DTD...Fr or abstain question help please

[atomic sagebrush]

Those are great! Full sugar pop is another thing people (including me) have found helpful.

Yes we need to get those cals up.

I'm still on the fence about OLE, not sure if it really does anything or if it's a statistical quirk. liquid is supposed to work better but it tastes really bad and thus I recommend the dry leaf.

[247mommy]

I did find the olive leaf extract at The Vitamin Shoppe but I'm confused as to how much DH should take. Everything I have read about OLE says they are taking 2 tablespoons but the directions on the one I found say to take 1ml (30 drops) which is a big difference.
This is the one I got:
The Vitamin Shoppe Olive Leaf Extract Alcohol Free 1000 MG
Supplement Facts
Serving Size 1 ML (APPROX 30 DROPS)
ORGANIC OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT - (1:1) (OLEA EUROPAEA) 1000 Mg N/A*
Other Ingredients:vegetable glycerin, deionized water.

How much should he take? The dose on the bottle seems so little is it even worth taking? Or should we just stick with the cranberry instead since we know he's fine with it? I did read that the two can't be taken together if that is correct.

[247mommy]

Atomic bumping for the question above ^^^
Also wondering what your thoughts on high or low BBT are. My BBT while taking Cal and Mag last 2 months were higher pre O then they are this month not taking the Cal and Mag. I have read that you want high pre O BBT for pink. I also read that low BBT signals low blood sugar and low metabolism....so maybe this means diet is working to keep low?? Have you seen anyones pre O temps stay at 97.01 or so and get pink? Do I need to raise my BBT somehow or not even worry?

[maidentomother]

500mg OLE daily.

Your temps are just fine, well within normal range. If you click on my chart in my signature you can see my temps can get quite low right before O. You can also post your charts/a link to them, if you like. I've been charting for almost 15 years and would be happy to assess them overall. I'm very curious to see the temp change you mentioned, too! Temps can vary from month to month for MANY different reasons and I would not necessarily assume anything based on those variations.

There is absolutely no evidence suggesting that temps correlate at all with gender conceived. If there were a link, it would really depend on WHY your temps were higher or lower than usual. And we don't even know that high P or low estrogen sway pink. I've never heard that low blood sugar causes low temps. Very low temps can sometimes indicate hypothyroidism/low metabolism, but your temps are not that low. Are you temping orally? If so, I recommend you temp vaginally next cycle. You may mouth breathe which would lower your temps artificially.

[atomic sagebrush]

I answer questions from oldest to newest so unless it's been like a week I wouldn't bump it, because it actually takes me longer (since it goes back to the top of the posts and looks like a newer post to me.) Thanks for patience.

500-1000 mg is the dose we use. I can't really pin it down more than that, it's dependent on a guy's physical size and what he tolerates. A guy who's 5-6 will need less than a guy who's 6-6.

[atomic sagebrush]

Atomic bumping for the question above ^^^
Also wondering what your thoughts on high or low BBT are. My BBT while taking Cal and Mag last 2 months were higher pre O then they are this month not taking the Cal and Mag. I have read that you want high pre O BBT for pink. I also read that low BBT signals low blood sugar and low metabolism....so maybe this means diet is working to keep low?? Have you seen anyones pre O temps stay at 97.01 or so and get pink? Do I need to raise my BBT somehow or not even worry?

WE do not know enough to know. I understand the theory, which is that lower estrogen = higher temps and more girls, but there is really VERY little evidence proving that this is true. All women need quite a lot of estrogen just to get pregnant to start with, and the idea that you should have high progesterone before O (and thus higher temps for that reason) cannot be true becasue high progesterone prevents ovulation, we ALL have low prog. before O. We just don't know and I think the more hung up you guys get on these little details, that undermines a pink sway in a big bad way anyway. There are literally a thousand reasons why temps might be higher one month than another and I would not want to speculate about that when I really don't know.

If the cal-mag is concerning you, add it back in. But just understand that it is NOT your temps per se (if there is even any clearcut correlation, which I find a bit dubious) but the hormones that you're experiencing that would sway. so don't get so focused on making your temperature come up a certain amount on a thermometer that you lose sight of doing what is actully working.

