is inflammatory PCOS. And the most common reason for inflammation that I see with fertility is thyroid disorders, specifically Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune condition of the thyroid. So, and that's when your immune system is just on overdrive and leading to that inflammation, leaky gut as well can be a source of inflammation in the body. So those are the four types. 

00:14:32 Maya: Okay. I'm so glad that these last two, I wanna kind of touch on lightly. The adrenal fatigue I'm familiar with. I had thyroid issues, hypothyroidism, and I started to put on weight a few years ago, and then I work closely with an endocrinologist, but I find it interesting. I wonder how many people know how you talked about testing your cortisol levels throughout the day. Just sort of like if you had a glucose monitoring system where you're checking your glucose throughout the day and after meals and all of that. The checking for the cortisol levels is doing, at least for me, like the saliva test throughout the day, so that I can see it's very revealing in the sense that it helped me to understand because I myself have always been a person that suffered from stress, mainly, self-induced or, you know, workaholic, too much on my plate, which is common for many women to have so many things that we're juggling that can contribute to our stress and of course the adrenal fatigue. So I was wondering, well, I guess, I just wanted to add though that comment about, how you test one way, I guess, that you test for adrenal fatigue. And when you talk about thyroid, I wonder how closely your patients work with you as well as an endocrinologist, or do they strictly work with you because you have that training as a functional physician?

00:16:02 Dr. Angela: Yeah. That's a good question. And then, I wanna talk about what you mentioned about the adrenal test and then also answer that question. So when it comes to fertility and stress, I mean, the fertility journey leads to incredible amounts of stress. And so when we're talking about adrenal PCOS, it's not just to say, well, go meditate, like five extra minutes a day and your stress will dissolve and your fertility is gonna open up. Like it's really important to get this salivary cortisol test done because you're looking at what your cortisol is doing throughout the day, so then you can get a plan moving forward to help it come back into normal rhythm. And so then your body is able to respond to stressors around you much more easily. So just wanna give that note about that, and thank you for talking about the test.

00:16:57 Dr. Angela: Then as far as like endocrinologists. So many of my patients are coming to see me after they've been talking to either just their PCP or maybe they've gone to see an endocrinologist or if they've gone to a fertility clinic and what's happening is that they're going in and they're just getting really this kind of assembly line medicine and treatment plans for their fertility. And either it's not working and so then they're coming to see me or it just doesn't feel right for their body. And so then they're coming to see me. And so, yeah, I mean, many people have gone in to see an endocrinologist. If somebody has had a thyroid disorder for many years and they're working closely with an endocrinologist, that's wonderful, and then they come to see me because it's one thing to get your TSH levels, that's your main thyroid hormone.

00:18:01 Dr. Angela: It's one thing to get those into, normal range for fertility. And also just a quick note that there is an optimal fertility TSH range, not just your average reference range for TSH. So it's one thing to get your TSH levels regulated, and if you've had long-term hypothyroidism or hyper, you know, you might most possibly are on medications for that, but then it's another thing to be supporting your inflammation to come down, those thyroid antibodies to come down, if that's indeed your diagnosis. And also to be supporting your body in this holistic way, helping to balance all the different hormones because your hormones are one full system in the body. It's not just that your testosterone levels are only doing one thing or your thyroid levels are only working in the thyroid. No, like they're all talking together and working on different organs. I mean, we know that the thyroid is acting directly on the ovaries, so that's why it's really important for fertility purposes.

00:19:13 Maya: Absolutely. Before we talk about the biggest mistakes that women make when they have PCOS and they're trying to find their way towards becoming fertile. Before that, could you explain to my listener what a functional medicine doctor is? Because I am unfamiliar and several years ago, there was a functional medicine conference in Dallas, and Dr. Hyman was one of the keynote speakers. We talk here on the podcast, many of the specialists that I bring on board are trained in lifestyle medicine. So we do talk about lifestyle modifications associated with nutrition, exercise, stress management and all of that. You, as a functional medicine, what makes you stand out more than say, a physician who doesn't have that training?

