Wednesday 20 August 2014

Dealing with long cycles and conception problems – the natural way

Day 49 and no AF in sight
Rightly or wrongly, I have decided to give two months to dealing with my PCOS and irregular periods the natural way, before resorting to Chlomid, Femara or Metformin.

My self-devised treatment plan constitutes of the following:

Two months – 13th August until 15th October 2014

Daily sunlight for 20mins – I have my morning coffee sitting in my bikini in the morning sunlight. Theory: stimulate natural Vitamin D production.

Cutting down on coffee to 1 cup a day – its been proven that excess coffee intake hinders fertility.

Drinking 1 cup of Green Tea a day – this may seem to contradict the above as Green Tea does have caffeine, however Green Tea is claimed to help increase fertile CM and through my own trials this has helped me too.

Cutting down on hard-core exercise. I usually exercise and exert myself to 100% for one hour, five times a week. I have decided to reduce this to max 30mins of cardio, four times a week and try to reduce the intensity. Theory: over-doing it on the exercise has shown to lengthen cycles. (I already have 45+ day cycles!)

No Carbs at Night – Previously I tried this for weight loss (I am slim, BMI 20 but stubborn patches of cellulite/fat) and had good results. Theory: PCOS is linked with insulin resistance and difficulty processing carbs/sugar. Also to balance out my lower levels of exercise! IMO the ‘night’ rule has no impact on cutting carbs, but I find it easier to have a personal curfew for carbs rather than just ‘cut down’

Acupuncture – I have always been intrigued with acupuncture. I took the plunge and went for it and minus a mini freak-out it was fine! I am now going for twice weekly acupuncture in the hope that it will help to stimulate my ovaries and regulate my hormones.

Chinese herbs – I am not so sure about this one, but my traditional acupuncturist Dr Zhang at Tong Ren Tang has prescribed me a course of Chinese herbs to help in balancing my Qi and for warming up my apparently ‘cold ovaries’.

Meditation – I am going to try to do 20-30 minutes of quiet time/meditation a day. Theory: a lot of fertility problems are linked to stress, plus the fact that TTC is an emotional rollercoaster and serious test of patience. I hope that by stilling the mind I can minimize my body’s production of cortisol and adrenalin.

Limiting alcohol intake – not only because of excess calories or potential pregnancy but also that alcohol affects estrogen production & I don’t want anything affecting my body’s hormone production.

So, the bottom line is this, I have been suffering with greasy hair and skin, long cycles, short light spotting of an excuse of a period, skin rashes and a sticky patch in my hair that appeared for a week (!!!) I don’t know whether I ovulate each month but 8 months and 6 cycles of TTC later I’m now willing to try anything!


 Wish me luck! xxx




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