126: Struggling to Get Pregnant? What Doctors Miss About Egg & Sperm Quality with Dr. Marina

If you’re struggling to get pregnant, have experienced miscarriages, or feel like fertility treatment keeps skipping over the real issues, this episode will change how you understand fertility.

In this conversation on The Lizzie Ens Show, Lizzie sits down with Dr. Marina, a board-certified OB-GYN with over 30 years of experience who transitioned into functional and root-cause medicine after witnessing the limitations of conventional fertility care.

Dr. Marina explains why fertility is often treated as a checklist of tests and procedures, while the most important factors, egg quality, sperm health, lifestyle, nutrition, toxin exposure, stress, and metabolic health, are overlooked.

You’ll learn why sperm quality plays a critical role in placental development and early pregnancy, why fertility challenges must be addressed as a shared responsibility between partners, and how endocrine-disrupting chemicals have contributed to dramatic declines in sperm count and morphology over the last two generations.

This episode also dives into PCOS, hormone testing gaps, AMH misconceptions, birth control masking symptoms, nutrigenomics, and why improving health before IVF dramatically increases success rates, and in many cases, leads to natural conception.

Whether you’re trying to conceive naturally, preparing for IVF, or want to protect your fertility for the future, this conversation offers clarity, empowerment, and practical direction.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

1. Why fertility struggles aren’t just about ovulation timing or procedures
2. How egg quality and sperm quality affect conception and miscarriage risk
3. Why sperm health is essential for placental development
4. The alarming decline in sperm count and morphology
5. How endocrine-disrupting chemicals impact fertility in men and women
6. Why fertility should be approached as a couple, not a single patient
7. What conventional fertility testing often misses
8. Why AMH is not predictive of natural conception
9. How PCOS, insulin resistance, and inflammation affect fertility
10. Why birth control often masks underlying hormonal dysfunction
11. How lifestyle, nutrition, sleep, and stress influence reproductive health
12. The role of micronutrients like vitamin D, B12, omega-3s, and inositol
13. Why improving health before IVF improves outcomes and reduces risk
14. How nutrigenomic testing supports personalized fertility care

We talk about:

1. 00:00 Why fertility treatment often misses key factors
2. 01:45 Dr. Marina’s background and shift into functional medicine
3. 03:30 Egg quality, stress, and fertility preservation
4. 05:15 Sperm quality and placental development
5. 07:10 The decline in sperm count and morphology
6. 09:20 Endocrine-disrupting chemicals and fertility
7. 11:45 PCOS, hormones, and insulin resistance
8. 14:30 Why AMH causes unnecessary fear
9. 16:40 Birth control and masked fertility issues
10. 19:15 Lifestyle, nutrition, and inflammation
11. 22:00 Why IVF outcomes improve with root-cause care
12. 25:30 Nutrigenomics and personalized fertility support
13. 28:30 Fertility as a shared responsibility
14. 31:00 Final takeaway and empowerment message

Connect with Dr. Marina

1. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-straszak-suri-md-frcsc-9b32351a
2. Website: https://drmarinaobgyn.com/

Connect with me

1. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzieens_wellness
2. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lizzieenswellness
3. TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lizzieh_wellness
4. Website: https://undietyou.com/

#FertilityHealth #EggQuality #SpermQuality #TryingToConceive #FunctionalMedicine #PCOSSupport #HormoneHealth #RootCauseCare #PreconceptionHealth #TheLizzieEnsShow