Clomid/Femara for Blue/boy sway

[Nora Aaron]

Hi Atomic,

I have been TTC now for my boy for a long time and it is just not happening (I have 2 girls and 1 boy, I’m 32 years old). So I went to two doctors, one prescribed Clomid, and the other prescribed Femara. I remember you mentioned those two slightly sway pink, so

A) which one you recommend that I take Clomid or Femara?
B) is there any specific way I should take them in a way that would not ruin my blue sway?
C) you mentioned before Clomid and Femara increase chances of twins, is there a specific way i should take them to help me produce more than one egg?

Thank you so much

[atomic sagebrush]

It's only about 3-5% absolute max and if you sway blue you can mitigate that. Many, many people will swear to me that Clomid absolutely MUST sway blue because they only know people who conceived boys on it!

a) I have no preference. I do feel that for women under 40ish we ~may~ see slightly better rates of twinning on Clomid so that may be a better option if you want twins.

b)Just be sure you're swaying with diet, exercise, and number of attempts. Take as your doctor directs you.

c)I would use Clomid instead if you want twins, Femara ~may~ have slightly lower rates of twinning. I'd use it only at the dose your doc suggests, and CD 3-7 is said by some to be better for twins than later. Taking too much can actually make you have higher order multiples so you don't want to increase the dose.

[Nora Aaron]

Hi Atomic,

I stopped my ttc journey because I had to travel and won't be reunited with my DH till November. Meanwhile I'm continuing with my HE diet, exercises, and supplements. I'll be extra good on this 6 weeks before me and DH reunite.

The problem now is that here the doctor can only prescribe Femara. That's the only thing I can get here. So I'm double checking with you that this is still ok for the boy sway. I understand you'd use Clomid for more chances of twins, but you don't have a preference of Clomid or Femara when it comes to boy sway as long as I do all the swaying techniques correctly. Is that correct?
Should I go ahead with Femara when I ttc again in November or do I just drop trying to conceive until I can go back to my country to get Clomid? (twins is not the priority, the boy baby is the main goal really so I wanna make sure Femara is at least ok for my boy sway)

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, Femara is fine for blue. I have no preference on Clomid vs. Femara. Just do the rest of your blue sway stuff and you can have a great blue sway even on the medications. The amount the medicines sway on their own, is marginal, and you can make up for that easily with an otherwise good blue sway. (in fact, so many people get boys with Femara and Clomid that people actually don't believe me when I say they sway pink - it is completely overcomable with lifestyle)

[Nora Aaron]

That’s good to know, thank you so much. Do you think 7.5 mg of Femara from cycle day 3 to 7 a safe dosage? Doctor prescribed 2.5 (one pill) for 5 days, but I’m trying to go for twins too, and from my research it seems a lot of women got pregnant with Femara twins with 7.5 mg daily for 5 days. What do you think?

[atomic sagebrush]

No that is not safe and I cannot ever recommend more than 2.5 mg (or 50 mg Clomid) for anyone unless they are not ovulating on that AND if they're having ultrasound monitoring to ensure they're not going to release lots of eggs. You could end up with higher order multiples, OHSS, or even not conceiving at all (since you are blocking estrogen far more than on 2.5). No one should take triple the dose of what their doctor recommends for any reason at all whatsoever!

[Nora Aaron]

Ok thank you so much!

[Nora Aaron]

Hi Atomic

I am a bit anxious and seek your advice now that I am prescribed 5 mg letrozole and trying to sway blue. I was on the 2.5 mg for one month (EDIT: two months September and October - but I consider it one month coz in October I didn’t do it right), didn’t get pregnant, now I am prescribed to start on 5 mg. I ovulate normally every cycle, my cycles are regular, my blood tests and ultrasound tests came all normal, my doctor diagnosed my case as unexplained infertility and prescribed 5mg Femara for me, to be exact he said I should take one 2.5 mg pill in the morning, and another one after 12 hours - for 5 days (CD 2-6 or 3-7)

I have two girls and one boy (all were conceived from first month trying) and I am hoping to add one more boy to our family.

I have been doing good on HE diet, supplements for me and DH, and number of attempts (I try to exercise but haven't been doing so good on that).

