The Functional Nurse Academy Podcast

Specializing in Fertility as a Functional Nurse: Alyssa's story

• Melissa Schreibfeder • Episode 11

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 56:07

In this episode, Melissa is joined by functional nurse Alyssa Finley, founder of Balance and Bloom Holistic Wellness. Together, they discuss Alyssa’s personal journey from chronic illness and infertility to discovering root-cause healing through functional medicine. Alyssa shares how addressing factors like thyroid health, nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, diet, and toxic burden can significantly improve fertility outcomes. Today, she helps women across the country restore balance, prepare their bodies for healthy pregnancies, and uncover the root causes behind their fertility struggles.

Alyssa’s Practice https://www.balanceandbloomfertility.com/

Mention Melissa and receive $500 off of your functional wellness package through March 2026

Book a free call with Alyssa here https://www.balanceandbloomfertility.com/discover-your-next-steps

Functional medicine training for all other healthcare specialties and health and wellness coaches:

This show is also syndicated every Tuesday at 10am EST on The Nurses Report on America Out Loud Talk Radio 


SPEAKER_01

Hello, and welcome to the Functional Nurse Academy podcast. This is your host, Melissa Schreibvetter, owner and founder of the Functional Nurse Academy. Welcome everyone. As always, it's just great to be here with you all. I have such an important topic to cover today. I'm super excited about it. We have not done a show yet on fertility, and I have the best guest for this. I have another one of my graduates from the Functional Nurse Academy joining me today, Alyssa Finley, who is a registered nurse, board certified functional nurse specialist, fertility nurse, and founder of Balance and Bloom Holistic Wellness. After beginning her career in the cardiovascular ICU and later working in fertility nursing, Alyssa developed a deep passion for supporting women through infertility and complex reproductive health challenges. Her own experiences with infertility, postpartum autoimmune illness, and her daughter's health journey led her to functional medicine to uncover the root causes often missed in conventional care. Today she works virtually with women across the country specializing in thyroid and fertility as well as autoimmune conditions and helping women to restore balance and prepare their bodies for healthy pregnancies through a faith-guided root cause approach. Welcome, Alyssa. Thanks, Melissa. I'm so excited to be here. Yes. And so to our listeners, I I've probably mentioned several times, you know, I feel like in healthcare, and again, I don't want to just dog conventional medicine like every single week on the show. But after working in the system and you just see so much unnecessary suffering. And I really think that with women's health, I mean, the ball is just like being dropped right now. So I really appreciate seeing these functional nurses rise up and fill in this deficit and properly serve this population. So I was so excited to see that you're like fertility specialized nurse and you're branching out into functional medicine. And I do want to cover, I know in your bio, you know, you mentioned that you went through some health challenges yourself. And then that's what led you to functional medicine. Could you elaborate a little bit more about your own health journey and how that led you to functional nursing?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I can. I will say it has been a journey, so I'll try to keep it somewhat brief. But I, my husband and I started years ago. We tried to conceive for about two and a half years. We had no success. And I'll tell you, my sister at the time was struggling. And I remember thinking, oh, I'm so healthy. That won't be me. And then fast forward, it was us, you know. And so we eventually did what everybody does. After you can't, you feel like you can't conceive, you go to a fertility clinic. So that's where we kind of started our journey, and everything looked normal. I was told everything was normal. I had a couple uh hormonal counts that were a little bit low, but ultimately I was told that I wouldn't get pregnant without IBF. So I believe that. You know, I was an ICU nurse. I believed in the system and and all of that. So kind of fast forward, I was fortunate enough to get pregnant, which I'm so grateful for because I know some women go through fertility treatments for years. But once I got pregnant, I thought my battle was over. I thought the journey was behind me and I could just move forward with the bliss. But that was not what happened. My body still wasn't healthy. And I went into um severe hypermesis during my pregnancy. So I lost 20 pounds. I couldn't even take prenatals, basically feared for my daughter's life every single day of my pregnancy. Luckily, I had a beautiful delivery. But once I delivered her about four months postpartum, I went into an autoimmune crisis. I didn't know that at the time because I was told that my body was healthy and nothing was wrong with me. Um, but I ended up finding out that I had severe thyroiditis and ended up getting diagnosed with Hashimoto's. But prior to that, I mean, I was having weird food sensitivities that I'd never had sensitivities before, terrible gut issues, the chronic fatigue that I felt. I mean, I would cry every morning just waking up to go to my job. And I had all these weird symptoms and it was like everybody was looking at me like I was crazy, like it was in my head or something postpartum when I felt like my bat my body was failing me. And it was just a really, a really scary place to be. And I kind of went into a bit of a darkness because of it because it was so overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my goodness. I am so sorry that you went through that, Alyssa. And I hear so many of these stories. And that's kind of similar to what happened with me. And this was my initial health scare, which I think when you were mentioning that you had all these symptoms and the food sensitivities, and then they were like, oh, you're fine. And now we understand as functional nurses, that is when the body's check engine light is on. The body's trying to tell you something is wrong. But when you go through the conventional system, they will usually order a handful of labs and they use outdated reference ranges, and then they're like, oh, you're fine. It's in your head. But I also had postpartum thyroiditis and I was so sick. I mean, I essentially missed out on the first three years of my son's life because I was so chronically fatigued and ill. So I'm so sorry that you went through that. And tell me, um, how are you doing now with your health?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I'm doing so much better. We uncovered so much. I mean, my gut was a disaster that took some time to heal for sure. Uh, severe, leaky gut. My family thought I was crazy because every time we would go out to eat, I would have like another food reaction. And they're like, why are you having all these reactions? And I'm like, I don't know. You know, I felt like I was going crazy. But I'm doing so much better now. Last time I had my thyroid checked, my one antibody was completely back to zero and my other one was completely cut in half. So I've been off thyroid medication. So it's actually pretty amazing how far my body has come from where I was. Um, but it's weird because when I was a teenager, they always used to say, I think you have a goiter, I think you have a goiter. And then they would check my thyroid and they say, No, you're fine, everything's fine. And this was my entire life. So then when fertility, my TSH, I didn't know at that time it wasn't optimal because it was in normal range. Uh, but I was told that my TSH was fine, but it wasn't. So that was just this downstream effect that just went into my pregnancy and postpartum and um, you know, especially anybody, any mother longs to have that special moment with your child after your child's born. But when you go through fertility and you do everything in your power to create this child, and then you finally get this child and you're so weak and you can't even enjoy it because you're so fearful that your body's failing you, it's just overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01

