What is vitex and how will it help AF return?

[kpmum]

Just wondering what exactly is vitex? After 11 months of breast feeding my ds2 (with weaning for 2 months prior) AF is yet to appear (2 months later) I took a pregnancy test 2 weeks ago which was negative. Im pretty keen to get my body into a normal cycle after being pregnant or breast feeding for 4 years now. Someone has suggested I try vitex?

[atomic sagebrush]

this is probably more than you ever wanted to know about vitex!

http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-girl-best-practices/1094-vitex-faq-share-your-experiences-here.html

[fourthcanal]

Glad you asked kpmum, I was wondering that too! atomic, is vitex safe to take while BFing my 11-month old son?

[fourthcanal]

On second thought - I am not sure I want to take vitex, since I have a history of having pretty regular cycles anyway. But it has been a while since I was off the pill, and I just got off it a few weeks ago, so I guess I will see where I'm at this month :)

[atomic sagebrush]

Glad you asked kpmum, I was wondering that too! atomic, is vitex safe to take while BFing my 11-month old son?

I took it twice while breastfeeding and I believe it to be extremely safe. I think the high doses of cal and mag that some people take for swaying, and cranberry, are both much much more risky than the vitex.

[atomic sagebrush]

On second thought - I am not sure I want to take vitex, since I have a history of having pretty regular cycles anyway. But it has been a while since I was off the pill, and I just got off it a few weeks ago, so I guess I will see where I'm at this month :)

I never had irregular cycles while on vitex provided that I stopped it before O - not everyone does.

[kpmum]

Thankyou! Great information. I am not TTC so should I just take vitex everyday?

[atomic sagebrush]

I personally think it works better when taken 2W on, 2W off to restore cycles - this works with your body's natural rhythm which is 2 w of higher estrogen, followed by 2 W of higher progesterone.

Look at your AF/O dates from before you had your baby and use that to decide when to take the Vitex. More often than not, you'll resume AF and O very similar to when you were having them prior to having your baby. So if your last menstrual cycle had AF beginning on the 15th of the month and O on the 1st of the following month, you'd take the vitex from the 15th thru the 30th or 31st and then stop. Even if you have irregular cycles, just use your last AF date to go off of and take the vitex for 2 weeks starting on that date (regardless of when you actually ended up Oing). Then stop for the following 2 weeks, and resume again on your AF date the next month. Hope that makes sense.

[kpmum]

Yup makes perfect sense! Thankyou so much for ur help. Off to the health store :)