Do you think this dose that the doctor prescribed me (5 mg Letrozole) can negatively affect my blue sway? Should I increase my vitamin D dose since it raises the testosterone level? If you think 5 mg letrozole is too much for blue sway I’ll drop it and continue on TTC without it.

The supplements I’m on are
Omega 3 500mg
Folic acid 2000mcg
Multivitamin for pregnant women
Vitamin D 1000 IU
CoQ10 100mg

DH gets
Omega 3 500mg
Magnesium 375mg
Multivitamin for men

[atomic sagebrush]

They upped you from 2.5 mg to 5 mg in one month?? And you ovulated but simply didn't conceive?? That is TERRIBLE medical advice! You should not have had your dose increased unless you failed to ovulate on 2.5. YES it can absolutely impact your blue sway negatively and worse than that, it can drastically up your chances of higher order multiples - not just twins, but triplets or even more. If you ovulated on 2.5, there is absolutely NO reason (even with unexplained fertility) to up you to 5 mg, especially not after one month. AND, worse still, it very well may make it LESS likely for you to conceive because too much letrozole, more than you need (since you ovulated on 2.5) can dry up your CM and negatively affect your uterine lining. Unless they know something I don't, there is absolutely no reason, zero, none whatsoever, for you to have increased your dose in ONE MONTH if you ovulated!!!

So, my advice is to stick with 2.5. They don't need to know, they can't tell from blood tests or ultrasounds or anything. Just take half the dose and you can save the rest for another time or pass it along to a friend who needs it but can't get it.

All this is the reason I'm willing to help you guys use these medications - the doctors themselves are handing them out irresponsibly! This type of thing happens all the time!

What prenatal are you taking?? Some of them have things in them that actually hurt chances of conception considerably.

Your Vitamin D intake is fine.

Can you tell me more about the actual attempts?? What are you doing with your attempts, how often is your hubby releasing and why, are you using any jellies or douches for your sway? Did your husband ever have a sperm analysis?

[Nora Aaron]

Thank you Atomic for taking the time I appreciate it. No the doctor didn't up me from 2.5 to 5 mg in one month. I was on 2.5 mg in September and October. I didn’t do the dosage right in October so I really don’t count it. Both months I ovulated but I didn't get pregnant and my test results and everything are perfectly normal. This month November is the first time I have been put on the 5 mg dose. Today I am on CD 4 which is the second day of me taking the 5 mg dose. Meaning so far this cycle I have had 10 mg letrozole all in all: 5 mg yesterday and 5 mg today.

Point 1: I won't continue to take this cycle because I am anxious now so Id rather just stop. Like I said so far this cycle I have taken 5 mg yesterday and 5 mg today. Can I still ttc this month meaning after my period is over and I ovulate can I still DTD, or you think something won't be right with the pregnancy because of stopping letrozole after using it only two days this cycle? This amount I have taken this cycle still would negatively impact my blue sway if I ttc this cycle? Would you rather have me ttc next cycle instead?

Point 2: My prenatals I have been switching between two brands, one of them has:

Siberian Ginseng Extract eq. to
30 mg
--
Peruvian Maca Extract eq. to
250 mg
--
Co-enzyme Q10
2 mg
--
L-Carnitine
50 mg
--
Citrus Bioflavonoids
10 mg
--
L-Arginine
10 mg
--
Lycopene Extract
1.5 mg
--
Pine Bark Extract
30 mg
--
Octacosanol
3 mg
--
Inositol
40 mg
--
L-Glutathione
2.5 mg
--
Vitamin A (2500 IU)
750 µg RE

