How to get rid of a UTI / Bladder Infection... I can't believe this actually WORKED!!!

Note: this post gets kind of long so if you want the nut nut on what worked for me, scroll all the way down for the gist... 6 things that REALLY DO WORK... it will be highlighted in yellow... "How to Prevent ant Treat UTIs... 6 critical things to remember."  NUMBER SIX is the one thing that you probably have never even heard before, that seemed to work like magic for me!!!  Please note that if you have a kidney infection or leave your UTI untreated for too long, it could become dangerous. So, while this stuff worked great for me (someone who has had them pretty regularly for over 20 years), please remember I'm not a doctor and am not trying to dispense medical advice.  If you think you have a serious health condition, please seek medical attention immediately. And there's my official CMA. 
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Yesterday I woke up with a horrible UTI. Ugh.

It was one of those things where, I could kind of feel something coming on the night before, but it just felt like dryness and a certain amount of irritation from having more sex than usual.  It didn’t occur to me that I could wind up with a full blown bladder infection.  It’s been over a year since I had a bladder infection, so I managed to forget how horrible they are, and forget about the fact that you have to NIP THEM IN THE BUD ASAP!

My hubby had the day off on Friday and we ended up having sex twice that morning. The second time we did it, I just assumed that because we’d just had sex a few hours earlier, and since I still hadn’t gotten out of bed, then I must still be sufficiently lubricated.

WRONG!!!  

Well, the combination of me not being lubricated enough, not drinking enough water that week, my husband having an extra hard you-know-what (so there was more friction than usual... especially since it had been about a week since we had sex), me NOT going to pee right after sex, then lying there with my heated blanket on high for a few hours, eating a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast that morning, and drinking WAY too many sugary drinks (large bottle of kool aid and an extra large Sprite from McDonalds) turned out to be the perfect recipe for a full blown Urinary Tract Infection!

I used to get UTI’s all the time in my 20’s and 30’s.  They are just horrible. I feel like it totally immobilizes me and I can’t think about anything else until I can get relief.  I think part of the reason I get them more often than regular people is because I took so many antibiotics for acne, and also took Accutane (which dries up your mucus membranes). Some people try to say that your body goes back to normal after you finish Accutane but that is not the case for a lot of people (if you don't believe me, google "Accutane" and "side effects" and just read the comments on the message boards). 

I hate UTI’s with a passion, particularly since I seem to be cursed with them. I will never forget the day I got the worst one, I was at work in an administrative position and had to leave early. I felt like I was going to have to go to the emergency room, I was hot and sweaty and had the chills. It was the worst one EVER. I think I got it because the guy I was with just took Viagra (he was  harder than usual…. Which fuels my theory that we chicks need to be extra cautious of an extra hard dick, and take extra precautionary measures NOT to get an infection later!!!).  There was another time I went to a clinic for antibiotics and because I hadn’t filled out the right paperwork ahead of time, they said I didn’t qualify for the low-cost program and I had to pay over $500 or they would ruin my credit!!! I couldn’t believe it. I was so mad, but I paid it.

Anyway, yesterday when I realized I was dealing with a UTI, I scrounged around for antibiotics in my medicine cabinet. I seem to get them at least once a year, so I sometimes have an extra pill or two on hand. Yes, I know, I shouldn’t have any “extras” because you’re supposed to take every pill, but I don’t because a) I don’t like to take too many pills, and b) I feel like I need to save one or two for when I need them in case of an emergency like this, as I would literally beg, borrow and steal for them on a day when there is no clinic open and you can't get it over the counter. I did manage to find an old bottle of “Cippro” but it was slightly expired. So I took the two that were in there and hoped for the best.

      The Cippro didn’t seem to do anything, so I went to the drugstore looking for  Cystex, which is usually pretty awesome. Seriously, I was so happy when they stared selling it in stores. It is the closest thing to antibiotics, because it helps control the infection, whereas AZO  and Uristat only help with the pain till you can get to the doctor (I still love Azo though, because it has always worked fast... so I could GET to the doctor).

I did get AZO because Safeway was the first place I went looking for over-the-counter meds (they didn’t have Cystex), and it was on sale… just $3.49 (normally around $7).  I took two in the car, had lunch, then went to Rite Aid.  I had to pee so the first thing I did was go to the bathroom. And there, I discovered.... a huge glob of egg white cervical mucus on the toilet paper. Great. My body is trying to ovulate while my lady parts are totally out of commission.

