Weird question - Sudafed and cervical mucus

[annablue]

This is a weird question, but bear with me!

I've been suffering from a really bad cold; I was in such a haze last night that I took Sudafed PE without really checking what was in it. Now, after reading the active ingredients and seeing that it has antihistamines and decongestants, I'm worried about it drying up my cervical mucus (I ovulate tomorrow.) Right now it's sort of sticky, not the egg-white that everyone talks about.

Thoughts, advice? Have I ruined my shot this month?

[jenger]

Annablue-
It's quite possible to have a decongestant dry up your cm. In fact, it is often recommended that people who produce little or no ewcm to take robatussien, or other over the counter cough syrups with guaifenesin, because its action is to loosen phlem, therefore it 'loosens' your cm.

I wouldn't say you ruined your chances, but I wouldn't take anymore!

[karmab]

agree with above. do you have any green tea? drink lots of fluids today, that will help loosen up your mucous, and dont worry too much. it's probably out of your system by now anyway. if sudafed prevented pregnancy, a lot more people would be on it good luck! maybe tonight is the night

[Tear78]

I agree, sudafed can dry you out. Try guaifenesin. Also, Pre-Seed is available online (for the future) and is TTC-friendly. Good luck!

[mama2toomany]

Originally Posted by jenger

Annablue-
It's quite possible to have a decongestant dry up your cm. In fact, it is often recommended that people who produce little or no ewcm to take robatussien, or other over the counter cough syrups with guaifenesin, because its action is to loosen phlem, therefore it 'loosens' your cm.

I wouldn't say you ruined your chances, but I wouldn't take anymore!

Yeah ALL that, when I did my Traditional surrogacy that is what I used.

[GreenMamma]

When a couple wants to sway for a girl, taking Sudafed is sometimes used to prevent too much ewcm. I don't think you did any harm, but you can always use some olive oil to help the swimmers out. It's just like pre-seed.

[~Adorkable~]

People, please stop suggesting or insinuating that pre seed or anything that you add from externally can help your ewcm! It does not! That is a misconception that is rampant in the ttc world and we are smarter than it!

Here is a note I wrote a while a go and keep reposting to hopeful turn the tide in this one.


this is what i personal do to help with my ewcm issues:

-tons of water
-loads of epo from af till o, i personally needed to take about 3900 and for months before it started working
-green tea, i used a extract pills, since that seemed like more than i could get elsewhere
-Guaifenesin 600mg extended release , taken as per instructions for about 4 days before O and one day after to be sure
-tons of water!
the thread is here:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1126958

as others have talked about, i strongly think many women are under a false impression that pre seed does more then it really does, when in fact it can be more harmful than nothing depending on the personal circumstances.

best thing is to figure out what your needs are with your own body and cycle, based on what is normal and or needed for a successful cycle and look at it from there.

What folks need to remember about PreSeeed though, and this is a important thing most are not clear about, is its just a "vaginal" lube.
PreSeed is just a sperm safe lube for the vaginal area, it is a replacement for the lubricating qualities of EWCM and arousal fluid to reduce friction, if you need it.
It does not go into the cervix in any way, so it is not a replacement for the functions of ewcm in there. Without the fertile fluid in the cervix opening, sperm do not get through, most non fertile mucus acts like a plug to keep you clean.
This is why EPO and possibly some types of green tea (to increase) and Guaifenesin and water (to loosen) are used. It is kinda like 3 parts to a puzzle, neither replaces the other.
PreSeed should not be used for instance if you make plenty of arousal fluid and would not normally need lube that night. It helps only by it's lack of harm, you are still better off correcting the issue from the inside.




you are going to get a handful that said it did nothing for them, when that may or may not be the case (bottom line they sadly did not get preggo)
and you will find a group of girls that say it was just the ticket to their long awaited BFP. without having some scientific controls in the cycle, we will never know what worked for them.

good luck and may you have a bundle of joy soon.

[~Adorkable~]

As for your issue anna, yeas I agree drink tons of water now to flush the chemicals out of your system and loosen your cm.
Did you have ewcm before you took the sudefed? If so then that's good, any sperm that went thru then can live for a few days. In fact many women start to dry up the day before they o, in reality this is usually fine since the sperm kinda need to already be in place when the egg is released.

[Tear78]

I didn't mean to suggest pre-seed as a fix-all. There are times when I don't make enough CM and a small amount of preseed helps make things more comfortable at the beginning. Once things "get started" my body starts to make arousal fluid. From what I've read, it is a sperm-safe lube for situations when you're feeling "dried out." When I have enough lube, then I don't like to use it since it's an external agent and why mess with what my body does? I agree that drinking lots of water is a great natural solution to try. Guaifenesin works, too, though it's one more thing to injest for the sake of TTC. I tried clicking on the link, because I'd like to learn more about why pre-seed can be harmful (I thought it was designed to be safe), but the link doesn't work for me. Thanks for sharing, since I obviously didn't know it could hurt.

[~Adorkable~]

Let me rephrase a bit. Sorry if I jump so fast on this, I guess it is a pet peeve of mine.

I feel the use of preeseed can hurt in two ways, one much more than the other in reality.

