[boogieandbeansmom]

Just wondering if any of you are doing anything alternative, or nutrition based to help you conceive????

I've been doing the usuals - raspberry leaf tea to help balance my hormones, evening primrose oil for cervical mucous and taking zinc to support my adrenal glands so that the don't rob the progesterone my body is producing to combat stress. My doctor also sent me to a clinic that does saliva testing and nutritional counselling with a focus on reproductive health. they had an interesting theory that when the digestive tract gets burdened with toxins, it can't absorb nutrients properly, and impacts ALL body functions, not just fertility. Through the saliva testing, they told me one of my fallopian tubes had toxins, as well as one of my adrenal glands and a few parts of my digestive tract. saliva testing has just been approved by the fda for accuracy and is apparently the blood test of the future... So they gave me water based remedies (similar to homeopathy?) to help clear the toxins. They say I will be able to absorb more of what i eat and supplement with. Our gp, who encourages natural approaches, said that this therapy has worked for a lot of people. So - my fingers are crossed that this will work, as assisted is just too expensive for us!

If anyone else has other information that may help, please let me know. Wish me luck. My husband is commuting 24 hours this weekend just to be home for 36 hours, hoping that i ovulate! I'm going to keep him busy!

[KDD]

I'm very hesitant about supplements as many can do harm instead of good. I do get regular chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture, but not specifically for fertility.

[Celry]

I went to an acupuncturist for fertility and was prego within about three months. I also had a laparoscopy and D&C during that time, which I know helped my fertilized eggs to implant. My acupuncturist was big on nutrition. She wanted me to cut most wheat and dairy out of my diet. That's a lot easier to do than you may think. Doing this made total sense to me since a bunch of my family members are allergic to both of those. I already eat very healthy, but she had me change a few other things. She wanted me to add a little meat into my diet since I was eating very little of it. She gave me a list of foods I should be eating and when I should eat those during my cycle. I also got a list of things I should avoid. Both lists were specific for me and the issues she said I was having. She was awesome and forewarned me not to go crazy with the food lists. She said they were a guideline and not to only eat what was listed and that I didn't have to completely avoid the things on the no-no list. I also took herbs from her. Some times they were things she mixed herself and other times they were in pill form. She changed what I needed by week depending on where I was in my cycle and what she found during my treatments. She never had me take herbs or get acupuncture the 2 week of my LP.

Before all of this, I had done multiple rounds of clomid. I wish the clomid had worked for me, but it wasn't doing much except making me crazy. The acupuncture allowed me to O on my own with a huge temp spike and it was starting to regulate my cycles. I am a huge believer in eastern medicine though and think part of its effectiveness is how open to it you are. I figure people in China have been using these methods for thousands of years with success and they work with your body, not forcing your body to do something with synthetic drugs. That being said, the modern fertility drugs work awesome for some people and I was going to go back on them after the first of this year if I wasn't pregnant.

If you haven't already done so, I suggest you read the book The Infertility Cure by Dr. Randine Lewis. It's a great book that I think you'd enjoy. My acupuncturist has studied under Dr. Lewis, so I felt completely comfortable with her treating me.

[boogieandbeansmom]

celry - thank you for your response. I, too think that if the chinese have been practicing something for so long that there must be something to it. An acupuncturist saved my brother's life after he was sent home to die, so my faith in their practice is great. That is interesting about the wheat and dairy. I will pick up the book this week. Did the book deal much with diet? Thanks again for your post!