I'm new here and am enjoying posting and getting to know everyone. I just recently found out I am pregnant (for the first time) but for over 2 years I dealt with infertility and irregular cycles. I wanted to share a few of the things I did to help myself:
1. Chart, chart, chart. Understanding my cycle, my body and fertility signs were the number one reason I succeeded. Know your cervical fluid patterns. Chart your basal body temperature. Use cheap LH strips to help predict ovulation and confirm the fertility signs you see. I bought a book called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" (about $13 bucks on half.com) which was absolutely wonderful and some charting software to help (ovusoft.com) but only 'cause I'm a computer geek.
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2. Eat healthy. I have always been thin but also always had terribly high cholesterol (250!) I started a healthy diet low in saturated fat, with lots of fruits and veggies - many organic. I cut out all boxed foods with perservatives, MSG, etc. My cholesterol dropped to 149 and I felt better than I ever had. I think this dietary change was key in regulating my cycles. I recently found out that I have MS so the diet I follow is the Swank Diet but it is a diet anyone who wants to be healther can use. In fact, I don't even think of it as a "diet" now, it is just "how I eat."
3. Reduce stress. Meditate, relax... visualize your body doing what you want it to do.
4. I cut out aluminum based deodorant. Yeah, yeah, I know this might not have had anything to do with it but then again, who knows?
5. Consider vitamins if you think you aren't getting enough. Mega-doses of anything are probably bad but calcium, magnesium, B vitamins and especially vitamin D are things you might want to consider supplementing (and what I took)-http://www.womentowomen.com/nutritio...s/vitamind.asp is a good article I found on Vitamin D. I recommend taking only what you think you need based on diet review and skipping the all-in-one vitamins.
6. Don't let the doctors get to you even if you feel your clock is ticking. If you don't feel comfortable becoming aggressive with fertility treatments, don't. My doctor recommended an invasive dye test to check my tubes and a brain altering drug to lower prolactin levels that were only a teeny bit elevated and by his own admission, likely not the cause of my infertlity. I declined and tried natural methods first. I am glad I did.
I don't know if this will help anyone and some of the suggestions are pretty common (like eat healthy and reduce stress - who hasn't heard those?) but I diligently did those things and they helped - and after two years of trying and many prior years of only using the withdrawal method as birth control, I was really beginning to wonder what my problem was.
Oh, one more thing.
7. Completely ignore all of those people who tell you to relax and stop trying so hard to get pregnant. It is diligence and commitment to lifestyle changes and understanding my cycles that helped me succeed.
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1. Chart, chart, chart. Understanding my cycle, my body and fertility signs were the number one reason I succeeded. Know your cervical fluid patterns. Chart your basal body temperature. Use cheap LH strips to help predict ovulation and confirm the fertility signs you see. I bought a book called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" (about $13 bucks on half.com) which was absolutely wonderful and some charting software to help (ovusoft.com) but only 'cause I'm a computer geek.
2. Eat healthy. I have always been thin but also always had terribly high cholesterol (250!) I started a healthy diet low in saturated fat, with lots of fruits and veggies - many organic. I cut out all boxed foods with perservatives, MSG, etc. My cholesterol dropped to 149 and I felt better than I ever had. I think this dietary change was key in regulating my cycles. I recently found out that I have MS so the diet I follow is the Swank Diet but it is a diet anyone who wants to be healther can use. In fact, I don't even think of it as a "diet" now, it is just "how I eat."
3. Reduce stress. Meditate, relax... visualize your body doing what you want it to do.
4. I cut out aluminum based deodorant. Yeah, yeah, I know this might not have had anything to do with it but then again, who knows?
5. Consider vitamins if you think you aren't getting enough. Mega-doses of anything are probably bad but calcium, magnesium, B vitamins and especially vitamin D are things you might want to consider supplementing (and what I took)-http://www.womentowomen.com/nutritio...s/vitamind.asp is a good article I found on Vitamin D. I recommend taking only what you think you need based on diet review and skipping the all-in-one vitamins.
6. Don't let the doctors get to you even if you feel your clock is ticking. If you don't feel comfortable becoming aggressive with fertility treatments, don't. My doctor recommended an invasive dye test to check my tubes and a brain altering drug to lower prolactin levels that were only a teeny bit elevated and by his own admission, likely not the cause of my infertlity. I declined and tried natural methods first. I am glad I did.
I don't know if this will help anyone and some of the suggestions are pretty common (like eat healthy and reduce stress - who hasn't heard those?) but I diligently did those things and they helped - and after two years of trying and many prior years of only using the withdrawal method as birth control, I was really beginning to wonder what my problem was.
Oh, one more thing.
7. Completely ignore all of those people who tell you to relax and stop trying so hard to get pregnant. It is diligence and commitment to lifestyle changes and understanding my cycles that helped me succeed.