When ladies use it because they feel dry, they often are hiding or getting around a real lack of ewcm rather than addressing it. They often think that if they are comfy then they are good to go for ttc. The pre seed website happily let's folks think this IMHO. So if aclady has "hostile cm" as it is referred to and only uses preeseed to " fix it" then she is harming her chances greatly. Since she has fixed nothing in the actual plumbing.

Now if the quality of the ewcm up at the cervix is good or being addresses via internal healthy ways and a lady finds it's quanity lacking or lacks the arousal fluid needed to comfortably start, then preeseed can be very very helpful.

Heres my situation over the years...
I used to always need lube. Long before taking and in the beginning, I used very non sperm friendly types.
After learning superficially about ewcm and the dangers of lube I switched to preseed. I figured that thankfully I had delt with the issue.
It wasn't till later when I read about the role ewcm plays in the cervix that I realized that i had only masked the problem.
I then worked hard and still do on correcting my body from the inside ( mostly with water , epos and green tea extract, the guafennision is a last resort)
What I have found in the end is that durning my fertile times I now rarely need lube. Yes at time I need it to "get me started" but that takes just a tad. The non fertile times I still often need some, but am also not worried about that.


The other way it can hurt is because it is not your own ewcm and can't be as a foreign substance be at perfectly good, so when I hear ladies who have plenty of ewcm use it "just in case" or cause "every little bit helps" or because "it's cant hurt, right?"
They need to understand that they are diluting your natural fluids with a man made pretend version of them, so yes it's "sperm safe" but it's not the same, just close. Good real is still better.




Does this explain my point a bit better? Sorry for tipping last night, I was tired and shouldn't have been writing on a subject that irks me.

[Tear78]

Originally Posted by •Adorkable•

So if aclady has "hostile cm" as it is referred to and only uses preeseed to " fix it" then she is harming her chances greatly. Since she has fixed nothing in the actual plumbing.

This makes TOTAL sense! No worries, I'm on progesterone and an emotional wreck, so we're a good match. I'm totally thinking of you today, btw ! Can you believe I used to use HAND LOTION when we first started TTC?! For like, 4 or 5 months?!?! omg... Anyway, I agree that getting to the root of a CM production issue is better than masking it. Thanks for explaining!

Back to the OP, if you don't have worries about your CM in general, just in this case because of the Sudafed, I think preseed is probably unnecessary. I hope the above suggestions helped you feel better about things and that you have a successful cycle!

[~Adorkable~]

Oh yeah were a great match! . Love you Tear!

[preciousph]

Wow Pre Seed bashing. The response feels like a disgruntled ex-preseed employee gone postal. Seriously though. There is NOTHING wrong or harmful with preseed. It's been tested and may not be the actual ewcm but for doctors to even be recommending it, it apparently helps and not hurt the situation.

Just because someone personally has not gotten pregnant from using preseed as an aid, doesn't mean it doesn't work. That person may have other factors like male infertility that's affecting conception. To sit here and bash preseed is wrong because it has helped more people than not. It's not in women's mind (more like in their bellies if they got a BFP). If someone chooses to work on the inside of them by taking a dozen pills, drinking a bunch of tea, water, lemon juice or whatever that's fine but don't knock the people that want to use preseed or have had success behind it. I'm just saying....

Preseed is not the devil! LOL. The operative word is been "tested" to be most like cervical mucus. It even helped animals with cm to conceive. It's NOT a fix all, nothing is. It certainly doesn't hurt and HAS helped.

Geez opinions and "irks" can stop people from possibly receiving their long awaited blessings.

That's all. I just had to jump in because I see one of the top doctor's in my area and they strongly recommend the stuff to patients and have gotten great results (If nothing else; better sex without dryness). Soft cups help to keep the sperm close to the cervix.

Oh and no don't take Sudafed but Guaifenesin in Mucinex or Robitussin. Works great too. Much Love on the TTC journey to all.

[Tear78]

Originally Posted by •Adorkable•

Oh yeah were a great match! . Love you Tear!

ditto, lady!

annablue, how are you feeling?

[~Adorkable~]

Originally Posted by preciousph

Wow Pre Seed bashing. The response feels like a disgruntled ex-preseed employee gone postal. Seriously though. There is NOTHING wrong or harmful with preseed. It's been tested and may not be the actual ewcm but for doctors to even be recommending it, it apparently helps and not hurt the situation.

hi and welcome to the forum!

first of all i was not preeseed bashing at all, i even mention that i use it. I was saying that it is being used without an understanding of its limitations and that could stop ladies from working on some very real and ver solvable issues with their CM.
I am certainly not a "disgruntled ex-preseed employee gone postal" though comming on and registering for this forum just in time to post this comment does make me wondere if you are a current employee. Not that this is wrong and you would still be perfectly welcome but should disclose that if it is true.

again i never called anything the "devil" and was not bashing anything, i really do not like to be accused of such. This forum is for talking things out and helping each other. You dont seem to be doing either, i was certainly attempting to do both.

[~Adorkable~]

annablue, sorry i seem to have hijacked your thread, i really didn't mean too. how is your cold? Did you O?