supplements for TTC

[Sweetum]

I am reading about supplements that help fertility prior to any big time interventions, like B6, Zinc etc. I would love to hear from others who have used these and have been successful.

[essnce629]

This is what I've learned from hanging around fertility boards. :)

Prenatal for you and a men's multi for DH
B6 to lengthen luteal phase if needed
Green or white tea daily increases fertility
Drinking more than 2 cups of coffee a day decreases fertility
Too much soy decreases fertility
Taking Robitussin and/or evening primrose oil daily increases fertile cm (AF to ovulation)
Drinking lots of water and grapefruit juice increases fertile cm
Taking baby aspirin 2-5 times a week throughout your cycle improves egg quality and helps implantation
Zinc (up to 25mg) is good for DH as it improves sperm quality
Increasing your fat intakes helps ovulation and improves egg quality (full fat dairy, salmon, 4+ whole eggs a week, 2 servings of red meat a week)
Fish oil, probiotics, vitamin D, and CQ10 for you as well
Preseed as a lube increases pregnancy rate
DH drinking caffeine before DTD increases sperm motility

[Sweetum]

oh, wow! thank you for all the good information.

[123LuckyMom]

Don't forget, do not use lubricant, INCLUDING saliva, while TTC! (I never knew oral foreplay could foil conception, so I always tell people! Please forgive me if it's TMI!)

Warm water works fine if you need a lubricant, but store bought and saliva kill sperm. The only lubricant that's safe (that I know of) is called pre-seed. It's pricey, though.

[hellbennt]

I swear evening primrose worked for me (listed above) :)


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[sste]

Actually, I might limit green tea as it greatly interferes with folic acid uptake and has been linked in some studies to increased birth defects. I know this only because I am a huge green tea drinker and looked it up.

Limit your sugar, I don't know a ton of research on it but both times I got pregnant this last go around I was dieting. I suspect that one of the reasons if not the reason people find acupuncture works for them is a good acupuncturist will have you limit your sugar and generally watch your diet. Insulin resistance/diabetes can cause miscarriage and in my mind it seems quite plausible that too much sugar can cause things to fail even before you would notice a miscarriage.

I believe the supplement with the highest potential to be effective is DHEA but it made me nervous to use and I held it in reserve as a last resort. It is a hormone, similar to testosterone or testosterone increasing I don't recall which. You can buy it OTC. A lot of REs are now prescribing it. I personally did not use this as I felt like it was not tested and there is the rare but def. documented chance of side effects like perm lowered voice, facial hair, etc.

This is beyond TMI but I used the cheap amazon OPK and we DTD in the four to five days leading up to ovulation, the day of ovulation, and the day after. I was REALLY determined to get pregnant. DH was um exhausted by the end of this. I did get pregnant quickly despite being older and tests that showed I had very few follicles and presumably few eggs left.

Good luck Bulkin!!

[Sweetum]

Ladies, I am asking about TTC so bring the TMI on :) thank you Ste and hellbent and 123luckymom for the additional information.

[essnce629]

Actually, I might limit green tea as it greatly interferes with folic acid uptake and has been linked in some studies to increased birth defects. I know this only because I am a huge green tea drinker and looked it up.


The studies showed that drinking one cup of green tea a day increased fertility. I probably wouldn't drink more than two cups a day.

[sste]

Essence, I am not sure anyone knows the safe amount. There appear to be studies linking very low levels of green tea consumption, less than a two cups, to increased rates of spina bifida. No one loves green tea more than me so I looked into this at some length and was just not comfortable taking the risk. Especially given that the fertility benefits did not seem overwhelming?? I also went to a RE and there have been tons of studies done on supplements of all kinds and they have not yet been able to find evidence that any of them are effective -- bearing in mind the limitations of studies and study design, that does not mean they will never find that. Except for possibly the DHEA--emerging research on that. REs huge financial livelihoods depend on getting people pregnant, they will do experimental things, really I was shocked at how far they will go and what alternatives they will recommend. If green tea had a substantial benefit my RE and every other one in the city would be handing it out at the door!

