Fertitlity enhancing herbs, spices, supplements?

[Bean Mama]

Does anyone know of any herbs or supplements that are supposed to be helful in increasing fertility?

DH and I are both taking zinc.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

XOXOX

[cathe]

There is an excellent book you should read called "Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year" by Susun Weed. Not only does it have lots of herbal helps for pregancy and post natal but it does have fertility "promoters". Here are some herbs and supplements she recommends - Red Clover, Nettle, Red Raspberry, Dong Quai root, and False Unicorn root. She also mentions the importance of calcium, magnesium and vitamin E. In her book she lists sources and more information.

[Bean Mama]

Thank you so much, cathe! That is great info.

[Cedarah]

There is also Vitex/Chasteberry. I'm about to start it, and I have a friend who wasn't o'ing, even on clomid, who is now pg with twins.

[Quirky]

There was a thread somewhere - by Sahara maybe, about having to get rid of her bed? and in that thread there was a link to a study that showed that women who drank black tea were more likely to get pregnant than women who drank coffee or other beverages. I will see if I can find it for you.

edited to add:found the link!

[Jodie]

Cedarah~ I've wondered about vitex, I haven't been O'ing lately.
I'm just recently taking an herbal blend called FCSII to balance my cycle.
But O'ing seems to be my trouble now. How long was your friend on Vitex before she O'ed and got pregnant?

[Shakti]

About the Vitex - how/how much do you take???

Desperately yours,

Patti

[Jodie]

Saw my herbalist today. Didn't mention chaste tree berry or anything. Just told her I wasn't O'ing and wanted help in that area. She tested me on some different blends and came up with a chaste tree and wild yam combo. So I'm going to try that for a while, along with a more healthful diet, exercise, and plenty of relaxing and having fun!

If your interested in which herbs and stuff that will work best for you, I would recomend finding an experienced herbalist. Just my 2 cents.

[EnviroBecca]

I've been taking vitex for a long time w/no clear effect and a lot of confusion!!! I started out assuming that the dosage on the bottle of capsules (40 mg) was correct. Then, when I bought the next bottle, it said dosage was 100 mg. Then, I bought THE SAME BRAND as the previous time, and they'd upped their dosage to 400 mg without explanation!!! (Maybe it was a misprint when they redesigned the label? The capsules seem exactly the same, and dosage is still 1 capsule/day.)

Most herbal references I've found don't mention dosage at ALL. : The only references I or my midwife could find said 30-50 mg/day but of alcohol extract; we weren't sure whether that would be the same for capsules. Finally I bought the extract and have been taking ~40 mg/day of that...but the label on that says to take 2,000 mg/day!

Anyway, I felt encouraged when I O'd and bled 3 months after I started taking vitex, which is about as long as everyone says it takes to start working. It happened again after 2 months, which is not too bad by my standards. But nothing's happened since then, except that after 2 months my estrogen level went up and stayed up, but I'm not pregnant. It's now 6 weeks later, and I'm taking progesterone to induce a period just to get things going again.

I don't know if it's not working because I was taking too much, or if vitex can't fix what's wrong w/me. Advice on dosage would be much appreciated!!!

[Sahara]

You might like the book "Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition" by Marilyn Shannon. Lots of good stuff in there about different vitamin supplements for different cycle irregularities, and general nutritional counseling. She doesn't talk much about herbs from what I've read so far, but she does discuss the diet of the nursing mother in detail, and what supplements will help boost your progesterone and lengthen your LP.
Waking baby, gotta go!
Steph

[Jodie]

~Envirobecca
My herbalist suggested that I take 3 capsules in the morning and 3 in the evening. The bottle says take 1-2 with meal twice a day. They are 347mg each. I went with the herblist and started taking 2082mg a day. Keep in mind I am taking a chaste tree(vitex) and wild yam combo. Just started this on Monday so I'll let you know what happens.

[Yin Yang]

Gynex

This one is fantastic for people TTC: available at www.energy.sk/usa
GYNEX
The Energy bio-information preparations affect a human body in several levels at the same time. While the active substances act directly on organs and processes in our body, the information factors obliterate a cause of illness in the information field through bio-resonance.

[gonnabeamom]

I've read up a fair amount on this, Nettle, Rasberry Leaf, and Red Clover come up fairly often. They should be taken as teas daily. They are also general uterine tonics, high in a wide range of vitamins and minerals, and safe. (Of course too much of anything can be bad, a friend was told by a clinician about seeing someone who was turning orange because of drinking too much carrot juice)

Many alternative practioners think that undiagnosed vitamin/mineral deficiencies can contributed to infertility, so having a good diet can help. Healthy Parents, Better Babies is a good book geared towards women in the UK and Australia that relates tales of getting women pregnant by add whole wheat bread and a vegetable to their diet. I just wish it was that easy.

I've heard vitamin b, and vitamin E touted, but no clear dosages.

I take vitex the 2nd half of my cycle because my pregesterone was on the low side of normal and my luteal phase was short. So far no baby, but I did get a smoother more "Normal" cycle. I question taking Vitex all the time, becuase you need Estrogen the first half of the cycle, and Estrogen/progestrone are supposed to be balanced (that is too much of one can supress the other). I take the tincture 10-15 drops in hot water once a day. The dosage comes off the bottle.

I'd welcome somebody who know's more explain why Vitex works if taken the whole time.

[Sahara]

This is from the book I mentioned above, Fertility Cycles and Nutrition...

200-300 mg vitamin B6 and 500-800 mg magnesium in a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of calcium to magnesium. Reported toxicity for B6 begins at 500 mg, but author suggests nutritional counseling should be considered over 200 mg.
Vitamin E - 400-800 IU

I wish I knew more about the Vitex for you. I started with the nutritional/vitamin approach first, and conceived just as I was considering adding Vitex. I saw great differences in my cycle just by adding the B6.

Good luck!

Steph

[gonnabeamom]

I found a partial answer about vitex, while it can be used as a progesterone booster, it is also a hormone balancer, like red clover, and it's ilk.

Have to get my hands on that book, I thought I had a pretty good collection!

[gonnabeamom]

I picked up one of those free health magazines at the store when getting my vitamins today.

It had articles on folic acid, post partum nutrition, eating while pregnant, breast feeding, etc. I hope the universe is trying to tell me something.

Two interesting things came up:

1) Birth control pills suppress the absorption of folic acid.

2) A supplement called Rhodiola may help infertility by improving endocrine function. The article was written by an ND. A brief google came up with some decent looking back up for the supplement in general, but not all of them mentioned infertility. Anybody else heard about this?

[LazureFairie]

red raspberry & false unicorn are two of my favorites
I have also taken the Fertility Blend supplement for three cycles and I got pregnant (had a m/c though)
I am considering taking the Ovulex supplement, it is much more expensive though and dh needs to take the supplement blend for guys too (we have male factor)