Hiya everyone, y'all are awesome!

[koolsista]

Hi, I've been a long time stalker of this forum, but I'm not exactly a big poster, but decided to jump on board to potentially find some ttc buddies, as it's not much fun struggling with it alone, considering I have cycles as long as a train.
DH and I have a girl together and have been working on #2 for a year now, which makes out to 7 chances with my long cycles.

I can really use some advice here if you nice ladies don't mind. Sorry for the long letter

I conceived my first child on vitex so I been using it on and off for a year. The cycle before last I started back taking it on cd 31 since ovulation wasn't happening soon enough, and we were dtd every 2-3 days every week hoping to catch eggy.

After I STARTED taking it on cd 31 and STOPPED taking it on cd 45 , I ovulated 8 days later on cd 53, but I noticed I had a REAL slow temp rise and then my temps hardly stayed high and kept dropping (but above coverline) often throughout my luteal phase, and I had all sorts of preggo (or pms) symptoms for the first time after O. I had constant hotflashes, breast chances, heavy uterine cramps, extremely tired all the time, dizziness, nausea etc that I never experienced before in my life in the 2WW. My period even came 2-3 days early, but was extremely heavier than ever for several days.

Since I wasn't preggo, I assume the symptoms was due to low progesterone; cos my temps kept dropping, period starting early, and I've been reading that low prog can cause/trigger pms. I also had a cyst causing pain that never happened before.

Do you think all of this happened because I STOPPED taking vitex cold turkey before O? and maybe my body needed it to keep producing progesterone in the luteal phase?

If so, should I continue taking it? or stop right now?
Do you think it's DELAYING O right now? since last time I O'd 8 days after stopping, but I'm afraid my progesterone will drop and stay down again after O.

Or should I reduce my dose rather than stopping now?

Any advice will help a great deal.

[True Blue]

Why are you taking vitex?
What are your cycles like without vitex?
Are you taking anything else?

[The Anchor]

From my own experience, vitex sent my near perfect cycles into a frenzy. I honestly think the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. Regardless, vitex is more often considered to be a girl sway tactic.

Do you have PCOS?

[koolsista]

I take vitex because it worked well before to conceive my first child years ago without any issues, and also because I get loads of EWCM before O, I'm naturally nearly dry. My normal cycles are 51-75 days, but I've had two shorter cycles between 37-41 days. I was diagnosed PCOS 4 years ago, but now another doctor said I don't have PCOS, but I still have one cyst on left ovary, but she's not sure if it's the same one from years ago, or a new one during my last O day, which is when I first started having pain.

[koolsista]

I'm only taking multi-vitamins

[koolsista]

I'm not taking vitex anymore after this cycle....it doesn't seem to be helping this time. I'm just trying to decide whether I want to stop now cold turkey, reduce the dose, or keep taking and see what happens, which I am likely not to do at this point.

[atomic sagebrush]

Hi and welcome!

First of all, vitex is a pink sway tactic and taking it for a boy is not going to help you at all. WE have also found it to cut odds of conception considerably and the longer you take it, the more it may affect your ability to conceive negatively so if you've been off and on it for more than a year it needs to go. It used to be used as a birth control method back in the olden days becuase it can work so well at preventing pregnancy.

Through a lot of trial and error we have come upon the best way to take it. That is starting on the first day of your period and going until CD 14 or positive OPK, whichever comes first.

The way you took it, which was starting on CD 31 and going for a couple weeks, I believe wreaked havoc with your cycle. Unless you were absolutely certain that you were not about to ovulate and knew this because you had had blood tests and an ultrasound at the doctor's office, I think you simply stopped O in its tracks, caused the cyst to form (because an egg that isn't ovulated can turn into a cyst) and then the cyst was the cause of the symptoms. I am not sure that you really ovulated on CD 53, a different egg than the cyst, or if your body was just acting weird and it made it look like you had ovulated, we'll never know what really happened at this point (because we'd need bloodwork and ultrasound at that point to have known).

So if you do decide to continue to use it, I would not use it that way again. Only start it on the day you get AF and then stop it on CD 14 or the day of positive OPK, whichever comes first. Don't start or restart it later in the cycle, it causes tons of trouble when you do. Over time this MAY help regulate your cycle, although it seems to be very hit and miss and makes more trouble for people than it fixes.

Now, onto the "stopping vitex at O" question. You NEED to stop V at or just prior ovulation because that is how it works best. You did not need to continue O after ovulation, you needed to not start it when you did. We believe that vitex itself doesn't really make progesterone, it slightly inhibits estrogen (that you make in the first half of the menstrual cycle) which then frees up some raw materials in your body that then your body uses AFTER ovulation to make progesterone with. If you haven't taken the V in the first part of the cycle, your body has already used most of its the raw materials to make estrogen and there isn't anything LEFT to make much progesterone with. (I hope this makes sense) So by using vitex only in the first part of the cycle, we end up getting an improvement in production of progesterone in the second part of the cycle, because your body hasn't used up everything making estrogen that it no longer needs in the 2ww.

I would like to know more about the other stuff you have going on to be better able to help. But all I can say for now without more info is that the vitex is not helping and is very likely hurting what we're trying to do.

If you give me a rundown of your cycles and any other supps you're taking, if you have PCOS or anything, I may be able to help.

[koolsista]

Hi atomic, thank you so much for your reply. I believe I read before on here that taking vitex from first of AF until O time to keep from delaying it is a good way to take it.

I meant to say the LAST cycle I started it on cd31, but decided to start it THIS current cycle on cd 1, and I did that. So I was planning to stop it around cd 37 (which is TODAY) since I usually O around this time. I don't see any signs of O yet, so I thought maybe I need to stop it so O can come.

I've been taking vitamins and green tea for months, and eating HE diet. I always had weight gain issues and hard to lose it, along with irregular cycles since I've had cycles. For the most part, my periods has always been every other month, or basically every 50ish days unless I tamper with it by taking vitex, and when I first started taking these vitamins in January I had a couple shorter cycles, then got back long again.

I was diagnosed with PCOS 4 yrs ago, but recently the same doctor's office, but different doctor did another ultrasound and said I don't have PCOS, but do have a cyst.

Now knowing I started V at first of cycle, do you think if I stop V now, the cyst will form? I hope this would be the right time to stop because if not it could be acting like a birth control.

[koolsista]

oh the name of the vitamins I been taking since January is called "True Hope Empower Plus" they're suppose to be high quality vitamins the body can absorb easily for brain and body.

[atomic sagebrush]

oh sorry I think we were posting at the same time - how much of Vit. B6 is in your multivitamins?? More than 100%?