00:19:58 Dr. Angela: Yeah, so functional medicine is looking at the body in this holistic way to really understand what's the root cause of whatever your symptoms are. Of course, I'm working with fertility, so we've gotta do a deep dive into the body to understand what's affecting your fertility, because when it comes to fertility, it's not just about your lady parts, right? And so a conventional medical doctor, for the most part, of course generalization here is just going to be looking at those main reproductive hormones and really looking at kind of high level things. And I mentioned this assembly line medicine. Well, this is typically what happens with many women who are on this fertility journey, is that they'll go talk to their general doctor, get maybe metformin, maybe Letrozole or Clomid, one of the ovulation induction medications. And then if that doesn't work, then they're told, okay, well your next step is IVF.

00:21:00 Dr. Angela: And so it's just like moving forward on this machine and functional medicine is really gonna take the time to listen to your full story to help put together the pieces of what's going on with your fertility, looking at thyroid and not just your TSH, taking that next step to look at, are there antibodies that are positive? Understanding your sleep patterns and your eating habits and any need for detox in the body and just helping you develop then this really nice, well-rounded plan that is focused on your end goals, right? Pregnancy, but is supporting your health to becoming optimized so that yeah, not only your fertility is, you're increasing your chances of getting pregnant, but you're also sleeping better. You're also not feeling bloated after meals. You're also having more energy during the day. So.

00:22:06 Maya: Yeah. 

00:22:06 Dr. Angela: That's what a functional medicine doctor does.

00:22:09 Maya: I love that. And addressing the root costs without, you know, not just focusing on that goal of having a successful pregnancy and delivery, but also taking care of your health. So I did ask you ahead of time if PCOS could be an indicator of things to come in the future if the root causes are not addressed. So if we're not taking care of our health, if someone's a listener of mine has PCOS, why is it important to address it even if you do not wanna become pregnant?

00:22:43 Dr. Angela: Yeah, because PCOS we know long term, it's a hormonal disorder. So if you have PCOS, you either have low progesterone or elevated testosterone or too much insulin. And that over time, even if you don't wanna get pregnant, over time, is going to lead to other issues. Women with PCOS have a much greater risk of developing type two diabetes. They have an increased risk of certain reproductive cancers. And menopause would also be difficult because the hormones are going up and down anyway during menopause. And if you're going into menopause with not having balanced hormones, then that's gonna lead to more hot flashes and mood swings and fatigue and things like that. So while it's really common to think that PCOS is just a fertility concern, well, no. If it's something that you have, you want to be proactive in thinking about, for many years of your life.

00:23:48 Maya: Yeah. Yeah. And I like the idea that while it may seem when you're faced with this diagnosis, you ultimately may feel like, oh my God, I'm gonna battle over the rest of my life with fertility issues. It's amazing that if this, the root cause is hormonal, and with simple adjustments, I say simple, I know that's not that easy. But with some adjustments, you can have a successful pregnancy and improve your health. It could be in many ways saving you for improving the quality of life throughout the years. If you're diagnosed with PCOS, there's something that you can do about it. But like you said, maybe the PCP may not have any of this training, and so I'm so happy you have a virtual program. I can't wait to hear about your protocol. I don't know if we've addressed this, but what are those common mistakes that women make initially?

00:24:39 Dr. Angela: Yeah, so one big mistake is not getting your PCOS type figured out. And because that takes you on, that next level of understanding the root cause of your fertility struggles and getting you on a plan that's moving away from that one size fits all approach. And so understanding what it is that your own body needs in order to open up fertility, that's really important. And unfortunately, it's not a mistake that because you're doing something wrong, it's just because this isn't talked about enough in the medical world. And so another mistake on that is just thinking that medications are gonna be the one thing that supports fertility with PCOS. And that's just not true. I mean, again, yes, they work for some women and that's wonderful, but we see that it doesn't work for all women.

00:25:37 Dr. Angela: And metformin is frequently used, has been used traditionally. But the medical literature is moving away from advising Metformin for as just this one size fits all approach for PCOS. So it's really important to understand, okay, if Metformin is not right for my body, or if you try Letrozole or Clomid, one of those ovulation induction medications and things aren't working, it's not to say that your body has failed or you're doing something wrong and IVF is the only option for you. No, like, what's really important is to understand, again, your PCOS type, the root cause. What are these issues that are leading to fertility? Like what hormonal balances do you have? Has a quality been addressed in your healthcare? Because you could do IVF eight times, and if your egg quality is not being addressed, if your hormones are not being addressed, then you're not going to have successful IVF rounds. But do you see how, you know, okay, if you take some time to be supporting your body with specific nutrients that have been well researched to support egg quality and to get your hormones balanced as much as you can, do you see how that opens up? Not only perhaps the chance of natural fertility, but then having such a better outcome if you were to move forward with the letrozole or an IVF cycle. So there's so much with PCOS that can be done that's really frequently forgotten, unfortunately.