And for our listeners, my husband always reminds me, he listens to my podcast and he's like, You need to make sure you say what things are for people that are non-medical. So for our non-nurse listeners, TSH is this thyroid stimulating hormone that's basically your brain telling the thyroid to work. When the thyroid is getting sluggish, we see TSH increase. And this also happened to me. So when I was having like mystery illness, but I wasn't so sick. Like I didn't break, I wasn't at the point where I was broken yet. But that was one thing that doctors were like, well, you know, your thyroid is, you know, you're just developing hypothyroidism. But you know, we're just we're just gonna, you know, wait and see. We're just gonna keep an eye on it, which is a fancy way of saying we're just not gonna do anything about it. But anyway, um, the thyroid is there's like probably over 200 different symptoms associated with thyroid dysfunction. And because conventional medicine is using an outdated reference range, we're missing a lot of these individuals that are having sluggish thyroid. And there's multiple reasons why your thyroid may be sluggish, and many of those causes can be corrected. So, um, what good news that you are better today. And then, you know, I really do think that God can use our suffering to create something beautiful and help other people. So I love that you're using this experience to then help other women that are going through similar things. And um, when we talk about fertility, okay, so for anyone listening, um, we all know back in the day women were popping out babies left and right. I mean, my grandmother was like one of eight, you know, and and today's one of ten. So same thing. And it was normal back then. And and today I know, and my heart breaks. My heart absolutely breaks for these women that want a baby so they want a baby so bad, you know, and they can't. Or these women that get pregnant and they miscarry. I just, I cannot even imagine that level of suffering that these women go through. I'm getting chills talking about it. Like it just, it just like hurts my heart so much that women are suffering with this. And I really want to get this information out today. So please, for our listeners, if you know someone who may be struggling with this, please share this podcast with them because we're gonna go over some really amazing things that can help. Um, but I see so much unnecessary suffering. And again, you know, um back in ancient times, yes, there was some level of women dealing with infertility. But what we're seeing right now, I believe, is an infertility, infertility crisis. And I just cannot even I've been blessed with three beautiful babies. I love, love, love my babies. But I remember each time I had baby fever, how strong that baby fever is. And all I can think about is like having a baby and like I need to have a baby right now. So I cannot imagine these women that are going through this and just want a baby so bad and they are struggling. So um, could you go over? Um, I'm really curious about, you know, since you've worked in the system specializing in fertility, I think it would be great to talk about like um, you know, what are those women's options? Like what are people, what are women presented with when they're having this issue? And then we can talk about all of the functional things and the reasons why this could be happening and whatnot. But um, yeah, a woman who is suffering with infertility, they go to their doctor. What's usually the process?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so typically if you are trying to conceive, depending upon age, it can be between six months to a year if you're trying to conceive for that long. Um, then they will send you to a fertility clinic. Sometimes, you know, your OBGVIM might do like a letterzol cycle or a Clomed cycle, something like a time dinner course. But if that doesn't work after a couple months, you pretty much go right to a fertility clinic. There's, they might check things like thyroid, things of that nature, but they usually just do a TSH. They don't do a full thyroid panel. So if you do have anything going on. And like you mentioned, Melissa, you know, a TSH in the conventional world can go up to a 4.5, where in the fertility world, you really want your thyroid, your TSH level under two, uh, closer to one, honestly, uh, for fertility purposes. So they typically will go through a fertility clinic, depending upon what they have going on, they'll be presented with options for a time dinner course or right to an IUI cycle, or in some cases, IVF. And I think one of the things that I want people to understand is that as much as there is a place for fertility treatment, because there is, there absolutely is, it's also such a big emotional expense and financial expense on top of that. You know, it's it's not just what you're putting your body through physically, it's what you're going through emotionally and then the financial burden of it. And, you know, we can't guarantee pregnancy anywhere. So when I saw these patterns with women, you know, you know, the majority of the women I see in foretold in clinics either have thyroid disorder or on some type of thyroid medication. You know, they have gut issues, anxiety, all these things. And these patterns mean something. And this is something that, you know, I couldn't ignore, especially after going through my own journey. And I think we're made to believe that you can't conceive, you go right into a fertility clinic where I want women to understand that just because you're having trouble conceiving, you can actually dig deeper and and figure out what's going on with your body first. Get your body healthy, optimize your body. Because even if you need fertility treatment in the future, it's only gonna help you by your body being healthier. So that's what I really want women to understand that it's not your only option.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And this is something else that's a pet peeve of mine. I feel like there is such a lack of informed consent and education about these types of things. And, you know, and another thing, the body is protective, the body loves you. And it is uh it it is a miracle. It is a it is a job for the body to produce this like beautiful baby. I mean, it it is really impressive. Like I still feel the body. Yes, I I can't wrap my head around that. Um, so my my baby is six months old now, but it's like I grew this beautiful baby for nine months and he comes out and he's perfect and he's so cute. He's just it's just wonderful, you know. So um, but I mean, like your body is growing another human. And the thing is, if you are nutrient depleted, if you are inflamed, if you have rampant autoimmune activation, if you have sluggish thyroid, which thyroid's important for fertility, there's so many things that can cause infertility, and they just look at like a little baby amount and then send these women off to IVF. And again, um, um I I don't want to um I I have, you know, there's no judgment at all for women that must get IVF or anything like that. I'm not saying judgment, I'm just saying that I think that the reason why they may not be able to conceive whatever's going on is going to cause other health issues too. And then if you're actually able to correct that and naturally conceive, then um that um would would be ideal. And something else I wanted to mention, um there needs to be more research in the area of IVF and the effect that that's having on the offspring. Now, there are safety signals, they're small safety signals, but it's from um large registry data in Norway that is showing that um there may be a potential that individuals conceived via IVF may themselves also have difficulty conceiving. So um that's something that needs more research, but just I wanted to kind of put that out there because that is emerging research that's starting to come forward. So um with and can you tell me a little bit more about when women, so we're saying that they're not getting tested enough to figure out what's going on, and then they're being referred to the fertility clinic. I I've heard that women that go through this process, there's a lot of suffering in involved. So um, can you elaborate on like what kind what's involved with the fertility treatments and what kind of symptoms and things can occur from that?

