Read on another forum that B6 sways BOY! Freaking out now!

[sharon]

so how does vitex sway pink but vit b6 not so much,?? Isnt vitex a supplement too. Oh lord im confused lol xx

[sharon]

so sorry that i hijacked this old post, i dont know how to start a post of my own x

[atomic sagebrush]

so how does vitex sway pink but vit b6 not so much,?? Isnt vitex a supplement too. Oh lord im confused lol xx

No I'm glad you did, because it gives me the opportunity to say that 5 years later, I am 110% convinced that B6 sways blue and any pink swayer should avoid it like the plague. It also really messes up your cycle by delaying or even stopping ovulation.

To be totally honest, we don't really know how ANY of these things sway. We have these theories that may or may not even be true and I feel like the more guessing we do about hormones or whatevs then the more people focus on the guesses instead of just doing what actually works.

Vitex seems to lower overall fertility. Anything that lowers fertility seems to sway pink. I do think vitex sways pink, but it has not gotten as outstanding of results as we'd all like to see (it's better than 50-50, but not as high as the overall success rates of the site). It also causes a fair bit of trouble by delaying ovulation or even stopping it. It also seems to cut odds of conception even when it doesn't mess up the cycle. So, it's one of those things that may not even be worth adding because it's such a PITA.

[Needhairbowsinmylife]

Sorry to wake this post up from the dead (again), but I am having trouble with low progesterone and I'm wondering what I can take to help? B6 actually helps a lot. But I'm swaying pink! I hardly eat any meat/fish and do not intend to start eating more.

[atomic sagebrush]

No no, that's fine. I WANT you guys to do that. I would rather have fewer threads with more informaton than lots of threads that are simply the same question over and over again.

Tell me more about the "low progesterone" you're having. Because many times the issue is NOT low progesterone, but low estrogen, and we have other ways of dealing with that.

Can you tell me more about your diet and your cycle all together? (particularly calories, fat, and protein...I do not need a list of foods you're eating, I need the overall big picture) When are you ovulating, how many days in total is your cycle? Your weight and BMI? How much weight have you lost and are you exercising?

If you eat dairy and eggs I want you to add in one serving of full fat dairy every day. And then also add in 4-6 eggs a week.

If you are taking fiber, I want you to stop taking fiber.

If you have been taking B6 and it's helping, that's ok. what I would do is rather than taking it every day, I'd take it only 3 times a week for now. But B6 is really only ever a bandaid and it's better to fix the underlying problem(s) rather than to take the B6 because it really does sway blue. (this doesn't mean you shouldn't take it, but that we should try to correct the issue rather than count on the B6 if we can get away from it eventually.)

[Needhairbowsinmylife]

Hi Atomic. Thanks for the reply. I'm a tiny gal about 100lbs. My last sway on le diet failed (I feel like I ate too many vegetables, but also plenty of cottage cheese). I don't want to loose weight, but I don't want to eat tons of full fat dairy as I feel like that goes against most swaying principles. I belive I have blood sugar issues as I get very shaky/dizzy if I don't eat often. I'll stop the fiber. I've had an issue since I had my son and stopped breastfeeding and my cycle returned to it's regular 26-30 days. Ovulation anywhere from CD 13-16 (I track with opks). I spot for 3-4 days before my period every month. Major hot flashes/night sweats the last few days of my cycle. The rest of my cycle feels fine though, just the last week that's making me think something is wrong. B6 stops the spotting. If I stop for a day, it returns until my period starts. I have other symptoms of B deficiency like recurring angular chelitis.

[Needhairbowsinmylife]

Oh and my current diet is mostly carbs and protein. 2 meals of chicken and rice basically. I cook with a little olive oil or butte though. The occasional egg. Lots of Cottage cheese. I don't need many calories. I try to stay away from enriched foods. I've maintained this weight for about 15 years eating about 1600-1800 calories a day and I feel comfortable with it, I don't feel deprived or hungry. I'm only about 5'3".