There were multiple epidemiological studies out of asian countries showing the spine defect issue with green tea consumption - - I think it is rare because spinal defects are relatively rare but I would personally want a big countervailing fertility benefit to outweigh that risk. I did a quick google search and found this reference but at the time I also read some of the primary studies, mostly out of asia. http://jneonatalsurg.com/documents/vol-1/html/jns-1-65.html

I am belaboring this no pun only because you work in the field and I know it is of interest to you -- and I had no idea about this green tea thing before I stumbled on it!

[KDsMommy]

With this pregnancy I used the following supplements:

Prenatal vitamin daily for several months before conception
Vitex used only the month of conception, I had just started it when we got pg
Evening Primrose Oil leading up to Ovulation - this really helped increase my CM
Mucinex leading up to Ovulation to increase/thin CM
Pre-seed lubricant
Baby aspirin daily after Ovulation
Instead soft cups after DTD around Ovulation
We DTD for the 3 days prior to Ovulation, but not the day of or after
I used Fertility Friend to chart my cycles, including daily temping and checking cervical position and CM, and used Ovulation Predictor strips so I knew pretty much exactly when I ovulated. This is really key IMO.

Good luck!

[IansMom]

"The Infertility Cure" by Dr. Randine Lewis is a great source of information for supplements. It really helped me select which ones to take and it gives very detailed explanations of what they do and which ones to take together (or not). Good luck!

[TxCat]

I saw an acupuncturist and feel like it helped. He did recommend supplements, including a lot of the ones already mentioned (B6, DHEA, and fish oil capsules) and he also made some common sense recommendations like getting more sleep (even if it just meant going to bed 30-60 minutes earlier a night). Of the supplements, I think DHEA had the most compelling evidence behind it. I also used OPK's and charted with the Kindara app.

[Sweetum]

That's a lot of good information, thanks, everyone.

[Mopey]

Can someone recommend brands & dosages for all these please?

[marymoo86]

Another thing to note - gluten sensitivity also impacts infertility

[AngB]

Can someone recommend brands & dosages for all these please?

Honestly, it depends what you are taking and what you are taking it for.

For example, I have long, irregular cycles and typically don't ovulate on my own. I took soy isoflavones for 5 days like clomid and it worked perfectly, I ovulated and got pregnant that cycle. I use vitex to bring my cycle back while I was still bf'ing DS1. But both soy and especially vitex could really screw your cycle up if you are regularly ovulating. (for soy iso i just got them from walmart. i think nature's made.)

I would just be very careful, just because it's a supplement and sold over the counter doesn't mean it can't screw things up if you are taking things you don't need. (I have been to an RE and while they roll their eyes about me self medicating with soy iso they also admit it works. But I know my issue and take stuff for that specifically.)

[Mopey]

Honestly, it depends what you are taking and what you are taking it for.

For example, I have long, irregular cycles and typically don't ovulate on my own. I took soy isoflavones for 5 days like clomid and it worked perfectly, I ovulated and got pregnant that cycle. I use vitex to bring my cycle back while I was still bf'ing DS1. But both soy and especially vitex could really screw your cycle up if you are regularly ovulating. (for soy iso i just got them from walmart. i think nature's made.)

I would just be very careful, just because it's a supplement and sold over the counter doesn't mean it can't screw things up if you are taking things you don't need. (I have been to an RE and while they roll their eyes about me self medicating with soy iso they also admit it works. But I know my issue and take stuff for that specifically.)

Thanks for this Ang! I've stuck to a prenatal and folic like last time. Multi for my hubby but will try that caffeine rec! I did also pick up an ovulation kit as I really thought last month would have been a go. Might not know my bod as well as I thought. Fingers crossed ;)