I bought the Cystex, took two, went home, and took a hot bath. For some reason it didn’t seem to help much, I still felt horrible.

So I took two more of each. Two more Cystex and two more AZO. Oh yeah, and I’d also taken odorless garlic pills, hoping that would help fight the infection.

Still felt like crap.

A very dear friend texted me to just say hi and see how my day was going. I told her about my condition, and how I felt like I was stuck in bed all day and didn’t want to move, or even have my laptop on my lap because it felt uncomfortable. She is so sweet, she immediately wanted to help. She even offered to run to the drugstore to get some meds for me, and/or go to the health foods store in our neighborhood, to talk to the guy who runs the place, since he knows a lot about every type of health condition.

She knows that I have been trying to get pregnant, and I also told her that I’m ovulating. She wanted to ask the Health Food Store Guy about his recommendation for people who are TTC, who have a bladder infection.

Honestly, I didn’t really think he was going to have a good solution for me. I thought, he’s probably going to tell me to do some crazy thing that’s going to cost way too much money and I’m going to have to buy way too many full price products and end up spending like $60, when it would cost me $10 to visit the local clinic on Monday when they open (well… if I could hold out that long).

When you are suffering with a UTI, you don't want to screw around with stuff that isn't proven to work. When you have a UTI, you are like someone with a house on fire. You're in a state of emergency, and having someone suggest something that even remotely sounds "homeopathic" would be like someone handing you a squirt gun when your house is going up on flames. So, hearing any kind of advice that sounds like it may not work, is just a distraction, and therefore, ANNOYING. 

But still, my dear friend called the guy at the health food store, then called me back, and told me that he said I should take probiotics, and do a mega dose of at least 50 BILLION beneficial flora.

To be honest I really didn’t think it sounded like it would work. I mean, if that would actually work, then wouldn’t most of us women who get these damn recurrences, have heard about this cure by now? I just read that Urinary Tract Infections are responsible for nearly 8.3 million doctor visits every year, and they’re the 2^nd most common type of infection in the human body. In the United States alone, UTIs generate SIX BILLION DOLLARS in direct healthcare costs. 

My friend happened to have some probiotics in her fridge (I learned that you are supposed to keep them refrigerated!).  I told her I had a bottle of them, which I’d gotten for free a few years ago through a Walgreen’s or CVS rebate. I ended up using it to try to treat a yeast infection I got in October when we were having a heatwave, and it actually did work (I did use some yeast infection cream too... but it was at least 5 years old so I wasn't sure if it was still good). It seemed to take days for it to subside. It’s funny, I was so anxious for it to go away, I ended up scheduling an appt. to go to a clinic, but by the time I got there, they told me it had already cleared up. So I was bummed about wasting the time, but glad I’d bought that bottle of probiotics! It just never would occur to me that it could work on a UTI!

 

Anyway, I had 6 probiotics pills left. The brand was Ultimate Flora .They were 15 billion each, and they were a few months past the exiration date, so I took all of them. Then my friend brought over her bottle and she gave me a bunch of hers, since hers weren’t expired and had also been refrigerated.  Her pills were 2 billion each. I took about a dozen with a slice of apple, planning to take more later. I also put a few on the side to stick them “up there” for good measure.

I went to Walgreens to look for more probiotics, and got the Ultimate Flora Critical Care Capsules with 50 Billion Flora (there were a few different types). Also, it has 10 probiotic strains, and this particular type has a “delayed release” so that it doesn’t all get burned up by your stomach acids, like many probiotics do.

I took two capsules last night, and inserted one vaginally for good measure. When I went to pee, I did not see anything that looked like a capsule come out, so I'm assuming it did dissolve. The next time(s) I did this, I opened the capsule and inserted both halves, hoping it would dissolve faster / easier. 

Whatever the case...

I feel GREAT today. UTI? What UTI??? 

It was like it had never even happened. This was the first time in my entire life (and in probably about 40 UTI's) that I haven't had to take antibiotics to completely get rid of it!!!

It’s true, I did also consume about half a gallon of water yesterday. And yes, I did take Cystex and AZO and garlic and some Cippro (that didn't seem to do ANYTHING yesterday so it really should have been tossed). But I really can’t help thinking it was the FLORA, more than anything, that got me back in the normal position I am in now, because the Cystex and AZO just didn't seem to be kicking in like they normally do. The garlic didn't seem to be doing anything. And normally, drinking more water doesn't exactly take the UTI away. I am SO grateful to my friend for telling me about this!!! Now I just want to spread the word and pay it forward!

