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Monday 8am - 5:30pm Tuesday 8am - 5:30pm Wednesday 8am - 5:30pm Thursday 8am - 5:30pm Friday 8am - 5:30pm

http://www.drlauranicholas.com/

Dr. Laura Nicholas, ND, Vancouver, BC (2025)

07/25/2025

When should I stop birth control? 💊💭

The type of birth control you are using determines when you should stop your contraceptive methods when you are planning to get pregnant.

👉 In general, hormonal forms of birth control have the potential to alter hormone levels in your body for a longer period of time after withdrawal of the hormones. Therefore, they can delay your return to ovulatory cycles longer than non-hormonal types of birth control.

When you discontinue the birth control pill you can return to regular cycles right away. Occasionally people take 3-6 months to regain normal cycles. The more “regular” your cycles and periods were before starting the pill the more likely they are to be “regular” after it as well.

I would plan ahead 1-3 months before you want to try to conceive. 🤰 But note that as soon as you discontinue your birth control you *can* get pregnant!

Book a consultation with me to discuss your family planning timeline and best options for “pulling the plug” 🔌 and preparing for pregnancy.

https://lunahealthclinic.janeapp.com

07/24/2025

What changes in a menstrual cycle seem to impact fertility the most? 🤰

🩸 Irregular cycles, absent cycles - if you aren’t getting a predictable cycle this has a big impact on trying to get pregnant because it becomes very hard to plan when to have in*******se for your best chances.

🩸 Anovulation - if you are not ovulating, getting pregnant naturally is very challenging. Before escalating to pharmaceuticals, IUI and IVF there are still other options that can be used to get your ovulation again.

🩸 Very heavy and painful periods - this can be a sign that you might have endometriosis or fibroids. Sometimes these underlying conditions cause a lot of inflammation, and even scar tissue that can decrease the chances of conception and pregnancy.

Book a Discovery Call today to discuss your options for investigating and regulating your menstrual cycle. 💫

https://lunahealthclinic.janeapp.com

07/23/2025

Welcome to my community! 👋👩🏻‍⚕️

I help women & their partners from preconception to postpartum to optimize fertility, pregnancy, and the growth of healthy families. 🤰

Making the switch from actively avoiding pregnancy to actively trying to get pregnant can be a big shift.

This transition can raise lots of questions and have you feeling stressed and overwhelmed by sourcing “the right” information. 🙇🏻‍♀️💬

The internet is a great tool, but often leads to information overload and difficulty knowing who to trust.

When it comes to baby making, I help take the stressing and guessing out of it!

I work with couples to help identify possible causes of suboptimal fertility and correct them in order to increase your chances of conceiving and maintaining a healthy pregnancy.

🔎 I use conventional and comprehensive testing to identify your fertility status, and employ targeted treatments to improve your egg quality, ovulation capacity, endometrial lining thickness, hormone regulation and more.

If you are looking to grow your family in the next year, book a Discovery Call to learn more about your options. 🌙

If you are new to my community, welcome. I regularly share information about women’s health, hormones, the menstrual cycles, fertility, vaginal and bladder health. 🌸

https://lunahealthclinic.janeapp.com

07/21/2025

💤 Sleep & Fertility Connection 💤

Did you know that both too little and too much sleep can impact your fertility?

Research has found that women getting less than seven hours of sleep are 15% less likely to get pregnant than women who got seven to eight hours.

On the other hand, women undergoing a treatment like IVF who got seven to eight hours of sleep were 25% more likely to get pregnant than women who got nine or more.

So how does sleep affect fertility? 🤔

✨ Hormones ✨
The most significant factors is that sleep is closely related to hormones production. If you don’t get enough sleep, your body will won’t produce enough of certain hormones, and make too much of others. The same part of the brain that is responsible for regulating sleep-wake hormones like melatonin and cortisol also regulates reproductive hormones. Sleep deprivation will signal the body to produce more stress hormones, which is bad for overall health and can throw off levels of FSH, LH, estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and other reproductive hormones. This hormone imbalance can inhibit ovulation, and you interfere with the s***m maturation process.

✨ Circadian-rhythm ✨
Good quality sleep allows for the body to rest and detoxify. If you are not getting adequate sleep you may make poor quality eggs, or poor quality s***m. Poor quality gametes can lead to inability of the egg to be fertilized, or poor quality embryos that results in lack of implantation and not pregnant or recurrent pregnancy loss. In fact, melatonin, the sleep hormone is a supplement that has a high antioxidant capacity and ability to protect egg from oxidative damage; melatonin also supports healthy luteal phase progesterone levels.

✨ General health markers ✨
Sleep deprivation increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These conditions all make getting pregnant more difficult.

✨ Mental-emotional health and energy ✨
Not getting enough sleep is detrimental to your mood. Low mood can lead to low energy and low libido. If you are feeling tired, irritable, and a lack of desire for intimacy this can delay the time to pregnancy, unless you are using IUI or IVF to get pregnant.