[atomic sagebrush]

There is NO "too many vegetables". We started off worrying about that but I can tell you now sitting here 8 years later the vegetables are not an issue, that's why they're free and unlimited. We have people eating the most veg now than ever and we are having the best results in the history of the site.

You MUST add in the full fat dairy 1x a day. This has been the problem for the vast majority of people on here, is too little fat all together, and too little fat of the type of fat that helps with ovulation. If you don't give your body what you need for it to ovulate, it can't ovulate and without an egg, you can't get pregnant with a boy or a girl. Just one serving, it doesn't need to be tons. (and BTW, you know that this is MY set of swaying principles, right? I made all these recommendations up based on scientific studies so if I'm telling you that one serving a day of FF dairy is ok, rest easy that doesn't go against swaying principles! Drinking a gallon of milk a day - which many do on the mineral-type diets - THAT goes against swaying principles. But one serving a day doesn't, I promise!)

You are making a huge step in the wrong direction fearing vegetables and a little full fat dairy and then taking B6! It's likely B6 by virtue of being a concentrated nutrient that's easy for your body to use and we've just seen soo many opposites with it, myself included.

Swaying cannot ever be a guarantee, the whole human race would have died out long ago if it was. For all you know you had 80% likelihood of having a girl and then just fell into the 20% opposites. So it's not a great idea to look back at your sway and say "oh here's where i went wrong" and change things (unless they are sensible things to change) because you may end up even more blue friendly than you were the last time. Let's say for the sake of argument that by dropping vegetables or avoiding fat you end up putting yourself into a position where you can't get pregnant and have to give up the sway diet all together to conceive! Wouldn't it be better to keep yourself healthy in the first place than to go too far and have to basically sway blue just in order to keep fully fertile and conceive??

Now, for the good news. There's very likely nothing whatsoever wrong with your progesterone. A 26-30 day cycle with ovulation on CD 13-16 and a few days of spotting before your period - that's a non-problem that does not need fixing. Only in the worst case scenario you're describing - 26 day cycle, O on CD 16, 4 days of heavy spotting - would that possibly prevent conception. If most of the time you're having 10+ LP even with the spotting that is ok. What most people don't know is that the last week of your cycle, it's actually mostly estrogen that maintains your lining, NOT progesterone. Progesterone gets u through the first week, then your body releases a big burst of estrogen that's meant to maintain your lining a little longer since the corpus luteum that makes progesterone, breaks down at that point. This doesn't really matter because the fix for low progesterone and the fix for low estrogen are the same thing - getting an adequate amount of fat - but it really does help people to have more peace of mind because you can get pregnant with a bit lower estrogen during the LP, and in many cases doesn't even qualify as a short LP to have a bit of spotting before your period. Much of what you read online is coming from people who are making $$$$ off selling people things to "treat" "low progesterone" when people do not even HAVE it.

Now, since you are having some other signs of B deficiency what I'd do instead of B6 is to get a multivitamin and take it all month, 3x a week. If you're low in some things, you may be low in others and why not cover all our bases at once?

[Needhairbowsinmylife]

Thanks, Atomic. I never had spotting before I had my son. Not sure what's changed as it started before I started dieting again- but I guess if it's not really broke it doesn't need fixing. If I go back to the diet I had with my last sway with a serving of full fat cottage cheese everyday (love that stuff) I feel like I'm not really doing anything to sway and I'm just back at 50/50. It really wouldnt be a diet for me at that point since my non sway diet is mostly vegetarian with dairy any way. I don't want to reduce my calories, so is there anything else I can do to help my chances? I feel like I'm doing nothing :/. I do plan to have just one attempt as I really believe in frequency as big factor. I guess I just want to feel like I'm giving it everything I can though.

[atomic sagebrush]

But you don't know that you were at 50-50 when you got your son! Like I'm saying, for all we know you had an ideal sway and then just fell into the opposites category.

If you want, you can try coconut oil instead of the dairy. Or even butter - that is still dairy fat but lacks all the other nutrients in the cottage cheese. We just need to be sure you're getting enough of the saturated fat for you to make estrogen and progesterone with - it doens't have to be cottage cheese or even dairy if you'd prefer not to go that route.