Supplements

It’s taken a while to develop a list of supplements and dosages to help improve both egg and semen quantity and quality. It’s also a work in progress. Please don’t assume this list will work for you without reviewing your own profile with your doctor/healthcare practitioner/acupuncturist and make sure you do some testing prior to know your baseline levels, esp. before taking DHEA and Vit D3.  Let me add that I don’t do any of this perfectly.  If I miss a morning or evening, I don’t beat myself up.  I follow the 80/20 rule.

If it weren’t for this fertility journey, regardless of the outcome, I doubt I would ever have known how deficient I’ve been in many of my hormone levels incl Vit D3. I’m definitely healthier than I’ve been in a long while and I feel great!

List of current supplements
Vit D3 (10,000 iu 2x/day ) ** Important to test your values prior to taking to ensure you find the right dosage for your body;  my values were terribly low, even when taking 5000iu/day.  So I had to really up and retest and currently I’m mid-level.

DHEA – micronized – 25mg 2x/day “” Ladies, have your DHEA-S levels tested, including Total Testosterone and Free Testosterone prior to taking as women with PCOS may already have high levels and should NOT take this supplement. I had mine tested before taking DHEA and after I had been on it for 12 weeks and it has brought both my T levels along with DHEA-S up from horribly low levels. I have yet to see an increase in antral follicle count but from what I’ve read you don’t see the real benefit for a minimum of 3 months which makes sense given timeline of egg cycle; my next IVF cycle in January 2014; it will be interesting to see if I can eek out a few more follicles as a result of the benefits that women with DOR supposedly obtain from taking DHEA.

Pycnogenol (50mg) /Resveratrol (500mg) – one or the other depending on what i have on hand
L-Arginine – 2000mg 2x/day
Zinc – 30mg
Vit C – 1000mg 2x/day
Folic acid – 800mg 2x/day
Ubiquinol – 400mg 3x/day
PQQ -20mg 2x/day
Fish Oil – 1000mg 2x/day
B complex
R – Lipoic acid – 300 mg
Nattokinase – 2000 FU
Acetyl l-carnitine – 500mg
Carnosine – 300mg
Myo-inositol – 1.5gm 2x/day
Calcium – 600mg 2x/day
Baby aspirin

The following items are what I take in a fertility smoothie in the morning; for the recipe see the Fertility Smoothie page. I’ve currently put the smoothie on hold for a bit while I watch intake of all sugar/carbs to lose weight an minimize insulin spikes throughout the day.
**Wheatgrass – frozen
**Bee pollen
**Royal Jelly
**Maca Root
**Liquid Omegas
**Supper greens