07/18/2025

💭 Did you know? 💭 Research suggests that women with an initial ectopic pregnancy have a lower chance of conception than those who miscarry and also have an increased risk of a repeat ectopic pregnancy compared to women who experience miscarriage, termination, or a live birth in their first pregnancy.

📚 Several studies, have reports that only about 50% of women who have had tubal pregnancy subsequently became pregnant and only 30% of those pregnancies resulted in a live brith.

There is only a 0.02% chance of a first time ectopic pregnancy. There is about a 10% risk of recurrence of an ectopic pregnancy.

Also, women who were treated with surgery that spared the fallopian tubes and fallopian tube removal surgery had almost the same rate of pregnancy after treatment, given the other fallopian tube is healthy.

For this reason, one’s ectopic pregnancy history plays an important role in future fertility goals and fertility counselling that we provide our patients as doctors. 👩‍⚕️

If you are trying to conceive or thinking ore starting to grow your family, I encourage you to book a preconception and fertility visit as a way of improving your pregnancy outcomes!

07/17/2025

✨ Treatment & Management of an Ectopic Pregnancy ✨

When I suspect or am able to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy in my office using my point of care fetal ultrasound, I promptly send my patients to the hospital for acute management. Though it requires emergent attention at the hospital in case of rupture, the treatment of an ectopic pregnancy does not end in the hospital. Typically I remain very involved in the patient’s care for weeks following an ectopic pregnancy for all the physical and emotional healing and support that is required. We also work together to build a plan for trying to conceive again and decreasing the risk of ectopic pregnancy and/or miscarriage going forward.

💊 Methotrexate is a medication commonly used for the treatment of un-ruptured ectopic pregnancies. Its mechanism of action, competitive inhibition of folate-dependent steps in nucleic acid synthesis, effectively stops the growth of the rapidly dividing ectopic trophoblast. This stops the ectopic pregnancy from continuing to grow and terminates the pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancies are not viable and will never result in a healthy full term pregnancy. This life-saving medication helps prevent a ruptured Fallopian tube which could result in significant blood loss and harm to the mother. This medication can also prevent the need for an invasive surgery that would be required to remove the Fallopian tube and ectopic pregnancy altogether, which can lead to further complications when attempting to fall pregnant again.

⏳ However, after using this medication couples must wait 12 weeks before trying to conceive again. It is important to ensure the medication is fully out of your system, and that the folate inhibiting effect of the medication is not going to pose a risk to a subsequent developing pregnancy.

If you have suffered an ectopic pregnancy and you either need more reliable contraception or you would like to prepare for a healthy pregnancy in the future, book a visit today! 🌙

https://lunahealthclinic.janeapp.com

07/16/2025

🤔 Wondering how acupuncture ACTUALLY “balances hormones”, improves blood flow, and improves the health of eggs and s***m?

I bet you are!

1️⃣ I use acupuncture for fertility primarily for
Increasing local blood flow to the pelvis. This improves oxygen delivery, nutrient delivery, and the removal of waste material from the cells. You take the antioxidant supplements, now let’s be sure to DELIVER those nutrients to the pelvis!

2️⃣ Regulating hormone levels and timing of release. When it comes to fertility, the TYPES of hormones released, the AMOUNT of hormones released, and the TIMING at which they are released are all important for ovulation, conception, implantation and early fetal development.

3️⃣ Improving egg quality. ATP is the form of energy that cells utilize. Acupuncture increases ATP production which is used to power metabolic processes in the cells like synthesizing DNA, RNA, proteins, and enzymes that are used to repair or regenerate cellular components (fighting oxidative stress caused by toxins, age, and nutrient deficiencies). Cellular energy is essential for cell healthy proliferation and development required to make the best eggs and s***m.

✨ For natural conception, I recommend 2 acupuncture sessions per month. I have found the best timing to be during the follicular phase before ovulation, and in the early luteal phase after ovulation around implantation. Based on the research, I recommend a minimum of 5 acupuncture treatments before assisted reproduction technology procedures like IUI and IVF.

07/14/2025

🥑Preparing for Pregnancy with your DIET..

Let’s start with the first pillar for prenatal nutrition — the Macronutrient Status👇

🥜Protein - Protein is required for energy and energy-intensive processes in the body like making eggs and s***m. It is best to consume the majority of your protein from plant sources (beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds) and less of your protein from animal sources (meat, eggs, dairy) in order to enhance your fertility.

〰️ Fertility foods: lentils, beans, chickpeas, almonds, pumpkin seeds, h**p hearts, nut and seed butters, free range eggs, free range organic poultry, grass fed organic meat, wild Salmond, trout, mackerel, sardines

✅Servings: 3-4 servings a day

🐟Healthy fats - Incorporate unsaturated fats, including mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, into your diet. Reduce and avoid saturated fat by lowering animal products in your diet overall, and eating organic grass-fed animal meats in moderation. Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) are essential for the making hormones required for fertility and the development of the brain and nervous system your future baby.

