I realise that im writing a lot in these first few days but thats because I have alot to say for you to understand why I am writing this blog in the first place.
Well, according to the doctors, there doesnt appear to be anything medically stopping us conceiving (so far anyway but we have only had initial tests). I have started having accupuncture and my accupucturist and I have had some really interesting conversations looking at my life as a whole and my thoughts on fertility. What has come out of this is that I focus too much of my energy on the rest of the world, most predominantly at the moment being my work.
She has specialised in fertility for the last 10 years and has noticed a pattern in those couples labelled with "unexplained fertility". In most cases the female is very work orientated, can be quite stressed and is generally quite sensitive to angry people. It is her view that in order to conceive, your energy has to be focussed in the reproductive area and that this is the first area to suffer when energy is being expended on other things. When she said this, it really rung a bell and started to hit home that I was probably, somehow, preventing myself getting pregnant!
This was a little revelation for me and really got me thinking. At the same time, I saw a program on Discovery home and health called "Extreme pregnancy" and a couple on there had looked into hypnofertility. I had never heard of such a thing and you might be forgiven for thinking that it is a pretty daft idea that you could "think yourself pregnant"!!! But it worked for them and the husband went on to study this to help other couples.
Well, willing to try anything, and given my recent conversations with my accupuncturist, I scoured the internet and found myself a book. Its not here yet but its coming from America so could take a little while. Im quite looking forward to it and feeling positive.
Saturday 29 May 2010
Friday 28 May 2010
A word on doctors
I have not had a great experience with the medical profession particularly with fertility issues. I sometimes wonder what they do actually know? I know I shoudnt be too harsh as they have to know a little bit about a lot of things to be able to do their job and that they aren’t specialists.
But, the first doctor I saw just wasn’t helpful. She kept saying “it just takes time for some people” and to “just relax and not think about it”. She didn’t seem to understand my concern that sometimes my cycles were as short as 26 days and others as long as 65- that couldn’t be right!
That’s when I was recommended by a friend a fantastic book “Taking charge of your fertility” by Toni Weschler www.tcoyf.com .
But, the first doctor I saw just wasn’t helpful. She kept saying “it just takes time for some people” and to “just relax and not think about it”. She didn’t seem to understand my concern that sometimes my cycles were as short as 26 days and others as long as 65- that couldn’t be right!
That’s when I was recommended by a friend a fantastic book “Taking charge of your fertility” by Toni Weschler www.tcoyf.com .
I found a copy on ebay and found it really empowering to understand that your body is actually giving you signs when you are fertile. I started the whole palaver of charting my temperatures and learnt that, to my surprise, my body gears up for ovulation at pretty much the same time every month around day 20. However, when I failed to ovulate at that time I could always relate it to something stressful that was going on over those crucial few days. All was not lost on those cycles as my body would always have a second attempt a few weeks later around day 40. This was a revelation for me and completely explained why I had irregular cycles – stress!!
Anyway, I digress from talking about doctors. After a few more trips to the same doctor over the months she was still adamant that it wasn’t an issue. I had given up on my doctor as I felt I was just wasting her time. It was only when my hubby volunteered to go and get himself checked that his doctors asked why hadn’t I gone along too as she should be running some standard tests on me! So off I went and the tests included the day 21 progesterone tests. This tests measure progesterone to see if you are ovulating. It is based on the assumption that you have a 28 day cycle, that you ovulate on day 14, and therefore your progesterone peaks at day 21. That’s all fine and dandy but I knew I ovulate around day 20 (if im lucky) so to test on day 21 is a waste of time. She wouldn’t listen and told me to forget about ovulation; the only way to tell I ovulated was when I got my period which would mean I ovulated 14 days earlier. I had also already shown her on my charts that I had never gone longer than 12 days after ovulation as I was concerned that may have been an issue. I couldn’t understand why she was ignoring all the information I collected over the last year!!!!
We argued and I gave in and tested on day 21. For the first time in my LIFE, I had a 28 day cycle and ovulated on day 16. How do these things happen!
Needless to say, this just added to my frustration with GPs who want you to fit nicely into a box to make their life easier.
