Dr. Jane Levesque [0:28 - 27:58]: Pregnancy is a natural process. So if it's not happening or if it's not sticking, something is missing. After having a family member go through infertility and experiencing a miscarriage myself, I realized how little support and education women have around infertility. I want to change that. I'm Doctor Jane Levesque. I'm a naturopathic doctor and a natural fertility expert. Tune in every Tuesday at 09:00 a.m. for insightful case studies, expert interviews, and practical tips on how you can optimize fertility naturally. If you've been struggling with infertility, pregnancy loss, women's health issues, or you just want to be proactive and prepare yourself for the next big chapter in your life, this show is for you. All right, ladies, today I want to talk to you about your eggs and more specifically, the oocyte. So the human usite is the most fascinating cell in the body because it is the only cell in the body that is capable of becoming human life. And I think it doesn't get enough attention. We get a vague diagnosis of, you have low, poor quality eggs because you're old or because you have premature ovarian failure. And we couldn't see them on the ultrasound, but nobody's talking about, well, why is that happening? And is there anything that we can do about it? And the answer is yes. So I'm gonna dive into that a little bit here today as I'm learning a lot about the oocyte and premature ovarian failure and restoring fertility in general. So as a naturopathic doctor, I need to take continuing education hours every year. And every year I spend that time making sure that I am learning about fertility in both male and female reproductive systems, because I'm fascinating. Obviously, I'm fascinated with the research and I wanna help as many people as I can to make babies of their own. And I think a lot of couples are written off way too quickly. And when we really come down to the function of the cell, we can restore the function of that cell even when we've been told otherwise. So the reason that I love the usite, the mature human usite, the egg contains more mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA than any other cell types. So I've spoken a lot about mitochondria, but it's. Mitochondria is, truthfully the key factor in treating any infertility cases. And how I approach treating mitochondria is something that I've had the opportunity to speak on stages at Cellcore and continue to push that message out in my social media and the podcast, because we're missing some pieces when it comes down to treating the mitochondria. So, to take you back to just the ovarian biology, this is fascinating. At 20 to 40 weeks gestations, we have six to 7 million follicles. And then we start to see a decline of the follicle numbers. At birth, you are at 700,000 follicles. Now, it's obviously independent of ovulation. So we know that this ovarian atresia is happening, the death of the follicles without ovulation. At puberty, we're at about 400,000. And in monthly ovulation, you're losing anywhere between 20 to 30 follicles. If I'm looking at someone who has been diagnosed with premature ovarian failure or premature ovarian insufficiency, what's happening is either there is a decrease in the initial number of follicles that the woman is born with, there is an increase in how quickly those follicles are dying, or there is essentially a failure of the follicles responding to the hormonal stimulation. Because, remember, ovulation happens in the brain. So it's either all of those three things could be happening or one of those three things. And when we're looking at any female reproductive issues, we are looking, I believe, at mitochondrial dysfunction. What is important to remember and how far back we want to go on this is fertility issues, especially for females, are generational. It is known as a trigenerational effect because our ovaries, ladies, are developed when our grandmothers are pregnant with our mothers. So I just want you to think about that. Our ovaries are developed when our grandmothers are pregnant with our mothers. And because basically 100% of our mitochondria is passed on from our mother, what we need to understand is the history and the health and the well being, not just of our mother, but of our grandmother, especially during pregnancy. There was a fantastic study done on dutch women during the famine of the world War two, where they followed those women for a couple of generations to see the impact of the feminine that it had on the health and fertility of these women. Now, the grandmothers had no issues with getting pregnant or breastfeeding. And it wasn't even their mothers that had. Sorry. It wasn't even their daughters that had issues with getting pregnant and breastfeeding, but it was their great. It was their granddaughters that had issues with either getting pregnant or with breastfeeding. It's when I known about this for a long time. But every time I take a lecture and, you know, the professor or the teacher goes through that again, it just hits me differently, because when we expect our body to reverse, it's to improve the quality of the eggs in three months. Like, I can't tell