Soy Isoflavones..yay or nay?

[moly39x]

Been doing some research on soy isoflavones & I didn't know what people's opinions are?

I have a 35 day cycle, ovulate between CD17-21 - currently 7th month in of TTC after 1 early loss at 5 week in October.

Do people have any experience with taking them? I read the following on an old thread here about with CD to take them..

My concerns are; I have little/none EWCM (have conceive plus lube) but I get positive OPK every month (temping just stressed me out which I decided would do more harm?!) and I'm sure soy iso is to help ovulate? But now I've read the below, it looks as though it can help the egg. I'm cautious about messing up my cycle so was just looking to hear other people's experience.

Here's the info I've read here (have lots more saved in my notes if people want to see about the dose etc if interest) :)

Thank you x

1-5 = you produce more eggs, and ovulate sooner, with a stronger ovulation.

2-6 = you produce more eggs that usual, but not as many as taking it 1-5. Eggs may be more mature, and ovulation will be slightly more strong than 1-5.

3-7 = The best of both worlds, a few more eggs, and all eggs will be strong & mature, and ovulation will be alot stronger than 1-5.

4-8 = No more eggs will be produced, but the ones already there, will be matured alot more than usual, and ovulation will be very strong. Ovulation may only be brought forward a teeny bit.

5-9 = You'll have one very mature strong egg, from the ones you already produced on your own. Ovulation will either happen when it usually does, or a few days later, but your egg will be of great quality.

Ladies I am so upset today. I got my Day 21 progesterone results back. I was so sure that my results would be high as a result of the soy iso. Well I was WRONG... they are low AGAIN. I can't believe it. I'm just in shock.

My GP kept asking me if I timed it correctly and yes, I did it on exactly 7dpo so it should have been at my peak progesterone level.

I had my progesterone first tested back in January and it was low, but I thought it was a one-off because I hadn't had any ovulation symptoms that month. This month I actually had ovulation cramps EWCM, and a blazing positive OPK, plus I took a high dose of the Soy Isoflavones and my progesterone is even lower. I even had all of this unbearable symptoms like boob pain and acne, which I thought was because of the higher progesterone? But apparently not?! I just feel so defeated. I just don't understand why I'm not ovulating but I'm still getting very regular periods. Are the OPKs giving me fake peaks? Ahhh I'm just so confused. Sorry for the rant.

@acaciabluebell sorry to hear you’re having a hard time. I ovulated last month and my progesterone came back at 19.8 nmol which was low (30 nmol needed to confirm ovulation) however I KNOW i ovulated because I had a positive OPK and a sustained temp rise. What was your progesterone result ? I reckon you probably did ovulate but if you’re like me and have a short leutal phase you probs have low progesterone.

Also it’s my experience that sore boobs after ovulation indicate progesterone deficiency (estrogen dominance). I know this because I had sore boobs every month after coming off the pill and then the cycle I started the vit B6 I didn’t get any sore boobs and I got a BFP.

@choccrumpet I’ve also started exercising consistently this cycle and cut out added sugar completely. I definitely feel better and it is helping me mentally too. I just wish I could relax a bit more around ovulation instead of obsessing about whether I’ve ovulated or not and obsessing about timing it right. I think DH is getting a bit fed up as I am always mentioning that I’m ovulating and jumping the gun (panic mode) and then the next day I’m like ‘I’ve not ovulated yet I think it will be today’ and then it’s pressure to BD. I think I need to just keep all things fertility to myself going forward and not mention the O word haha.

When I say pressure to BD I mean pressure to BD again because I jumped the gun too early 😂

@acaciabluebell please rant away. Its horrible to hear negative results, and we all understand here. It really sucks. Really sorry about the progesterone. What did your doctor say could treat it? There are lots of ladies that have had really good results with progesterone prescriptions and with clomid.

@Slk3558 what did the Dr suggest for you for your progesterone out of interest?

I don't know about the sore boobs and acne being related to either estrogen or progesterone. My Flo app says I'll likely have sore boobs and acne during ovulation because of estrogen, and then says I'll likely have sore boobs and acne after ovulation also because of progesterone. They're right, I pretty much have sore boobs for a full two weeks

@acaciabluebell that sounds really frustrating! Is there anything the doctor can do to help you with increasing it if that's what you need to do?

Ive heard progesterone bloods can also be unreliable and that progesterone fluctuates multiples times during the day so you need to get a few bloods done to get an accurate reading. Is this not true? I've not heard of anyone else mentioning this after I read it somewhere. Is it accurate to go by one blood test in the same cycle?

@Slk3558 I know exactly what you mean! I've had to just let it go and if we don't time it right and we're not in the mood to just let whatever happens be, otherwise my partner gets annoyed at me, I get annoyed at him and it doesn't help. This cycle we're trying later on rather than starting early so we don't get tired too early 😅 I feel the same every cycle though, it's hard not to so al now trying to take a more relaxed mental approach. And I don't tell my partner much about my ovulation, sometimes after it happens so as not to put him off 🤣 apparently me taking about my cervical mucus doesn't put him in the mood, who would have known 😂😂

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 slightly off topic, I've turned my Flo notifications on expecting to hear little nuggets of information or insight into my cycle and am still yet to get one, I'm so disappointed!

