Over 40 ttc - summer baby dust for me!

[Orchid222]

Ladies here's our new thread!

I was about to start evening primrose but I thought I'd better not while I eliminate the L-Arginine... Best to do one thing at a time so I know what's causing what. So now I take folic acid, a multivitamin, vitamin C, maca and ubiquinol. Oh, and calcium and vit D. Still seems a lot !

I took them after my anovulatory cycle on days 2-7, I ovulated later than normal by up to a week, but they did get my cycle up and running again as my body had got into a bit of a pickle and didn't know what it was doing. I used them for about 4 cycles and ovulated each time. I would personally use them again if I had ovulation problems

Dickybow - what was the problem with royal jelly?

Hi all
Hope everyone is doing ok and enjoying this lovely weather 😊 Great test line @Weasledee - go ahead and pounce on DH quick!

It is in the chapter under 'supplements that may do more harm than good' :
Royal Jelly Royal jelly is a substance secreted by worker bees to provide food for the queen bee. This jelly is thought to contain hormones that make the queen bee extremely fertile and increase her lifespan. Based on this natural role, royal jelly has long been recommended as an alternative medicine in the fertility context. Just like pycnogenol, royal jelly is a mixture of compounds not naturally found in the human body. At the time of writing, no good-quality clinical research supports the use of royal jelly in improving egg quality, and it has been found to occasionally cause life-threatening allergic reactions. These allergic reactions likely occur because royal jelly contains some of the same allergens found in bee venom.2 In addition, because royal jelly contains a mixture of chemicals that act like hormones, it may have unpredictable effects and disrupt natural hormone balance.3 Given the uncertain benefit and side effects, royal jelly cannot be recommended as part of a regime to naturally improve fertility.

L-Arginine is in the chapter too.

Pycnogenol (I've not come across this) is in the chapter as well.

Mellon wrote ..."know what you mean about the ache. I'm knackered a lot of the time. My practical head says stick at one, we are too old. But then my ovaries take over and I get the ache...'
That i am totally feeling Mellon! AF has got me a record 1 week earlier than expected! I was doing my best to not think about it, believing i had another week to wait of my 2ww, but she just crept up on me the sly bitch!!
my dream of an early spring baby for 2019 is now slipping. There's no way i wanted to be heavily preg during a heatwave so i had to conceive this month or next...

Aw Booseys I’m so sorry:( I know that feeling only too well.

Cleo - thanks for that. I’m going to give my body a few weeks to see if it can sort itself out with just acupuncture and reflexology (bliss, just love reflexology), minimal supplements and try to relax a little. Then if no joy I’m definitely going to try the soy. It’s sounds like it’d be just what I need.

Dicky - that’s so interesting about royal jelly and l’arginine. I think a lot of these websites and stores are trying to convince us desperate people to buy stuff without us really knowing if it’s right for us or even good for fertility. I often read the website natural fertility.com and they constantly go on about the benefits of Vitex, Maca, Royal jelly, various vitamins & other herbs but all with links to their online store....hmm...

I think I might have not enough progesterone or too much oestrogen. That would explain the stupidly heavy periods. I've suffered this since I was about 30 so it's not an age thing. I had the Mirena but piled on weight so had it removed and accidently got pregnant in 2009 when it was removed.i didn't realise you should abstain a week before removal. I was waiting for my first period after removal and it didn't arrive. My mum is a bit of a psychic and told me she had dreamt I was pregnant. She had no idea I had the Mirena in or had it removed. In fact weeks before I had it removed she kept telling me I was pregnant. But I had the Mirena in so smugly thought haha mum, you are so are so far off the mark! My marriage was in a terrible place so I don't even remember us doing it. Neither did he.

Because she had dreamt I was pregnant when I actually was with my second child (I live 200 miles from her so no way she could have guessed... in fact I had only just done a test and found out when she called me to say this ) my missing period in 2009 prompted me to do a test, even though I thought it was just my cycle trying to get back to normal after removal. I did a test and I was pregnant! Miscarried at 8 weeks.

littlemimosa that's where I've got a lot of my info from at first! And how I started popping large amounts of supplements! It's the reading I'm doing a 'cleanse'.

Ohhh sorry @BooseysMom. Another cycle begins. I think you won't mind being pregnant in a heatwave should it happen. You'll be stoked.

I think I'm ovulating because I have an ache in my right side. I don't usually monitor ovulation aches but it would be a couple of days early if it is. Unfortunately DH isn't "available " until Thursday!!!!!

Different work patterns btw

Yes cleozeta, I am sure you are right, that supplements make sense for a specific issue. I’m terrible at self diagnosing tho via google - not sure that’s always helpful!

That is such a strong line! I never get them that strong.

