Negative Esperiences with Vitex?

[BabySmurf]

Hi all, I have a question for those of you who have used vitex and had negative experiences.  How long did it take for things to get back to normal?

[dakipode]

I have a suspicion that vitex was messing with my GI system, no serious side effects like headaches or blurred vision or anything, just things were not normal when I went to the bathroom (TMI?). I stopped taking it about a month ago and things seem to be evening out since last week.

[JustJenny]

I also had crazy GI issues along with migranes. I seemed to just feel off too. It took a few weeks for the intestinal stuff to stop. Migraines stopped pretty quickly. Hope you feel better soon....

[BabySmurf]

Thanks for your replies....I took it and in addition to the headaches, which I kind of expected, it made me super uber thirsty, at the same time stifling my hunger.  i only took it for about 5 days, but by the end of it i could tell the my electrolytes were off (feeling sick and still thirsty despite being hydrated), food was making me feel unwell, my urine was a weird color and started to smell funny.  Not good!

Anyway, I have been off of it for 4 days now, and the most severe symptoms are gone, my appetite came back yesterday so that is helping things a lot...I'm kind of worried that it pushed my fertility in the wrong direction too.  I really wish I looked into this more. 

[SweetMama34]

Yikes! I just ordered some...maybe I'll hold off on taking it...see what happens after a cycle or two.

[BabySmurf]

Yeah, it was kind of scary...and there are so many general threads on vitex, it takes forever to see if there are negatives about it...I would definitely try to find a practitioner with experience.  Like I said, it only took a couple of days for things to get weird, and I was only taking 1/3 of the dose recommended on the bottle. (I was taking a tincture). 
 

[stephbrownthinks]

For those of you with negative experiences: were you taking the tincture or capsules, and what dose?

[BabySmurf]

i was taking a tincture with a recommended dose of 90 drops 3x per day...i took 90 drops 1x per day for 4 days (30 drops on the first night) for a total of 5 days.

[LivingSky]

I've been taking a pill version (recommended dose 2-4 capsules per day, 80mg capsules) and have not noticed any serious side effects. I do agree it may have been messing with my GI tract a bit but nothing bad, just different.

[JustJenny]

I was taking 3 - 80mg capsules a day for almost 2 months before I gave up. This was definitely not the herb for me. I'm doing well this month on Maca. You can see the thread here: http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1361684/anyone-tried-maca-for-fertility#post_17118528  It doesn't work for everyone either...but I feel like its helped me so far.  Keep trying til ya find something that works