Sorry I haven't been around much had a lot going on here. Totally confused this month on my non soy month as my opk strips say I had high on Saturday, cb are still saying ⭕️ but I didn't start them until late as they didn't arrive on time and my temps have gone crazy and are low 🤦🏼‍♀️ attaching my mental chart - it's decided I ovulated a few days ago but don't think it's right. I'll catch up on the chat in a bit 😊

Would help if I attached the chart 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️

@choccrumpet sometimes I get the notifications pop up, other times I get it via my CD articles. Do you get those?

@Marvellouslymadmum I’m confused by your chart. You had a big rise, so it looks like you could have ovulated, but I don’t get the last two temperatures makes no sense for them to drop to that. Have you any theories?

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 I've got the free version so literally no content. Maybe you've got the paid for version so that could be why?

@Marvellouslymadmum this isn't helpful in any way but my first graph looked similar to that when I tried temping so that encouraged me to give up 🙃 could it be that your body tried to ovulate but didn't succeed so may try again another time in this cycle?

@choccrumpet yup the paid version, get recipes and videos and articles. Prob not worth the money but nice to have something to look at while I’m obsessing over my chart 😂

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 I've got no clue!! All I can think is failed ovulation, I've had this before when I get a rise then goes back down and up and down

@choccrumpet it could be that, I've had charts like this before!

@Marvellouslymadmum what’s your temperature today? You had almost a half a degree rise in Celsius that stayed up for three days so I’d take that as ovulation, because you must have had some progesterone to increase to that? But it’s no where near your temps of last month for luteal phase.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 it's nowhere near my temps of any month! It's 36.43 today which is more like my fp temp they're usually in the 36.30/40's in fp and 36.50/60's plus in the Lp it's like they've gone backwards! When would you say ovulation could've been?

I would have said the 18th or 19th possibly, because there’s a dip before ovulation. But with the temperature today I can’t see that you would have, because you wouldn’t have a three day fallback. Can the smear affect things do you know?

I’m having the exact same ovulation pattern as last month, I had a positive opk on Monday afternoon, positive opk yesterday morning ..negative by yday afternoon. Naturally assumed I would have ovulated yday or last night but no temp rise this morning. I’m so confused? Why is it taking me so long to get the egg out . My ovulation used to be straight forward, positive opk, ov pains next day, temp rise day after.

Do you think I did ovulate yday and it’s just a delayed temp rise?

@choccrumpet I did it again last night !! My partner asked me where I was up to and I told him it’s too late now I’ve ovulated today no point it’ll be too late 😂 we baby danced anyway and here I am this morning with no temp rise !!! Probs ovulate today.

@Slk3558 that's so frustrating! I can totally see the benefits of temping as you get so much insight but I don't think I could deal with all the worrying it's causing, I'm trying to be more zen about this and potentially ignorant since I don't get that insight into my cycle 🤷🏼‍♀️ there's no right way to do this is there. Hope you both get more clarity soon @Marvellouslymadmum

@Slk3558 I don’t know, maybe you had a failed ovulation and your body will gear up again? Or some women don’t get large temp spikes?

Here’s my chart - can see I got a drop and a small temp rise when I got my 1st positive opk, but then I obviously didn’t ovulate then, because I got my proper temp rise a few days later. You and I seem to be having similar issues

@Slk3558 I am using the CB pink ones (LH only) and I’m wondering if they are not showing me a proper peak after what you said previously. I used the same ones the last two months and got one or two days max positive. But something seems off this month

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 your chart looks spot on. That’s how my pre mc charts used to look!
See my chart from Jan when I got my BFP looks like yours and then look at this cycle, I know I haven’t ovulated if I get a morning temp of 36.44 or something along that because my post ov is always above 36.70.

Regarding the clear blue digi pink I used to use them and used it the month I got my first BFP. They’re fine they have a LH threshold it’s those dodgy advanced ones which aren’t good because they don’t have an LH threshold they just go by your previous LH the day before and stores it and detects a change. Not good for people with gradual LH rises where it rises gradual over the space of 4-5 days!

Forgot to post my charts.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 Regarding the positive opks I don’t know why you got so many days of positives but that is deffo similar to what’s happening to me atm.

See from that big spike you’d think I ovulated but I didn’t because for me ovulation means going above my coverline, this morning back down to 36.44 so not that spike must have been a fluke . Also felt some sharp ovulation pains a few minutes ago. No idea what’s going on with me..

@Slk3558 yeah your first chart is textbook. I'm sorry, so stressful. Under 98 degrees doesn't look like a post ov temperature. The acupuncturist I'm seeing said (she's a fertility specialist) that the majority of her clients are in a few months post-miscarriage with hormonal imbalances, so I think it must be a very common thing. My GP said it was also, and nothing they can do, as it can take several months to go back to normal. But then some people can fall pregnant again very quickly afterwards, so I don't know.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 yeah, I agree not ovulated as 36.44 is my pre ov temp there abouts. No idea what’s going on with my body but I’m getting very frustrated with it. Tempted to go an buy opk to see if I’m having another surge but it was def negative yesterday afternoon. This delay in OV causes a lot of pressure and anxiety, at least once you’re in the tww you know that you’ve given it your best shot and it’s not in our hands anymore. But waiting to ov is so annoying . It must be caused by my miscarriages that’s all I can think of as used to be predictable and not erratic like it is now.