What else can I do for fertility - any ideas?

[Journey2022]

Hello,

New to here and TTC for 2 years. Went and did private fertility tests 5 months ago due to gp issues and long nhs wait to find no issues including doing a HyCoSy scan with no blockages. All good but left confused.

Goals so far for this year -
I was advised to get BMI down (I am a size 18) goal to loose 25ish lbs my aim is to portion control and build up exercise in the gym.

I've been doing the below on and off for a year but regularly doe the last 5 months -

• lots of vitamins Inc folic acid, omega 3, zinc, vit D B and x
• seed cycling
• adding in nuts and macca powder to diet
• Raspberry lead tea weeks 1 and 2 but not after ovulation
• removed caffeine and replaced with green and herbal teas
• reduced sugar consumption
• testing ovulation with LH strips (irregular cycle of 31-42 days so find this difficult) bbt didn't work for me
• sex every 2- 3 days across 10 days of ovulation
• using preseed
• using cups after sex the last month
• tried acupuncture last year and have now started reflexology
• trying to manage stress (due to very stressful year which do not thing helped my fertility!)

So my question is what am I not doing can anyone give me some ideas and add anything to my goal list for 2022?

Maybe we can support each other in our goals?

Thanks all for your help, I don't have many people to discuss this with!

Read with it starts with a egg..

Put DH on male supplements - give the Superdrug ones a google they are apparently amazing, again 3 months before .

You need to be taking at least 600 grams of CQ10 day to help with egg quality for 3 months before trying. It's so bastardly expensive but worth it. For you High dose of folic acid, baby aspirin both daily (if you have NK cells baby aspirin treats it)

Unfortunately most of the advice you get on here is not going to be evidence based in the slightest - talk to a professional.

Try It Starts With the Egg, and also Yes, You Can Get Pregnant if you like things a bit more “woo”.

testing ovulation with LH strips (irregular cycle of 31-42 days so find this difficult) bbt didn't work for me
sex every 2- 3 days across 10 days of ovulation
I would seriously try BBT again, properly: set an alarm for the same time each day and the first thing you reach for is the thermometer, before the alarm! It really does help pinpoint ovulation or show if there are months where you’re not ovulating. The fertile period doesn’t last 10 days, and the irregular cycles suggest there’s a bit of an issue somewhere – proper charting with temperature and checking your discharge might help pinpoint what that issue is, or at least zero in on your fertile window more.

I don't have any advice, just to sympathise with you - I've been trying to conceive for about a year (am also a little older than you). I sadly had a early miscarriage in August but otherwise nothing has been happening. I'm also now trying to get my BMI under 30 to get my NHS fertility clinic referral (about a stone or so) - frustratingly all weight put on over the past year of Covid lockdowns etc, too. I've had ovulation and other blood tests and all appears ok (although I have mild endo so question marks on whether that is impacting my situation).

Best of luck - I understand how frustrating it is when you feel you're doing everything "right" but nothing is happening. But keep going! Sometimes it just takes time.

Honest opinion - I've got 9 children and had 5 miscarriages (yes really) - you're not having enough sex. I'd be aiming for SMEP or at least 4 times in your fertile window.

Good luck!! I really hope you get BFP very very soon xxx

Conceive plus ovulation support helped me conceive after 3 years xx

Seconding that - conceive plus is good stuff.

@Journey2022 Yes it's annoying for scratch cooking, tbh I used to use it to properly hold myself to account for the snacks more than for the main meals. I just assume that anything I cook and eat an average portion of will be at least 800 cals, which is fine as it's then a proper meal and I can't justify snacks before and after dinner!

Also, ditch all the rest of the bollocks and enjoy life!! Whatever happens, you don't want to look back on a potentially long stretch of time as really stressful. Do what you love with your time, it's more important than anything.

I'd second giving bbt another go (and yes you definitely temp first thing before speaking/moving and nevermind getting out of bed!).

Also I would just like to remind you that all the opks tend to be worthless if you have pcos as you're much more likely to have multiple surges - best is if you use them in conjunction with bbt to confirm you've actually ovulated and not just given up too soon on DTD.

The most obvious thing is to lose weight.

This is going to sound harsh but maybe it will make you think. You say your diet is good. This is going to sound harsh but you're a size 18 and have gone up two dress sizes in less than two years. Your diet really isn't that good. Sorry, but I think you need to be honest with yourself.

We tried for over 2 years to get pregnant with our first.

We had all the tests done and were diagnosed with unexplained infertility.

We did get pregnant naturally the cycle before starting IVF.

I say the next part with love and understanding of what you're going through.

1. don't use chlomid if you're ovulating. It won't help and will just make you feel shit

2. stop all the supplements and seed cycling etc. enjoy your coffee and wine. Stop tracking your cycles. Chances are you already know when you're ovulating by other signs you notice. My nipple tingles when I ovulate. It tingles on the side I ovulate from. Both my babies were left ovulations.