I am the kind of person who researches all kinds of DIY approaches, at-home remedies and the like, and had never seen anyone mention using probiotics for a UTI (but when you think about it, it makes sense... why not get the GOOD bacteria to kick the bad bacteria's butt??).  So that inspired me to write this post. It is just insane how many things there are, that actually WORK, but people just don’t  know about them because everybody keeps repeating the same old crap that doesn’t work. Like cranberry juice.

You know how much cranberry juice I’ve had after a UTI kicks in? Way too much. It doesn’t work for me at ALL. At least, not the regular cranberry juice. The excess sugar in the juice makes the problem WORSE. Cranberry pills do offer some relief (I’ve heard that something about the cranberry juice changes the bacteria’s texture, so it doesn’t have the “barbs” – like barbed wire – that makes it stick to the inside of your urinary tract). But regular cranberry juice? The thing that everybody says to drink when you have a UTI?? It’s totally bogus. Well, at least it doesn't work for someone like me, who usually needs something super strong to clear it up.

If you ever find yourself with a UTI, ladies, PLEASE… try Probiotics... I can't believe how well this actually worked!!! You should be able to get them in any drugstore or any health food store.  The guy at the health food store who said I should take 50 billion flora, was going to also recommend some other stuff for me to take, if I came down in person, but just the probiotic recommendation alone, seemed to do the trick. I am really grateful to my friend for asking him about it, and to him for telling her about it!!!

The type I took is pictured here on the left. You can get different varieties of "Ultimate Flora" at the drugstore, and probiotics are also available at health food stores. I just like this one because it was convenient....they managed to stuff 50 billion probiotics into ONE PILL! You can probably take just about any brand, just make sure it's not expired, that it's been kept cool, and take enough to equal 50 billion flora / live cultures.

Of course, now that I've HEARD of using probiotics to treat a UTI, I was able to do a related google search and found that there have been studies that show probiotics do help prevent a UTI, but that info never seemed to come up without actually inserting the word "probiotic" into the google search... so not many people would ever FIND that info "by chance."

You can read some relevant articles below. FYI in the studies, the women took probiotics on a regular basis, but I didn't have to do that. Maybe one day I will do that but honestly I'm taking so many supplements and vitamins right now, I can't imagine having to add any more pills... they wouldn't even fit into my huge pill minder!!! So for anyone who is more interested in a quick fix and is not really concerned with prevention... I can vouch that taking 50 billion at a time did seem to work. Again... I did take Cystex, but would not be surprised if the Probiotics would have just worked on their own.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/260450-how-can-i-cure-my-uti-without-antibiotics/

http://www.thirdage.com/news/probiotics-may-help-treat-uti-study-says_04-19-2011

So here is the gist of 
How to Prevent and Treat UTIs... 6 critical things to remember!  (Including one thing you probably have never even heard of before... that DID THE TRICK!!!)

1) PEE RIGHT AFTER SEX. I cannot stress this enough. It really does work, like magic. It sounds so simple but it ALWAYS works. I had a roommate in my 20's who told me to do this and I didn't listen because it sounded too simple to work. I also think I had some kind of mental block against it because to me, Pee was equivalent to "Dirty"... so how could it actually "clean out" the bad stuff? But I later realized she was totally right. Urine is STERILE.... and it actually has antibodies in it. And every single time I've had a UTI, I realized, I hadn't peed right after sex, and have never ever had one when I did. The key is, to make sure you drink lots of water BEFORE sex, so you feel like you HAVE to pee after (otherwise it's way too easy to fall asleep)! It's also important to stay well hydrated thoughout the day (it helps to have a water bottle you LIKE to drink out of, that doesn't leak and is easy to carry everywhere).

Of course, if you are TTC and don't want to pee after sex, I get that... that is part of the reason why I didn't pee after sex this time around. I realized, I could have used a diaphragm or Instead cup (Softcup) to hold the sperm in while I went to pee, but if you do this, you have to make sure it's "shoved up there high enough," because otherwise it can push down on your urethra so it will actually be harder to pee (FYI this is not usually an issue with a diaphragm but with the Softcup it kind of is). I think I may have even heard once, that using a Softcup can actually cause a UTI in some cases, but that has never happened to me, and... what the hell, if you've already got one, how much worse can it get? (Why do those sound like famous last words...).  Anyway... all this is a good enough reason to drink lots of water and limit your caffeine intake.

