How do you choose what supplements to take?

[b3blue]

My counter is so full of stuff right now and I'm thinking of adding more?! I just don't know when enough is enough!

So far I'm taking a prenatal, extra folic acid, l-arginine and I just picked up fish oil. DH has a men's multi, l-arginine, fish oil and I was thinking of getting him zinc too. I even contemplated fertile cm as I realized I really don't have much but then I wonder if that's overkill if I plan to use preseed too. Any advice? Can you take too many things?

[begonia]

Hi Heather and welcome!

How long until you sway? Because in an ideal world, you would want a handful of months so you can test out some supps. The fact is supps are different for everyone and what works well for me might delay O or dry up CM for someone else.

So, FOR SURE, take folic (2000 mcg a day, including what is in your prenatal), a prenatal, and I would highly recommend the fish oil that you're taking as well b/c it is great for health in general, I've not heard of it messing with anyone's cycle, and can definitely have a good impact on your CM on its own.

L'arg has been known to mess with some cycles and dry some ladies up ... but as I said ... can work well for others! Try it and see. Some ladies only take it every other day or every 2 days to get a bit of the benefit w/o the potential side effects of delaying O or drying CM.

If you're going to take Fertile CM drop the L'arg as FCM has it in there already. I'd try that over straight L'arg.

I like Zinc for the DH's!

I wish there was a more cut and dried way to explain it but I think you just have to check them out and see! Feel free to ask away, everyone here is super helpful and I bet you get some more thoughts on this from others.

[LolaInLove]

Hi there! I could not have said it better than Begonia up there. You are thinking correctly about the goals of swaying: you want more ewcm (whether fake or natural), aside from the other benefits. You can indeed try a few things, and like B said, see how the L-Arg affects your cycle. I would give it a month on the supps to see what happens. I would definitely add a Zinc 30mg for DH.....I actually took that as well, but I took a lot of supps to increase egg quality (like antioxidants) because I'm 35 and had 2 m/c this year.

But overall, I think your plan for now is great! I would maybe add a Vitamin D supp as well, and if you want to get into some of the fanciers supps, many many ladies had great results from Royal Jelly with or without Bee Pollen. (It comes in combos sometimes.) It makes you very fertile, which sways blue.

Come on over to the blue chit chat thread, I think we are starting an August one in a few days. The July one is like 100 pages long! Welcome and glad you are here!

[atomic sagebrush]

My counter is so full of stuff right now and I'm thinking of adding more?! I just don't know when enough is enough!

So far I'm taking a prenatal, extra folic acid, l-arginine and I just picked up fish oil. DH has a men's multi, l-arginine, fish oil and I was thinking of getting him zinc too. I even contemplated fertile cm as I realized I really don't have much but then I wonder if that's overkill if I plan to use preseed too. Any advice? Can you take too many things?

Wow what great answers everyone gave! Thank you guys so, so very much!!!

I don't have too much to add other than that some people have found l-arg might dry up their CM a bit. If it works for you, that's great though. L-arg is also in Fertile CM already so if you do decide to go that route, stop the l-arg.

You might want to try giving your husband the l-arg (even if it dries you up, it will still help him) and also carnitine and CoQ 10 because they can help with sperm count. Zinc is great too.

Fish oil is a great addition and some peopel have had good results with CM by taking evening primrose oil, either in addition to the fish oil or instead of. Garlic, wheatgrass, and grapefruit juice are other natural CM boosters.

You can DEF. take too many things, esp. things like minerals tend to add up. Too much zinc is dangerous!!! Just follow the directions on the bottles for all supps and make sure that if you buy blends (like a men's multivitamin) that you make sure that you are not exceeding the daily recommended amount. Also, several of the supplements are blood thinners (fish oil, garlic, epo) and if you take too much/too many of them, you might end up thinning your blood and causing bleeding.

[LolaInLove]

You've taught us well, Atomic! :wink:

[b3blue]

Thank you so much ladies! That alerted me to double check the fish oil and I can't take that! I've had a blood clot in the past so I'm not doing anything to affect blood. I can swap out EPO for that as I've used that before in pregnancy and feel comfy with it. DH can just take the fish oil and I'll get him zinc too. Hm, I'm a little scared about the L-arg! I was going to try next cycle so I'd be on the supps and such for about 6 weeks. I don't mind waiting a little longer though. I'm just coming off an m/c so while the baby fever is still high, I'm scared out of my mind! I will definitely join in the August thread. I need tons of help with the diet.

[atomic sagebrush]

If anything though, the fish oil will HELP you with blood clots (unless you're already on prescription blood thinners.) EPO can also thin the blood somewhat so please doublecheck with a doc or pharmacist if you are on prescription blood thinners (here is a link that has the names of the commonly prescribed blood thinners so you can double check if you're taking them or not, if you're not really sure. http://stroke.about.com/od/caregiverresources/a/blood_thinners.htm)

Some people believe that the cycle after a miscarriage may sway slightly pink anyway so you may be better off waiting one additional cycle anyway. Plus that puts you in the magic "boy" zone LOL (not really but it does help!!)http://genderdreaming.com/forum/showthread.php?1693-the-seasons-and-swaying

I"m kinda wary of the l-arg for gals now too since a lot of people are not having great results with it. Give it to DH and eat a delicious steak sandwich on whole-grain bread instead!!! :agree:

[b3blue]

Thank you Atomic! No I'm not on meds right now. They never could find an actual disorder, just totally random clots in my lungs about 4 months after my first was born. It was terrifying but I seem to be fine now and haven't been on any meds in years. I'll check out those links! Who knew an mc would sway pink. Man there is so much I have to learn.

eta: Just thinking on it some more, when I had my blood drawn a couple weeks ago it took quite awhile for me to stop bleeding at the injection site. Usually I clot super fast so I was a bit surprised. I'll hold off on the fish oil until I get more bloodwork done just to be safe.

