What Is Restorative Reproductive Medicine? A Better Way To Treat Your Cycle, Hormones & Fertility
Have you ever felt like your symptoms were dismissed or your fertility struggles were minimized? Maybe you've tried birth control for your period pain or you've had labs done only to be told everything looks normal even though you're suspicious that your hormones are a hot mess.
For years during my medical training, I watched patients fall through the cracks of a system that only offered band-aid solutions or extreme measures, but there is another way. One that actually listens to your body and works to restore your health – Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM).
Today, I will share what RRM really is, what it isn’t, and why it’s the missing piece for so many women facing cycle issues, hormone imbalances, and infertility.
Patricia’s Story
RRM transformed my patient Patricia’s journey from frustration and confusion to empowerment and healing. Patricia was 34 years old, and she worked a busy job as an accountant. She had been married for three years and had been trying to conceive for about 18 months.
Patricia's cycles were irregular after stopping birth control, so her OB doctor ran basic labs. Her doctor told her everything was normal, that she just needed to relax, and to come back in a year if she wasn’t pregnant. After about 12 more months of trying, Patricia was started on the medication Clomid, which is supposed to help with ovulation, but that did not provide any success.
She was then referred to intrauterine insemination (IUI) without any subsequent pregnancy, and eventually after about another year, she was sent for an IVF consultation. Throughout this entire time, Patricia's diagnosis was unexplained infertility without any real idea of what was going on.
Then Patricia found Radiant Clinic through a friend and heard the term Restorative Reproductive Medicine for the first time. Her initial reaction was anger. Why had nobody told her about this before? Eventually, we were able to channel her feelings of frustration and work together to get a plan forward that made sense for her.
First, we discussed how we look at charting the patterns of her cycle, how we time the lab work, and how we work together to restore menstrual cycles to get things back on track. We discussed how, by treating the root cause of the concerns that were creating medical issues for Patricia, we would be able to restore her cycles back to optimal health and hopefully allow her to conceive naturally.
Through charting and bloodwork, we learned that Patricia was ovulating later than expected, and she also had really low progesterone and estrogen levels in her luteal phase after she ovulated. With that information in mind, we discussed lifestyle changes that needed to be made, like changing up her diet, making sure she got plenty of sleep at night, and working on optimal exercise habits.
We also started Patricia on some specific supplements based on what her body needed. We treated with prescription strength medications timed to her cycle and adjusted the dosage to optimize every cycle that they were trying to conceive. After about seven months of working with Radiant Clinic, Patricia got her positive pregnancy test!
Patricia told me, “I didn't just get pregnant. I finally understood what was going on with my body.” Most importantly, Patricia now knows how to track her cycles after her pregnancy and will be able to monitor for any changes in the future that may signify if something is not right with her.
The Knowledge Gap
Maybe you, like Patricia, are asking why haven't you heard about restorative reproductive medicine before? That's one of the most common questions we get at our office, and honestly, it's a fair one. Restorative Reproductive Medicine is not new, but it is underrepresented in the mainstream medical system. Most OB doctors and primary care physicians don't receive comprehensive training in fertility awareness-based methods or root cause reproductive diagnostics during medical school or residency training.
In fact, many of the tools that we use in Restorative Reproductive Medicine, like detailed cycle tracking, timed hormonal evaluations, or hormone support protocols require additional training that healthcare professionals must seek out on their own – almost always outside conventional continuing education and certainly beyond what we get in our normal medical school or residency curriculum.
Right now, the medical system is generally built around two main tools when it comes to women's health. The first is suppressing symptoms with birth control, and the second is bypassing problems with things like IUI or IVF. Now, both of these approaches may be helpful in certain cases, but they never ask the deeper question: Why is this happening? And if we aren't solving those root causes, then we never get to that understanding.
Restorative Reproductive Medicine sits in a different space. We slow down the process rather than just jumping to start birth control. We want to dig deeper and find that more personalized care plan. And because of this, RRM is much more effective at truly helping people to heal.
However, since this isn't the standard path that most conventional doctors utilize, most patients never hear about it unless they go looking for something different or find a healthcare professional who is trained in Restorative Reproductive Medicine. The good news is you found it now, and once you understand what RRM offers, it opens up a whole new way of looking at your health, your fertility, and your body's natural design.
What is Restorative Reproductive Medicine?
First of all, Restorative Reproductive Medicine is a root cause approach to reproductive and menstrual cycle health. It treats the whole person and seeks to diagnose and treat the root causes of the underlying dysfunction. RRM has a focus on hormonal health, regulating the cycle, the quality of ovulation, and dealing with bigger health issues, like inflammation, thyroid dysfunction, or adrenal insufficiency. Common issues that we address in RRM can include irregular cycles, PMS or PMDD, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, perimenopause, recurrent miscarriage, and infertility.
RRM emphasizes restoring natural function rather than just overriding it with quick fixes like birth control or IVF. Restorative Reproductive Medicine is grounded in evidence-based medicine, not guesswork or band-aids. We integrate trained physicians, fertility awareness instructors, health coaches, dieticians, and other healthcare professionals when needed for a more collaborative evidence-based model.
We utilize objective biomarkers from your cycle charting in order to time your labs, as well as to time your treatments with precision. We involve careful tracking of your cervical mucus, basal body temperature, hormone levels, and other biomarkers to give you a better understanding of what's going on from day to day.