Even just a little urine flow can help clean out the bad bacteria that causes a UTI. And don't make the mistake of thinking that just because it's winter time or because it's cold out, and you don't FEEL dehydrated, that you aren't (especially if you have a heated blanket on yourself like I did... duh!!). Also, it doesn't hurt to make sure both you and your man are nice and showered, though you can still get a UTI even if you both just got out of the shower!

2) Use enough lubrication during sex.  Astroglide Natural is the bomb. It's probably better to avoid lubricants that have "heat inducing" qualities (but that's just a guess). As a little side note, taking "FertileCM" really does seem to help increase the quantity and quality of my cervical mucous, so if you tend to be pretty dry down there, this could be a great supplement to take. 

3)  CYSTEX is THE BEST over the counter medication you can buy (in my opinion... the opinion of someone who's had at least 40 UTI's in her entire lifetime). It usually fights off the infection AND the pain, while AZO and Uristat just fight the pain (and make your pee turn bright orange like something you'd dip an easter egg in). AZO and Uristat can help with the pain temporarily, but they will NOT do anything to help clear up the infection. It's just like putting a band aid on a really bad wound. When you really need relief you'll take any kind of help but just remember AZO and Uristat are very temporary.

4) AVOID CAFFEINE, SUGAR, AND CARBS (which turn into sugar).

5) DRINK LOTS OF WATER... It MUST be filtered and unchlorinated, otherwise it will make your problem worse.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE SPECIAL WATER I DRINK. I'm not saying you HAVE to get this water to get rid of a UTI. You don't. If regular filtered water is all you can afford, that's fine. But this water I drink now is beneficial for SO many reasons, AND IT'S CHEAP TO MAKE (you can make it for less than $1 per gallon) and it helps women with so many issues. Many people who drink this water have reported that they no longer get chronic UTIs or yeast infections after drinking this water, and I have to say, I haven't had a single UTI since I've been drinking it for the last nine months. It is able to hydrate the body like nothing else can.  I also believe it could potentially help women with endometriosis because I know Pycnogenol helps women with that, and this water is a powerful antioxidant, like pycnogenol (maybe even stronger). A friend of mine swears she reversed menopause by 5 years after drinking it so I can't recommend it enough. I'm going to write another post about it when I have time.

I do want to emphasize that part of the reason why I am such a strong proponent of this water is, I no longer trust bottled water OR tap water. CLICK HERE to see why. There is a brand of Lady Lee bottled water that showed 91 parts per billion of trihalomethanes. This is INSANE (21 parts per billion can cause a 50% increased risk of death from bladder cancer). Most bottled water is oxidizing (aging to the body) INCLUDING Essentia and Smart Water. The water I recommend is highly alkaline, full of antioxidants and electrolytes, and cheaper than just about any bottled water you can buy, including home delivered water. The water I drink now has such a high level of antioxidants in it, they actually last for two days. There is no other water that comes close to this.

I have also heard that trihalomethanes, which are a chlorine byproduct, can seriously make it harder for a woman to get pregnant. And trihalomethanes are in MOST water supplies in the country. You can learn more about trihalomethanes HERE.

6) TAKE PROBIOTICS. This is IMPORTANT. Fifty billion of them (live cultures in capsules). And stick a pill or two "up there" for good measure. I recommend the "Ultimate Flora" brand because that's what I used, but I'm sure just about any other type would work. Keep it in the refrigerator and it will last much longer. I still can't believe how well this worked for me! When you see how well it works for you, please spread the word.  One day maybe we can actually get rid of the stupid rumor that regular cranberry juice actually works!


-Ellebelle

PS... UPDATE: Two weeks later... I can confirm that my UTI really did clear up by taking Probiotics and Cystex, without having to go to the doctor. For the first time in my life (and I'm talking about 20 years of suffering with UTIs) I did not have to go get antibiotics, woohoo! I will tell you that I did end up taking a few more Cystex (you're supposed to take 2 at a time, so I probably took 8 more... 4 doses). I did this because I could still feel a slightly raw feeling down there, it's was like, an elevated temperature thing that made me a little worried it could come back full force. So I took the Cystex and continued to also take the Ultimate Flora, orally and also used a pill vaginally about 4 different times... and the UTI really did clear up completely. GOOD RIDDANCE!!!