SPEAKER_00

Sure. So, first thing I want to state is just as far as women go who are trying to get pregnant, it is not just the longing and the pain of trying to have a baby. You know, this is this is every day. They wake up in the morning, they think about having a baby. They're eating dinner and they're thinking about having a baby. They're going to sleep and they're thinking about having a baby. So they start to lose their identity because their life is so consumed with this. And it's every single time it's time to pee on a stick, they are imagining that dream, that child, that hope. And it gets ripped away from them over and over again. You give enough time and that starts to break somebody down, you know, that it's it's heavy. So when they're coming into a fertility clinic, they're already there. You know, they're they're not just starting, I just tried to conceive yesterday. They have been in the thick of it, and it's a lot to hold that emotion, you know, and they really need a lot of support. And like you said, fertility rates are rising. And there are so many fertility doctors out there that truly care about their patients. I can't, I can't state that enough. But it's just a revolving door at this point. You know, people are just coming in so quickly that they almost don't have time to fully get that support. You know, some clinics do give, you know, supplement recommendations or dietary recommendations, but to a patient that's already overwhelmed, that means nothing to them. They don't know what to do with it. So, you know, that's where it's really important to give that support. Um I thought I might be going off on a tangent. So maybe circle me back to what exactly your question was.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, I think that's an important point too, because after, you know, also being a nurse and working in the system, so uh the system it's just not designed to be able to really work with people on figuring out what is going on and what can we do about it, because usually the providers are limited with very short appointment times. And then with the education that they're receiving, there's so many things that are outdated, you know. I mean, a lot of providers may not be aware, like when they're running labs on people, that um when they get the lab report back, a lot of them are not aware that that's like the deficits in that standard reference range. So what is being told to them is that like this is normal, you know? And then also, um, you know, so many of these providers, like, oh my goodness, like seeing what, 30 patients in a day. I mean, like, how are you going to do a good job there? So I do think that there are a lot of good people working in this field, but then their hands are tied by insurance and they're limited with resources that they can use to help. But again, I mean, I think that functional nurses, because we can bypass insurance and then um many times working with a functional nurse, it can be an affordable option for individuals as well. So um, I did want to ask you. So, when it comes to functional medicine modalities, so what are you seeing that can really help to improve fertility in women?