you how many marketing things I see on my social media. Obviously, they're targeting me because I'm in the fertility space. But take this supplement for three months to improve your egg quality. Do this for three months, and your egg quality will shine. And it just drives me bonkers, because if we really understand where the egg quality really starts, and if we can trace it back to our grandmother and the health and the well being that she was, the state that she was at when she was pregnant with your mother, I think we would have a lot more compassion for ourselves, and we would set much more realistic expectations in terms of what it is going to take to reverse this egg quality issue, especially if you're facing it when you are young. So anything under 37, if you are told you have poor quality eggs, then, you know, we, like, we're wondering why. Because essentially, you should still have enough eggs at that time. And even when we have low number of eggs, the quality of the eggs is really going to matter. So I, like, I want you guys to really think about this trigenerational effect and impact, not just from your own healing journey and what it might take for you to heal, but also, what do you want to pass on to the next generation? You know, I thought about that for my daughters, and I think that the greatest compliment to me will be when my grandkids have no issues with their health and fertility. And I know that's crazy to even think about, but that's like, I just reflected on that the other day, and I was like, so it's when my granddaughters will get pregnant is really the compliment to me for passing on that mitochondria and for doing my prep work. And so I want you to do the same thing, because let's. Let's stop the generational disease that we're passing and instead create generational health. What we know about female fertility is very much so when we talk about ovarian aging and, you know, poor quality eggs essentially comes down to the number, the quantity, and the quality of, uh, the amount of mitochondria that's per egg. So the higher the mitochondria numbers we have, the better the quality of the egg, the lower the mitochondria numbers that we have. The lower the quality of the egg, the most common question I am going to get from this is, can we measure our mitochondrial health, and how are we going to do that? So there is no direct test to test mitochondrial health, but there is many ways to understand what your mitochondria is doing, because the mitochondria has these two roles. It's either the powerhouse or the battleship. I've said this many times in different podcasts. Podcasts. And if you're listening to this over and over again, it's good, because I know this concept takes a little bit of time to really understand. But our mitochondria does a lot of things for us. For example, it helps us produce energy. It's the powerhouse of the cell. It produces ATP. You need energy for every single function in your body, period. So we need energy for a lot of stuff. The other thing that most people don't know about, though, is that it helps with production of sex hormones. It's a critical step in helping with production of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. It also plays a critical role in production of cortisol. So our stress hormone, it plays a critical role in hydration. So making water, a lot of the times we think that the water that we're drinking is what's hydrating us, but it's actually our body's ability to make its own water. We make way more water internally than the external source that we have. So when people are really dehydrated, despite the fact that they're drinking a lot of water, I know that it's going to be their mitochondrial health. And so because our mitochondria helps us with energy and hormones and water and there's inflammation and lots of different stuff, then we can look at somebody and say, okay, if you have a hard time losing weight, if you have a hard. If you've been under stress for a long period of time, if you have issues with estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, it's one of my biggest pet peeves. When women are told that they have low progesterone and then they just put them on progesterone, it doesn't fix the issue of poor mitochondrial function and essentially lack of mitochondria in a critical area where basically your baby will come from and what you will pass on to the next generation. Taking progesterone is not going to fix that. And so we have to start looking at a bigger picture. So then we can, number one, truly heal ourselves, but number two, stop passing generational disease onto the next generation. And because basically 100% of the mitochondria is coming from the female. It's a huge reflection of what's going on for the female in her mitochondria, in her health. When we're seeing kids who are struggling with mitochondrial dysfunction, like ADHD and brain inflammation and difficulty focusing depression, anxiety, even digestive distress, asthma, eczema, those are all issues that are going to really impact the mitochondria. So I talked about the mitochondria being a powerhouse, and it has these two roles. It's like a teeter totter. It