Please tell your girlfriends about Probiotics. They are way better for your body, than taking antibiotics!!!

UPDATE 10/11/14: I also recommend THIS BRAND of probiotics (Nature's Bounty) also. It has 20 billion cultures. I've been taking it for over a year and love it. Please note that they do sell this brand (but in a lower dose) at most drugstores like Walgreens or Rite Aid or CVS (I get the one with 20 Billion at Costco). A common one I've seen is labeled as Acidophilus and has about 100 million flora. So you'd have to take a lot to get the equivalent of 50 billion strains. If you're at a drugstore and you're having an emergency, I'd recommend you look for the Ultimate Flora brand.

I'm not a doctor but this is the stuff that REALLY WORKED FOR ME. I really hope it will work for you too! Again, please pass this info on to other women you think it could help!!  

EB

Back to the Drawing Board... Cycle day 1

Started my period yesterday. Yes, Aunty Flo came knocking loudly on my door around noon. I dared her to show up by wearing brand new, light grey t-shirt colored undies (ok it's true they were protected with a liner). But she took me up on my challenge all right. This month was the first time in 3 months, that I did not get it on the 27th. But I guess it made sense that I'd get it at least 2 days later, given the fact that I ovulated so late in this cycle (on day 17).

At least it's good to know that Fertil Plus really does keep my cycle pretty regular! (Btw my New Year's Resolution is to be a lot better about using my checklist, religiously, to make sure I take it at the right time, 3 times per day... 8am, 3pm, and 10pm). The month I did get pregnant, I had alarms set up to remind me to take it at the same time every day, but lately I've been bad about it. So maybe there really was something to it.

On one hand I am disappointed that I didn't get pregnant this time, and can't help wondering if maybe I'm just not meant to have children. I'm starting to wonder if getting pregnant might be one of those things that will happen for me only when I don't really care if it happens or not. You hear about that kind of thing happening all the time. Women decide to finally stop trying and BAM! They're knocked up. But it's frustrating that it seems to work that way. Can't I just admit that I really do want to have a baby?

It's kind of like being in a relationship with someone, and wanting that person too much. It's only when you truly don't care, that they start calling you like crazy and can't get enough of you. Maybe babies are just like that. Maybe we're not supposed to want them in some crazed, possessive sort of way, like that's just bad karma. We're just supposed to be doing our thing, being busy with our lives and enjoying our lives. And then the babies are supposed to show up, just like men do, ceremoniously crashing into our lives when we could care less, as if it's some kind of big test of God, to see just how much we can really handle at once.

Well, I'm not going to stop trying (and I'm getting to the point where my FertilPlus is about to run out so I am going to have to order more soon). My guess is that I was just under way, way too much pressure this month, to be able to conceive.

Reasons I think I didn't conceive this month include:

-Putting myself (and my husband) under WAY too much pressure!

-Getting into a pretty big fight with the hubby, about 5 days after I felt like I'd gotten pregnant. If that didn't drive my cortisol levels up to the roof, I don't know what could. No, the fight wasn't pregnancy related. We don't fight all the time, but when we do, it is not pretty. Luckily we made up and he was very apologetic, but sadly I no longer felt pregnant the day after the fight.

-Maybe the timing was just wrong and I didn't get pregnant after all, and the "pregnant feeling" was just caused by the progesterone cream. Although I did think we had the timing right (we did it about 10 hours after I took a VERY positive ovulation test, and had been testing every 12 hours), I am wondering if maybe it was just too late. This cycle I need to be sure we do it at night, more often. It probably would have been better if we'd done it the night before!

-Maybe it was just a bad egg or the wrong sperm fertilized my egg. I did kind of wonder, as I was practically standing on my head in order to help my hubby's sperm reach my egg(s): "Could I be making it easier for the wrong sperm to get to the egg?"  What I was doing was, after all, kind of going against Darwin's theory. You see YouTube videos of magnified sperm under a microscope, and you can't help thinking... ok, clearly there are some sperm that are just supposed to be left behind. Some are swimming around in circles, crazed, dazed, confused, directionless.  But being in the vertical position that I was... I couldn't help wonder if maybe I was encouraging some of those spermies that just... weren't... right.... to win the big Egg Marathon.

So if the reason I didn't get pregnant this time around, is because the egg/sperm/zygote/blastocyst just wasn't as strong as it needed to be... I want to thank God for the intervention, because getting a monthly period is like a vacation to Cabo, compared to what it is like to go through a miscarriage.