[LolaInLove]

Yea, good idea to wait for bloodwork. And I did what Atomic suggested and gave my DH the L'Arg instead. I took FertileCM for the first 3 months of ttc (it has L'Arg in it) and it dried me up and made me O late.

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you Atomic! No I'm not on meds right now. They never could find an actual disorder, just totally random clots in my lungs about 4 months after my first was born. It was terrifying but I seem to be fine now and haven't been on any meds in years. I'll check out those links! Who knew an mc would sway pink. Man there is so much I have to learn.

eta: Just thinking on it some more, when I had my blood drawn a couple weeks ago it took quite awhile for me to stop bleeding at the injection site. Usually I clot super fast so I was a bit surprised. I'll hold off on the fish oil until I get more bloodwork done just to be safe.

Blood clots are actually fairly common in women after they had a baby and childbirth is considered a risk factor for DVT (you probably already know this.). It may not mean anything at all in the long term. Your body prob. made too much clotting factor to compensate for your blood loss from childbirth and it made you more likely to develop clots.

You are right about holding off on the fish oil until you have the bloodwork done, because having blood that is "too thin" is just as dangerous as having blood that clots too easily. They can both KILL you.

[b3blue]

Yes I did know it was common as it's the only reason they could find that I may have had one. Although it usually happens within the first 6 weeks so 4 months later is really a stretch. I had blood drawn on Thurs so here's hoping I get good news this week.

[atomic sagebrush]

Good luck!! FX!

[b3blue]

Well apparently I do have a protein s deficiency. I would need to have another clot to be put on blood thinners for life, so for now I think that the fish oil would be ok just from say AF to O? If it's primarily for EWCM anyway is there a reason to take it past O? Either way I figure like you said that it could actually really help. Also it's good that I'm taking folic acid too. I'll double check all of this with my doctor next week to be sure.

[begonia]

B3 I'd definitely double check with your doc first, but I think the fish oil would still be helpful even if you did just take it af-o. It's good stuff for general health so assuming your doc gives the go ahead I would definitely start it!

[atomic sagebrush]

Well apparently I do have a protein s deficiency. I would need to have another clot to be put on blood thinners for life, so for now I think that the fish oil would be ok just from say AF to O? If it's primarily for EWCM anyway is there a reason to take it past O? Either way I figure like you said that it could actually really help. Also it's good that I'm taking folic acid too. I'll double check all of this with my doctor next week to be sure.

Oh wow, it's so good you found that out!!!

Fish oil is good from AF-O and also from O-AF because it helps provide nutrients for lil blue beans to develop properly.

I think it is safest for you to either take the fish oil ALL the time rather than starting and stopping it because it doesn't seem smart to play with your clotting factors like that.

First and foremost, I think you need to ask your doctor what he/she advises. Do they want you to be on baby aspirin? What do they say about the fish oil???

[b3blue]

Oh wow, it's so good you found that out!!!

Fish oil is good from AF-O and also from O-AF because it helps provide nutrients for lil blue beans to develop properly.

I think it is safest for you to either take the fish oil ALL the time rather than starting and stopping it because it doesn't seem smart to play with your clotting factors like that.

First and foremost, I think you need to ask your doctor what he/she advises. Do they want you to be on baby aspirin? What do they say about the fish oil???

I'll see on Weds! I feel like I should be on something. I mean for goodness sakes I had clots in my lungs with absolutely zero symptoms until all of a sudden I couldn't walk b/c of pain in my side. It wasn't until 48 hours later that I could hardly breathe. Had I waited that long to go to the ER, I might not be typing this. I think I've been in denial about it since no diagnosis was ever given, but now under the surface I'm terrified everyday of this happening again now with 2 babies underfoot. That makes sense about the starting and stopping. You all are so helpful thank you so much.

This all could be for naught b/c here I sit soon to be 11dpo with no AF LOL. I've never been 11dpo and not pregnant so either the b6 is really working for my lp or Lucy's gotta lotta 'splainin to do.

[atomic sagebrush]

Haha well hopefully Little Ricky is already on board!!!

I totally agree about needing to be on something, I just want to make sure it's the right thing!!! This site may be helpful to you. http://www.proteinsdeficiency.com/

Good luck and wishing you the very best.

[b3blue]

Just want to update that the doc said fish oil is fine! Apparently too, B6 worked great and got me an extra day in my LP. I may actually have type II protein s deficiency (genetic mutation) and need to be on blood thinners for life. We'll have to repeat bloodwork to be sure as it was too close to my m/c to be 100 percent accurate sigh. Anywho, all is good and I've got DH taken his supps again so fx for a sticky bfp in Oct!

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you SO much for updating! I recorded that in my notes for future reference.

:pray: that you stay in good health and for a sticky Oct. BFP!!