Yoga and Fertility

After doing some research on doing yoga for infertility, I came across Yoga 4 Fertility with Brenda Strong. These DVDs seem to mimic pretty closely the style of class and types of poses I've been doing lately and most enjoy. I haven't tried this out myself just yet, but wanted to post my findings. I'll probably be ordering a copy soon and will let you know how it goes. Hope it's helpful!

I've read several things that say yoga is great for fertility because it allows your body to release stress and tension. For some women, stress alone seems to prevent them from conceiving sooner than later.

Even though my issues are deeper than that, I am sure that stress has an affect on my physical and mental health more than I'd like to think.So, even though I am not the least bit flexible (no, I can't touch my toes or the floor... it's more like the middle of my chins!), I decided to give it a shot and signed up for a once a week beginner class at the local community college. If there's one thing I have a hard time doing in life it's taking time out to exercise and just veg out.

Up until this week my experience was so so. On a good week, I would feel somewhat challenged and rejuvinated. On a not so good day, I had a hard time connecting to the poses and would find myself wandering off in thought, thinking of all of the other things I could be doing with my hour and 15 minutes.

And then yesterday's class happened! You should know that earlier in the week I upped my metformin back to 1000mg and was fine, until about 2.5 days after that and then the stomach pains came back. By Thursday, I was feeling like poo again and really wasn't up for going to yoga. But - I made myself and am very thankful I did. I went in feeling like crap, and came out feeling like I had just been at the spa! Seriously - my body was so relaxed and the tension was gone. On top of that, I was craving a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries! I know it sounds weird to be happy about that and to want to do that right after a great yoga session, but when you keep in mind that I haven't really had an appetite on metformin, this was fabulous news! So, Jay and I headed straight to the new MickyD's around the corner and I ate some trans fats and it was great! :)

In all, I think I'm learning what I like and dislike about yoga. I LOVE it's ability to take stress out of your body and let you start fresh and new. I also love that, as a result, I seem to have more energy. The night of the great session I stayed up until midnight and was mentally and physically energized. I hadn't had a night like that in quite a long time.

More specifically related to yoga itself, I like when the poses and movements are in sequence with one another so that there is a constant flow, rather than yoga that is too slow. I feel like I tend to loose focus then. Also, I don't really enjoy yoga that is too challenging... while that sounds like a cop out, it's more that because I am not as flexible as most people, it's difficult for me to get in some of the funky poses, so I tend to not be able to get as much out of them.

I'm really pretty happy with the instructor I have and the way she structures the class. From talking with a friend of mine who also does yoga, it seems that not all instructors verbalize the poses and how to get into the pose while you're doing it. As a result, you're opt to be more frustrated because you have to constantly keep moving out of the pose to look around and see how your body should be moving. Since I would rather do yoga more for the stress relief, distraction like that is a huge factor in remaining focused. I find that I have a more successful session if I am able to really clear my mind, take in the music and concentrate on my breathing.

All in all, I think I'll continue yoga and hopefully it will make a positive impact on my body and allow me to become pregnant more successfully. If nothing else, I will be a more relaxed individual and that's never a bad thing! Oh, and did I mention I got my husband to take the class with me too? Apparently yoga is supposed to be good if you play sports that put an imbalance or strain on your body. He is an avid tennis player so he was interested to see how it could help out his game.

I am going to try and get a copy of Yoga 4 Fertility with Brenda Strong soon and will let you know how it goes!

Bad case of the metformin blues...

So, I was on metformin for about 2 days or so and, on Sunday I started getting very sick to my stomach. It didn't let up and on Tuesday I figured I'd call the doctor to see if she could put me on metformin ER (the extended release version). I'd heard it was much easier to take and I figured why keep feeling that way if I could prevent it. Well, I didn't get a call back until Thursday. She did appoligize for someone not returning my call earlier, which I suppose was nice to hear. She recommended I cut the pill in half and take smaller doses throughout the day, rather than 500mg each time. So, today is my first day taking 750mg. After I called on Tuesday I went ahead and took myself back down to 500mg because it really was having a huge affect on my body. I imagine I'll be at 750 for about a week and just see how that goes. Afterall, I'm in it for the long haul I figure.

I LOVE IT when doctors listen!

I haven't written lately, but a lot has happened. The last week was primarily filled with a lot of late nights and uneasy, unproductive research for my first appointment with my OBGYN. Well, not "first" appointment ever with her... I have had the same doctor for about 3 1/2 years now, but have never been TTC and have never really went into an appointment with a true agenda.

I was so nervous because I feared that I wouldn't know what to say or what to try and demand. It's tough getting appointments with her sometimes and I just didn't want to waste any more time. After a long night of reading and studying (it felt like preparing for a college final all over again), I headed into the doctor's office that day with a binder full of key information and an outline of what I wanted to ask and insist on.

In the end, it didn't really come down to insisting. My doctor was actually very in tune and seemed aggressive about wanting to get me on track. The conversation went a bit like this: So, you've been trying to get pregnant since April. Yes. And when was your last period? 2 weeks ago - I have been charting, if that's helpful to see. Oh, you're on the ball. Yes, let's have a look at that. Ah, so you're last cycle was 67 days long - that's too long. And... let's see... you've definitely not been ovulating. If you were, you'd see an obvious shift... your temps aren't showing any sign of matching this shift. Let's get you started on metformin. This will help to regulate your cycles and encourage ovulation. If we need to go with clomid at some point, we might do so, but let's see how this does. Sound good? Sure does. Do you think we should do bloodwork again? Well, it has been almost two years since we did it last... let's go ahead and have it done. You can schedule it today in our office, if you'd like.

Long story short, they took my blood and checked for FSH, LSH, and something else... can't remember right now. The two tell-tell levels were very out of balance. I think my LSH was 3 x the FSH level, but I'll have to double check that.

I started metformin and so far so good I guess. I'm hoping my temps level out and I start seeing something normal. Wish me luck!