The other thing I am grateful for, is that I didn't wind up with an ectopic pregnancy. Which I was slightly concerned about, since I could swear I was ovulating from my right side for the first time that I can ever remember. In 2009 I had an HSG test which showed that my right tube is slightly blocked. Or at least, it took a lot longer for the dye to go through it, than it did for the dye to go through the left tube.  I really felt like I was ovulating from both sides. There were strong pangs going off from the left and the right, for over a week.

So the whole time, I was a little worried that I could wind up with an ectopic pregnancy. I know this will sound completely insane, but there was even a day (after I thought I'd conceived) when I took about 3x my usual dose of oil of evening primrose, and then went jogging, in an effort to somehow try to help the blastocyst or zygote keep moving along the tube. It was hard for me not to picture it getting stuck in the tube! Who knows, maybe I caused it to just keep on sliding and never stick in my uterus at all.

See, THIS is why it's probably better for people like me, to get pregnant by accident, when you're not even thinking about it. Because thinking about it all the time, every day, will make you insane and do crazy things that you probably shouldn't.

Anyway, my plan for this month is to keep good track of what I'm doing, get enough rest, keep a checklist of everything I'm supposed to be doing (including taking supplements at the right time, drinking lots of water). And we'll see what happens from there!

As usual... will post my progress as I go along!

EB

And the pregnancy test reveals...

... a BFN!

Yep.  I should have known better than to take a test on Christmas. I just couldn't seem to help myself, I guess largely because I knew I was going to be tempted all day, so I decided to just get it over with. At this point I'm 11 days past ovulation. I do realize there is a chance I could still test positive within 4 or 5 days but I'm not going to put too many eggs into that basket. I checked that test strip about 3 times and there was not even the faintest sign of a positive line. True, it was a test strip that I'd cut open over 2 weeks ago so maybe it wasn't good anymore, but... I had it all wrapped up, with the silica gel packet still inside, so I would think it would still be good.

As much as I was feeling and seeing weird symptoms, I have not been feeling fatigue.  Though... ok I have to say, I don't think I really felt that much fatigue the first time I was pregnant. But I do remember my back hurting quite a bit. And this time, the back pain is even worse.

I really do feel like I have been showing pregnancy symptoms, though. It's weird. Even the amount of discharges that I've been experiencing. It's been a lot, and that's not normally the case (though it was while I was pregnant). I remember, when I was pregnant before, I sometimes felt like I had my period, because I was wet down there so much of the time. So I'm not sure what is going on, or what happened, but... all I can do is try to look at the positive side of things.

On the positive side, I feel like I can probably go ahead and have a cup of decaf coffee if I want. And I can breathe a sigh of relief that I have a little more time to secure a full time job without having to worry about my employer and co-workers (rightfully) accusing me, 4 months down the road, of getting a job, right after I got pregnant, knowing I was pregnant and would have to take maternity leave.

It's hard not to go over in my mind, all the things that I could have done differently. If I hadn't gotten into that argument with my husband the evening before I ovulated, we could have had sex the next morning and I would have gotten the timing just right. Or, if I had been pregnant, maybe if I hadn't been under so much stress about 5 days ago, maybe the pregnancy would have "stuck." Or if maybe I hadn't had that glass of wine at Christmas Eve dinner. Or maybe if I hadn't talking about every single little thing as it happened, giving the blogger play by play. Or maybe if I could just take a chill pill and stop worrying about every little thing so much! One thing I definitely know for sure. A lot of my worry is money-related, so I need to figure out a way to fix that.

I definitely do plan to keep trying, and will be increasing my dosage of CoEnzyme Q10 to try to make sure my eggs are as healthy as they can be. I realized I was only taking about 200 mg per day, but I really could and probably should have been taking 400-600mg.

I spent the morning eating junk food, sweet bread rolls with lots of butter, watching the Disney Christmas Parade and throwing myself a little pity party while my husband is still asleep in bed. I guess I had to just get it out of my system.

Now I'm going to go get on my exercise bike and listen to Madonna and get pumped up to start all over again. If this cycle is like the last 3 I will be getting my period on the 27th. If for some reason that's not the case, I'll do another post!

EB

REALLY white discharge... a sign of pregnancy?

