Mmmm, anyone fancy a nice glass of grapefruit juice??

[Twiglettini]

I have read on a few threads that gfj can increase ewcm and had a few questions about it.

1. Is there any evidence for this, or is it mainly anecdotal? And if it is proven to work, how??!

1. Are you meant to drink it all through your cycle, or only in first two weeks?

1. How much is recommended to have an effect?

Anyway, thank you in advance.

Oh I'll be watching this one with interest... from what I've read the evidence is anecdotal, no proper testing has been carried out on this one. I've been drinking all through my cycle, but that's because while googling it I discovered one thing that has been proved about grapefruit juice is that it can help weight loss (yay!) so I have a glass before every meal.

However... I have seen no marked improvement in ewcm this month. Buuuuut.... I had a mc 2 weeks ago and I think my hormones are still in a flux. I had a mc in November too, and my first ov after that was odd too, at the right time, but more painful and achey. It's the same this time.

One note I will add in grapefruit juice's defence... when I got pg in December it was after a month of drinking the stuff, we had only one half hearted shag on Christmas day cos I had the worst cold of my life. Now to me even getting pg under those conditions was pretty miraculous, so perhaps the grapefruit juice helped. I dunno.

Oh and I'm getting strangely used to it, I used to HATE it!

I'm going to keep drinking it to see what happens next cycle when things have settled down a bit more. Will report back...

Hi Headfairy, and (sadly) snap to the mc two weeks ago, also as a result of Christmas Day BD.

Be interesting if there is any scientific reason for gfj. Has anyone been told to drink it by their doctor??!

When do you think you ovd this month?

Good luck

whisper (I actually quite like gfj)

As I'm literally sipping on a glass while I'm catching up on MN I must reply!

The way I look at it is - drinking GFJ isn't likely to hurt anyone (well, unless you're on certain medications...) and extra vit C at this time of year can only be a good thing. Also, as I'm clutching at any straw (POAS, Preseed, temping...etc) I might as well add GFJ to my TTC regime.

Personally, I don't know if I've noticed that much difference with the CM (not that I really have issues with it anyway) but the one thing I will say is that I definitely notice a difference in mucus ELSEWHERE. That is, after a big glass of GFJ my cough seems much better. TMI if I went into detail, but if it works at the upper end, why wouldn't it downstairs?

Hmm, interesting, Broodzilla. As you say, what harm can it do? (unless it is contraindicated with other medications). Have not been drinking it before, but bizarrely had noticed it mentioned on here and then DH bought some out of the blue, so might give it a go. Do you drink it throughout your cycle??

I only drink it until a few days after OV, as its main function would be the same as EWCM, to make it easier for the little swimmers to get where they're going and also to keep them alive for the journey I also take Agnus Castus, and you're only supposed to take that for the first half of your cycle too, so I combine the two to make it easier to remember both.

about your mc twiglettini. Last time I had a mc I used an opk and detected an LH surge 14 days after the mc, this time I cocked it up slightly (kept forgetting to do it first thing in the morning, the only time I can do them, I never go more than 4 hours without a pee!) so I don't know when I ov'd although the signs are that I ov'd around cd 15 (assuming cd 1 was the day I mc'd).

I'm assuming the day I mc'd was cd 1 because I went to the EPU on Thursday 22nd Jan because I'd had a teeeny weeeeny bit of spotting and wanted to get it checked out and they couldn't see anything in my uterus at all. They did the first set of bloods and told me to come back in two days for the second set. However that afternoon I started bleeding heavily, so I called them back to say I was pretty sure I was miscarrying. The next day they called me to say my hCG levels were below 5 even before I'd started bleeding.

I'm working on the assumption that if my hCG levels were below 5 on the 22nd then they'd no longer be supressing my cycle. With my first mc, my hCG levels were below 5 two days after the mc and I ov'd 15 13 days after that.

Oh heck I don't know we only managed to bd on cd 12,13 and 15 this month, but I don't think I'll conceive this month. I've had very strong ov pains (as I did after the last mc) and I think my first ov and af after a mc is a trial run iyswim!