Vitamin D3 (as D3 600 IU)
15 µg

Vitamin E
30 mg α-TE

Vitamin C
90 mg

Thiamin (Vitamin B1)
12 mg

Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
5 mg

Niacin (Vitamin B2)
18 mg NE

Vitamin B6
10 mg

Folacin (Folic Acid)
400 µg

Vitamin B12
75 µg

Biotin
150 µg

Pantothenic Acid
10 mg

Magnesium
60 mg

Iron
6 mg

Zinc
15 mg

Copper
1000 µg

Manganese
0.5 mg

Selenium
150 µg

Chromium
50 µg



The other one has
Vitamin D (as D3 400 IU)
10 µg

Vitamin E
4 mg α-TE

Vitamin K
70 µg

Vitamin C
70 mg

Thiamin (Vitamin B1)
3 mg

Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
2 mg

Niacin (Vitamin B3)
20 mg NE

Vitamin B6
10 mg

Folic Acid
400 µg

Vitamin B12
6 µg

Biotin
150 µg

Pantothenic Acid
6 mg

Magnesium
150 mg

Iron
17 mg

Zinc
15 mg

Copper
1000 µg

Selenium
30 µg

Iodine
150 µg

Betacarotene (Natural Source)
2mg
--

Point 3: DH didn't have sperm analysis

Point 4: My attempts are DH releases every 2 to 4 days starting my period, once my ovulation test is positive we DTD three times within the day of the positive ovulation test and the following day.


Point 5: I don’t use douches for my sway, I used Preseed in some of my attempts

[atomic sagebrush]

Ok. Those are terrible. I would advise you to wean off those (don't just drop them, wean off gradually) and replace with something that does not have the following ingredients, which cause more harm than good:

DO NOT TAKE:
Ginseng
Maca
Carnitine
Arginine
More than 100% of Vitamin E (both of these have more than 100%)
Massive doses of B vitamins (some of the B vitamins are 10X what you need and the B12 is crazy high in those)

These things are either unsafe or may be negatively impacting your ability to conceive. I am happy to explain the whys on these if you want me to but they're all things I've either seen concerning information about, or actually seen them mess up people's bodies and interfere with their chances of conception.

I WOULD PREFER YOU DIDN'T TAKE:

Lycopene
Citrus Bioflavonoids
Pine Bark
Octacosanol
Glutathione

We just don't have enough information on these to know if they could be affecting your ability to conceive negatively. As a general rule I recommend you guys just stick to about 100% of all the recommended Vitamins and minerals, a little higher on Vit. D and folic
acid/folate, and then avoid all the extraneous things because you do not need them.

Inositol may also impact a blue sway negatively but that's not a super high doses, you can continue with that.

Re the letrozole, there's no need to stop, just wean back to the 2.5. It's your call to make, but generally speaking once you've started the medication, you're already incurring some of the risk and you may as well complete the dose (at a lower dose) and then you can still see some of the benefits.

Your husband needs a sperm analysis. Many times when we have a couple just not conceiving for no logical reason, when the husband has had a sperm analysis his sperm health is off and that was what was causing the issue. Most of these issues we can fix with supplements and a few minor changes in lifestyle, so it's good to have one done if at all possible.

When is your period coming in relation to when you think your ovulation is happening??

Preseed should be ok on paper, but some people have reported that they feel it is impacting their rates of conception negatively. If you have a good amount of natural CM then you may want to just skip the Preseed and use that.

Are you using guaifenesin to improve cervical mucus?

[Nora Aaron]

My period comes 12 to 14 days after my ovulation.

I never used guaifenesin, should I? What dosage?
Ok I will start weaning off those supplements.

Should I TTC this cycle or not? I’ll ovulate about 11 or 12 days from now give or take. If I have a higher chance now to conceive a girl than a boy then I’d rather skip this month.

[atomic sagebrush]

I don't generally advise people skipping months. I have a big article about that here: https://atomicsagebrush.substack.com/p/help-should-i-wait-a-month/comments Long story short, for all we know, this is a great month for you to get a boy, and waiting will simply mean you end up trying in a month that is worse. Especially when you're having trouble conceiving, it's best not to wait for some ideal that may not ever arrive - because honestly, we don't even know what the ideal IS. We may skip months that were going to end in conception and a boy, in pursuit of sway tactics that may not be as great as we thought they were.

Guaifenesin you should start about 5 days before you expect to ovulate and continue till 3 days after O. This is a "more or less" type of thing where you can start it a little early or a little late, and it's still ok. This will help you make more natural CM, so you can stop using the Preseed if you have any feeling it might be inhibiting conception. Again, it's not SUPPOSED to do that, and should help with conception, but some people have felt Preseed did prevent them from getting pregnant so it may be something for you to try without.

