IVF Prep at HealthYouniversity

A new Lancet study on IVF add-ons made headlines, and acupuncture was one of the treatments under review.  Dr. Lee Hullender Rubin joins Dr. Susan Fox to discuss what the study actually found, what it got right, and what it missed.  Dr. Lee explains that studies using one or two sessions on transfer day was an insufficient dose.research was done on fresh embryo transfers, but almost nobody does fresh anymore.“sham acupuncture” isn't placebo..This episode is for you if:you saw the headlines and want the full pictureyou’re planning IVF and considering acupuncture you’re thi...

Ever wonder why one glass of wine leaves you fine and the next one wrecks you? Paul Lagerstedt invented ALKAA® , a patented sachet you drop right in your glass to pull out the compounds in alcohol that makes you feel bad. He joins Dr. Susan Fox to talk about what's behind that post-drink crash, and how it affects you if you're trying to conceive, going through IVF, or dealing with perimenopause. Paul explains the difference between absorbing and adsorbing. He also busts the myth that vodka and tequila are the "clean" drinks, and talks about the alcohol ta...

Every single cell in our body needs glutathione.  Most of us are low without knowing it. Dr. Gina Nick is a naturopathic physician, researcher, and the world's leading expert on glutathione, which she has penned “Vitamin G”.  She joins Dr. Susan Fox to talk about why this master antioxidant keeps showing up at the center of unexplained infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, and autoimmune dysfunction that standard labs keep missing.She explains that glutathione lives inside the mitochondria of every cell, what happens when environmental toxins and aging deplete it, and why the form you take matters...

For years, women with endometriosis were told their pain was normal. By the time they try to conceive, the disease can have progressed to be a real problem.Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Dr. Farideh Bischoff, Chief Medical Officer, and Penny Wan, co-founder and chairwoman of HerAnova, to talk about their new innovative blood test that can detect endometriosis without surgery.You'll learn why 40% of infertility cases are linked to endometriosis.Retrograde menstruation happens in every woman, so why do only some develop endo? Dr. Bischoff gets into what we still don't...

She spent six years trying to become a mother. Male factor infertility caught too late, a stillbirth, egg freezing, a divorce and then gestational surrogacy in the middle of COVID with a therapist who was not trained in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). What Leslie Lopez found on the other side was her daughter - and her calling.Leslie is an independent mother and host of the Mothers in Arms podcast, whose mission is to address the emotional side of the reproductive journey. Today she joins Dr. Susan Fox to talk about what the fertility world g...

Jodi Scott was pregnant when she opened her first aid cabinet and started reading the ingredient labels. What she found surprised her. The products people trusted for cuts, burns, and skin irritation contained ingredients she no longer felt comfortable putting on herself or her family.So she built Green Goo to prove that plant based first aid works.Jodi is the founder of Green Goo, a plant based first aid and herbal wellness company built from family remedies, herbal medicine, and a belief that what we put on our bodies matters as much as what...

She woke up with pain in her side and went to the doctor expecting an explanation.  She walked out having been told she might have late-stage ovarian cancer.  What it turned out to be was a rare disease documented in only 154 people on the planet. The next question Lauren Makler asked her doctor was, "Can I freeze my eggs?" The answer was no. They didn't know what caused her disease, and they weren't willing to flood her abdomen with hormones to find out.So her sister froze eggs for her. By some miracle, Lauren kept her...

She had a baby. Then her cycle disappeared — and nobody told her what that actually meant, or when it might come back, or whether she could get pregnant again before it did. Rose McKenzie has spent over a decade helping women understand their hormones in the moments when they feel most invisible: irregular cycles, postpartum, perimenopause. And she'll tell you plainly — the postpartum body is not a mystery. It's a system coming back online. The problem is nobody's watching the data.Rose is the clinical manager at Mira and a natural family planning practitioner with more than 10 year...

She went through infertility twice. The first time, she learned the cause was male factor — and nobody talked about what could be done about it. The second time, “unexplained” — which, as Dr. Susan pointed out, is less a non-diagnosis. Both times, Gabie Peytchev found herself piecing together support from different corners, not knowing who to trust, spending money on the wrong things, and making decisions from fear.She built Wova Health to help others avoid the same trials..Gabie is the founder of Wova — the name drawn from the Italian word for egg, uova, reframed to center...

