Atomic! Maca.

[katewantsagirl]

I'm breastfeeding my daughter who his turned one. I still breastfeed quite a lot and 4 times a night. My cycles are abit crazy and I've had about 4 PPAF. I'd love another girl but ok with either and I'd also love twins. I have a few things in my favour for twins, I've had 4pregnancies, I'm breastfeeding, abit overweight. Is there anything else you'd recommend? I'm cycle day 1 today after spotting for 10days. I've got natures way vitex and I got some Maca powder (recommended by the health shop). I'm nervous to take stuff though especially while nursing. Any advice? TIA

[katewantsagirl]

I've decided not to take any of the extra stuff. Just going to do a lazy girl sway and will just pray for two eggs!! I sort of want to experiment by stopping breastfeeding during the day suddenly for a week (maybe starting from cd 4?) and see if that will kick start ovulation and maybe kick two out? Thoughts? It's more curiosity about it!

[Mamato3?]

As far as I know atomic does not approve maca because of some behaviour side affects.

[atomic sagebrush]

I am not a fan of maca for anybody. I think it is a huge unknown and it supposedly sways blue anyway. (don't take it, blue swayers!)

I personally think you should just nurse your baby as normal and then wait for your cycles to resume. I think that if you play with stopping nursing too much, your milk supply is going to suffer and your baby may self-wean sooner than you intend. It's really the nighttime nursing that inhibits ovulation so you're not necessarily gaining yourself anything. (not saying you should give up night nursing either, just that it seems to have more effect on your body than daytime does)

Weird cycles with lots of spotting, short LP, etc are normal those first few months after you get your cycle back. If you want to, you can start Vitex (take for 12-14 days and then stop even if you don't ovulate).

[maidentomother]

I really think no one should take Maca, I've seen nothing but bad results from those taking it on FF.

I think the only thing other than clomid that can increase your odss of twins is huge amounts of cassava. But I don't know how much and it may need to be a specific subtupe that isn't easily found in first world markets.

[atomic sagebrush]

Curious - what are the side effects you have seen???

[maidentomother]

Mostly, delayed O. Also some similar effects to the downsides of Vitex (spotting, drying up CM) without any of the upsides. I can't remember ever seeing any benefit from Mava in a chart, and the delaying, or even complete inhibition of O, seems more rampant than with any other supplement I've seen. I can't imagine why anyone thinks it's a good fertility supp! But a lot of these new 'super foods' and supps have very little research or even much OWT backing and are just overpriced hype, at best.

[djmommy]

I actually tried maca for 5 days and I was spotting mid cycle and it delayed O for me as well. Had headaches too.

[atomic sagebrush]

Mostly, delayed O. Also some similar effects to the downsides of Vitex (spotting, drying up CM) without any of the upsides. I can't remember ever seeing any benefit from Mava in a chart, and the delaying, or even complete inhibition of O, seems more rampant than with any other supplement I've seen. I can't imagine why anyone thinks it's a good fertility supp! But a lot of these new 'super foods' and supps have very little research or even much OWT backing and are just overpriced hype, at best.

:bowdown: Could not agree more!! I see people doing and taking and eating and snorting anything that is promoted on a website but it's really important to keep in mind that many of the sites profit considerably from selling the herbs and thus you need to take their recommendations with a grain of salt. :)

[maidentomother]

It's quite upsetting, many ladies on FF are taking half a dozen different supps, many I've barely heard of it. I understand there's a desire to feel like you're trying something to increase your chances, but more often than not the supps cause problems when there were none to begin with. And it is quite scary in particular bc if you're taking multiple plant extracts in combination, it's like taking hundreds if not thousands of individual, unstudied drugs together. We don't even know what most of these things do. Hopefully not much.

Also, herbs and supps are basically unregulated. It's like pharmaceuticals before the FDA. At best you can stick with well-known brands but even then there will be natural variation in potency from batch to batch if not pill to pill.

The profiteering off what's pure marketing as far as I can see (Maca, Goji, Acai etc) I don't get. These supposed health foods don't even taste good. And they are expensive! My own mother was someone who despite an otherwise very healthy lifestyle (organic pescatarian and fitness nut), was always obsessed with any 'new' discovery and immediately would buy a 3 month supply. I kinda wonder if that contibuted to her getting cancer and dying. It cannot be healthy to take high doses of different, random plant extracts for decades. I remember the last time I saw her, she was taking several HANDFULS of supps daily. She just kept adding stuff!

[atomic sagebrush]

I agree totally with your choice of words because I also find it upsetting. It actually really upsets me that there are these people out there actually doing harm to women who in many cases are really desperate to have a baby and I just cringe when I read these lists of 50 things that people are taking when I just know they paid hundreds of dollars if not more for it. Then they suddenly wonder why they have all these weird side effects going on and they haven't gotten pregnant for a year and a half. And so many of them had perfectly normal cycles in the first place and were just worried because they were 37 or their LP was 11 days or whatever. Grr.

The blood thinners that people are mixing and matching is a HUGE DEAL. I am so scared for some of the women that have showed up on here and are literally taking 5-7 different strong blood thinners. IT's more than just that people aren't getting pregnant, it's that they are actually encouraging people to take things that could possibly cause death.

My father in law was also taking whatever new herbal discovery he heard of and I wonder if his ALS was due to something he was taking for years. He took all sorts of stuff, in retrospect it really makes me wonder!!