〰️ Fertility foods: Walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, avocado, olives, extra virgin olive oil, ground flax seed, wild salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel, herring

✅Servings: 3-6 servings a day

🫐Carbohydrates - There is a strong relationship between blood sugar regulation and fertility outcomes. The glycemic index (GI) is a measure of how much a food raises your blood sugar levels after a meal. Low GI foods cause a more subtle rise in blood sugar after a meal, keeping you feeling full longer, decreasing blood sugar swings and sustaining your energy levels. For this reason, choose carbohydrates that contain high fibre content and a low GI, and avoid refined sugars and foods with high GIs.

〰️ Fertility foods: Dark leafy greens, cruciferous and colourful vegetables, dark berries, apples, pears, brown rice, quinoa, whole oats, sprouted wheat, wild rice, millet, bulgur, amaranth, buckwheat

✅Servings: 6-11 servings a day

07/10/2025

This is an exciting time in your life, you are ready to try to get pregnant!🤰🤍

Amongst all the excitement, there is usually a bit of fear and uncertainty about where to start. During the prenatal period, my most frequently asked questions are all related to “what to eat?”.🤔

There is a lot of mixed information out there on what foods to eat or avoid. The mixed information can lead to confusion, fear, and stress.

Preparing for pregnancy doesn’t have to be stressful! 🥰

My goal is to empower you to take charge of your health and be proactive about preparing your body for pregnancy. I am committed to supporting you from preconception to postpartum to build the family that you have always wanted.

It is possible to establish sustainable nutrition habits during the prenatal period that will benefit you throughout pregnancy and beyond.

Often times it takes a few months to identify and undo old habits, and replenish missing nutrients in your diet. Carrying a pregnancy to term is a demanding process for your body. I want you to start the journey with a full tank of gas, not running on empty!✨

I target 5 pillars for prenatal nutrition:

1️⃣ Macronutrient Status
2️⃣ Micronutrient Status
3️⃣ Gentle Detoxification
4️⃣ Blood Sugar Regulation
5️⃣ Antioxidant Status

Stay tuned to learn more over the next few days!

07/09/2025

✨ Standard Fertility and Preconception Testing

I recommend a standard set of screening tests during the prenatal period.

The goal of doing these tests is to:
➡️ Determine hormone levels of s*x hormones critical for conception
➡️ Confirm ovulation
➡️ Assess ovarian reserve and predict fertility lifespan
➡️ Rule out other barriers to getting pregnant related to hormones or metabolic factors
➡️ Detect underlying nutrient deficiencies that can be corrected
➡️ Test for oxidative stress implicated in poor egg and s***m quality

These tests often highlight areas of concern that can be optimized through a strategic plan. Once a care plan is implemented we can typically see improvements in your parameters within 3 months. Sometimes we haven’t even tested the labs again and the first shift we notice is a positive pregnancy test!

If all your labs come back “clear” these values offer peace of mind and reassurance that you should be able to get pregnant. 🤰

Other times, this initial screening panel uncovers the need to do further more comprehensive testing. Ultimately it is important to get to the root cause of the issue if you are struggling to conceive or maintain a healthy pregnancy.

✅ SAVE THIS POST if you are looking to prepare for pregnancy or investigate your fertility.

Book a complimentary Discovery Call to have an opportunity to discuss your health goals and treatment options available to you. 🙌

https://lunahealthclinic.janeapp.com

07/08/2025

You have a 20% chance of conceiving each month! ✨

I typically tell couples who are about to start trying that I expect it to take about 3 months to get pregnant.

The average probability of conception changes with age and other health markers. ⤵️

78-86% of women in their 20s will conceive within 1 year of actively trying. This number decreases in your 30s to a 63% success rate of conceiving within 1 year for women aged 30-34 years, and a 52% success rate for women aged 35-39.

🩺 PRECONCEPTION CARE helps remove barriers to fertility, replenish nutrient deficiencies and address health concerns that are making it harder to conceive.

I recommend starting preconception support at least 3 months before you would like to start trying to conceive.

Whether you are looking to prepare for a pregnancy, or you are already trying to conceive, book a consultation with me to optimize your chances! 🌸

https://lunahealthclinic.janeapp.com

07/07/2025

🌟 A high quality prenatal should be taken from 3 months before trying to conceive your first baby, all the way until you have finished breast or bottle feeding your last baby.

I recommend purchasing a professional grade product with third party testing for safety, purity, and potency.

✨ Choose a prenatal vitamin with an activated form of vitamin B-12, like methylcobalamin.
✨ Look for minerals bound to Glycine for better digestive tolerance. An example would be iron-bisglycinate.
✨ Choose a robust nutrient profile. The label should have 20+ nutrients including vitamin C, vitamin K, B vitamins, and minerals.
✨ Avoid contamination with preservations, food additives, dyes, and colours, and unwanted ingredients such as gluten, dairy, eggs, and yeast.

Looking for prenatal supplement optimization and overall support? Book a consultation to feel confident on how to supplement for fertility and a healthy pregnancy. ✅

https://lunahealthclinic.janeapp.com

Dr. Laura Nicholas, ND

07/25/2025

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Monday	8am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	8am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	8am - 5:30pm
Thursday	8am - 5:30pm
Friday	8am - 5:30pm