SPEAKER_00

So before I dive into that, I wanted to touch on something else you said. So, one of the things with what they're looking for and labs and things like that when patients are asking for deeper answers is unfortunately with so many tools, they might find answers to something, but it's not really something that you can change. It's something that's fixed, where from a functional perspective, we're doing, we're looking into things that we can change and we can make a difference, you know, actually lifestyle changes and supplemental changes and um mindset and nervous system and things like that. So, of course, in the fertility world, a lot of big things is inflammation. So it's just pinpointing where is that inflammation coming from? And we see this a lot in women who have chronic miscarriages. So in the conventional world, you know, they'll do things like lupron to suppress estrogen if you have like an estrogen dominance going on, or, you know, you'll get put on a whole bunch of antibiotics to help with any possible chronic infection that could be causing inflammation. Um, but the body still knows something deeper is going on. So that's where it's really important to figure that out. So it's just a different approach to how you're going to handle those things. But I feel like the problem is that we're kind of shooting in the dark. You know, when you go into fertility, you're just adding hormones and you're putting antibiotics and steroids and all these different things to just. Of a catch-all type situation where if you actually dig deeper and figure out where the body's struggling, it can help you pinpoint your approach so much easier, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, I I agree with that. And then, you know, also with so much of the standard of care, they're talking, they're looking at putting serving a large number of people. So they tend to have like a standard of care and a protocol. But in functional medicine, we understand that we're all bioindividual. So there may be a variety of differing reasons why someone may be experiencing something like fertility. And you really need to have more time to sit down with this individual and really give them a good assessment and review their medical records, review certain exposures and things like that, because there are a variety of things that can cause the body to be systemically inflamed, which a downstream effect of that can absolutely be fertility issues. And then we see women with all kinds of hormonal imbalances as well. And there are things that we can help to uncover in functional medicine that typically are not, you know, available treatments or available options within the conventional plan. So we are about halfway through. So we're going to cut to break real quick. I did want to mention that if you are a fed-up nurse and you are looking to become a functional medicine nurse and start your own business, I absolutely can help you. At Functional Nurse Academy, this is the most comprehensive functional training on the market, specifically designed for nurses. All of our graduates receive 90 nursing CEs, business mentorship, and they even qualify for multiple board certification titles in functional medicine. So be sure to check out functional nurseacademy.com. We'll see you on the other side of the break. I do want to pause for a moment to remind our listeners. This show is also syndicated on America Out Loud Talk Radio on the Nurses Report Radio Show and Podcast. So you can also find me there on any major app. Hello and welcome back. This is your show host, Melissa Schreibfetter. And I am joined today by Alyssa Finley, who is the founder of Balance in Bloom Holistic Wellness, where she specializes in helping women with fertility. Welcome back, Alyssa. Thank you. So I know before we cut to break, we were just talking about how functional medicine can really fill in the deficit and help these women. So can you go over some, you know, supportive strategies? Like what are some things that could help a woman with fertility?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely. So first things first, I have to say every situation is very individualized. You know, what one person needs isn't what another person needs. Of course, you know, with my approach, just really diving into their intake and what they've been through and their health history, even how long they've been going through fertility treatment. Because when you go through fertility treatment, you're put on so many antibiotics and steroids and all these things, which can be, you know, really light up some different areas where the person might have dysfunction going on. Um and then kind of from there, it's really seeing if there's any appropriate testing that's needed. If they're at home and they're not going through like a functional approach right now, diet's a big thing. Um, anti-inflammatory diet's a really great place to start. I know it's really overwhelming. So that's a great place to start. A lot of people, surprisingly, have gluten intolerance and have some issue. And even though what a lot of people don't understand is that even though you might not have celiac, you can still have sensitivity to gluten. And that is such a huge inflammatory response for your body if you do have a sensitivity. So that's something to touch on. Um, one thing I want to really talk about is supplements, because this is huge out in social media right now, is that there's so much misinformation out there, and so many women, you know, they see this person's on this supplement, so they're like, I should be on that, or this one, or that one. And in some cases, women can be on these different supplements, and that's okay, you know, for your foundational ones. But in other cases, you might actually be putting yourself further in the wrong direction if you're taking something that your body doesn't need. And then on top of it, there's so many supplements that people are buying off of line or Amazon, and they might not actually be from reputable companies. So you don't even know if they're working or if your body's absorbing them properly. So again, you just stay stuck in this circle, which a lot of women don't realize.