00:27:26 Maya: I know. I'm just thinking of the mental health part of it, the stress of going through all of these treatments when you're diagnosed because the physicians that you may be working with may only know to take those steps. And so I can't imagine from a diagnosis who maybe metformin to IVF that seems extreme and IVF is expensive, like you said, and it can take its toll. So tell us about your protocol.

00:27:53 Dr. Angela: Yeah, so I developed this protocol based over the years of seeing women with PCOS. And really what I've developed are these important aspects of health that need to get addressed in order for fertility to open up the most and for your fertility plan to be most effective. And so it's not this just one size fits all approach where we're doing medications, none of that, right? But it's important to talk about egg quality, like, what's going on with your eggs and how can we be supporting your egg quality. We talk about detox and eliminating toxins because that's really important. With fertility, we're focusing on gut health and how that impacts fertility. And so these, we're just zeroing in on these important aspects of this holistic picture of your health to create this fertility plan that is supporting your body from many different aspects. That's then, with the ultimate goal of getting cycles regular, getting you to ovulate, and then of course with increasing your chances of getting pregnant.

00:29:07 Maya: Yeah. And so being that your program is a virtual program, how does one sign up to be a patient of yours? What is the process for all of that?

00:29:16 Dr. Angela: Yeah, so I offer free PCOS fertility breakthrough sessions because my work with you is individualized and I wanna be sure that we're a good fit to work together and understand what's your PCOS journey so far? So we have a free session in order to understand what that looks like, what your needs are for fertility, and if we're a good fit to work together. And I also offer PCOS, what's my PCOS type sessions. And because figuring out your PCOS type is a really important aspect of developing a fertility plan. And so then, Maya, because I know you have this really wonderful community of people, and I want to be of service, I am offering it for a really low price at just $49. And that's when you and I are doing this deep dive into figuring out what's your type. And you walk away knowing what your type is and what the most important steps are that you can take to move forward for your fertility.

00:30:21 Maya: Oh, that's wonderful. In this conversation that you have, the initial kind of consult that you have, do you try to rule out whether the male partner has fertility issues as well?

00:30:33 Dr. Angela: Absolutely. Yeah. So that's a really important step in, fertility journey. Because male infertility is about 30%, female infertility is about 30%, and then unknown fertility is about 30%. So as women, often we think that it's our own fault. Our bodies, the hormones are more complicated, and so it must be us that's the issue. And we go to all the doctor's appointments, but your man needs to be checked out as well because he has the same chances of you as, of being the cause of infertility.

00:31:14 Maya: Dr. Potter, I'm surprised to hear that 30% of fertility issues is, associated with, on the side of the men, but also 30% of, associated with issues that women have. So it's almost equal in a way. That really surprises me. I know that now when we talk about fertility issues, it's always tossed out there to remember that men also have issues. I didn't know how common it is also with men

00:31:43 Dr. Angela: Yes. Yeah. And the 30% unknown infertility, that's still like not reason to be losing hope about your fertility chances, it's because those type of statistics are being looked at from that assembly line kind of medicine they're seeing. Okay, how many people respond to metformin? How many respond to Letrozole? How many respond to IVF? But again, if you're not doing that added work of improving your egg quality and balancing hormones and optimizing fertility specific nutrients, yeah, you're gonna be in that kind of statistic. But there's so many things that you can be doing to support your fertility, that's not just the medications. 

00:32:32 Maya: That's right. And that brings me to another point that I had written here, which is when I guess not properly addressed, the PCOS, there's an increased risk for a miscarriage. So I mentioned that I had a friend who had fertility issues diagnosed with PCOS and did the metformin with, which helped her conceive twice, but in between, she did have a miscarriage. And it's because we're going back to, again, not really addressing the underlying conditions and not optimizing the individual's health. So it's not just that you want to increase the health of your eggs, but you also wanna make sure that you have a successful pregnancy. I just can imagine all the stress that women go through when they're trying to conceive.