I just went to the bathroom and when I looked at my undies I literally said "Whoah." The discharge on them was really, really white. Usually it's not very thick and maybe kind of white but not all that white. But this evening, it was a lot thicker. Didn't smell bad or anything, it was just really noticeable.

I've been trying to wear dark colored undies lately (today they were red) because I have been wanting to keep track of what my discharge looks like. The last time I had that kind of thick white discharge, was when I got pregnant almost a year ago. The last time before that was in my 20's, when I just had a lot more hormones raging through my system, and I just had a lot more discharge in general.

For several months, I've been looking at my undies, hoping to see some kind of thick white discharge, this is the first time I saw it. But I am still scared to take a pregnancy test, because it's Christmas Eve and I don't want to be disappointed. And I don't want to be disappointed on Christmas day either. But I may end up giving in! It would be a pretty cool Christmas gift to find out I'm pregnant. But... again... it would really suck to get a negative test on Christmas!

I am having a little bit of pain down there right now, and I can't tell if it's coming from my ovaries or a fallopian tube or what. I'm just going to hope and assume it is my ovaries being overactive this month.

Whatever the case, I am happy and grateful to have just seen that white milky discharge on my underpants. Whatever it means. It definitely made me feel happy to see it : )

EB

Nausea?

I might have been dreaming this one, but... last night, in the middle of the night, I woke up suddenly when my husband was scratching his foot. He was scratching it so hard, the bed was shaking.

Normally this might just wake me up and I'd go right back to sleep, no big deal.  But this morning, it made me feel nauseous, as if I suddenly felt motion sickness. My head actually felt cold - as if the blood had just drained right out of it. I didn't really feel like I was going to barf, probably because I was only half awake and was able to fall back asleep fairly quickly, but that feeling of motion sickness was definitely familiar.

When I was on birth control pills - Ortho TriCyclen - on and off from about age 26 to about age 35 - I felt a good amount of motion sickness.  I'd never gotten motion sickness before, but suddenly I felt it pretty regularly. In cars driving on winding roads, on boats, on buses that swerved around too much... one time I had to get off the bus and throw up in a trash can. It was a lot like being pregnant, only you weren't. I figured it was the increase in hormones in your system. Ortho Novum 777 never did that to me, but BOY did Ortho TriCyclen.

Anyway, I'm not quite ready to take a pregnancy test. I'm going to wait at least until tomorrow - Christmas - to take one - and might wait even longer. If it would be negative, I don't want to feel disappointed on Christmas. But if I get another wave of nausea or some other really strong signal - I'll probably go ahead and take it!

By the way, I do plan on asking the hubby if he really was scratching his foot or shaking the bed somehow in his sleep. There is a chance he won't remember, though, so it may not even be worth it to ask him. But I do know this... what I felt was definitely nausea - whether it was a dream or not! I'm pretty sure it was real, because I remember it had woken me up from a dream.

More later. TTFN,

EB

Fighting the winter blues... or hormones

OK so I realize this could have nothing to do with pregnancy. But this evening I had this terrible feeling of the blues. It was shortly after I took a shower. True, it's raining, HARD, where I live, to the point where they've issued two flash flood warnings. But I'm usually able to keep my Seasonal Affective Disorder in check by taking extra vitamin D, getting enough exercise, cleaning my house, staying away from junk food, eating really healthy, and keeping the lights on.

But those things didn't seem to be doing the trick today. It seemed unusually bad shortly after I took a shower and put on some progesterone cream, which was weird because previously, it actually improved my mood. But tonight, I literally started to feel like I was going to cry when I was just trying to fix a tangled blanket. So I ended up taking a SAM-e tablet. I'd bought some for my husband a few years ago when he wasn't in the best health and it was making him depressed. Now he is feeling much better and didn't keep taking it so I had a lot of extra, and I'm going to assume it was still at least partially effective since it's in foil wrapped packaging. 

I read a very helpful discussion about Sam-E, by women who are trying to conceive, or did get pregnant. Apparently it's been really helpful, for a lot of women, and there are no known side effects. You can read the discussion here.

I felt "OK" later. Not joyful or anything, just "OK." Which I guess is better than feeling depressed, which is what I felt about 2 hours ago. I also do have a nice heated blanket on the bed, which is helping the back pain that's been plaguing me for the last month. 

When I told my husband I was feeling really depressed like I want to cry, he said, "Could you be pregnant?" And for some reason I instantly blurted out, "no, no..." I guess because a) I didn't really think that could be it, and b) I don't want to worry him too much. 

