As you may know if you have read the last few posts, I've been suffering with miscarriages. I've now had 3 in the last 5 months, and after the most recent one last week, I decided enough is enough, I must take control of this situation.
Like anyone in this day and age, firstly I consulted Dr Google.This brought up a lot of feeds, mostly giving the same advice. That advice being: recurring early miscarriages are often a result of low progesterone levels. You see, the menstrual cycle can be broken down into different phases, which are ruled by different hormones. The phase from day 1 to ovulation is ruled by Estrogen. During this phase, the body has a period, and then starts to release follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) which tells the ovaries to prepare a follicle which will then release an egg into the fallopian tube. Once this (ovulation) occurs progesterone takes over (if you are charting your basal body temperature, the spike you see once you have ovulated is caused by the release of progesterone in your system) and if that egg has been fertilised, it's fate then lies in progesterone's hands as to whether it will successfully implant in the uterine lining or not. Assuming fertilisation has happened, the fertilised egg will spend 7-10 days travelling down the fallopian tube towards the uterus, which should be ready to receive it and give it a nice cushy home for the next 38 weeks so that it can develop into your gorgeous fat baby. If you have a progesterone deficiency (as I suspect I do) then that fertilised egg may be unable to implant, and you will then have a period. This is known as a chemical pregnancy, and technically, you are pregnant for those few days. If, like me, you take an early pregnancy test on say day 9 or 10 dpo (days post ovulation) then you will get yourself a faint positive, and try as you might, you will get all giddy and excited at that point, only to have it all fall down around you not long afterwards.
Progesterone is a hormone, and there are things that one can do to encourage this hormone's presence in the body. I already knew from Dr Google that a common route is to take a combination of vitamin B6, a low dose of aspirin and to use a progesterone cream.
After a consultation with medical herbalist, Sophie Lamb, yesterday, I now have a little more knowledge and a few other tricks up my sleeve in my quest for progesterone. Firstly to say, all purchaseable progesterone was not created equally. If you are interested to read the ins and outs of this, then this article by Dr Ray Peat is incredibly helpful. If not, suffice it to say that the best form to buy is Progest E Complex. It is not greatly more expensive than any other products of it's kind, but it is greatly more effective. I ordered mine this morning and it cost me around £31 including postage costs.
Second of all, as I alluded to earlier, estrogen and progesterone are like yin and yang. They are both essential and work in partnership with each other, But if you have a progesterone deficiency, the likelihood is that your estrogen levels could do with being stamped down a little. Most of the population have too much estrogen (men included) in their systems, and a really simple way to help your body excrete a little of that is as simple as eating one or two raw carrots per day. It is explained better here but in a nut shell, the fibres in carrots, when eaten raw, essentially mop up excess estrogen and toxins in the intestines and you then excrete them through the bowel. So no matter who you are, you could probably benefit from this little tip. And lets face it, it couldn't be easier so why the hell not.
At this point I should also say that I have an underactive thyroid. I have had this condition since birth. It was picked up on the heel prick test when I was 5 days old, and I have been taking levothyroxine to treat the condition ever since. Thus far, it has never caused me any problems. I have never knowingly suffered from any symptoms or side affects of the condition, and when other people have moaned about having it, I have kind of thought "what's all the fuss about? I've had it my whole life and it's never bothered me one bit". I suppose because it has never caused me any trouble, I have never really looked into the thyroid in any detail. When people have asked me what the thyroid does, all I know is that it affects your metabolism. I always had a sneaking suspicion that there was a lot more to it than that, and I have heard the terms T3, T4 and TSH thrown around but never paid it any attention. I've had regular blood tests all my life, and depending on the results, have increased, decreased, or maintained my dosage. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that Sophie has suggested that my thyroid is likely playing a role in my hormone issues, and therefore the miscarriages. I'll confess that I was a bit bamboozled by everything she was telling me, so I can't quite explain to you why this is. But we're treating that as an issue too, just so you know. (And I am going to do some research on the thyroid so maybe I can be a little more informed next time somebody asks me a question about it)
I'll do a separate post on the diet side of things, but in terms of supplements, this is what I'm taking, and why (if I know!):
Daily:
Selenium (200 ug): This one, I'm not 100% sure on the science behind, but it has been proven that women who miscarry have lower selenium levels in their blood than women who don't, so that's good enough for me.
Folic acid: This one is common sense for any woman trying to get pregnant. It goes a long way to preventing conditions such as spina bifida in the developing fetus
Vitamin D (3000 iu): Again, this one is pretty common sense. Unless you are lucky enough to live in a sunny climate and can get this the natural way, then you should be taking a vitamin D supplement, be you man, woman or child.
Vitamin B6 (200mg): This is self prescribed. Vitamin B6 is said to increase the luteal phase (google it) which I suspect is not long enough in my case.
Aspirin (75mg): This is self prescribed, after doing my research online. A small daily dose of aspirin helps to thin the blood and therefore helps bloodflow. Since the uterine lining is made using blood, this is a no brainer.