00:33:21 Dr. Angela: Yeah. It's a really difficult journey and it leaves you crying yourself to sleep, feeling like your body is broken and your dreams of becoming a mother are now dashed and such a big part of that is because there's not enough information out there about all these other ways that you can be supporting your body. And so absolutely supporting your body, getting your PCOS symptoms to be optimized enough or moving away from what the issues that are leading to your fertility, is really important. Of course we can never say that the risk of miscarriage is completely taken away. Any woman who is trying to conceive has a risk of miscarriage. But yeah, by supporting your egg quality and your hormone balance, that's lowering your risk of miscarriage. 

00:34:18 Maya: Yes. 

00:34:18 Dr. Angela: And supporting your health through pregnancy once you are pregnant and through the postpartum time, which is a wild hormonal time as well. And so it's really important to do what you can, preconception to be supporting your health for many months and years to come. 

00:34:37 Maya: Yeah. So as we were talking about your protocol, you know, improving our egg quality, making sure that you take the steps to help detox the body so you can support your immune system and gut health, meaning even, like what nutrients can we absorb? If we can optimize our gut health, how important are lifestyle changes? Having that proper nutrition, getting enough exercise. I know that we initially started with one of the misconceptions that, and they come primarily also from our physicians, is that they focus on weight loss. Like that's the ultimate thing you have to do, go and lose weight and then come back or whatever it may be. But still, I look at exercise as a way to balance our hormones, improve our mental health. I mean, there are so many benefits, even if it doesn't directly lead to fertility.

00:35:30 Dr. Angela: Yes. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about this, super important lifestyle changes are really big for a fertility journey. What I have found is, the issue is that when somebody is talking with their doctor and their doctor says that, like, okay, well, once you lose 150 pounds, everything's gonna open up for you. Good luck, come back once you've lost that weight. That is really damaging because one, it puts the pressure on you feeling like your body is doing the wrong thing. And it's not taking into account all of these, like, physiological processes that are happening that could be contributing to infertility regardless of your weight. And so, yes, losing weight might be an important part of the process, but first you've gotta check what your hormone levels are doing and a variety of hormones, not just your progesterone and estrogen.

00:36:32 Dr. Angela: You've got to see what nutrients are you deficient in that are contributing to fertility or infertility. And so taking those important steps, which we're doing in my protocol. And so then once you have that, that's really good concrete information to understand, okay, what deficiencies are there, what imbalances, then you can get a plan to address those. And then that's when the lifestyle changes come in as well, because then you can say, okay, well I see here what it is that's contributing to my ovulation issues. I see that I have too much testosterone. Okay, we're gonna get a plan to lower that testosterone. But then yes, like, oh my gosh, like the benefits of exercise and supporting insulin levels and lowering testosterone and improving ovulation. That's huge. Changing your diet to be really fertility focused and, you know, be eating really nutrient dense foods to be, supporting this fertility journey is super important, but you don't wanna feel like that is the only thing that I can be doing. You've really gotta take that important step of getting the testing done to see what specific imbalances are going on in the body to then help you put together a plan.

00:37:57 Maya: I'm actually curious, have you worked or have you thought about working with some of your colleagues to bring this information to them?

00:38:07 Dr. Angela: Yes, absolutely. To be sharing the importance of like, getting the PCOS type and the different nutrient levels and all of that. Absolutely. Yeah. Education is a big part of my passion. And so yeah, networking with my colleagues and leading seminars for them, that is, yeah, I incorporate that into what I do.

00:38:32 Maya: I love this. This has been so wonderful, all the information. Like I said, I've never had a PCOS specialist, like if I can call you that. 

00:38:40 Dr. Angela: Yes. 

00:38:41 Maya: Because, and I wanna emphasize too, that you're not only trained as a functional medicine specialist, you know, physician, but you also have that component of, kind of the holistic and also the nutrition information that as we know, many physicians don't receive in medical school. So it's important to know that all of these components play a role in optimizing the woman's health. And I appreciate the fact that if a woman has a physician like yourself who's guiding her through this individualized plan, that not only it can result in a successful pregnancy, but also it'll optimize the health of the baby during the pregnancy. So it's already putting that individual, that child on a good path as well. Your protocol is more about optimizing a woman's health overall, so it's going to take a little bit of time. What does that look like?

