108: Creating a Healing Environment for Integrative Fertility Care and Acupuncture with Emily Marson

“I wish there was a culture of thinking about preconception before you’re ready to start.” - Emily MarsonToo often, fertility conversations don’t start until someone is already struggling to conceive. Unfortunately, by that time, many of our patients are already carrying years of stress, inflammation, disrupted sleep, nutrient depletion, hormone dysregulation, chronic pain, metabolic issues, and the wear and tear of pushing hard for a very long time. That moment of recognition can make the process become intensely stressful almost immediately.To offer our patients the best possible outcome, we have to reframe fertility as a process of creating the healthiest possible environment for conception and pregnancy, not a switch we can flip the moment we want to conceive. Especially for women navigating endometriosis, PCOS, recurrent pregnancy loss, IVF, or perimenopausal fertility, there’s often a deep sense of urgency and pressure around fixing the problem. But properly supporting fertility requires slowing down enough to look at how all our body’s systems interact over time. And while IVF can absolutely be an important and necessary tool, there’s often a huge opportunity to better support the body before and during that process instead of only focusing on stimulation protocols and lab numbers.In this episode, I’m joined by Emily Marson, licensed acupuncturist and founder of Aphrodite Fertility Acupuncture in San Diego, for a conversation about integrative fertility care and how acupuncture can support both natural conception and IVF outcomes. Emily explains the critical three-month preconception window, how acupuncture influences circulation and hormone signaling, why mitochondrial support, inflammation reduction, and nervous system regulation all matter for fertility, specific considerations for those with endometriosis, recurrent pregnancy loss, uterine microbiome health, PCOS, male factor infertility, the importance of collaborative care models, and more.Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!---Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/creating-a-healing-environment-for-integrative-fertility-care-and-acupuncture-with-emily-marson/.Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).