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iVF and woo


Ozgirl

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So it looks like I am going for another EPU.


I am taking a few months break though and wanted some thoughts on what I can do to improve my chances.


I am already taking Vit D, Vit E, Ubiqoul/coQ10.


Will take Asprin and melatonin during cycle.


Try hard to cut gluten. As well.

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Acupuncture? I did it more as a relaxation thing, but found it regulated my cycle while doing treatment, reduced pain and eventually it put me into early labour. My TCM practitioner also knew I was pregnant before I’d tested. I’m not big on woo of any kind, but an hour a week relaxing certainly didn’t hurt me.


What does gluten have to do with fertility? I’ve not heard that before.

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Ron Swanson

Sorry, I haven't gone through IVF, so hope you don't mind me responding.

 

Try hard to cut gluten. As well.

 

Have you had the coeliac screening blood test? (I would hope all fertility doctors would do this as one of the first tests!


https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/you-re-a-coeliac-that-s-why-you-re-infertile-20191016-p5319u.html


If you haven't had the test, don't cut out gluten and get tested asap. (you need to be consuming gluten for the test to work - cutting it out and trying to get test later, can be a nightmare)


If gluten is an issue - cutting back is kind of pointless. It has to be 100% gluten free, including being careful with cross contamination.


My sister saw a great naturopath, who came highly recommended by others who'd been on the IVF journey. From memory, she told my sister she was too acidic, and my sister was put on all sorts of stuff, but I remember she had to have seaweed. I think she had to go gluten free too. BIL was put on a different diet. After a few years on IVF, my sister had success on her next IVF round.

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I definitely love acupuncture. After my first session I had a very fierce period - my body definitely responds to whatever it does!


I’ve also started taking myo + d-chiro inositol, I wish I had tried it while I was doing IVF. I don’t have pcos but there are apparently benefit for those without it.

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I've heard acupuncture is highly recommended as is a Low GI diet.

I've never heard of being tested for celiac though for fertility. I never was doing IVF. I did do the low GI diet but I was insulin resistant and on metformin.

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Another who mentions starting acupuncture after years of failed TTC attempts. No certainty that acupuncture itself helped me conceive, but through the effect of forced quiet time to myself while at acupuncture appointments, I did manage to fall pregnant after a number of visits. Like a previous poster, the acupuncturist knew I was pregnant before I did!

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The "baby whisperer" fertility specialist in Melbourne also recommends Alpha Lipoic Acid as a supplement along with Fish Oil. I took these both along with the ones you mentioned. .


The others have mentioned acupuncture. A good fertility acupuncturist is amazing. I saw good, average and one bloody amazing one (she was in Singapore, spoke no English, and alas I could only see her the one time I was there on a short business trip).


The book "it start with an egg" by Rebecca Fett recommends a Mediterranean Diet as the best fertility diet. It allows for gluten (unless intolerant ad a PP said), but just higher quality. A lot of people think a Mediterranean diet is meat & salad, but it's actually a lot of vegetable stews, legumes etc along with occasional meat and fish


Caffeine and alcohol seem to be the big ones to avoid

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[mention]Greenbean[/mention] reminded me that stews being in the Mediterranean diet are highly recommended as warming food in TCM. After my d&c my acupuncturist remarked that my uterus was cold and then did some flame cupping to draw out the cold (it was insane how cold the skin on my stomach was afterwards). She recommended bone broth, soup and stews to warm the uterus.


I’ve been adding “best of the bone” to everything - it’s bone marrow nutrients in a jar and I put it into tomato soup which I have ever morning. I made pesto pasta tonight and added it to the sauce. It’s really yum.

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Sorry, I haven't gone through IVF, so hope you don't mind me responding.

 

Try hard to cut gluten. As well.

 

Have you had the coeliac screening blood test? (I would hope all fertility doctors would do this as one of the first tests!


https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/you-re-a-coeliac-that-s-why-you-re-infertile-20191016-p5319u.html


If you haven't had the test, don't cut out gluten and get tested asap. (you need to be consuming gluten for the test to work - cutting it out and trying to get test later, can be a nightmare)


If gluten is an issue - cutting back is kind of pointless. It has to be 100% gluten free, including being careful with cross contamination.


My sister saw a great naturopath, who came highly recommended by others who'd been on the IVF journey. From memory, she told my sister she was too acidic, and my sister was put on all sorts of stuff, but I remember she had to have seaweed. I think she had to go gluten free too. BIL was put on a different diet. After a few years on IVF, my sister had success on her next IVF round.

I have had the screening test.


Im def gluten intolerant. my IVF psychologist says that out of all the dietary things her patients have tried going GF has been the biggest success.

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Rosie28: Gluten consumption for a coeliac can cause infertility or miscarriage. It's an autoimmune condition and gluten consumption could trigger an autoimmune attack. Not what you want. I spent my pregnancy scared of accidentally consuming gluten. I have coeliac disease.