SPEAKER_01

You know, and so when I I do I have a love-hate relationship with supplements because I do see them as tools. And I really do believe in things like herbal medicine. And I know that God has put things on the earth that absolutely have these like amazing, wonderful healing properties. But we also have an industry and that wants to sell and push products, you know? So, and also we have businesses that may not have, may not be working in integrity, you know, and and then again, the wellness industry, the supplement industry is unregulated. And there's even been studies where, you know, things at just regular drugstores were tested and it didn't really have the amount of herb or vitamin that was presented on the label. So it's so, so important that if you purchase any supplements, any nutraceuticals, that you get it from a medical dispensary. So that's why I like places like Full Script. You know, if you are working with a practitioner, they likely will have a professional dispensary that has supplements that have been vetted, that have been third-party, safety tested. And another thing that I see over and over is um we have high quality nutraceuticals and herbals that actually work when taken at therapeutic dosage for therapeutic time periods. The pharmaceutical industry, they know this. Okay. So usually when I see like professional organizations that tend to be pharmaceutical funded, they will run what I call sham studies and they'll say, oh, this herb, it does not work. Don't take it. But then when I look at the study, I see that they purposefully underdosed and they didn't do it, they didn't give it to the study recipients for enough time, or they're finding very low quality, not third-party safety tested. And then we get more of this just um poor information going out to the public saying that these things that that may be helpful actually don't work, but then there were integrity issues in the studies. And there's so much just differing information out there, it's hard for people to understand, like, okay, like what study actually was performed well, and who do I listen to about these things? So, um, do you happen to have any insight on certain herbs or nutraceuticals that you have found to be especially helpful if they're taken in appropriate dosages from um reputable sources?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, I definitely use full scripts as well. I think full scripts is great. Um, I have a different, you know, like standard process has always been out there. It's been out for a really long time. Um, I've actually had a really great success with one of the fish oils called Wiley's. Um, it's a really great brand off of Full Scripts. And you can really tell the difference in the quality of it when you open the bottle. Because you know, when you get a fish oil that is rancid and doesn't smell good, you know, that's what people don't necessarily realize is that you could be getting it offline and it's not stored properly. So even if it is a good brand, if it's not from the right place, it could, you know, not be stored that way. Um as far as I really only recommend out loud as more just like core supplements, you know, magnesium, glycinate, I think is a great one for fertility to help, you know, relax the body. Prenatal, again, it depends. It really depends on what that patient is missing. Um, but I think sticking with full scripts is a great place to start because you at least know that they're third-party tested.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And another pet peeve of mine, and this happened to me when I went through my own little functional medicine nightmare, is going to a practitioner that just wants to put you on a load of supplements that they sell. And and again, like I do think that nutraceuticals are a tool that can be helpful when used appropriately. But um, a couple of other examples that come to mind, like simple interventions. No one should be on like 20 different supplements. Like, that's not good. That's not good for your body. Your body has to process all of that. But we know some of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the US are simple things like vitamin D and magnesium. And we know that there's an inflammatory component. Also, many of these women have autoimmune activation. And what happens when we are vitamin D deficient? Vitamin D is actually a hormone, and it's really important for our immune system regulation. And when the immune system is out of control, that's when we end up with, you know, all these overgrowths of bacteria in the gut, or we end up with reactivated viruses and other infections, and we end up with autoimmune activation. So sometimes some of these tools that can be tremendously helpful are not things that are going to cost you a fortune. It may just be very simple, like foundational supplements to replace just essential nutrients. And um, oh, also would love to hear your insight about this as a fertility nurse and now a functional medicine nurse. So if you go into like, I don't know, like a Walmart or a CVS and you just go and get um a prenatal, you know, that I don't know, maybe like a$10,$15 prenatal off of the shelf. Do you think that those prenatals are adequate?

SPEAKER_00

I do not. Um so first things first is folic acid is synthetic, and that is in pretty much all of your prenatals that you'll get from a general grocery store. Um, our body needs folate in order to function. That's the most bioavailable form, where folic acid is not. So your body still has to convert that and break that down. And if your body has difficulty doing that, then you're not going to receive the benefits from it. Um so it's really important to make sure that you're you're getting a prenatal from a good brand that understands, you know, bioavailability and how your body can actually use it in a better way. So, not a huge fan, not a huge fan of those.