Anyway, I digress from talking about doctors. After a few more trips to the same doctor over the months she was still adamant that it wasn’t an issue. I had given up on my doctor as I felt I was just wasting her time. It was only when my hubby volunteered to go and get himself checked that his doctors asked why hadn’t I gone along too as she should be running some standard tests on me! So off I went and the tests included the day 21 progesterone tests. This tests measure progesterone to see if you are ovulating. It is based on the assumption that you have a 28 day cycle, that you ovulate on day 14, and therefore your progesterone peaks at day 21. That’s all fine and dandy but I knew I ovulate around day 20 (if im lucky) so to test on day 21 is a waste of time. She wouldn’t listen and told me to forget about ovulation; the only way to tell I ovulated was when I got my period which would mean I ovulated 14 days earlier. I had also already shown her on my charts that I had never gone longer than 12 days after ovulation as I was concerned that may have been an issue. I couldn’t understand why she was ignoring all the information I collected over the last year!!!!
We argued and I gave in and tested on day 21. For the first time in my LIFE, I had a 28 day cycle and ovulated on day 16. How do these things happen!
Needless to say, this just added to my frustration with GPs who want you to fit nicely into a box to make their life easier.
Tuesday 25 May 2010
Introducing me!!!
Hello!
I thought that I would start with a little bit about myself. Im 30 and my husband is 40 and we got married in May 2008. We knew that we wanted to start trying for a baby but I was on large doses of anti depressants and was advised that it was not safe. So, knowing from previous experience that I am quite sensitive to changes in medication doses we took it slowly. It wasnt without its ups and downs but I got down to a 'safe' level in December 2008 and have been trying for a baby ever since.
Its frustrating enough knowing that you want to start trying and being told not to, but when you do eventually start trying and it doesnt happen, well its just the icing on a rather horrible tasting cake. I always thought that there may be a problem as I had never ever had irregular cycles. I started charting my temperatures to get a better understanding of my body and discovered that although I have some really long cycles, my body always tried to ovulate at the right time but it only took a little stress and my body decided that ovulation wasnt a good idea!
We both started taking vitamins in December 2009 to boost our chances but this didnt help. After just over a year, in February 2010, we both had a few tests and they all seemed fine. Hubbys morphology was a little on the low side but only slightly and he had to repeat 6 weeks later. It came back the same and they advised repeating in 3 months. That will be in July and then we may get a referal to a fertility specialist if there is no change. As for my tests, miraculously, I had a 28 day cycle at the time and so it showed no problems with ovulation on the day 21 progesterone test.
I started accupuncture in April 2010 and am hopeful that this will balance me out a little. I have also ordered a book on hypnofertility on amazon and am looking forward to its arrival. I will try anything!!!
Thats a summary of things up to now, I hope you enjoy reading!!
Claire x
I thought that I would start with a little bit about myself. Im 30 and my husband is 40 and we got married in May 2008. We knew that we wanted to start trying for a baby but I was on large doses of anti depressants and was advised that it was not safe. So, knowing from previous experience that I am quite sensitive to changes in medication doses we took it slowly. It wasnt without its ups and downs but I got down to a 'safe' level in December 2008 and have been trying for a baby ever since.
Its frustrating enough knowing that you want to start trying and being told not to, but when you do eventually start trying and it doesnt happen, well its just the icing on a rather horrible tasting cake. I always thought that there may be a problem as I had never ever had irregular cycles. I started charting my temperatures to get a better understanding of my body and discovered that although I have some really long cycles, my body always tried to ovulate at the right time but it only took a little stress and my body decided that ovulation wasnt a good idea!
We both started taking vitamins in December 2009 to boost our chances but this didnt help. After just over a year, in February 2010, we both had a few tests and they all seemed fine. Hubbys morphology was a little on the low side but only slightly and he had to repeat 6 weeks later. It came back the same and they advised repeating in 3 months. That will be in July and then we may get a referal to a fertility specialist if there is no change. As for my tests, miraculously, I had a 28 day cycle at the time and so it showed no problems with ovulation on the day 21 progesterone test.
I started accupuncture in April 2010 and am hopeful that this will balance me out a little. I have also ordered a book on hypnofertility on amazon and am looking forward to its arrival. I will try anything!!!
Thats a summary of things up to now, I hope you enjoy reading!!
Claire x
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