The Vitex road begins...

[kristamiller]

Hi ladies!

My name is Krista and I'm new to this forum. I just turned 27 and my husband is about to be 28. We will have been married 6 years this April and we have been trying to conceive for 2, almost 3, years.

Ever since I started my period I've been irregular even when I was on birth control. I can sometimes go 3 months without having a cycle. The weird part is that i would get the symptoms for the period but never actually bleed. I've been off birth control for 3 years now. ANYWAY, so my husband and I both knew that conceiving was going to be a challenge. For a while we took the attitude that whenever the Lord was ready for us to have little's ones he would make it happen... well then a year past. After that mark we decided to get checked out to make sure our insides were in working order, which they are besides my irregular cycles.

Prayers continued and we also stared ovulation testing. That worked sometimes but I got really discouraged and depressed by it and knew that wasn't helping our efforts, so I stopped. After the second year mark passed we started looking into alternative medications. I do not want to use prescription drugs in this process. I want to conceive as naturally as I am able to. So after doing some research I found Vitex.

I've been taking Vitex now for a month and for the most part haven't had any side effects other than some weird uncomfortable cramps that come and go and my breasts are pretty much sore all the time. However, I haven't had a period yet and am not too sure whats going on there just because i know that it's supposed to regulate your cycle. Now before I started taking Vitex I hadn't had a cycle in two months... I'm wondering if it's just trying to catch me up somehow...

All to say, I would love some input on Vitex from any of you that have used it. I've done some side effect research and haven't really found anything that matches the weird cramps/empty feeling(?), if that makes sense, that I've had. From what I've read Vitex seems to be very effective and the majority of women who've take it get prego within 2 to 6 months. I'm not banking on that and am not getting my expectations high, but I'm trying to keep a positive attitude with continued prayer. My husband and I know that the Lord is faithful and HE alone only knows the perfect timing of our future baby.

Thanks ladies!

Krista

[MindlessChrissy]

Hi Krista and welcome to the boards. I'm not going to be very much help as this is my first full cycle of being on vitex. Hopefully someone stops by to help you out.

[babibelli]

hi Krista, welcome to MDC. well, to answer your q I used vitex and got pregnant within a month after coming off the pill. I'm 4 weeks pg right now-and am still taking it through 12 weeks to prevent mc.  Charting my cycle really seemed to help as well. Have you tried fertility friend?  Best of luck and many blessings to you in your TTC journey! Sending baby dust to you..
 

[baileymarie]

Hi Krista, I have been taking Vitex for just over a month and haven't had any noticeable side effect. However, like you my husband and I have been trying for a while (two years this month), and I am trying all kinds of things at this point. Vitex, maca, evening primrose oil, prenatals, B-complex, baby aspirin, zinc, omega-3, raspberry leaf, spirulina, psyllium, acidophilus, apple pectin . .  . it's kind of ridiculous, because like you said it is not really up to us! I'm following the "Making Babies" program right now, which others recommended here on the boards and I have found useful. Baby dust to you!

[kristamiller]

Thank you ladies! I'm excited to hit the message boards and see what's cooking there :0)

[jrose_lee]

Hey!  We conceived all three of our boys using vitex.  If I don't take it, my luteal phase is too short for implantation.  With all three of them we were able to get pregnant the first month of using vitex.  It's pretty great stuff!  With our last baby, I actually didn't even take it until I noticed that I started spotting too early after ovulation and I knew we would lose the baby if there even was one.  So, I hurried to take it.  The bleeding stopped immediately after I started on the vitex and come to find out we were pregnant!  I have never had any side effects with it.  Good luck!!!!!!
 

[kristamiller]

@jrose_lee Wow! That's awesome! I'm really hoping it works for me, however I'm getting concerned about the side effects I'm experiencing... I want to keep taking it but these cramps that it's giving me are pretty intense.