We utilize these natural cycle observations in addition to modern labs and imaging in order to understand where you're at in your cycle and be able to optimize things regardless of what your intentions are. When it comes to treatment, we apply targeted interventions, things like lifestyle changes, targeted supplements, bioidentical hormone therapy when necessary, ovulation support when needed, and in some cases minor surgery to help restore function. Every targeted intervention is aiming to restore natural ovulation, healthy hormone production, and optimal fertility. The methods we utilize try to work with your body's biology, not against it.
Restorative Reproductive Medicine is proactive and wide-ranging; we help women all across the menstrual cycle span – from teens with irregular cycles to women with chronic pelvic pain or those dealing with menstrual or hormonal symptoms. Anyone who wants to avoid hormonal birth control or get off it could be supported throughout their entire reproductive lifespan, from puberty to pregnancy, postpartum to perimenopause.
Most conventional options focus just on suppressing your symptoms, whereas Restorative Reproductive Medicine focuses instead on healing the system. Most importantly, Restorative Reproductive Medicine honors your natural cycle.
Dispelling the Myths
Next, let's talk about what RRM is not. It’s not just natural family planning or religious medicine. Now, many women discover RRM through faith-based communities, but RRM is scientifically grounded and benefits all women. We utilize charting as a diagnostic tool, not just as a method for avoiding pregnancy. RRM is a full spectrum medical approach.
This is one of the biggest misconceptions about RRM, and oftentimes why natural family planning gets a bad name. In fact, in my own medical school training, this was taught to me as natural family planning, and the pharmacologists who lectured on natural family planning and birth control told us natural family planning doesn't work. “Don't recommend it for your patients unless they want to have a bunch of kids,” they said.
But the reality is natural family planning methods have come a long way since they were originally created, and the newer, more modern methods that we utilize are much more effective at not only identifying when a woman is fertile, but also at being able to understand what's going on from a medical standpoint. It’s now a really powerful tool that promotes a deeper understanding of what's going on inside from a hormone standpoint.
Restorative Reproductive Medicine is not just “watch and wait.” It’s proactive. It’s data driven. It involves thorough evaluation, lab testing timed to the cycle, real-time treatment adjustments, and individualized care.
Many women are told that it's going to take forever to get this figured out, so why not just try birth control instead? But with Restorative Reproductive Medicine, many of our patients see meaningful changes not only in their cycles, but also in their mood, in their symptoms, in how they interact with other people in as short as a few months. There are very high success rates when we are using that personalized treatment and when we can identify what's going on each cycle, checking the labs for follow up and making those fine tuning adjustments in order to help you feel your best.
Restorative Reproductive Medicine is not a last resort. In some cases, couples come to us after they've failed IUI or IVF. But Restorative Reproductive Medicine is a first line option for many couples who want whole person, comprehensive care. RRM is structured, it's intentional, and it's rooted in data and observation, so it should not be seen as a last ditch option.
I would advocate that Restorative Reproductive Medicine should be the first line approach for any menstrual cycle concern. Restorative Reproductive Medicine is grounded in decades of research, modern lab testing, and rigorous charting methods. We utilize high quality imaging, detailed hormone panels, and tracking apps, like Chart Neo. This helps us utilize the most up-to-date data, and we are constantly expanding and changing and growing and understanding new data and new research to make those changes that are going to provide the best outcomes for our patients.
RRM vs IVF
So how successful is Restorative Reproductive Medicine? Let's talk just a little bit about how RRM compares to one of the most common treatments that's utilized right now for infertility – IVF.
On average, IVF success rates per cycle are anywhere from 25% to 30%, depending on someone's age. Now, under the age of 35, those success rates are a bit better, but over the age of 35, that's approximately the success rate, and it drops rapidly by the time you get into your late thirties and early forties.
Compare that to Restorative Reproductive Medicine, and we have documented live birth rates well over 50% to 60% for many common conditions when you follow over time.
Now, as we've discussed, Restorative Reproductive Medicine is not just a quick fix. It does take some time to identify, treat, and heal the root cause of the problem. But IVF doesn't solve any underlying issue. And the reality is we want healthier moms, healthier dads, and healthier babies throughout this process and over the course of time.
Restorative Reproductive Medicine is also much more affordable when compared to artificial reproductive technologies. In some cases, it's half the cost or less of a cycle of IVF.
Most importantly, Restorative Reproductive Medicine provides that ongoing support, hope, and partnership, not only in your care plan, but in your long-term health, and it equips you with the tools to monitor your cycle throughout your reproductive years.
If you've been struggling with your cycles, your hormones, or your fertility, and you felt unheard, dismissed, or were told to just relax, then Restorative Reproductive Medicine offers a better way forward. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. It's not just “try harder” or “ try less” or “just do IVF”. It’s personalized, evidence-based care that looks at your whole body, your goals, and your story.
At Radiant Clinic, our medical and fertility packages include full lab evaluation, ongoing monitoring, and a team who actually listens. We believe that you deserve answers and a path forward that makes sense for your body. Imagine if your care team actually worked to understand your cycle. Imagine if you had real answers for your symptoms and a plan forward that gives you hope and healing, not just quick fix options. If you're ready to work with our elite team of healthcare professionals, contact our office today.