can be a powerhouse or a battleship. It can be in both. So if it's in powerhouse, then it's good. But if it's in battleship, that means it's in battleship, and less cells are in powerhouse mode. And what would put it into battleship mode? Well, it's things like infections, whether it's bacterial, viral, parasitic, it's things like industrial environmental toxins, phthalates, parabens, pesticides, herbicides, volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, mold, yeast. So when we're looking at treating the root cause of mitochondrial dysfunction, we have to look at environmental toxins, we have to look at mold and yeast, industrial toxins. We have to look at infections and how long they have been there for, and then we can also look at the nutrients. So when I'm testing mitochondrial function, what I'm looking for is what is the ability of this body to produce hormones? Right. What is the level. So levels of testosterone, estrogen, progesterone. For females, obviously, I tested at different times of the cycle. For males, we test and look a lot of the testosterone levels and his ability to produce it, because that tells me how well the mitochondria is functioning. And then I'm going to look at levels of inflammation. So whether it's your blood sugar, dysregulation, or actual inflammation numbers, so there's some markers that we can look at, like CRP and esr. And then we're going to look at the gut, because if there's a lot of infections, well, I just told you that the mitochondria is going to be really impacted by infections. If there is a leaky gut, that means things that are going into the body that are supposed to be nutrient dense and good for you are potentially causing issues because they're not being broken down appropriately. And the cells in the body, in the stomach lining are separating the mucosal lining. And so then there's these bigger particles of food that are coming through into the bloodstream that the immune system is now not recognizing and producing an immune system response, that's stress on the body. That's equating as a. An infection for the lack of a better term. So of course that's going to impact the mitochondria. I want to look at heavy metals. Uh, there is a couple markers that they test, you know, for mitochondria, but when I see that, usually it's associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, but it's really hard to isolate. When I see, for example, a lot of my unexplained infertility cases, they have insane levels of environmental toxins, and usually they're anxious, they have digestive issues, whether it's constipation or loose stools or nausea. They have acne, they have their hair falling out like they have so many other symptoms, but they don't really understand why. So when I test these things, and then the other thing is you can test nutrient levels as well. So understand that lab testing has come a really long way, but we still have a long way to go, and so we can get a good glimpse of what's going on in the system, but it's hard to know exactly if that nutrient is completely deficient or not. So I usually just look at the bigger picture. For example, it's hard to tell about coq ten or vitamin E levels and vitamin C, selenium, zinc, because those things can really fluctuate within the red blood cell and the white blood cells. So there's some tests that I use that measure the white blood cells, which gives me a bit more accurate information because it's longer term. But if we have all of these things, so our hormones are low and you don't have to have all of these things, but you can have some of these things. If you have all of these things, it's absolutely egg quality is an issue. And so that oocyte does not have very much mitochondria. And we want to increase the level of mitochondria in the usite because embryogenesis takes a lot of energy, reproduction takes a lot of energy. So when I look at the inflammation, when I look at the hormones, when I look at the gut, when I look at the nutrient levels, when I look at the environmental toxins, that gives me a really good idea of what's going on with the mitochondrial health for both the female and the male. Now the male, it's really important to have good quality, lots of mitochondria within the sperm, because it energizes the sperm. It's basically motile versus immotile. And, uh, for it to be able to propel and, uh, fertilize the egg without having any issues. But for the egg, it's even more. So there's greater importance for the egg to have more mitochondria because we're essentially going to pass that on to the next generation. So what are some things that you guys can do to support your USAID health, your egg quality? Um, we have to watch out for these stressors, so if there's any infections, we want to treat them. And so, very rarely is antibiotics enough. Don't get me wrong, there's a time and place for antibiotics, but we also want to make sure that we're replenishing the flora, both our gut and reproductive microbiome, replenishing them with appropriate good probiotics after an infection, and really understanding that did we get the whole infection? What kind of infections? Because antibiotics are going to