SPEAKER_01

When I was pregnant with my first baby, and again, I did not know any of these things. I did not even know what functional medicine was. And my OB that they gave me like samples of a prenatal, and it was like the lowest quality that you can find with like the red dye 40, and oh my goodness, they were like it was and I took it because my doctor, who I thought was the expert, gave it to me. But again, um, looking at a lot of these cheap prenatals are using forms of synthetic nutrients that are not bioavailable. So you may not be properly absorbing it. And then some of them have all kinds of just weird mystery ingredients in it. So, really making sure that, of course, you are working to optimize your diet, like a whole foods-based diet. And um, I think it's really important too, in that um, you know, before women get pregnant, to work on decreasing your toxic burden, work on improving your gut health so that you are properly absorbing nutrients from your food. I mean, there's so much work that can be done um, you know, prior to conception that can really help to optimize those outcomes. And um, another thing I did want to touch on, because I think it's so important. So um, I know that we both experienced thyroid issues. And like our thyroid is supposed to last us for a hundred years. Our thyroid is not supposed to crap out when we're like in our 20s or 30s. So you mentioned before we started recording that a lot of the women that you see that are having fertility issues are on synthroid, which for our listeners, that is a synthetic form of thyroid hormone. Could you elaborate on that?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so this is actually something that I talk about with my clients pretty much right from the beginning if they're on synthroid, because I think women need the education. They get told they have a thyroid issue, they get put on synthroid. So they think, okay, I have a thyroid issue, but I'm fixing the problem. The problem's being fixed. And what they don't necessarily understand is that thyroid hormone is just elevating the thyroid hormone or thyroid medication is just elevating the thyroid hormone in your body, but it's not stopping the attack on your thyroid. It's not stopping that inflammation if you have some type of autoimmunity going on. So sometimes they get started on medication and they think, okay, well, this can't be my issue for infertility because I fixed this, I'm on a medication. But their thyroid's still being attacked, so it's still inflamed. So the body knows that. And when you're, like you said earlier, your body is trying to protect you. So if your body is stressed out and your thyroid controls so much in your body, then fertility is going to take a backseat because it's not going to be the number one priority anymore. So I think that's something that really has to be explained to women when they're put on these medications that it's not fixing anything. To be completely honest, most women get put on synthroid and then they have to keep increasing their dose and increasing their dose. And the reason is because the thyroid is being further damaged over time. Um, and we're not fixing that. So that's where I love getting to the root cause because not only can we help optimize your chance for pregnancy, but you're gonna have a healthier pregnancy if your thyroid is healthy. You're gonna have um a better postpartum where you're not as at risk for postpartum depression, things of that nature, you know. Of course, my goal is to get people pregnant and help them to get pregnant, but my real mission is for women to just be healthier in general, you know, their pregnancy, pregnancy rates are so high for high-risk situations and um and it's, I mean, thyroid is a big part of it. That's a really big part to start, place to start.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes. And the thyroid really is so important. And when you mentioned synthroid, and this is something that um in my business, I am not a nurse practitioner. So I do not have the prescription pad. I cannot manage their thyroid, but all the time, over and over and over, I see the majority of women I work with that are on thyroid medication are mismanaged on it. Uh, they usually are on the poorest quality thyroid medication, levothyroxin, which um again is synthetic T4, but our thyroids produce both T4 and T3. And then our thyroid hormone is actually converted in the gut, liver, and kidneys. And we know that so many individuals have gut issues. And there's even evidence published in the Journal of Endocrinology showing that once we work to improve the gut, thyroid function improves. So, why would we not address this with these women? Because if thyroid really is so, it is so important for fertility. And I wonder how many of these women don't really need to go through IVF. I wonder how many of them just need to figure out what is causing so many thyroid issues for them. And again, like the autoimmune condition that's causing um over 90% of hypothyroid cases, the one that like we both got diagnosed with, Hashimoto's. Um, when I got diagnosed with that condition, my antibodies were 7,000. And then the uh endocrinologist's office told me that it was mild to moderate, which is just I I it's insane. But anyway, um, once I got my diet under control and I understood that conventional wheat products, like the that was a big trigger for me. So once I cleaned up my diet, I saw my antibodies go around 100. So um, but I I do like that you mentioned gluten earlier. And that is, I cannot tell you. And again, the gluten we're eating today is not the gluten that Jesus was eating. Right. Um, but are you seeing that a lot of um individuals that you work with, a lot of women you work with, do you see that most people do better when they're off of gluten?

SPEAKER_00

They do. And it isn't something that I just recommend lightly because I know it's all hard for us to give up our breads and things like that. But I did it for myself. And I mean, I would say that was the quickest thing where I noticed a difference with my chronic fatigue and and things of that nature. Cause basically every everything I ate, I was just inflaming myself over and over again. And even just a small amount, your body is being more inflamed. It's like little fires everywhere. Um so, but for women, people are always apprehensive at first, you know, to go on a gluten-free diet. But I tell them, you know, we'll test your gut and kind of see if that's an issue for you, but at least try it for a couple weeks. Doing an elimination diet is so important just to find those triggers because it's not for everybody. Some people don't have gluten intolerance. But especially if you're struggling with gut issues or thyroid issues, it's such a great place to start because it is such a huge trigger for inflammation.

