Miscarriage. It’s a topic that many people have difficulty with. There are several reasons for this, including lack of understanding, discomfort with grief and death, and maybe even a cultural taboo about the topic.
It may be a difficult topic, but it’s also important, and one we believe should be discussed more than it is. That being said, more and more women are speaking out about their experiences, and it is much easier to find blogs and articles describing the process and giving directions about post-miscarriage care (especially emotional care). But it is more difficult to find information about physical recovery from a miscarriage (beyond the basics), or articles combining and acknowledging the physical and emotional connections. And that’s what this article is all about!
Women and families have experienced miscarriage throughout human history, but the rates of miscarriage seems to be increasing significantly in our lifetime. An accelerated increase has been seen within the last 2 years, potentially affected by the current strain of coronavirus, and the experimental drugs currently being tested to halt it.
All that to say, if you have experienced a miscarriage, you are increasingly not alone! Hopefully this idea will encourage you to reach out to those around you for emotional and physical support. It is very likely that many people in your life have also experienced what you are going through. Find people who will acknowledge your grief, are seeking to understand how this loss is affecting you, and who are good at giving you the space to grieve as long as you need to!
Emotional Support and Grieving
As I said earlier, many people are now talking about the emotional aspects of a miscarriage. We won’t go into emotions too much in this post, but here are a few truths that are important for you to know.
A miscarriage is a loss of life, no matter how far along you were.
Death affects people differently, so any way you are feeling is valid. You may be really sad for a long time, a little upset for a short time, or somewhere in between. So let yourself feel what you are feeling… you don’t have to feel more or less than you are feeling.
Western culture is not good at grieving or giving you permission to grieve. You will likely need to be assertive and do what you need to do for yourself.
Physical Support
Nutrition
Miscarriage is an event that requires a little extra from our bodies, just like pregnancy, illness, and travel. With nutrition that supports our body, there are a few categories to keep in mind, lets discuss each of these.
Liver: The liver is important in the transition of our hormones, whether that is running our monthly cycles or transitioning our hormones after pregnancy and miscarriage. It is very important to support our liver after a miscarriage. To properly nourish the liver, it is good to eat desiccated liver or liver as a food. This is good for the B vitamins, the A vitamins and other minerals including iron and zinc. Iron is of course necessary after any amount of blood loss, and the more blood you lose, the more iron you may need. Liver pate is an excellent way to get liver in, because it not only contains liver but also is made with animal fat, which contains fat soluble vitamins. The fat soluble vitamins balance out the liver, and help prevent the constipation that can occur when eating extra liver. B Vitamins can also be found in beets, which helps to cleanse the liver. Beet Kvass is important for recovery after a miscarriage, because it helps to cleanse the liver, thin the bile, and contains various nutrients and minerals that help the detox pathways to keep the body cleansed and functioning well. Eating or juicing beets (either cooked or raw) will also give you liver cleansing properties. Be sure not to eat too many beets, unless you are constipated and need to loosen your stools up!
Hormones, Brain and Endocrine System: There are several nutrients needed to feed these systems; minerals, vitamin C, vitamin A, cholesterol, and other fat soluble vitamins are all very helpful. It is recommended to have a high quality sea salt, such as these; Baja Gold, Celtic, Redmond’s, Real Salt are all great options. Depending on your stress level and previous mineral status, you may find you need more minerals in the form of an additional supplement. It is important to eat a lot of cholesterol at this time, both the physical and emotional stressors on the body will cause an increased demand for fat soluble nutrients as well as cholesterol. Cholesterol, as you may remember, is used to make hormones including; estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and also helps the immune system and brain to function well. Pregnancy, no matter how long it lasts, is a drain on the brain food, which is why pregnancy brain is a thing. With that, it is so important to replenish these vital nutrients. If your miscarriage was particularly traumatic, your endocrine system will need more minerals and B vitamins to recover. Depending on the cause for your miscarriage and if you required a D&C, supporting your uterus may be specifically required. This is one of those instances when Utrophin PMG may become necessary, and otherwise eating lots of nutrient dense foods is very helpful. All the above foods will help repair your uterine lining and help your uterus get back to its normal health, with the addition of meat stock. The collagen contained in meat stock along with other cofactors and nutrients will help your uterine lining and other connective tissue to heal and repair well and quickly.
PMGs
These supplements, also called protomorphogens or cell determinants, are created to specifically assist an organ or gland with a healing process. It contains the DNA of that particular type of tissue (from a bovine or porcine source), and taking these for a short period of time appear to reduce healing time and help to bring your body back into balance more quickly. For more information on these, we recommend you check out the work of Dr. Royal Lee, a great place to start is here.
Homeopathics and Essential Oils
There are various homeopathic remedies, flower essences, and essential oils that can assist you as you deal with physical and emotional symptoms. Make sure to find these from a trusted source and seek guidance as needed.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture can be very helpful after a miscarriage. It can assist the body as it processes emotions, and helps to physically restore balance (including in the case of prolonged bleeding). If you are able to, find a acupuncturist who specializes in female care.
Grounding
One of the best ways to re-center your body is to connect with nature. There are many ways to do this, including grounding (walking or standing barefoot in the grass or sand), going camping, swimming in natural waters (including lakes, rivers, hot springs and oceans), taking epsom salt baths (bringing the natural water to your tub), and even just leaning up against a tree. Also, eating nutrient dense foods such as animal fat, meat stock, and gelatinous and organ meats can be very grounding to your body as well.
What To Do Now?
Acknowledge to yourself that your grief is valid
Surround yourself with people who also acknowledge the validity of your grief and need for recovery
Give yourself permission to fully take care of yourself physically and emotionally
Rest as much as needed
Reach out to and/or expand your health team
Eat nourishing foods
Don’t rush your recovery
Don’t judge your progress and don’t rule things out