Suppdate

Like what I did there?

Well, here we are a few months in to my supplements.  As I mentioned, I did skip a few days here and there back when I went through my gloom and doom phase, but I picked them all back up the day I found out about the study... and here we are exactly two weeks later and I am noticing some stuff that I want to mention and see if anyone else has had similar experiences.

1)  Spotting.  I have a little spotting almost every single day of my cycle, regardless of when I ovulate.  It's really minimal and (TMI) only when I wipe, but it's there.  It's not a problem other than it really puts a damper on any possible non-baby-making sex... :/

2)  I was due to start my period this week.  Don't ask me the exact date, but it was this week sometime.  (Note:  Due to the vasectomy there really is no point in temping and tracking my cycles since there is 0% chance of falling pregnant without assistance.  That, and the fact that charting is a BIG pain in the ass, plus the fact that I did it for 6 years during my previous marriage without success means that I just don't care to chart at the moment).  Anyway, I have all the period start signs: aching, swollen breasts; some cramping; some spotting (again this has been going on all month); some lower back pain... It's been like this for about 5 days now, but still no period and today is Saturday. 

3)  (TMI) Those Chinese herbs have seriously kick-started my digestive system.  I have never been as regular as they say.  I'm told you should "go" twice a day to be considered regular.  My whole life I have been an every other day kinda girl.  Not any more... Since starting the herbs (8 pills with every meal) I am going at least 4, sometimes 5 times a day.  Everything appears normal, but I am just going a LOT!  Did anyone else find this?  I mean, my acupuncturist said they would remove blockages but DAMN!

4)  I started the DHEA slowly this time, for the first few days I took just one pill a day with my nighttime supps, then I raised it to 2 pills, one at lunch and one at night.  This week I am up to the recommended dose of 3 per day and I am not noticing the same adverse effects I noticed the last time.  No DHEA rage at all!

5) Melatonin dreams.  Oh man, I sleep like a rock, but I have some crazy-ass, vivid dreams on this stuff.  And because I also drink so much water (1 gallon a day) I get up to pee 2-3 times a night, but the dreams continue when I get back into bed seamlessly.  I do find it harder to get out of bed when I take them, but I know that the sleep I am getting is better, more restful sleep so I just go to bed a little earlier than normal and set my alarm a little earlier too.  (I wake up at 4am for work, so the new 3:30am alarm isn't my favorite part of this!)

Other than that everything is going along swimmingly.  I am moving to two acupuncture appointments starting next week.  Still no official start date for the trial, but I am going to be all good on the acupuncture whenever it starts.  Nothing for us to do now but continue taking our supps and wait... Mr R took his first Clomid last night, will be back with an update on what/if he notices any effects.

Taking a DHEA Break

Urg... I was going to save the next supplement update for 2 weeks time and give you a full month feedback but this change came with such a dramatic hormonal performance I feel like I should add this in right now so everyone is aware of this potential side effect.

I mentioned in another post how I started feeling a little more emotional than normal, but I figured it might just be DHEA, a little PMS mixed in with an emotional day (Father's Day) and lack of sleep.

Last week I was bouncing off the walls with emotions.  Literally up one second and down the next and then crying, then angry and then outrageously happy or excited.  By Saturday I was a mess.  I was having panic attacks, crying -- I mean SOBBING -- at the drop of a hat and one minute I felt like I wanted to slap Mr. R and the next I wanted to hug him and just cry.  Bless him he was so patient in dealing with me and it gives me hope for how he will be when it comes time to hit the hormones for treatment, but really  this was NOT fun.

I am convinced that it is related to the DHEA and so I stopped taking it on Saturday.  Yesterday (Sunday) I felt a bit better, not as emotional and today (Monday) I feel better still.  More in control of myself.  I plan to give myself a week long DHEA break and then maybe bring it back at a lower dose, and go for a week on, and then a week off, and repeat like that until we stim.  Dr. C has already told me no DHEA after we get started.  He's not a big fan of the stuff.

Anyway, if anyone out there is following along with the supps I am taking, I would advise you to keep a close eye on the DHEA because WOWZA did it ever cause a reaction in me!