SPEAKER_01

It really is. And I remember when I first went gluten-free, I was like, well, I'm gonna die if I don't have bread. Everything has gluten in it. And I used to think that gluten-free diets were a fab. But then I was shocked by the number of mystery illnesses, mystery symptoms that went away with that simple intervention of cutting out gluten. And now I actually do consume gluten now, but um, we are only eating organic ancient grains. So I'm consuming iron corn and we like make fresh products here. So it's very different from if you're consuming an organic ancient grain versus if you are, you know, eating some bread or you're having like a bun on your burger at like a fast food place or something. But um, anyway, I did want to discuss um your business and also how um Functional Nurse Academy supported you. So um how did um I would love to hear your experience with the Functional Nurse Academy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I actually I told you I kind of felt a calling through this through my through my own experience and just seeing in the fertility world, I knew I wanted to do something, but I wasn't quite sure. I actually went through a nurse coaching program first. And I love that, you know, it really helped build that connection with with patients or clients, you know, really helping them dig deeper to guide themselves, honestly, on where they need support. But I knew that wasn't all. You know, I wanted to be able to go deeper and really see what's going on with the body and get to the root, especially when I started seeing all these patterns in the fertility world. So I ended up looking for some fertility or um, some functional medicine programs for nurses. And what really drew me to yours, there was a couple things actually. So, first things first, I love that you're very open with faith and talking about that. You know, in a nurse working in the hospital, you really can't talk about faith a lot. You have to kind of keep that private and just be very open. And I'm still open to anyone's beliefs, but it's nice to be able to talk openly about it in my own business. And I love that you talk about that a lot with what you do. And then I also love. That it's directed towards nurses. So if you're not advanced practice, you can see how you can put your program into motion for yourself, you know, and it's not just education. You give so many tools and resources, you know, help with business and social media. There's just so much there. And that was what really drew me. And then the community and just everybody. I mean, I have somebody that I met through this program and we're like such great friends now because of it. So it's just everything all together, it's made such a big difference, such a big difference just starting my business.

SPEAKER_01

I'm so glad. I'm so glad. And and again, like when we're doing, I think that the nurse coaching and the health coaching is it, it really is such a need. But then also as nurses, like we like we know, like we're already kind of like root cause focused anyway. And it is nice having that functional medicine component and having those tools to kind of really help to evaluate what could be going on in their body because there's so many ways that we can help people. And I um so I'm at your website now, and I just I like I love, I absolutely love this niche. I mean, it's just I think you're gonna help so many women. I mean, and talk about a rewarding specialty to be in. So can you tell me about your business and about the types of services that you're offering? Sure.

SPEAKER_00

So I have two different ways I kind of go about things as far as fertility patients go. You know, a lot of them by the time they're coming to me, they're really searching for answers. They want to dive deep and really see what's going on. So I have a fertility package that includes your full comprehensive panel. It includes two functional tests. Um, it can be between four and six months, depending upon what they need, sometimes longer, depending upon what's going on. Um, but that includes six sessions. So we really do a deep dive into your intake and your history and you know what types of fertility treatment you had in the past. So I can really understand a big picture. And that helps me create kind of your starting point wellness plan. And then we'll do, you know, the lab testing from there and just just update as need be. So I really like to focus on the mindset side of things along with the physical. So, and my biggest thing is for women to feel supported. So that is like really tied into my package and of course discounts on supplements and things like that. But then I had a lot of people come to me who aren't necessarily going through fertility, but still have some type of women's health. Maybe they had something in the past or have period issues or things like that. Uh, so I have a general wellness plan, which I it's a six-month commitment, but it's just, it doesn't include your labs or anything. But same thing. We do your first initial intake and then we would have appointments each month from there and just go from there.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. And I oh, I think this is so great that you have your approach lined up, and then you even have your five petals of fertility wellness, which I think is just great. Because I I think it is, you know, important that we are breaking these things down for individuals so they know what to expect. And could you tell me about the five petals?

SPEAKER_00

Sure. So, you know, in order for your body to feel safe, you have to take that holistic approach. Your body has to be balanced. It's not just one thing, and that's in the fertility world, you see it a lot. They're like, okay, if I take this supplement, it's gonna fix everything, or if I do this, it's gonna fix everything, and it's not. So I'm actually looking at it now too. But so my fertility wellness is really focusing, of course, on the physical and hormonal health. That is the root of fertility. We've got to look into that. But we also have to dive deeper into the nutrition and if your body needs any detoxing, things of that nature. Um, stress and lifestyle. These women are so stressed out. They don't even know what to do. Their nervous systems are just stuck in fight or fight or flight. So that's something we really have to focus on. And then the mindset, the emotional resilience, feeling like you can hope again, feeling hopeful about your journey and not that you're just shooting in the dark, you know, getting overcoming that. And then, of course, the last piece that I feel like is so huge that's missing in a lot of things is connections, whether that's with friends and family and community and finding that support, you know, spirituality and your belief system. If you have a higher power that you believe in, really bringing that into your journey and trusting in that is such a deep part of it that I don't think a lot of people really understand how much of a difference that can make for you, bringing your faith into it.

