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February 28th, 2019, 04:07 PM
#1
Officially in the "infertile" club :/ Do I throw my sway out the window now?
DH and I have been trying since August, I have been swaying since July. I had wanted so badly for it to happen naturally but that doesn't appear to be in the cards for us.
I took the best prenatals on the market, and guafanesin, I shop exclusively at Whole Foods, I switched to lighter cardio, I've done fertility yoga, fertility meditation, castor oil packs, acupuncture, mayan massage, drybrushing, switched out all cleaning & beauty & laundry products to non-toxic, took out all the BPA from our house... we've done Sperm Meets Egg... we've done Every other Day... I've tried preseed and without... I've laid on my stomach after and propped my hips with a pillow.
I saw my obgyn for my annual checkup last week and he thinks everything looks fine from his perspective. We met with a reproductive endocrinologist in mid-February who said DH's sperm analysis was fine. My BBT charts are very healthy with regular ovulation. Even my thyroid levels and Vitamin D level look good based on most recent bloodwork. Blood pressure is perfect. No one can tell off the bat why I'm not getting pregnant.
Whenever my cycle starts (period is due tomorrow), I'll schedule cycle day 3 bloodwork as well as an HSG to check tubes. I'm a little worried about progesterone levels b/c I always spot before my period but my luteal phase is usually 15 days so I'm gonna try to just see how initial bloodwork goes.
At this point, DH and I are prepared to go with IVF. I just turned 36 and we want 2 children, ideally before 40. The journey has been a lot harder than I imagined and since we are fortunate to have enough savings that would allow for IVF, we are anxious to get help rather than continue struggle on our own. Emotionally and mentally, I'm exhausted from being so obsessed and consumed with the desire to get pregnant and start our family. It's starting to mess with my head in an unhealthy way. The clock, for me, is ticking away.
I've been swaying blue since July, started pretty heavy but had to pull back slightly in October b/c weight gain was making me batty. After the holidays, I focused more on making sure my diet was nutrient dense: grassfed meat (ground beef, steak, chicken), organic fruits (bananas, raspberries, grapefruit juice), organic veggies (asparagus, spinach, tomatoes), whole carbs (sweet potatoes, brown rice) & some full fat dairy (organic whole milk, grassfed butter). My fertility acupuncturist also has me eating tons of healthy fats (coconut oil, almond butter, 1 avocado a day, 4 oz bone broth a day, mixed nuts). Very little processed or artificial foods, though DH and I do indulge in a few "cheat meals" but even then it's not fast food. I haven't lost weight, just trying to maintain.
Anyway, just wondering if there are any sway tactics if we're preparing for IVF? I have to assume the answer is no, but just checking. I don't think I really CARE either way at this point, this is my first child so I know we will be over the moon with any gender, but in my heart I really want a boy.
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March 1st, 2019, 02:26 PM
#2
Swaying Advice Coach
Oh and I answered in the other thread, but rereading this I spotted the words that cast a chill into my heart: "the best prenatals on the market". Which ones are you taking? And are you taking anything that the acupuncturist gave you - herbs or other supplements? Many, many of these are really terrible for fertility and I've seen quite a few people not conceive on them.
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March 1st, 2019, 03:24 PM
#3
Hi so sorry to hear u can't fall i too went down the ivf route as it was taking a while and i was getting stressed two months before ivf i fell naturally but ended in early mc so we continued with the ivf! Worked 1st time and we have the most beautiful baby boy! Apparantly more boys are born to ivf 5 day blasto which was the stage our embryos got to. Ivf with icsi more girls apparantly?? And frozen more girls but who knows? Right before ivf started they found out i had some endo that has cleared up now since having a baby i believe like they said it probably would so hoping to fall naturally again this time! 🤞 wishing you all the best!! i had ivf in dublin so unsure of a clinic to recommend but im sure you have one in mind
Nell xox
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March 1st, 2019, 06:31 PM
#4
Moderator
I'm so sorry to hear about your struggles. If you proceed with ivf why don't you have PGS done on your embryos and select for gender that way? It's usually about $3-5k extra but you would also have the assurance that the embryo you are transferring would be chromosomally normal.
Last edited by nicoler; March 1st, 2019 at 06:33 PM.
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March 2nd, 2019, 08:59 AM
#5
Originally Posted by
atomic sagebrush
Oh and I answered in the other thread, but rereading this I spotted the words that cast a chill into my heart: "the best prenatals on the market". Which ones are you taking? And are you taking anything that the acupuncturist gave you - herbs or other supplements? Many, many of these are really terrible for fertility and I've seen quite a few people not conceive on them.
I was taking Therologix Ovavite prenatals for 3 months, just finished them. Switched over to FH Pro for Women.
My acupuncturist gave me Ba Zhen Wan herbs for blood flow and circulation. She recently mixed me a tincture. I should mention it’s a rather reputable acupuncture practice that I go to, they only treat fertility. I did run it by my fertility specialist/reproducive endocrinologist. He has worked with the practice before. But both he and my acupuncurist agree that if we need to go the IVF route, I would not use any herbs or tincutres.
