Many women can come into the clinic border line anemic, anemic or with a history of anemia.  Anemia basically means there is a lack of blood in the body.  Now many women who are even border line anemic can be light headed, dizzy and have headaches.  Some can even faint.  Others can experience being light headed when standing up to quickly.  Feeling cold (especially hands/feet) and general fatigue are other common symptoms.  Extremely anemic women can crave chewing on ice cubes as well.  Periods tend to have light bleeding, but can cause extreme fatigue.  With all of these symptoms, it is easy to see how conception would be difficult.  Now if you don’t have enough blood to sustain yourself, do you think you will be able to sustain another living inside of you.

In Chinese Medicine, we say a woman is dominated by blood and a man is dominated by qi.  So a woman should have adequate blood in her body to maintain health.  Furthermore, we know that estrogen is the hormone in charge of building the lining of blood in the uterus so with blood deficiency, estrogen could potentially be inadequate.  A weak digestive system not allowing for the absorption of nutrients could also be a culprit.  Excess stress could also be causing anemia.  Eating foods that are blood building will go a long way.  Green leafy vegetables, animal meats (especially liver), fish, bone marrow soup, black strap molasses, dairy (ie. boiled raw milk with honey/molasses), egg yolk, fermented soy (tempeh/miso/soy sauce), dried fruit, almonds, liquid iron, Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid will help build your blood.  Chinese Herbs can be especially beneficial for building your blood.  Combined with Acupuncture and Lifestyle Change, you’ll notice a difference in no time.  When your body has adequate blood, therefore adequate energy, conception is so much easier