Sorry you mc too, headfairy. That sounds like a sad time at the EPU. I'm sorry I'm a bit ignorant about HCG levels, is 5 normal, what should they have been at 5 - 6 weeks preg?

Sounds like you are in with a chance this month, though as you suggest, it is not a bad thing to get a normal af after a mc, so that you know everything is alright. I've got no hope this month as DH has had really bad muscular pain and spasms in his back and has not been up to BD at all really. Did get him a bit drunk on cd 15, but I think I ov'd on cd 13, so am thinking it is very unlikely. (Though nice to have a teeny tiny bit of a chance)

Do you have children already or first time ttc?

Hi Headfairy, so so sorry to hear you had another mc . Was just thinking about you and Sunnydale the other day and wondering how you were doing.

Sorry you had mc too Twiglettini.

Hope the grapefruit works for you all.

Aw thanks issy. I'm not doing too bad at all, I'm surprisingly circumspect about it all. Just raring to get pg again. How are you? How are the IVF plans going?

Headfairy - I've started a new thread for us 'aiming for a ... baby' stalwarts to keep in touch. Hope you'll join.

I'm going for IVF in April as March was full and have to have a scan next day 2-5 before I can start the drugs.

I've replied on the other thread Issy... see you there

Helloo, anyone out there have expert knowledge of grapefruit juice? Or even, inexpert knowledge. When in your cycle do you drink it and how much???

twiglettini, sorry we kind of hijacked your thread... I'm still watching this one

No worries about a hijack, headfairy. Glad you did, actually, as it is keeping the thread alive - quick, quick CPR!

Just wanted to attract anyone else who had any info. Maybe it is all hearsay and rumour and no one has any real reason that it works.

Still like to know how much to quaff and when in cycle

The wierd thing is I've started to get more ewcm, it's a bit late but because of my mc I may have a slightly odd cycle, I can never work out from cervical position if I'm ov'ing, so perhaps the grapefruit juice is working.

We can keep this thread alive by updating the effects of our grapefruit drinking!

how much do you drink every day?

I've just had a nice glass with lunch!

Well, I started off doing one glass a day but that didnt' do anything. But then I discovered that grapefruit can help weight loss and as I'm always looking for a lazy way to shift a few pounds I'm trying to have a glass before every meal.

Ooh, that sounds good, help get you pregnant and lose weight at the same time - a wonder product.

Bit odd to get more ewcm after ov, do you temp as well, can you see what your cycle is doing according to your temperature?

I can't temp as I do shifts and they're all over the place, so my temps would be all over the place too. To be honest, after 2 back to back mcs I'm taking things a bit more easily. Apart from the GFJ and lots of sex of course, I'm doing nothing else, not counting days, not paying too much attention to my cycle, just roughly working out which week I'm going to ov and then going for it with dh

Sorry to hear that, Headfairy. Two mc in a row is mis, isn't it. I'm the same, had one in Sept (at 11 weeks, so really sad). Then the recent one on 23 Jan. I'm not temping either, just using ewcm as a guide to ov.

Good luck this month

I worked for me 2nd month with a noticible increase in CM, it also reduced my apetite

We'd been ttc for 2 and a half year, was poas crazy, had had all the tests and been poked and prodded by drs, taken the herbs etc etc and grapefruit just did it for me. I'd really recommend it.

It has to be the 100% stuff though, none of that concerntrated crap and i used to have a big glass a day. I hated it at first but i actually got to quite like it. I uite fancy a glass but if DF say it in the fridge i think he'd probably go in to hiding ( Ds is 6 weeks )
good luck.

That's good news worzel. I've just bought another couple of cartons. I've never liked the concentrated stuff, too sharp for me, so I've always been drinking the proper freshly squeezed variety. I'll keep it up then and see what happens next month.

How's your ds by the way? I followed the drama of his arrival, never posted, but was so glad it had a happy ending.

He's doing really well thanks, hopefully be home in 4 or 5 weeks i can't wait !

Ah that's good, I bet you can't wait to have him with you