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March 2nd, 2019, 09:12 AM
#6
Ah interesting to hear those stats. Glad you got your little one and good luck trying for #2!
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March 2nd, 2019, 09:16 AM
#7
Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about PGS. I have heard some Drs don’t offer that, no idea if mine does. Instinctively, I think our first should be a surprise but the other part of me thinks if we’re putting in the emotional and physical effort and money, why not guarantee our dream of a son. DH may have reservations tho sine he’s not as blue heavy as I am.
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March 2nd, 2019, 04:23 PM
#8
Swaying Advice Coach
I understand that if you believe in the herbs, you're not going to agree with or like what I have to say, but the thing is that time after time after time I've had people showing up here not getting pregnant and they were under the care of acupuncturists or naturopaths and taking various herbs. Regardless of how respected and reputable, I have had disproportional numbers of people inexplicably not conceiving on the herbs. So even if you weren't taking these things up until recently, it doesn't matter, you still need to stop taking them both for safety and for the sake of conceiving.
The Therologix aren't as bad as some brands but I don't like the massive amount of B6 in them. I wonder if that could have been interfering with your body's ability to conceive - it does affect hormones and has delayed and even stopped ovulation for people, and also created short LP (even though it's said to fix that).
But the FH is even WORSE. That high amount of Vit. E in there has been linked to birth defects. And additionally I really can't advise you to take those as they've got myoinositol (which unless you have moderate to severe PCOS, you likely don't need, and it may disrupt cycles and possibly sway pink). But worse than that, the reason why you 110% MUST NOT take them, is that they have melatonin in them. Melatonin has been shown to help egg quality, but it's not safe to use during pregnancy (has been proven to affect levels of estrogen, progesterone, and oxytocin, we know it comes thru the placenta, and may cause developmental delays in the fetus) and since we don't know how long those effects last, you need to come off it well before pregnancy. It's not safe to just stop it suddenly at BFP, either, because it's a naturally occuring hormone and your body uses in in early pregnancy and your body "gets used to" having it and it may cause or contribute to miscarriage to stop it suddenly.
The ONLY people who can take melatonin for egg quality are those who are doing an egg retrieval, then the eggs will be frozen to be used in different months. That way you can take it and then give yourself time to wean off it before you're pregnant. Above all else DO NOT take that Fairhaven FH supplement when you may be pregnant or are actively trying.
Now, as for the Ba Zhen Wan, I cannot recommend that either because it has licorice in it (among other things that we have no idea as to their safety or how they sway) . It also has white peony, and licorice + white peony really lower testosterone and may sway pink, in addition to messing up hormones and possibly contributing to people not getting pregnant while taking it (this is one I've had many people show up taking and not conceiving). But worse, NO ONE should ever take licorice when TTC or pregnant because it's very, very dangerous. It's been proven to cause lower IQ and developmental delays in the babies moms who just ate the candy, let alone the highly concentrated supplement form! https://www.livescience.com/57771-pr...-licorice.html Again, we do not know how long these effects last, so you can't just take them for a while and come off them at BFP because not only might that mess up your ability to stay pregnant, it also may be that the chemistry in the licorice continues to stay in your body for a while after stopping it and can still affect your baby negatively. It is just not worth the risk.
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March 2nd, 2019, 07:55 PM
#9
I appreciate you taking the time to reply and the information. It really is helpful.
I'm not at all married to the idea of these herbs or tinctures. My specialist was not crazy about the idea but he knew they would not be continued if/when we decide to go forward with any procedure. I can definitely discontinue them, frankly I didn't notice any difference while on them anyway. They were supposed to help w blood flow b/c I have veryyyyy light 2-3 day periods coupled with a lot of spotting before my period - and nothing has changed.
I actually opted for OVavite bc of the B6 because I had heard it would help reduce spotting before my period. I'm so hung up on this stupid spotting - it is so annoying and I've always felt something wrong b/c of it. Drs just ignore me when I bring it up. Unfortunately the Ovavite did not help w my spotting, still spot for 3-4 days before period. Based on my BBT charts, it did not mess with ovulation, as my cycles are the same length and ovulation day is still around Day 12.
As for FH Pro, ya know, I wonder if Amazon will take them back unopened since I just got them Thurs. Maybe I'll just keep them in case I do IVF? I read the reviews and saw a few bad reviews saying that these were for PCOS. Which, I have zero symptoms of at all.
I'm fine getting other vitamins... how do you feel about the Megafoods Baby & Me prenatals? I was on those before Theralogix and while they smell awful, I feel like I had my "best cycles" on them - CM quantity, temps and my spotting was reduced to only 1 day before AF.
I feel like I'm getting information paralysis with all the stuff I read, several different doctors giving me advice (pcp, reproductive endocrinologist, obgyn, acupuncturist) and random other advice. I've just be adding little things over the past few months, every cycle, but nothing seems to help.
For this cycle, my husband begged me to pull back and chill out a little...take only the "needed" vitamins... stop charting/OPKs (since I consistently ovulate on CD12). I think mentally and emotionally, we both need a more relaxed approach, so I'm just doing prenatal + fish oil + vitamin D (my levels are chronically low).
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