3. lose the weight. Join slimming world and really look at what you're eating. Slimming world is great if you've got a partner that likes big portions. You can pad meals with free foods like rice and pasta.

I’d definitely recommend the clearblue advanced fertility strips. They’ll be pricey for you with your changing cycles but they are fab. Look at two different hormones to pinpoint ovulation. We got pregnant second month using them :) She’s now 3 weeks and nestled on my lap

@Jmommy

This makes sense. Going for more whole foods and not over thinking maybe - although by tracking I maybe now am over thinking it! 🙈

I've started tracking my calories the last few days and realised by seed cycling (I'm doing a seed, maca, avocado, fruit, veg and kefir yoghurt as a breakfast smoothie) I'm having a larger portion of calories in the morning than I realised but these are good and whole foods so should I still be limiting them? and clearly having more than 1 portions of carbs a day is too much so yesterday all I had was 200g sweet potato - the rest was fruit veg seeds nuts and protein. I'm not sure that's going to be feasible every day for me though as I would usually have 2 or 3 portions of cards.

I also did keto in prep for my wedding for about 18months I don't think I could remove carbs and fruit totally again though. I missed oranges and bananas a lot!

We dtd every day from end of period until ovulation, sometimes twice. I'd increase the amount your trying.

It took me 5 years to conceive which eventually happened after many rounds of IVF. I tried many supplements throughout my journey (over 10 tablets a day at one point!) and honestly they made zero difference to egg or embryo quality. Interestingly the clinics told me to only take folic acid and vitamin D.

“Cherryblossoms85

I would go for calorie counting. Plug everything into my fitness Pal. Get your target weight in there, you can do it. Focus less on what you eat and all the extra stuff and more on how much you eat and why you eat. Do things that make you feel good that aren't food.“

If, though, ‘what’ you eat is sugar and refined carbohydrates over all, that does not help even if you keep them to below certain calories.

Best to concentrate on having vegetables in abundance, protein and non saturated fat at every meal. Weight should stabilise and reduce naturally from that if you also sleep enough and can reduce stress. Good idea to get psychological help too.

Good luck with your conception💐🌺🌷

@D0lphine

Your right that is harsh. Be kind you never know a full picture or what someone is mentally going through words like this on a screen can always come across so much more harsher than they are typed so please be careful!

I actually went up the 2 dress sizes in just one year if you must know!! It was lockdown I couldnt see family or do my usual activities. I nearly lost my dad then had to live with my dad while he learnt to walk and talk again and I was virtually living off fast and quick food as I had no time while caring for him and trying to hold down a full time job too and then got very stressed and depressed. I put on weight honestly shit happens it was not my priority to care for me.

BUT the last 8 months ish I have got my life back very gradually and been back at the gym gradually and back watching my food and removing the quick food where I'm claiming more time back to care for myself but this hasn't happened overnight- I was merely asking for further advice on how I could care for myself and improve my fertility better as I'm throwing everything I have at it at the moment!!

I'm not lazy I'm not oblivious to my weight and I'm not not doing anything about it or I wouldn't be on here!

Hey OP, it's so shit when you can't conceive (lots of experience here!). I won't add any further advice, but lots of people have recommended 'it starts with the egg' - I have a copy that I'm done with, if you'd like it, DM me your address

I am so sorry for your very difficult time over lock-down. It must have been a very stressful time for you. Now, bit by bit, I am sure you will get your equilibrium back and everything will flow from there in good time.

Has your partner also cut down on drinking, started eating healthily and given up smoking? It's important that he puts in as much effort as you

@ScrollingLeaves

Thank you I have had some really useful tips on here - not managed to respond to everyone but added the tips to my to do list!

I believe the on and off stress wouldn't have helped my fertility but I recognise that and I'm working to improve my situation! 🤞🏼

@escapingthecity

He actually rarely drinks (I definitely am more likely to drink more) and neither of us smoke.

He is terrible for chocolate and biscuits I've questioned this but otherwise eats healthy meals that I make - but bigger portions of meat and carbs than me - He does go to the gym (weight lifting) 3 to 4 times a week and although big is muscular. This He says outweighs his sugar consumption....!!! Touchy subject.

He had been taking mens conceive plus since October but likely not daily as I'm forever reminding him.

He definitely doesn't not think about it like I do he is super laid back...!

Ditto the Clearblue digital tracker! Absolute game changer. I ovulate late in my cycle (day 21 instead of the normal day 14) and it helped me know when I was having a LH surge (which is just before egg release), so would know exactly when to have sex. Once we noticed a pattern we would aim for every other day in the run up - but every day during High and Peak and the day after.

I would also recommend getting your prolactin levels checked if you haven’t already. I had raised prolactin levels caused by a small benign tumour in my pituitary gland, which made my body think I was already pregnant. Once on meds to lower that, I fell that month. Just something else to consider checking.

Good luck!