work for bacterial, they're not so much going to work for viral, they're not going to work for parasites, they're not really going to work for Lyme. So treating any infections is going to be really important. Avoiding environmental toxins is also going to be really important. Mitochondria is really sensitive to environmental toxins because of its lipophilic center, and so the toxins can really get into that mitochondria and cause a lot of damage. So we want to make sure that we genuinely avoid as many toxins as possible. Then there is the physical stress. So if you have too much stress on your body, whether it's because you're working out too much, not moving your body enough, there's a lot of mental and emotional stress. The way that stress works is essentially depletes your nutrients, because when the body is under stress, cortisol is high, inflammation is high, and so those nutrients are going to go towards dealing with that, and you're not going to have very much for the mitochondria to support the health. So avoiding as much as we can of stress, oxidative stress, whether it's coming from your food, whether it's coming from your water, whether it's coming from your environment, and then, of course, treating any infections. And then I'll talk a little bit about some of the nutrients that are really good for mitochondrial health. Now, I personally do not introduce a lot of mitochondrial nutrients like coq ten. Uh, that's the most common one that you probably hear of, but there's other ones like n acetyl cysteine and l carnitine, and even vitamin C, but I don't introduce a lot of those until we get rid of the root cause. So if there's a lot of infections going on in the gut, if the liver is not working well, if the gallbladder is all backed up, then I find you're not going to absorb those nutrients as well as you can. And essentially, we're just wasting a lot of money on a lot of nutrients and you're not going to notice as good of effect. So, my personal preference for protocols is to really improve energy and drainage. I do a lot of detoxing, a lot of parasites, uh, even lyme, if that's, uh, you know, if that's an issue, getting that blood sugar under control, getting the inflammation under control, getting people sleeping really well, because, uh, when we're not sleeping, our cortisol is going to be elevated the next day, or inflammation is going to be higher, our blood sugar is going to be dysregulated. And that usually makes it really difficult to make good choices when your blood sugar is dysregulated. And then I'll introduce things like coq ten. Now, the tidbit that I'll give you about coq ten, there's many different forms. We want ubiquinol, not ubiquinone, because ubiquinol has been showed to just be better absorbed. And essentially, there's the Kinica. It's like a seaweed that's found in Japan that has the highest level of coq ten. And we see the highest level of concentrations of coq ten in the mitochondria. And so when we see low mitochondrial activity, usually it is associated with coq ten that's also deficient in those granulosa cells. And so then they can't generate ATP, they can't generate that energy. And therefore, even when a pregnancy does occur, it can't take it to its full, to where essentially it needs to go, because it just can't produce the energy. It takes so much energy. So the. When we supplement with coq ten, when we've gotten rid of the infections, when we've improved the gut functions, we can see that it slows aging and it really helps the body to protect the eggs from oxidative damage. And to just give you an idea of how much I will go with ubiquinol versus ubiquinone. So, ubiquinol, you can start at 600 milligrams a day. I would say that's the starting dose, but I have gone up as high as 1200 milligrams a day, especially when we're dealing with, uh, premature ovarian failure, poi or if it's, um, you know, you're basically going into perimenopause. I've just taken a new patient on. We're going to see if we can reverse her perimenopause. Um, she went into early menopause because of cancer treatment, and so it's not a natural state for her. So I think we can reverse it back. And what we have seen when you do these high doses of coq ten, there is a delayed ovarian reserve depletion. The oocytes, the mitochondria, really restore, there is improved mitochondrial activity, less reactive oxygen species, and just increased energy production within that oocyte. So it's lots of research behind it, which is why I use it at such high doses. And at least you want to give it three months, but ideally it's six months to nine months when we're looking to truly change the, the mitochondria within the oocyte and to have this trigenerational effect in the positive way. Glutathione is another nutrients that I have used, resveratrol and even things like calcium and magnesium, because those are really essential electrolytes, which basically help to energize the cells and help to increase the communication within the cells. I say these just to give you an idea of all the things that we can do. I don't say this so you can start going, um, to the health food store and then just start trying things out. You can. I don't