Success Stories!

Tell us about any successes you have had while taking herbals!

[rubyinparadise]

Great idea for a group! I was lucky enough to conceive naturally two months after a 1st trimester miscarriage. I will preface this with a huge caveat that I was under the care of a naturopath, and did not self-prescribe any of these supplements.

Natural supplements can be just as powerful as drugs-- which after all, are simply synthetic versions of natural compounds, that have been created so that they can be patented! If you self-prescribe an herb that actually does not address your *specific* fertility issue(s), you run the risk of doing much more harm than good to your chances.

For example, a lot of women TTC read about taking DHEA supplements. It turned out my DHEA levels were already off the charts, so if had just blindly started adding more DHEA to my protocol, I would have thrown my hormonal system further off balance.

I would strongly encourage anyone considering holistic fertility treatments to talk to a qualified naturopath or nutritionist first!!

Here's the protocol I was on, and this protocol was to address the specific endocrine system issues of adrenal fatigue, hypothyroid and low progesterone, which were diagnosed via saliva testing done at a professional lab.

Simply One Prenatal Vitamin (sold at Whole Foods)
Wheat Germ Oil Fortified (Standard Process brand)
Chlorophyll Complex Perles (Standard Process brand)
Isocort (adrenal supplement)
Vitamin D3 - 5000IU/day - (Metabolic Maintenance brand)
Probiotic pearls
Calcium/magnesium supplement

Other recommendations of my naturopath were to avoid caffeine and alcohol, acidic foods such as wheat and dairy, and to focus my diet on organic fruits, vegetables, a variety of proteins including grain-fed animal protein, beans, nuts and seeds, and to avoid soy products entirely. I also traded in my intense workouts for mellower forms of exercise, because of my adrenal fatigue. Finally, she recommended I get my daily water intake up to at least 10 glasses of purified water per day.

In addition, I was receiving acupuncture once per week, and the acupuncturist's diagnosis was surprisingly in sync with my naturopath's "western" diagnosis. On the TCM side, my acupuncturist also diagnosed fatigue, and the need to boost Blood, so her treatments focused on that.

Yes, it did cost me to see the naturopath and acupuncturist, but it was nowhere near the thousands I would have spent for IVF, etc.-- which we could not have afforded in any case. And I got the added bonus of feeling better physically than I had ever felt in my life!!

[rubyinparadise]

Whoops! Forgot that the naturopath also put me on 1/2tsp natural progesterone cream 2 times per day. When I conceived, she lowered it to 1/4tsp 1 time per day until I reached 12 weeks. Again-- I actually had my hormones tested and that revealed low progesterone. I would strongly encourage everyone to have their thyroid and adrenal function tested as well as their progesterone, because they all interact in very complex ways. If the adrenals are pooped and your thyroid is low-functioning, then simply boosting your progesterone is not really addressing the root issue. BEST of luck to everyone out there TTC!!!

[Preciouspg]

Totally agree.

[tarajanes]

Hi ladies just wanted to drop in and share my experiences with you.Im 36 years old,I have a 16 year old son already,we have been trying for 8 years to have another.we had alot of fertility tests done in the beginning,to be told secondary infertility,which is very common.so we were told ivf was our only option,as you all know its very expensive,so we plodded along.having fun trying,then starting in 2006 i started googling different herbs etc.firstly i extended my luteal phase very importanbt part,to substain pregnancy.timed O exactly .and got pregnant but was eptopic that was 2006.since then we tried everything clomid the lot.nothing worked 6 miscarriages later,we started fertilitea tea.Oh and made hubby take fertilaid for men,zinc very good for sperm (he had low morhology) vit e also good for sperm and vit c.yep he was rattling like a chemist,the tea tastes disqusting.but it worked,and im now 19 weeks pregnant.i recommend the tea for all.sorry long,but want to give you all hope.