Morning ladies hope everyone is doing well. I haven't posted much as I've been away but I've been reading everything. Agreed on the supplements- I can see Cleo's point but also our grandmothers and great grandmothers were having children in their 40's without any supplements so clearly it can work without them but feeling the pressure of age we want to help ourselves as much as possible and start taking more supplements than we need.
Not much to report on my side but I do have a question. Is it possible to ovulate while still bleeding from a mc? I'm not really bleeding anymore, it's just spotting and a bit of brown discharge but this is day 16 and I only started opks today because I forgot to take them when I went away. I'd normally get a positive opk around cd18 and when I had a scan last Thursday my ob-gyn said things were starting to move but I wasn't close to ov yet. I rely hope I didn't miss it but wondering how long to use the opks for since they are expensive and the cheapies never work for me.

@Orchid222 - I think it's unlikely that you will ovulate while still bleeding, but not totally impossible if it's old blood as could just be taking it's time to come out. I know from my last (natural) miscarriage I was thrown out by quite a bit - my cycle was about a week longer than usual and my temping didn't show a rise that month, so I suspect I didn't actually ovulate the cycle immediately after miscarriage, which I believe can happen while your body is recovering.
Do you get any other signs of ov? I get EWCM so that helps me to know if it's coming - and I did have some spotting mixed in with that the next but one cycle after my miscarriage but bleeding from period had stopped a few days before. Hopefully you will ov soon, but it could be a bit delayed x

Interesting info about royal jelly dickybow, I've been taking that a while now with no adverse effects. No idea weather it's helping or for but I guess it'd be the first one I'd drop.
Love that story about your psychic mum!! I love things like that! At least you won't need to bother buying any tests, just wait for the call

Boosey, sorry to hear af got you. I wonder why it came a week early? Are you stressed? Are you sure you ov'd when you thought you did? What is your usual lp?

Hello, can I join in? 43, ttc#1. My great grandma had #9 at 49 so fingers crossed.

Thank you to Little, Mellon & Cleo for your commiserations.
Mellon: ...you're right, i would def be stoked if it sticks! !
Btw I usually get ov cramps in my right side too. Typically DH not available when you need him!!
Cleo:... Thank you. Well i'm almost always 28 days and sometimes only 1 day earlier or over. I maybe completely mis-timed ov. I never use opks since the last were ones were so unreliable. I've had faint lines but never such a strong line as the photo on here! I've been ill with a cold bug thing but well used to those. Had thyroid and hormone tests done recently. .all normal.
But maybe i'm now starting to go into the dreaded peri-menopause! i mean i am now over 46!!

I have a question?!

I have been having ewcm since yesterday morning. It normally lasts three days or so (not actually sure how long). At what point is ovulation actually taking place? Would it be yesterday when it started, today or tomorrow?

Thanks

@mellongoose - it's caused by your estrogen rising which peaks at ov - so it's likely that you ovulate on the last day of it rather than the first - but there's always the issue that it may take time to make its way down from your cervix, so it's not an accurate science. Having done IVF you become very conscious of the EWCM when on stimulation as the stims cause your estrogen to be unusually high and I certainly noticed I had buckets of the stuff! 🙈

Thanks Hobbes! Hopefully I haven't ovulated yet and I'll be a bit delayed like you were. I get some ov aches but that's about it, never had much EWCM hence relying purely on opks. I had a bit more EWCM since I started drinking greipfruit juice and taking epo but there wasn't much even with that and I'm now not even taking epo, I was going to wait until next cycle to start. Anyway, I supposed I'll do opks for about a week or so and see what happens. I'd love to have buckets of EWCM btw! :)

Welcome Lapsed. 49, amazing! I think you just gave a lot of us much needed hope! My grandmother had her #7 at nearly 45 but 49 is amazing, see Booseys, next to that you're a spring chicken! :)

I'd love to contact my friend, his father and he have traced their whole family (not just immediate family but everyone they could find) and my friend has a database with data on all of them covering centuries. It'd be amazing to see how many women in that database had children in their 40's, I bet there were a lot! I just can't think how to ask him to check without raising suspicions...

Orchid it's definitely possible to start fw while still bleeding brown. When I had my scan after my mc that said I had a 21mm folicle ready to go, I was at the tail end of the brow. I think it stopped that day, so keep doing the opk's!

Mellon - it's usually the later end of ewcm. I tend to ov a day or 2 after it's dried up.

Welcome lapsed, that's a very positive start!

Boosey - i remember having a few cycles with week early af when I was ttc dd (at 35!) I think it was stress (ttc related) but I guess it could be anything! Bodies are such a mystery.

Oh Cleo I hope I didn't miss it then! Only started opks today....but hoping it's still to come since I always ovulate on the later side plus I haven't had any ov pains so fingers crossed it's still to come.

BooseysMom I hadn't heard of Patau syndrome either until it happened to me, it affects 1 in 5,000 women and there is no known reasoning behind it, it's a rare genetic disorder where there is an extra copy of a chromosome. It's just one of those things that happens (there is a lot of info on NHS site about it) but the risks also increase with age. No cure for it but i'm a firm believer in my faith and I believe that God did the best thing by taking our baby away so baby wouldn't suffer anymore. In our religion we also believe that if a woman loses a baby in pregnancy then when we pass away, the baby is waiting at the gates of heaven to welcome us in. I like to hold onto that thought and know that my little boy is up there being looked after by my relatives and friends who have passed away.