Thursday, October 18, 2012

Herbal Blast

I had a blast from the past today while I was organizing a box of "stuff." Almost none of this "stuff" was worth keeping and I have no idea why it's been around this long. But that is a whole other post.

Anyhow, amongst the stuff (ah, hell, let's just call it junk)... was a bunch of bottled herbal meds. Back when I was trying to conceive using herbals, I took a lot of this stuff daily.


Now if you've never heard of this way of TTC, then you'll think I'm crazy, but I'm not the first woman to do this crap.
And for some, it's worked!!

Just not for me.

I don't exactly remember my regimen or how much I took of what, but I can at least give you the review of what they can do.

From back to front, left to right, these are the ones I tried (and three not pictured):
  • Magnesium: I took this to relieve headaches. I've always had headaches due to hormones spikes & dips, so the magnesium helps a little. I also read that any magnesium deficiency is bad for you if you are TTC. So anty up!
  • Fish Oil: Fish Oil is just good for you! It can help with cancer, cardio health, mental health, Alzheimer's, Lupus and Parkinson's! I'm sure you've heard of this one before, so this was a big part of my regimen way back when. And now I'm wondering why I still don't take it...
  • Vitex/Chaste Berry: Vitex is popular option for infertility because it's suppose to help balance out any wacky hormones. Many people with PCOS have raved about it. It worked a little for me and definitely caused some of those hormone headaches I mentioned earlier.
  • Cinnamon: Many PCOS'ers use cinnamon to help with insulin resistance. It is similar to the popular PCOS drug, Metformin.
  • Soy Isoflavones: Soy Isoflavones has been called the herbal clomid. And it's taken in a similar manner, usually cycle day (CD) 5-9 then stopped for the rest of the cycle. If you take it the entire cycle it can do the opposite of what you want.
  • Evening Primrose Oil: EPO helps produce more fertile quality cervical mucus. EPO should only be taken from menstruation to ovulation. This is because EPO can cause uterine contractions in pregnancy.
  • Calcium/Vitamin D: These two are similar to the Fish Oil... they are both just plain-out good for you! And if you're trying to get pregnant, then you obviously want to be your healthiest.
  • Wild Yam: Some say that Wild Yam and help increase progesterone. And many others say that it doesn't. I took this for a while but then I switched to Natural Progesterone Cream.
  • Natural Progesterone Cream: I did have some luck and my period started a few times with this stuff. It's super thick and you have to rub it into your skin for like two weeks (I forget now, please look it up) and then stop. Then your period will start. And like I said... sometimes, mine did. It has also been used to prevent miscarriage.
  • Black Cohosh: This is used toward the beginning of a cycle to balance hormones (estrogen). It should not be used during the luteal phase because of possible miscarriage.
Now... listen carefully here... I am not a doctor! Don't be stupid and take all these pills just because I mentioned them in my blog. Many woman use these herbals sucessfully, but they use them correctly.
If you're interested in trying any of these, do your research!! I spent hours and hours looking up each of these to make sure I was taking them at the right time during my cycle and at the right dose. And there are still allergy issues! So don't be stupid.
If you have any concerns, talk to a doctor. A real one... not an internet one.

Ok, back to my organizing.

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