Pink Sway - Questions about LE Diet and Exercise

[atomic sagebrush]

First thing - in one of your posts, you refer to "fasting as long as possible" and I told you I did not want you to fast longer than 12-16 hours. How long are you fasting now, or have you given that up??

[atomic sagebrush]

Second thing - as we already talked about, the first month you were doing a lot to sway, and then by the second month, you lost weight and developed a short LP. At that time I tried to express that even IF you haven't had a cycle disruption from diet and exercise in the past, it can develop at any time, and I think that may have been a sign that your body was not happy with the direction things were going, with the diet and exercise plus weight loss. You also took saw palmetto that month (in addition to some other supplements) which might have aggravated cycle disruptions.

My point in bringing all this up is that it may be that the first month, you were being too strict and couldn't conceive, and then the second month, there were the supplements which might have interfered with conception (and these supplements can have effects that last weeks or even a month or two after taking them). But before you could conceive, it may very well have been you'd cut back too far and it takes some time to fix those issues.

I'm going over all this to reassure you that this is all fixable! This is fixable stuff, not forever, not infertility (your test results prove that). If what this is boiling down to is just too long on diet and exercise, cutting back too far, that is such an easy fix, we can have you pregnant in no time.

[atomic sagebrush]

Are you taking any supplements now? Even things that people have said is good for conception? What is your husband taking for sperm health?

[atomic sagebrush]

Another thing that jumps out to me is that you were using averages. You were NOT eating enough some days, and then eating MORE other days, and figuring the average between them. I said that this was fine because you were eating above the limits of fat on the off days, but if you're still doing that, alternating between eating high levels and near starving other days, then that needs to stop. Eat consistently 50 g fat or more every day, don't alternate between 30 g and 80 g and average them out. I have seen several people get disrupted cycles when they try to "average out" their diet rather than being sure to eat enough every day.

[atomic sagebrush]

Be sure you're continuing the e4d all month in case of delayed O!

From here on in, let's avoid doing any more Femara or Clomid just in case it's having some sort of negative effect.

[atomic sagebrush]

Ok. I've now read the whole post start to finish and here is what I think - we need to try without having you on any fertility medication, without alcohol (or just on weekends), reduced exercise (4, being sure you are eating 50-60 g protein and fat and more like 1800 cals daily, with the guaifenesin.

Are you still taking myoinositol? let's drop that, and add in prenatal (that has about 100% of daily vitamins, including iron and Vitamin D. Take that 3x a week.

My best guess as to what is going on is that you got a bit too depleted over the course of time, then your body maybe couldn't make enough hormones when you were on the Femara and Gonal to get pregnant. This has happened from time to time (but typically in people who are dreadfully thin - BMI 15-17 - which is why I really did not suspect that happening to you before) So the remedy is to go off the medication, try to get your stores built back up a bit more, and keep trying.

Still let's ditch the alcohol just in case and also cut back on the exercise.

Then I'd continue with e4d plus one or SMEP at your discretion.

[Lanini]

Thank you very much for your very detailed answer. I've already read it, but I don't have the time and strength to answer right now. I will implement your tips and also give you an answer in the next few days if I have enough time (it's always time-consuming for me to write in English).

I'm feeling very bad right now. Today is my birthday and I got a BFN. Another year older, which certainly doesn't make it any easier to get pregnant. I'm so sad. Cycle #13 without BFP. Why?!

[atomic sagebrush]

Lanini, you don't need to answer if you don't think you can. I understand I went over things that happened a long time ago, you probably changed them along the way, I do that just so I can help reassure you and not because I'm trying to criticize you or anything. Most of that stuff was ages ago. It's not necessary to go over it all again, I only do that if I think it might help, and because you were wondering what I had thought might have happened. I don't expect people to reply - it's fine not to. Let's try the changes in the last post and go on from here.

Your body doesn't know you have birthdays. There's nothing any different now than there was last month, six months ago, or even a year ago. I know it's hard to believe when the media makes it sound like every year older is dramatically lower fertility, but it's really not true.

[Lanini]

Atomic, I need another quick tip and I hope you're still reading it today! I'm sorry I really haven't written anything more, the whole thing still worries me a lot, but I'll definitely give an update one of these days. Even if there is actually no news. I'm still not pregnant.

I am in the middle of my second cycle of hormone stimulation with Gonal F. Today is CD 11 and my follicle is 20mm. I got the trigger shot this afternoon. Doctor said we should DTD tomorrow evening (about 30 hours after trigger shot). I'm unsure if we should also have another attempt tonight (about 6 hours after trigger shot) or if it's better to wait until tomorrow. I'm kinda worried that if we only have an attempt tomorrow we'll miss the egg. I don't want to reduce sperm quality by another Attempt, but I also want a good chance of catching the egg. There are no Attempts this cycle yet because I was ill. My husband's last ejaculation was more than 5 days ago, which isn't good for the quality either? Atomic what do you advise? Attempt only tomorrow night (30 hours after trigger shot)? Or Attempt tonight (6 hours after) + tomorrow night (30 hours after)?

This cycle is so strange. I have no cervical mucus at all and no EWCM either, which I usually have a lot of. My OPKs are also not conclusive (neither really positive nor really negative). I don't know what makes sense at all.

The focus is to get pregnant - gender (almost) irrelevant.

[atomic sagebrush]

I think you should have as many attempts as possible between now and then. Absolutely attempt tonight and tomorrow. The advice the doctor is giving is not the advice that most doctors would give in that situation - typically it's night of trigger and the next day.