[Nora Aaron]

Ok all clear. Thank you so much.

We already have this multivitamin which says it has 13 essential vitamins and that all vitamins levels meet 100% NRV https://www.boots.com/boots-multivitamins-180-tablets-10240989


Nutrition Information
Ingredient Per Tablet %NRV
Vitamin A 800 µg RE 100
Vitamin D 5 µg 100
Vitamin E 12 mg a-TE 100
Vitamin K 75 µg 100
Vitamin C 80 mg 100
Thiamin (Vitamin B1) 1.1 mg 100
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) 1.4 mg 100
Niacin 16 mg NE 100
Vitamin B6 1.4 mg 100
Folic Acid 200 µg 100
Vitamin B12 2.5 µg 100


Is it ok to use that one for Multivitamin for me and DH or you would recommend I look for another one?

[atomic sagebrush]

I would definitely want to see some additional iron along with the Boots (for YOU, not DH, as men generally don't need iron)! But yes it's ok to use that and supplement with a little extra iron.

[Nora Aaron]

I found this multivitamin for women I think it’s better for me, do you agree?

https://www.centrum.co.uk/products/multivitamins/centrum-women/

For Guaifenesin these are the two I could get today, do you think any of them would work or should I look for another one?

https://www.benylin.co.uk/products/chesty-cough-medicines/benylin-chesty-coughs-non-drowsy

https://www.boots.com/boots-pharmaceuticals-ultra-cold-flu-relief-all-in-one-16-capsules

[Nora Aaron]

I found this multivitamin for women I think it’s better for me, do you agree?

https://www.centrum.co.uk/products/multivitamins/centrum-women/

For Guaifenesin these are the two I could get today, do you think any of them would work or should I look for another one?

https://www.benylin.co.uk/products/chesty-cough-medicines/benylin-chesty-coughs-non-drowsy

https://www.boots.com/boots-pharmaceuticals-ultra-cold-flu-relief-all-in-one-16-capsules

Actually I got this one too https://www.benylin.co.uk/products/mucus-cough-medicines/benylin-mucus-cough-max-honey-lemon-flavour-syrup

I think this is the most suitable, do you agree? What is the dosage I should be taking?

[atomic sagebrush]

The Centrum is great! Absolutely better.

The Boots guaifenesin has paracetemol and should be avoided.

I'm having a hard time getting the specific ingredients on the various Benylin products to come up. Some of them have many added ingredients: https://www.benylin.co.uk/why-choose-benylin/active-ingredients So please check your label on the specific product before buying it. YOu want ONLY guaifenesin as active ingredient. The Glycerine and levomenthol are also probably ok. You should not be taking paracetemol, phenylephrine, diphenhydramine, pseudoephedrine, or dextromethorphan, all of which are in some Benylin products. Please be careful you're getting only guaifenesin rather than a blend of various medications.

[Nora Aaron]

Perfect! Yes this one https://www.genderdreaming.com/forum/redirect-to/?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.benylin.co.uk%2Fproduc ts%2Fmucus-cough-medicines%2Fbenylin-mucus-cough-max-honey-lemon-flavour-syrup says on its leaflet that it has:
Active Ingredient: Guaifenesin
Other ingredients: sodium citrate, citric acid, monohydrate, carbomer, glycerol, ethanol, glucose, sucrose, sucralose, sodium benzoate (E2 11), caramel (E 150), flavours: honey, lemon, cooling, levomenthol, tingling, hot mix, enhancer and bitterness blocker and water.

The regular dosage is 10 ml four times a day
The medicine contains 100 mg Guaifenesin in each 5 ml.
So if I go with the regular dose I would be taking 800 mg Guaifenesin everyday.
Is this good?

[atomic sagebrush]

It's fine, anything up to 1200 mg is believed safe. I would probably start off with a lower dose (more like 400) to see what effect it has. Some people notice big changes with smallish doses and then it sort of plateaus, taking more doesn't really increase it much for them. Give it a whirl and see how much CM you make with a reasonable amount first and you can always up it if need be.