April 23, 2014
Alright, I’ve a google addiction! I’ve come to terms with
it.
Well, now that my period is over and my temps stayed low
(yeah, yeah, and I did test to make sure it wasn’t implantation bleeding) I’ve
resumed having a glass of red raspberry leaf tea and green tea everyday. My
other supplements have stayed the same, but I’m upping my Ubiquinol dose. Most
people recognize it as CoQ10, but it is the more easily absorbable source – up
to 8 times. It costs more, but my body needs all the help it can get.
If you recall, I was taking 200 mg a day. The recommended
CoQ10 dose is 600-800 for fertility. Ubiquinol, after much research, the dosage
should be about half. It’s suggested 300-400 (at the minimum.) Because I get
leery with supplements (I laugh as I type this because I feel like an addict
right now as it is) I always start with low low doses of everything to gauge my
body’s reaction. I upped my dose today to 300 mg (100 mg x 3 times a day.)
CoQ10 and Ubiquinol are suppose to really help with egg health. Here is a quick
overview of the benefits in regards to fertility.
The long and short of it are it helps the egg from when it’s
recruited (as I mentioned in my last post about 5 months before ovulation) to
when it’s released ensure that it matures properly. This is the time when a lot
of chromosomal abnormalities occur.
I’m kicking myself that I didn’t start with the recommended
dosage originally because I keep thinking “Ahhhhh my eggs are five months
behind now” but the reality is, I’m sure the dose I was taking at least helped,
and my main focus was regulating my hormones and overall health which in turn
would assist my eggies to ripen correctly. Now that I feel like my body is
starting to kick in to gear, I’ll focus more intently on assisting my egg
health. I was before, but, well, you know what I mean.
I do want to talk to my TCM on Saturday at my appointment
about possibly adding Royal Jelly back to the mix. I took it for a bit in the
beginning, but then they suggested as my main issue was hormonal, that I stop
taking anything that could affect my hormones. Royal Jelly doesn’t affect
hormones, but it can assist in your body regulating it. They thought the two were
too closely tied because of all the herbs they were giving me to essentially do
the same. Royal Jelly is suppose to help with egg health, so perhaps I will
inquire if we can add that and propolis back to the mix.
Maca, shatavari and vitex were the other supplements I
originally was taking and discontinued. I think their herbs are doing the
functions of those overall, but eventually I may also delve into the maca
discussion with them again. These three are used more in Western fertility
(well, India for shatavari and Peru for Maca, but they are being used more here
now by fertility specialists) and many TCM’s, especially those originally from
China, are not familiar with them.
My promise to myself when I discontinued my “additional”
supplements of royal jelly, propolis, maca, shatavari (I actually discontinued
this one before the others because of it’s estrogenic qualities) and vitex was
that I would give my TCM three months to work their magic with herbs alone.
That was on March 12, and my period started five weeks later, so I know I
should step back and trust….but OH, SO HARD! I’ll see their feeling on the
Royal Jelly and continue to just follow their protocol for the rest of the
three months I’d promised myself and then reevaluate my progress.
Ah yes, and back to my original google diagnosis in the
beginning of this blog. My LP (luteal phase – which should be an average of
12-14 days – it was 11-12 days pre baby) was either 24 days of 6 days. Both of
these suggest a progesterone imbalance. It was so low either the 24 day one
suggests it never got high enough to crash and bring on menstruation, or the 6
day one would suggest it never got high enough to sustain a proper length
luteal phase. Both of which suggest my egg quality was poor, or “weak”
ovulation.
That just means my follicle was most likely not mature enough or my
egg quality was poor that when the follicle ruptured, the corpus luteum wasn’t
(what was left over of the follicle when the egg ruptured) wasn’t big, or
strong enough to produce enough progesterone.
Hence, my thought I have poor egg health. Well, I guess my
reading of <.03 AMH was the clue, but I am convinced and have faith that
reading was based on my ‘current at that time’ egg health and follicle pool. A
health body = healthy ovaries = healthy follicles = healthy eggs.
Thanks for following along as my mind works things out. Now,
I will just “Let go and let God.” Because, honestly, that is all I can do. The
Lord said “Be fruitful and multiply” so I need to trust that is his intention
for us.
In the mean time, I’ll continue to be healthy and trudge on.
Since I know I’m pre ovulation, I’ll try and do my castor oil pack or an Epsom
salt bath tonight. I’ll also begin the
Femoral Massage, or press. Randine Lewis, in the Infertility Cure, spoke about
it, but I was never quite certain if I’d ovulated, so I never tried it. NEVER do this if you think you might be
pregnant, or as the article has in bold, have high blood pressure, heart
disease, circulatory problems or a history of stroke. As with everything I’m
doing and talk about, use your best judgement. If you are uncertain or
uncomfortable with it, don’t do it. I’m even a bit apprehensive because of the
“what if I did ovulate” aspect so I’m only doing it for a few days after
menstruation ceases in case I ovulate early, and if I’ve any suspicion I’m
nearing O, I’ll stop. I’m also only doing it once a day and not three times in
a row, but one or two. As I’ve said before, I prefer to start any supplement,
acupressure, massage, etc at the bare minimum. I can always add more…
Here is an article about it.
Randine Lewis also spoke about other pressure points and
massages in her book that I will have to revisit. Every night, I’ve been using
acupressure on the four, five now (one was not suppose to be used after ovulation,
so I never used it before a few nights ago) that my TCM showed me. Randine, in
her book lists several others. Now that I know where I am in my cycle, I will
begin implementing those ones into my meditation and prayer time before bed.
God Bless!
****Update, I did the femoral massage and didn't dig it. It makes me too darn nervous. Once I'm in the swing of things with cycles I can easily monitor, I'll try it again.
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