00:39:37 Dr. Angela: Yeah, so it really depends on where you are, in your journey. You know, how much testing you've gotten done so far, how long it's been since your periods have been irregular or that you've been trying to get pregnant. And then as we work together, our main goal is to get your ovulation back on board and your cycles getting regular. Because once that happens, then your likelihood of getting pregnant is that much better. It depends on, again, like how long this has been going on in your body, is this new over the past couple years? Has this been something that's been in your body since you first got your period? Because that then helps us determine how long it's gonna take in order for cycles to come back regularly. And it's so hard with fertility because by the time you're then reaching out to somebody for help, you've been trying for months or years, and so you want that quick fix.

00:40:46 Dr. Angela: I don't give a quick fix, but my goal is to help get ovulation back on board, and that's increasing your chances of getting pregnant. But then, some women that are working with me, we get their body optimized as we can, you know, the nutrient levels are optimized and we can get ovulation back as much as we can, or that's the one thing, it's like, oh, that's not coming back. And then it's important to go forward to try a round of letrozole, or maybe they're thinking of IVF because, timelines, but all this work that we've done to optimize your body's nutrients and balanced hormones, that's increasing your chances of getting pregnant with using those medications. 

00:41:32 Maya: Yeah, I love that. That's wonderful. Great answer. So Dr. Potter, is there anything else that you'd like to share with my listener? And then please give us your website or anything else you'd like to share?

00:41:43 Dr. Angela: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the number one thing that I want to leave is that if you're struggling with infertility and you have PCOS, like there is hope and not to just be left feeling like, you know, it's your body's fault or you have to be just going on these medication protocols. And if that doesn't work, then, you know, to feel hopeless. Like, please know, there's so many different answers out there, to be supporting your fertility health in order to optimize your chances of getting pregnant. So hold onto that, please. And yeah, you can find me over at drangelapotter.com. I have an active PCOS fertility blog. I'm pretty active on YouTube as well, putting up weekly videos about PCOS fertility. And then again, if you're in that place where you have PCOS, you've been struggling to get pregnant, figuring out your PCOS type is that most important next step for you in order to get that clarity. So I have that discount code that's special just for this podcast and that it's only $49, which is a huge discount. I don't want cost to be a barrier to you getting this information to be supporting your fertility. So you can use the code, HLS 250 and that'll get you there. And the URL is drangelapotter.com/pcos-type, which I know Maya will have that all in the show notes.

00:43:18 Maya: Yes, I will include everything in the show notes. And I'm also glad that you mentioned your YouTube channel because I'm a big fan of learning through YouTube and I currently watch an OB/GYN address like [coming] issues. She's, you know, anything related to women's health. But now I'm gonna be binging probably on your content. So.

00:43:38 Dr. Angela: Great. 

00:43:39 Maya: I'm so excited. Dr. Potter, thank you for what you're doing to support women and helping women to have a family, really, thank you for being here today and really helping us to understand what the myths are. I think that you helped me to understand at least, I know that I only thought weight played a role and insulin resistance played a role, but now there are other things that are affecting a woman when she has PCOS and you've given us a lot of hope for those women who are interested in conceiving your protocol. Sounds like it's an ideal program that's gonna help really optimize a woman's health and then put her on the right path towards a healthy pregnancy as well. So thank you for being with us today.

00:44:25 Dr. Angela: Oh, thank you so much, Maya. Thank you for those kind words, and it was such a pleasure to be here. And thank you for the hard work that you're doing to create this incredible community that you have.

00:44:36 Maya: Hmm. Thank you. Well, my friends, thank you for listening to today's podcast episode with Dr. Angela Potter. We hope that you found this episode informative and empowering. And remember that if you do have PCOS and are trying to conceive, there are steps that you can take to optimize your fertility. By working with a healthcare provider who specializes in PCOS and fertility-making lifestyle changes and considering fertility treatments, you can increase your chances of having a healthy pregnancy. However, we have learned from Dr. Potter today that really having, working with someone who specializes in individualizing a plan for patients that have PCOS is very helpful. And her protocol helps you optimize not only your chances of having, pregnancy, but also optimizing the quality of your eggs and of course, just overall health. So make sure that you visit Dr. Potter. All the links will be in the show notes. And again, thank you for being a listener. 

00:45:45 Maya: You've been listening to the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions podcast with your host, Maya Acosta. If you've enjoyed this podcast, do us a favor and share with one friend who can benefit from this episode. Feel free to leave an honest review as well at ratethispodcast.com/hls. This helps us to spread our message, and as always, thank you for being a listener.