SPEAKER_01

You know, and I I love that you have that in there. And again, like in the hospital system, everything is so secular. And there's so much, there's more evidence that there is a God, that there is not a God, and there is evidence, there's actually scientific evidence of a soul. And that is something I like to tell my students a lot is again, it's always permission-based, you know. But if someone does have a belief in God and they would like to incorporate their belief system into their wellness plan, I mean, that can be really powerful. And um, but yeah, you know, and also you mentioned the stress. And I think it is um, you know, so important just like to listen to these women. And so many women, I I hear from women all the time, they're like, I'm not stressed. And I start talking to them. I'm like, yeah, I think you're and you, and what you teach them about the nervous system and how how our bodies heal, you know. I mean, like our bodies cannot heal if we're in this upregulated fight of flight all the time. So um I can't. I do think that go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

I was just gonna say, I can't tell you how many women feel better just after our discovery call because they're listened to for the first time and they're they're finally able to hear that they're not crazy. You know, they they feel like they're experiencing all these different things and wanting knowing that there's something deeper going on or feeling like there's something deeper going on. And for somebody just to hear them, like you said, just listening to their story and really understanding their experience just makes such a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And I also love that you, and I think that like most of the nurses I train are are doing this, and I I absolutely love it because I do think that if you're going to work with a practitioner, it is so important that that person is able to get on the phone with you first. That way you can talk to them, and it's like an opportunity that's not any risk for you to get on the phone with this person and see if it would be a good fit to work with you. So um I am going to put your link for Discovery Call in the show notes. That way, if anybody wants to work with Alyssa, it's just easy for you to click that button and get on a call with her. And then um also I you did mention, we were talking before we started recording the show, that you're um offering like a special for our listeners. Can you tell me about that?

SPEAKER_00

Sure. So I kind of touched a little bit on my fertility package. So for any of the listeners, if you just mention Melissa, then I will take a$500 off of that package for you.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's amazing. And and how long, how long is that gonna be valid for? That will be um through March. Through March. Okay, awesome. Okay, so I will be sure I'm going to link Alyssa's website in the show notes and her discovery call. And I'll also put like a note that you can receive$500 off, which is like a very, very generous offer. So thank you. Cause I just know I know that there are women listening today that could really use a specialized functional medicine service like this. And um also did want to ask. So, are you able to see women across the country? And also, where is your business located?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I do everything virtually. So I actually see women all over the country. I have a compact nursing license. Um, so pretty much everywhere I can I can really see people. And then if there's uh situations where maybe I can't, then I would consult or something like that. So there's always options to help women.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And also for our listeners, so there are ways that even if your functional medicine practitioner is not local to your area, there are ways within laboratory partnerships that we can send an order to your local lab corp, or that we can have our lab ship functional medicine test kits to you. And I and I will say, like, um, with what everyone went with went through with COVID, which was awful, um, one of the silver linings is like people um got comfortable with these virtual style sessions. And I will say for me, it is so hard with two babies for me to leave the house. Like it is a luxury to be able to work with a healthcare professional just via like telehealth. I think I think it's fantastic. So, well, I absolutely love what you are doing. And again, um, so I will be posting all of your links, but would you like to tell our listeners the best, the best way that they can go to find you?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So if you go to my website that she's linking there, um there, the discovery page is probably the best way because it really gives me an idea of what you're going through and what types of services you're actually looking for. There's actually a promo code right there, so that's where you can put Melissa. Um, my email is also on there as well, so you can always reach out to me via that. And, you know, Discovery calls the first step. I love getting on and just hearing your story and hearing what you've been going through and just seeing how I can assist you and make your journey a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes. And I really, I just I really think that God is going to put more nurses out there to do this type of work is that this work is so, it is so important. And I mean, I know for me, I basically have just been like constantly pregnant and breastfeeding for the past like couple of years. And, you know, uh for me, like I'm able to do my own labs and I know what to do functionally. But whenever I go through the system for um prenatal care, it's just it's not really enough. Even if you have a good provider, it's just not set up in a way to really offer women what they may actually need. So, well, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I am so excited to get this show out there. That is all the time that we have today. Thank you so much for tuning in. And again, if you want to learn more about the Functional Nurse Academy, please feel free to register for our next live webinar. And you will see that link in the show notes. You can also check out Functional Nurse Academy on our social media platforms or on our website at functional nurseacademy.com. Until next time, be safe, be well, and God bless.