Confused by amounts of supplements - is this right?

[Tammy123]

Hi there, I'm still kind of new to all this and finding the amounts quite confusing, so just wanted to check I'm not taking too much of something or too many of the wrong things together!

So far I have bought:

Folic acid - 400mcg tablets, I'll take 3 of these a day
Cranberry - 200mg tablets, it says equiv to 5000mg of dried berries, I'll start with 1 a day and see how it goes.
Calcium, magnesium all in one tablets - 800mg cacium, 375mg magnesium, with 5.0mcg Vit D (I read on here that Vit D sways blue - so not sure about these - should I buy calcium on its own instead?)
Vitex - this one is confusing - the bottle says: standardised agnes cactus berry extract 200mg, agnes cactus berry powder 150mg, veg cellulose capsule in a base of alfalfa, spirulina and bilerry 100mg. How much of this should I take daily? I'm guessing around 2-3? (the bottle says take 1-3 a day).

In addition I have bought some Zirtek (10mg cetirizine dihydrocholride tablets) and was about to buy some benadryl as well, as I read somewhere that zirtek and benadryl can be taken together. However the benadryl seems to contain the same ingredients as Zirtek (it's also 10mg cetirizine) - so I'm guessing not to take these together. I'm in the UK, so maybe benadryl is different here? Am I ok just to take the Zirtek on it's own in the days before dtd?

And... I'm also planning to take Lydia Pinkhams from af - ov. Or will vitex do the job and I should give Lydia a miss? My cycles are pretty regular, the vitex and Lydia Pinkhams are just to help my sway.

Thanks and sorry for super long post! :)

[atomic sagebrush]

Hi and welcome Tammy!!

:agree: folic

:agree: cranberry, up to 10000 is supposedly safe but I think it's best to start small and work up from there.

I really urge you to do JUST the cal-mag if you want to and skip the Vit. D.

I'm sorry but those vitex are no good, you don't want alfalfa, spirulina, etc. in them. Blue swayers sometimes take those herbs.

Yes, in the UK Benadryl and zyrtec are the same thing. YOu need cetirizine and diphenhydramine which is sold as a sleep aid in the UK. You CAN take just cetirizine, I think it's better anyway.

Skip Lydia, I don't believe it's safe and the vitex will do the job anyway.

[Tammy123]

Thanks atomic :)

[meeks32]

You can also use low dose aspirin instead of cranberry to ensure you don't take in too much vit c from the cran, and also because aspirin aids implantation while swaying girl, with less side effects, rather than hampering it like the cran does.

I have just replaced it in m sway, but just take 70-80mg aspirin 2-5 times a week leading up to o, start lower then raise slowly if you don't see a ph drop.

[Tammy123]

Thanks Meeks. I was in 2 minds about cranberry or aspirin but decided on cranberry, not sure why. I just read lots of successful sways on cranberry. (although Im sure there are lots on aspririn too!) I've decided not to take calcium and magnesium as I'm having skim milk once a day and plain yogurt with sweetener once a day. So I'm not taking any other supplements other than cranberry (and of course vitex and folic) so I'm hoping I'm still low enough on the nutrient scale to sway pink even with the cranberry. I hope!

[meeks32]

Well now I'm freaking about my choice too as I had a break from cranberry for a few days then began aspirin and now ph has crept up! I know on this site it's not a huge sway factor but I also know I had high ph with both my boys so I can't help but check. Wonder if I should go back in cran... I have a feeling it was making me a bit sick feeling though... Hmmm might up the aspirin dose.

[Tammy123]

Yeah I took aspirin for a few days too but decided to switch to cranberry for no particular reason! Are you doing other things in ur diet to try and lower ph like having aspartame drinks etc? I checked my ph yest (I think it might have been ov day yest) and it was around 4.5-5 after using rephresh the day before. I also just read about some failed sways on vitex so I'm thinking of adding saw palmetto to the mix, but wonder if I'm too late if we're ttc next month. Theres so much info to take on board! I feel almost scared to dtd next month in case I've missed something in my sway lol!

[meeks32]

Don't feel scared, just keep reading, there are tons of great things on GD, I'm in month 3 and still discovering plenty. Its about continual refinement depending on a lot of personal decisions, such as how the sway is making you feel, how much weight you have lost and have yet to loose, what you are comfortable with and what DH is willing to do. Its basically so personal you can't compare or track statistics too closely. I read a ton of vitex sways that worked wonders, in fact, so many that I considered trying to get some, but then I read a bunch of other stuff that scared me off it, and in the end I think i'm doing enough that I don't need it (I hope!). I would do saw palmetto if I was near anywhere that I could get it.

My sway is hugely Diet and Frequency, LE diet and some IG incorporation of foods to avoid where convenient, but mainly LE diet. Frequency we chose abstain as I can't be bothered with FR and DH won't release on his own, nor do I want him to. Also we're both under 35 so it's safe. I am just on folic acid, acidophilus (to lower ph), and asprin. I was going to do asprin 80mg 3 days a week, but i'll try 80mg 5 days and go from there, it's not safe to take more than frequently than that. DH is on cranberry and calc mag. I am entirely vegetarian now which is a huge change, and sticking to the diet amazingly, I surprised myself even! Also last two kids I drank a LOT of soy milk, so cutting that and drinking some skim milk in my latte's etc, but not heaps like the IG style diet, is a big change from before. DH is doing the hot shower before BD, and i'm taking Zertec (antihistamine) 4-6hrs prior to the attempt (it's not safe to take antihistamines after +opk so watch that).

You?

[meeks32]

Also, be careful of the stickies section, there is some old info on there atomic hasn't had time (with all the amazing hours she puts in) to take them down or edit. There was some old info kicking around encouraging too many supplements and with some IG style views that she has since (through experience) dropped. So check the original post date for each bit of info you read, 2012 onwards is best.

[atomic sagebrush]

This is my 20,000 th post! whoa!

My essay on cran vs. baby aspirin is here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-girl-best-practices/7086-how-lower-ph-via-supps-cran-baby-aspirin-aspartame-other-techniques.html

My concern with the cran is firstly that it provides nutrients and secondly that it may not be totally safe to start and stop suddenly. It is fab at lowering pH but we aren't even 100% sure that we need to do that - we've seen so many pH opposites it's kind of hard to totally buy into.

[atomic sagebrush]

Also, be careful of the stickies section, there is some old info on there atomic hasn't had time (with all the amazing hours she puts in) to take them down or edit. There was some old info kicking around encouraging too many supplements and with some IG style views that she has since (through experience) dropped. So check the original post date for each bit of info you read, 2012 onwards is best.

Yes, some of them I didn't even write, they were here when I got here and we've def. switched some stuff...I have grand plans to go back and reedit everything to reflect our latest experiences, and make stuff easier to navigate.