Three women who've spent years inside the PCOS conversation — one as a clinician, one as a hormone tracking specialist, one as a board-certified OBGYN and culinary medicine physician — and they still said, out loud, that nobody has all the answers. That alone makes this episode worth your time.Today Dr. Susan Fox is joined by Rose McKenzie, clinical manager at Mira, and Dr. Basma Faris, founder of her namesake practice and creator of the Adopt a Mediterranean Diet for PCOS course, for a conversation about what it actually looks like to track, understand, and act on your own...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Dr. Katie Worrilow — founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Life Air Systems, postdoctoral-trained reproductive physiologist, and former scientific director of IVF programs for over 20 years — for a conversation that will change how you think about your IVF cycle.Dr. Katie spent twenty years noticing something. That when construction began outside the hospital, when the medevac pad got repaved, when the parking lot was resurfaced — clinical pregnancy rates dropped. Not because of the medicine. Not because of the protocol. Because of the air surrounding the embryo during...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Zsofia Jamieson and Marta Han — co-founders of The Fertility Class and certified teachers of the Aviva Method — for a conversation about something most fertility conversations completely skip: movement.Zsofia was diagnosed with severe PCOS as a teenager and told she might never conceive. She healed naturally through movement and nutrition, eventually bringing the Aviva Method from Hungary to the UK and the US. Marta navigated hypothalamic amenorrhea and years of infertility tied to over-exercising and undernourishment, yet restored her cycle through holistic practice. A decade afte...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Ashley Statchon — yoga teacher, fertility and prenatal specialist, oncology yoga instructor, and director of Metta Mama — for a conversation that starts with the nervous system and ends somewhere most fertility conversations never go.Ashley came to yoga as a competitive gymnast looking for a physical challenge. What she found was something that would reshape how she understood the body entirely — and years later, when a breast cancer diagnosis at 43 put everything to the test, it was breath, movement, and the practices she'd been teaching that carrie...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Dr. Kelly McCann — board-certified physician in internal medicine and pediatrics, trained in functional, integrative, and environmental medicine — for a conversation that begins in the body and ends somewhere much deeper.Dr. Kelly is known for her expertise in mold illness, chronic infections, mast cell activation syndrome, and complex chronic conditions. She integrates science, intuition, and spiritual psychology to help people heal at levels most medicine never reaches. She's hosted three worldwide summits reaching over 100,000 people, and her forthcoming book reframes illness not as the enemy — but as...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Erica Paulson — doula, certified clinical hypnotherapist, prenatal bonding specialist, and founder of Nurture — for a conversation that goes far beyond what most people think birth support looks like.Erica is a hypno-birthing educator, a childbirth advocate, and — perhaps less expectedly — an award-winning poet. Today, she blends the science and the soul of birth as one experience. This episode is about what happens when birth is treated as a nervous system experience, not just a medical one. What changes when a woman walks into labor pre...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Dr. Angela Potter — integrative fertility doctor, nutritionist, and PCOS specialist — for a conversation that challenges much of what conventional medicine overlooks about this condition.Dr. Angela addresses root causes behind why women with PCOS aren't getting pregnant. She's spoken alongside thought leaders from Google, Microsoft, and Headspace, and has been featured on ABC, CBS, and NBC — and today, she brings all of that expertise here.Together, Dr. Susan and Dr. Angela unpack what PCOS actually is — a metabolic syndrome — and why Letrozole protocols for fertil...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox steps in solo to share something close to her heart — the charitable organization behind the work, and why it exists.As part of the international Podcastathon (March 14–20), podcasters worldwide are spotlighting the causes they champion. For Health Youniversity, that means shining a light on the Health Youniversity Group — a 509(a)(2) public charity dedicated to making the Preconception Plan Course accessible to the people who need it but may have financial constraints.Dr. Susan walks through what the course actually is: a 120-day, phase-by-phase program built around the me...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, we explore something that doesn't get nearly enough attention on the fertility journey: the kind of support that holds you together while medicine does its work.Dr. Susan sits down with Jess Tims — certified fertility doula, Reiki master, and founder of Her Fertility Support — whose path to this work came through her own two-year experience with unexplained infertility. What she couldn't find then, she's now dedicated to creating for others.You'll learn what a fertility doula actually is (and how it's different from a fertility coach or therapist), why the...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, we talk about something so fundamental we rarely stop to question it — the water we drink every single day, and what it might actually contain.Dr. Susan sits down with Cydian Kauffman — owner of Pure Water Northwest and a water quality specialist on a mission to cut through the hype and give people real, science-backed answers. From forever chemicals to microplastics to reverse osmosis, Cydian demystifies what's actually in our water, what it means for our fertility and hormonal health, and what we can do about it without spending a fortune.<p...

In today's episode of Health Youniversity, we explore something that more people need to know exists — a nurse who shows up for you in the gaps that even the best fertility clinics simply can't fill.Dr. Susan sits down with Ashlee Laroue — registered nurse, clinical nurse educator, fertility education specialist, and founder of Fertile Ease — whose 12+ years across women's health, labor and delivery, high-risk pregnancy, and fertility have shown her the same gap over and over again: patients going home with big questions and no one to call.You'll learn what a fertility concie...