History of Hypothalamic Amenorrhea - advice please

To cut a long story short, when TTC we discovered I had Hypothalamic Amenorrhea.

I am now trying to sway pink and am questioning whether some of the sway tactics are good or bad for me, the last thing I want is to take ages to conceive again by messing with my hormones or decreasing fertility too much. We are in month one now of TTC and I have been doing the LE diet (not too extreme though as I don't want to lose too much weight as I don't have much to lose, I'm just trying to stick to two or three meals, no snacks, no breakfast and cutting out meat), along with vitex and baby aspirin.

I have been reading about saw palmetto and am keen to try it, but also wondering if it would be a good thing for me considering my history of Hypothalamic Amenorrhea which in a nutshell is really low estrogen and LH levels.

Another thing which concerns me is I literally have, nor have ever had any EWCM at all, I'm assuming this is from low estrogen? So decided against using rephresh as I need to give the sperm some chance of survival! is a 2 day cut off ok with no EWCM? I got a positive OPK today and we did FR for the previous 8 days with BD yesterday and today.

So much for keeping it short! Sorry! Any advise on this would be appreciated on the best way to approach the sway with my history.

Thanks for your help.

seeing as cut offs have been shown not to sway and with your history of TTC taking a while I would not be trying one as it really could lower your chance of conception quite drastically. For women who are lowering pH (via diet/aspirin/etc) taking an EPO supplement might help you because any EWCM you naturally produce would be lower pH than the artificial lubes such as preseed and it would also help to get those swimmers to that egg.

clomid might actually work for you... and that sways pink very strongly. It forces your body to increase it's oestrogen production and indirectly FSH/LH hormones.

just found this page too which might be interest to you (in particular the nutrient/supplements and herbs section) Amenorrhea
so it sounds like taking the vitex will definitely help you, potentially more with vit B6

Thanks for the reply rainbow.

Is DTD on +OPK a cut off? I'm thinking I will ovulate tomorrow, so not sure if that's a cut off or not. Got the + today and DTD today and yesterday. Maybe we need to DTD again tomorrow just to make sure.

I don't actually know if I have low estrogen anymore, I used to have it when TTC the first time. I do know that my light AF and lack of EWCM were signs I had last time and I do still have them. Im just concerned about heading in the wrong direction with my sway attempt.

Gosh, I'm quite a complicated case aren't I?! ;-)

I'll go and have a read of the link you posted now....

I forgot to mention, the reason I was curious about saw palmetto is because I think I 'may' have high testosterone, and that thinking is purely based on the fact that I have acne and have had since I was a teenager. Ive been on accurate a few times for it.

I don't think saw palmetto would be a good plan... it also lowers oestrogen as well as testosterone: Saw Palmetto « Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Information

it depends when you OV after a pos OPK. Some people get a couple of days of pos OPKs, some OV straight away (almost during hte pos OPK depending on when you catch the surge), some OV 2 or 3 days later. If you can, I'd keep BDing right the way through the pos OPK and for a day or two afterwards just ot make sure you have a fresh supply up there

maybe leave the EPO out for hte first few cycles and introduce it if you don't catch?

as the saying goes, you can't get your DG if you can't get pregnant..

Thanks again. I'll BD until I have seen the rise in my BBT and won't head down the saw palmetto route, that's exactly what I needed to know.

good luck!

If I were in your shoes, I would do exactly what you're doing, not start the SP, and just count on the lack of Preseed to carry the day. I would not add in the RepHresh either.

You CAN get pg with a 2 day cutoff, but without CM it makes it way harder. DTD at positive OPK is a slight cutoff (average time before O of 36 hours) but has optimal odds of conception and we've had tons of girls conceived on that day (inc. mine.)

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Originally Posted by Peppermint

I forgot to mention, the reason I was curious about saw palmetto is because I think I 'may' have high testosterone, and that thinking is purely based on the fact that I have acne and have had since I was a teenager. Ive been on accurate a few times for it.

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Losing weight and eating less fat can help to lower your T levels without the saw palmetto.

Peppermint tea is prob. a better option for you - normally I don't like it as well because it may raise estrogen while it lowers testosterone, but that would really be ideal for you. I would add in 3 cups of pep tea a day in lieu of the SP and see how you go - if anything weird happens like your cycles start getting longer or your periods get superlight, you may want to drop it.

AS, thank you for your reply and advice. I'll try the peppermint tea, I currently have one cup a day anyway because I like it and it relaxes me, so will up that to 2-3 cups during AF - O.

One question re vitex, before taking it my cycles were pretty much 28 days and regular, however since starting it, my ovulation has been delayed each month and my AF has been much lighter (as it was before and after HA, due to low estrogen). This month, I got positive OPK tests and so assumed I ovulated, however it's been three or 4 days now and no rise in temp, so I'm thinking maybe my body tried to but hasn't? Does vitex lower estrogen? I'm stating to wonder if it's not the best thing for me to take with my history because low estrogen is prob not what I need?

Yes, Vitex ~may~ lower estrogen over time. Are you taking the Vitex the first 14 days of your cycle only??

Yes, Im only taking from AF for the first 12 days since it was delaying. I'm guessing o is either delayed from the vitex, or from losing a couple of kgs.

I would prob. go ahead and just drop it at this point. I got my DD the month after I dropped V.