Ozgirl: If you're gluten intolerant then you need to go 100% gluten free. Read the ingredients on everything, get fresh tubs of things like margarine and throw out the contaminated ones, and only eat out at places that have rigorous cross contamination and cleaning protocols in place. It's annoying, it's expensive and it's time consuming to establish a gluten free kitchen and pantry but once it's done it get easier. Make sure you empty and clean out your cutlery drawer. Apparently cutlery drawers are great at having random toast crumbs and other gluten crumbs throughout them.

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Ozgirl: Have you ever had a scope done to check if your villi are damaged? If you're not willing to go entirely GF then it might be worth doing while you're still consuming gluten. See if you're getting damaged. Like OnFire said, once you stop gluten it can be very difficult to go back to eating it and in sufficient quantities for a scope. Six weeks of the equivalent of 4 slices of bread per day. Gluten is delicious but it's also incredibly harmful to those who can't consume it. I've been GF for over 20 years and still miss gluten foods but GF foods are getting better and easier to find. Common foods are now GF which is amazing.

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Thanks paddlepop.


I know what I need to do. But I was able to eat gluten when pregnant with my son. So giving it up is hard.

Are there any specific strategies you can put in place to make it easier? For example, getting a bread machine (loads on marketplace now that the lockdowns are over). And making your own GF bread? Or learning some extra recipes. Or trying some new rice dish recipes?


I cut out sugar while doing IVF as my very last thing (my hormones were wack and I always loved chocolates and cakes). It was the hardest dietary change I have ever made and I was miserable for 3 weeks (ironically the withdrawal was so bad I knew I had to persevere). What helped for me was having substitutes on hand and new recipes to try that I could be excited about.

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A bread machine would need to be brand new/unused or only used for gluten free breads by the previous owner. There's no way to remove all of the crumbs and traces of gluten in one.


Personally I've found Woolworths gluten free white bread to be quite good. It's relatively cheap at $4.50 per small loaf, and can be eaten as a normal sandwich. Even my fussy eater will happily eat it now. Some of the seeded GF breads might be good too but I can't eat seeds so I haven't tried them. The gluten free hot cross buns that might still be available at Woolworths are great. They were in store on Sunday. I have other dietary issues and need things to be free of a range of other things like lactose and seeds/nuts.

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Fruitmincepies

[mention]Ozgirl[/mention] my SIL has cut out gluten, carbs, sugar and dairy, as recommended by her naturopath. I assume the poor thing is living on salad. I really hope it gets her a sticky!

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I got tested for celiac. I have digestive issues but I'm not celiac. I'm taking elevit pregnancy vitamins. I'm eating less carbs. I got collagen powder which is supposed to be good but I haven't actually taken it consistently.


Eating lots of fatty fish, primarily salmon and sardines was a thing I was doing, I've cut down to 3 serves a week now and adding nuts and avocado to make up the difference, but I was doing way more before the transfer. Healthy fats in general make me feel better and help my joints. Also eating more fat and protein makes carbs hit slower and improves ratios.

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I got tested for celiac. I have digestive issues but I'm not celiac. I'm taking elevit pregnancy vitamins. I'm eating less carbs. I got collagen powder which is supposed to be good but I haven't actually taken it consistently.


Eating lots of fatty fish, primarily salmon and sardines was a thing I was doing, I've cut down to 3 serves a week now and adding nuts and avocado to make up the difference, but I was doing way more before the transfer. Healthy fats in general make me feel better and help my joints. Also eating more fat and protein makes carbs hit slower and improves ratios.

 

Yeah, im not on prenatals cause I dont need the iron.


I really wish I knew what the magic combo was to increase implantation.


collegen is a new one. Havent heard of that for fertility

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There’s also a lot of collagen in bone broth too.


For anyone else looking for ivf tips I highly recommend the kin fertility prenatal vitamins instead of Elevit. Most important feature is the methylated folate instead of folic acid so it improves bioavailability.

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I got tested for celiac. I have digestive issues but I'm not celiac. I'm taking elevit pregnancy vitamins. I'm eating less carbs. I got collagen powder which is supposed to be good but I haven't actually taken it consistently.


Eating lots of fatty fish, primarily salmon and sardines was a thing I was doing, I've cut down to 3 serves a week now and adding nuts and avocado to make up the difference, but I was doing way more before the transfer. Healthy fats in general make me feel better and help my joints. Also eating more fat and protein makes carbs hit slower and improves ratios.

 

Yeah, im not on prenatals cause I dont need the iron.


I really wish I knew what the magic combo was to increase implantation.


collegen is a new one. Havent heard of that for fertility

 

There's a no-iron pre natal vitamin, I am sure. Because I remember having to make sure that I got the one with iron. If I remember will post back.

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I took Alpha Lipoic Acid and fish oil (because I just couldn’t eat that much fish) on top of what you’re taking. My FS recommended stopping both because they can cause bleeding during EPU, so I stopped them the week before.

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