[247mommy]

I hope it's okay to continue to post on my original thread since the first post explains our situation. I took a break from the internet for a while when I figured out a plan so I would not stress. Well we have had 3 months and only one attempt each month. I'm wondering if I should change anything because I'm not pregnant yet. The last two months my luteal phase has been 9-10 days and my period has came 4 days early both months giving me a 26 or 27 day cycle (never happens). I'm worried this could stop implantation from happening. I'm thinking the diet must have caused this to happen. My cycles have always been 30-31 days, ov around day 16 or 17 and my luteal phase is 12-14 days. I know I am ovulating because my temps do rise and stay up until my period but another thing I have noticed while on the diet is the day after ov my temp goes up a little then goes up higher the next day where is stays normally after ov. I do get a noticeable temp dip the day of ov so it's kind of a slow rise for one day after which didn't happen before. My diet since starting this has pretty much been pasta, rice, white bread, butter(for fat), cheese, zucchini, and frozen yogurt while sticking to the #s I should stay within for calories, fat, and protein. When I first went on diet I also included eggs but the last couple months I hadn't had them and that is the only thing I changed. During the 2WW each month I eat lots of fruit and ate more variety of things but no meat. I drink a couple crystal light a day for a few days around ov. Besides the diet I take folic acid cycle day 1 to a day or 2 after ov and switch to prenatal during 2WW(I just feel better doing this for some reason). I skip breakfast daily and take Fiber before lunch and dinner. I do 60 minutes of Zumba 7 days a week from cycle day 1 to a day after ov. My husband takes olive leaf and drinks one glass of soy milk from cycle day 1 to our attempt. He also drinks a couple crystal lights for a few days before our attempt. He's a big coffee drinker but refrains from it the day of our attempt. He switches to boxer briefs only during cycle day 1 to our attempt and goes back to boxers during 2WW because he hates the others. We BD every 3 or 4 days protected and one attempt at +OPK unprotected. So we really aren't doing a whole lot to block pregnancy and our other babies only took 1 or 2 months. Sorry so much info just want to include everything I can think of. Is there anything you would suggest for us to change or add to help us?

[atomic sagebrush]

9-10 days is actually enough.

I want you eating 1 serving of full fat dairy a day (or more if you're already doing that) 4-6 eggs a week, and one serving salmon or red meat a week.

Instead of doing what you're doing with your prenatal, because this is not good for you and may be contributing to the problem, please just take the prenatal 3x a week all thru the cycle.

I would have you switch to every 4 days unprotected. You can do this with or wihtout the additional attempt at positive OPK - without may be more pink-friendly, with may be better odds of concepiton.

[247mommy]

Thanks so much Atomic. If you think the prenatal could be part of the problem I think I will just stick to the folic acid the whole time until I get a BFP and switch then. I have been eating one slice of full fat cheese and 1/2 cup frozen yogurt daily so I have been getting 2 servings of dairy daily. I was looking into my charts again and noticed something else. The first month starting fiber supplements I started them on cycle day 10 and took them until the day after ovulation so that was about 7 days (lunch and dinner). My cycle that month was 30 days which is my normal. The following 2 months I started taking fiber on cycle day 1 and took them until the day after ov which would have been 17 days (lunch and dinner) both months. Those are the 2 months my cycle changed one was 27 days and this last one was 25 days. My whole life my cycles have always been 30-31 days. After reading some things online about fiber supplements messing up some women's ovulation I got to thinking is it possible that these supplements could be messing up my cycle. I also read that it caused some to get their period late but didn't see anything about them getting it early. It doesn't seem to affect my ov but could it be shortening my luteal phase? Do you know of this happening to others from taking fiber supplements? Or is it just a coincidence that it happened on these months of taking more fiber?

[atomic sagebrush]

I don't think the prenatal is the problem, starting and stopping it suddenly may be. Your body gets "scared" because suddenly it has way less nutrients coming in, in addition to the potential effects of the presence/absence of B vitamins. Just take them consistently 3x a week instead.

Fiber can actually contribute to short LP because if you're not getting enough fat, then it will absorb what little you are getting. Go ahead and drop them for a while until things seem to normalize OR just take them only with cheat meals if your'e having one.

I think it is FAR more likely that you've just cut back too far and the on again off again thing with the prenatals wasn't helping.