Vitex Hormone Regulating Tincture (2 ml): Sophie made me up this tincture and I'll be taking 2mls per day in cold water. Vitex (also called agnus castus) is good for all kinds of women's hormone issues, from progestrone issues like mine, to PMS, to menopause. It doesn't contain hormones, but the little magic vitex fairies somehow balance out hormones when there is an imbalance. That's as much as I know, magic vitex fairies. Look it up online, there is a wealth of information about it, and a lot of women believe it has been the secret ingredient to them having a successful pregnancy.
Daily AFTER ovulation:
Progest E Complex: The reason you should only take progesterone after you know you have ovulated, is because it can actually prevent you from ovulating if taken before. It is a key ingredient in all contraceptive pills, and is THE active ingredient in the mini pill. So you have to allow your body to ovulate first, and then you take the progesterone to help that phase of your cycle when hopefully a fertilised egg will implant and eventually give you all those sleepless nights you're dreaming about. This particular progesterone supplement is dissolved in vitamin E, which does a natural version of the job the aspirin does, so I'm getting a double whammy of goodness by taking it in this form.
So that's my supplement menu. There is also the diet side of things to support this (nothing too scary or restrictive) which I will tell you about next time. But for now, I hope this has been useful or at least interesting to somebody. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me in the comments, and if you think Sophie could help you then I'll give you her contact details and you can arrange a consultation for yourself.
I bid you adieu my pretties
xo
At this point I should also say that I have an underactive thyroid. I have had this condition since birth. It was picked up on the heel prick test when I was 5 days old, and I have been taking levothyroxine to treat the condition ever since. Thus far, it has never caused me any problems. I have never knowingly suffered from any symptoms or side affects of the condition, and when other people have moaned about having it, I have kind of thought "what's all the fuss about? I've had it my whole life and it's never bothered me one bit". I suppose because it has never caused me any trouble, I have never really looked into the thyroid in any detail. When people have asked me what the thyroid does, all I know is that it affects your metabolism. I always had a sneaking suspicion that there was a lot more to it than that, and I have heard the terms T3, T4 and TSH thrown around but never paid it any attention. I've had regular blood tests all my life, and depending on the results, have increased, decreased, or maintained my dosage. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that Sophie has suggested that my thyroid is likely playing a role in my hormone issues, and therefore the miscarriages. I'll confess that I was a bit bamboozled by everything she was telling me, so I can't quite explain to you why this is. But we're treating that as an issue too, just so you know. (And I am going to do some research on the thyroid so maybe I can be a little more informed next time somebody asks me a question about it)
I'll do a separate post on the diet side of things, but in terms of supplements, this is what I'm taking, and why (if I know!):
Daily:
Selenium (200 ug): This one, I'm not 100% sure on the science behind, but it has been proven that women who miscarry have lower selenium levels in their blood than women who don't, so that's good enough for me.
Folic acid: This one is common sense for any woman trying to get pregnant. It goes a long way to preventing conditions such as spina bifida in the developing fetus
Vitamin D (3000 iu): Again, this one is pretty common sense. Unless you are lucky enough to live in a sunny climate and can get this the natural way, then you should be taking a vitamin D supplement, be you man, woman or child.
Vitamin B6 (200mg): This is self prescribed. Vitamin B6 is said to increase the luteal phase (google it) which I suspect is not long enough in my case.
Aspirin (75mg): This is self prescribed, after doing my research online. A small daily dose of aspirin helps to thin the blood and therefore helps bloodflow. Since the uterine lining is made using blood, this is a no brainer.
Vitex Hormone Regulating Tincture (2 ml): Sophie made me up this tincture and I'll be taking 2mls per day in cold water. Vitex (also called agnus castus) is good for all kinds of women's hormone issues, from progestrone issues like mine, to PMS, to menopause. It doesn't contain hormones, but the little magic vitex fairies somehow balance out hormones when there is an imbalance. That's as much as I know, magic vitex fairies. Look it up online, there is a wealth of information about it, and a lot of women believe it has been the secret ingredient to them having a successful pregnancy.
Daily AFTER ovulation:
Progest E Complex: The reason you should only take progesterone after you know you have ovulated, is because it can actually prevent you from ovulating if taken before. It is a key ingredient in all contraceptive pills, and is THE active ingredient in the mini pill. So you have to allow your body to ovulate first, and then you take the progesterone to help that phase of your cycle when hopefully a fertilised egg will implant and eventually give you all those sleepless nights you're dreaming about. This particular progesterone supplement is dissolved in vitamin E, which does a natural version of the job the aspirin does, so I'm getting a double whammy of goodness by taking it in this form.
So that's my supplement menu. There is also the diet side of things to support this (nothing too scary or restrictive) which I will tell you about next time. But for now, I hope this has been useful or at least interesting to somebody. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me in the comments, and if you think Sophie could help you then I'll give you her contact details and you can arrange a consultation for yourself.
I bid you adieu my pretties
xo
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