recommend it, because for the most part, we don't know if that's the right thing for you to try and to start now. I do these things once I have tested my patients, why I know their history and I'm working with them closely. So if they have any reactions, any detox symptoms, we can. I can support them through that. But I want you to bring awareness to all of the possible ways that we can restore the function of the ovary. Because I see so many, many women giving up on their journey or being rushed into invasive procedures like IVF way too quickly being told, take some coq ten at 200 milligrams a day, not even the most absorbable form, and God knows where you got it. And then in hopes that that's going to improve your egg quality. So I know that there is some alternative docs out there as well who help you prepare for IVF. And I would hope that the levels of ubiquinol that you're taking, or even melatonin, or like I said, calcium and magnesium resveratrol, whatever it is that you need for your own individual case needs to be so much higher than I think most people realize. And when you have good testing, then you have a good idea of what is it that your system needs. And there is a sequence to treatment. Like I said, I don't start with antioxidants. This is something I introduce much later into the protocol. And yes, sometimes it delays how quickly we get pregnant. But what I have seen in my practice is the results from the actual pregnancy and postpartum are so much better. And so I asked my patients to be patient with me and be patient with their body. So we're looking at a much greater picture. We're not looking at this, what can I do in the next three months? It's what can I do in the next year? What can I do? And even the next couple of years, right? Like what the health of my child do I want to be? Like I said, I'm presenting presented at an eco exponential clinical outcomes, a conference that hosted by Celcor. And so many practitioners are seeing children with mitochondrial dysfunction, and that's adhd and anxiety, depression and other behavioral disorders and brain inflammation. Things where if we know that we as women pass on our mitochondria. Now I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty. There's plenty of things as a moment that we feel guilty about. But if you are not a mom yet and you want to set your child up for success, then be patient with yourself to heal and really take the time to reset your mitochondria. Because we just get set with, well, age. As soon as I turn this age, it's like, yeah, absolutely. There's attrition that happens with every menstrual cycle, but the quality of the egg really does matter. And we have so many things that we can do to improve the quality of the egg and therefore the health of the pregnancy and the health of the future generation, then I think it is really worth our time to find a practitioner that is going to help us or at least do our research before just taking a supplement and thinking that I'm doing everything that I can to improve my egg quality. There's lots of things that we could be doing. And once you learn, and once you learn and understand, it's not something that you're going to have to, you know, continue to relearn. It's like once you understand how your menstrual cycle works and how you need to eat with it, like nutrition and exercise and biohacking your menstrual cycle. You're not going to unlearn that information. It's just like riding a bike. So I hope you guys found this helpful episode helpful. I find it so inspiring when I learned from some of my colleagues who have been doing this, you know, for 2030 years and they share their research and their case studies and what they've been able to do. Leah Hetchman, she is a doc out in Australia who has a fascinating, probably one of the best fertility clinics I have heard of. I've never been, obviously, but she does some really incredible stuff and I feel really fortunate learning from her and being able to apply that information and passing it on to you guys. Because like I said, we get written off way too quickly and we get pushed into things way too quickly when in reality, if we just gave ourselves some time, we really cleaned up our health and we took the rights supplements, you will be amazed. You will be amazed at what your body is capable of doing, and so I hope to inspire you to do that, to take the time and to heal. Thanks again for tuning in. If you found this episode helpful, I'd love for you to share this with somebody that you think will find it helpful and insightful, and I'll see you next week. Thank you so much for listening. To read the full show notes of this episode, including summary, timestamps, guest quotes, and any resources that were mentioned on the episode, visit drjanelevesque.com podcast and if you're getting value from these episodes, I'd love it if you took two minutes to share it with a friend. Rate and leave me a review@ratethispodcast.com. dr. Jane the reviews will help with the discoverability of the show and whoa, who knows, I might share your review on my next episode. Thank you so much for tuning in and let's make your fertility journey your healing journey.