DIET AND ITS EFFECT ON FERTILITY :Tami O'Briens's Story As told to Doris Crim    

The Rice Paper: Healing Stories; Fall 1995; Editor: Luz Rodriguez Arpan

   

When my husband, Dee, and I decided that we wanted a baby after six years of marriage, our situation was ideal in many ways. We were the right age (in our late twenties) to enjoy a family and our financial future seemed secure. Dee is an environmental geologist and had recently started a business specializing in environmental cleanups of contaminated soil and ground water. It was doing very well, and I wanted to become a full-time mother and homemaker.

Dee and I met on a blind date when we were both students at Carolina and were married nine months later. Soon afterwards we moved to Oxford, Mississippi so Dee could attend graduate school at the University of Mississippi. I worked at a series of jobs while Dee was in grad school and continued to work after he received his masters in geology and we returned to Columbia. Dee worked for the Department of Health and Environmental Control for three years before opening his own business. Now Dee and I could look forward to spending more time together as well as having both time and energy to devote to a child.

There was only one problem: it was possible that I was infertile. I had been taking birth control pills for five years under the supervision of a gynecologist; but when I stopped using them, I did not menstruate. Since I was involved in a strenuous exercise program at the time, my gynecologist thought perhaps the exercise might be the cause of my infertility. I stopped exercising, but my period still did not start. By this time I had not menstruated for a full year, and my gynecologist prescribed a hormonal drug. This seemed to work, but it also produced some undesirable side effects. I felt bloated and moody; and although I didn't feel ill, I didn't feel really well either. Also, I only had a period when I took the drug. if 1 stopped the dosage, my period stopped, too. The gynecologist said that he did not know whether I was ovulating or not and suggested I consult an endocrinologist.

 

The endocrinologist prescribed a mild fertility drug. When this medication didn't work, he told me there was another stronger drug I could try. It would involve a series of shots and daily visits to the doctor's office to check my hormone levels. Not only would the procedure be time consuming, it was quite expensive. The endocrinologist could offer very little hope that it would solve my problem.

 

While I was debating whether or not to undergo this treatment, which seemed to offer the only frail hope I had of becoming pregnant, an alternative was presented to me. I had been working as an exercise instructor at The Firm, and the company's owner was making an exercise video. Several of the instructors were chosen to participate. We also were asked to lose a little weight before making the film, and the manager of the studio, Liz Guarnieri, suggested we try some macrobiotic food which would enable us to lose weight without losing muscle mass.

I signed up for a macrobiotic cooking class taught by Marcia Halpern a macrobiotic counselor here in South Carolina. Not only did I enjoy the food, I talked to a lot of people who believed the macrobiotic diet had cured them of various illnesses. Was it possible that a change in diet could work for me when hormone shots and fertility drugs hadn't? My skepticism began to fade as I recalled an unusual childhood experience.

Shortly before my seventh birthday, I began to go through puberty. My parents were alarmed and took me to a specialist in Augusta, Georgia. He said I was unusually sensitive to the hormones injected into chicken ant beef and that eating these meats was causing me to enter puberty prematurely. I stopped eating them and the problem was solved. What I ate made, a difference then - maybe it could make a difference now. I decided to make an appointment with Marcia for a macrobiotic consultation.

After I discussed my medical history in detail, Marcia told me she was sure the diet would correct my infertility. I had tried so many things ant been disappointed for so long that I could not help expressing doubts. Marcia got an empty picture frame and placed it on her desk. She looked at me and spoke firmly, "I'm going to keep the frame there so that we can put a picture of your baby in it after it's born. You are going to be pregnant within a year."

I was encouraged by Marcia's confidence and listened carefully as she outlined a diet designed for my specific needs. In addition to the diet, Marcia recommended ginger compresses applied to the ovaries and soaking in daikon leaf baths. As I left Marcia's, I decided I would follow the diet faithfully for a year. Marcia believed I would be pregnant within a year so that should be a fair trial of whether the diet would work for me.

After three months of macrobiotic eating, I began to menstruate. It was the first time in ten years that I had had a period without the help of medication.  I was so excited I called several of my friends to tell them the good news. Now I knew that conceiving a child had become a real possibility.

Nine months later I learned I was pregnant. Marcia had been right. Dee and I would become parents at last. My pregnancy went well after I got over my morning sickness, and Dee and I decided to take the Lamaze classes offered by Baptist Hospital. The classes proved very helpful and our daughter was born on May 5, 1991, by means of natural childbirth after only six hours of labor. She was healthy and beautiful - Hannah Kathleen O'Brien.

 

Dee and I feel we were truly blessed by the birth of our child, but producing a healthy baby is only the beginning. It is essential to do everything possible to maintain our daughter's health. We continue to eat macrobiotically and feel it is necessary to provide Hannah with healthy food as well as plenty of love and security.

I incorporate macrobiotics in decisions about the treatment of illnesses. I do not disregard the medical approach, but I feel a need to consider a more holistic way of life. Macrobiotics influence every aspect of our daily live and I believe has been a healthy contribution to our general well-being .I know there are many challenges ahead for Hannah (non-macro birthday parties, school lunches, immunization regulations, etc.), but I think that with macrobiotics as a guide, along with common sense natural solutions, we'll all be just fine. 

 Tami O'Brien is the wife of Dee O'Brien and proud mother of Hannah Kathleen and her newborn son, DeForest. She is a full-time homemaker who enjoys macro-cooking and organic gardening and is an aerobics teacher at the Columbia Athletic Club.