Advice on use of Vitex

[leahmn12]

I followed the advice of the Maia Midwifery clinic book and started using Vitex after many failed cycles. And sure enough, after the magic "3 months of use", I tested positive 3 days ago (woohoo!). Well, now I'm not sure if I should continue to take it or not. The book says "some herbalists recommend use throughout the first trimester", but I'm not convinced I had a serious progesterone deficiency to begin with, I think the vitex just helped to get things back to normal after I stopped breastfeeding our toddler. Of course, I want to do everything to help this pregnancy sustain, but I also don't want to take anything unnecessarily. Anybody have any suggestions or experience?

[erthe_mama]

Vitex is unique in that it can help menstrual cycles and libidos regulate no matter what kind of hormonal imbalance exists, so I don't have any advice from personal experience aside that Vitex helped me to regulate my cycles outside of ttc. However, it is my professional opinion that if you don't have a progesterone deficiency, you're probably fine to wean off of it before the end of the first trimester.

Congratulations on your BFP!!!

[Amila]

I asked my naturopath what she recommended because i too used it and got preggo! She said stop taking it once you get pregnant. HTH

[steph66]

congrats on your BFP!! I took vitex to get pg with my first dd and I stopped cold turkey once I got my BFP and everything turned out okay, no problems during the pregnancy and shes a healthy four year old now. I think it's more of a personal choice if you have no history of hormone insufficiency. I hope you get more helpful advice to fuel your decision! good luck

[MaryLang]

My last two pregnancies I take it throughout the first trimester. I think I start weaning around 10wks, and am off it by the end of12 wks.

[babymango]

I don't know that there is a definitive answer to that question, I read a lot about it and kind of went with my gut. I took it for similar reasons as you did (breastfeeding, irregular cycles, etc) and decided to stop taking it when i got my bfp.
The way I saw it was that while a miscarriage would be devastating, I would never be able to forgive myself if the Vitex I took in T1 had somehow harmed my child (not that there's any proof of harm either, but that's just how i felt)

[leahmn12]

Oh my gosh! I stopped checking my post because I didn't think anyone was ever going to respond! Thank you for your advice. I decided to follow my instincts that I probably don't need the vitex to sustain my pregnancy, so I weaned off of it over a couple of days. Now if I could just get over this crazy pregnancy-induced anxiety!