But now I am kind of starting to wonder. I don't want to take another pregnancy test unless I'm way overdue for my period. This cycle, I ovulated pretty late - on day 17.  And I just looked it up online and apparently it's not impossible to get pregnant if you ovulate that late, according to this discussion. 

For the last 3 months, I always got my period on the 27th. Like clockwork. So I keep thinking, that's when I'm going to get it again this month. So I guess I'll take a test if I don't get it by the 28th. It was just so much easier the last time I got pregnant, when I wasn't really thinking about it, and I didn't test too early, and I didn't have any of that anxiety of, should I take a test or not take a test, or being annoyed with myself because I went ahead and tested too early when I knew I shouldn't have.  Sometimes I wonder if that kind of anxiety can keep a pregnancy from actually “sticking.”  It would probably help if I could just get busy with other things in my life and not think so much about the baby thing.

OK that's it for now. Will write more again soon. 

EB

How long does it take to get a positive pregnancy test?

So, I took another pregnancy test, thinking that maybe I could show a positive result by now. And I was pretty disappointed to see it was negative (and I mean, totally negative, not even a faint line). Again. I know, my bad. I should not be taking any tests at all! I feel like it always just messes with my mind, and yet... it's hard to help myself.

When I got pregnant in January, I estimated that I conceived around January 5th (since that was the day I had the really positive OPK test), and I didn't take a pregnancy test for three weeks (so by the time I did, it was pretty dark). It wasn't that I didn't care at all, but I just had a lot of other things on my mind, which I think is probably how it's supposed to be.

I didn't feel any particularly strong, unusual symptoms, that I can remember, until about 2 days before I took the test. The thing that made me finally suspect that something must be going on, was major fatigue (which I am not experiencing now), bad lower back pain (which I am experiencing but that's been going on for weeks), and bad diarrhea as soon as I woke up one day (which I'm not experiencing now... and yes, don't worry, I made it to the bathroom!)

I did a little googling the other day to find out how soon you can you get a positive pregnancy test after a positive ovulation test (assuming you've done the deed at least once, in the right time frame of course). 

This is what I found, according to this discussion: 

When an egg is fertilized, it takes about 6 to 12 days to implant in the uterus, and then it begins to secrete hCG. It takes another day or two for enough hCG to build up and make its way into your pee. So, generally speaking, the earliest you can expect a positive HPT is 8 days past ovulation ("DPO") and the latest would be about 16 DPO.

I got my positive OPK test on the morning of Friday, December 14th (yes, sadly this was the same day as the tragedy in Connecticut). I also had sex a few times before this, when I thought I may be ovulating also (I've had other positive OPK tests during this cycle but none that turned so dark, so fast). So at this point, I'm just about 8 days past ovulation. But for whatever reason, my hormones still do seem to be acting up. My boobs are pretty sore. Though they do tend to be more sore, during the last 2 weeks of my cycle, when I am on Fertil Plus. So who knows, maybe that's all it is.

It's hard not to have a certain amount of anxiety about this pregnancy since I don't have health insurance at this time, and I need to get full time work. So if there is anything positive about the fact that I might not be pregnant right now, it would be that I still have a little more time to hopefully secure a good full time job that has decent health benefits.

Around 2 days past ovulation I started getting insomnia, waking up in the middle of the night, thinking oh my God, what if more than one egg got released and fertilized. I am pretty positive that I ovulated from more than one side this month. It's funny that I would worry about such a thing, since there was a time when I really wanted twins. It seems like a cooler and cooler idea as you get older, since you don't know how much time there is left to have babies, so cranking out two at a time would seem like a blessing.

But the reality of having more than one kid, with no health insurance, definitely scared me a little. Of course, I would welcome any baby or babies that God chooses to give me. And I would love that kid or kids with my whole heart and just make the best of the situation, no matter how it all turned out. I definitely do have some good prospects for full time work, so I am hopeful.

I realize I must sound really ingrateful.  Here I am, trying SO hard to get pregnant, and it sounds like I'm saying, "Oh my God I hope I don't have twins or anything"....  It's not that I wouldn't love to have as many babies as I could. It's just that I am feeling a little unprepared. If we had more room in this house, and f we had more money, I would absolutely LOVE IT. Just like J Lo and Mariah Carey must be loving it. They can build the biggest house they want, and hire as many nannies as they could ever need. But for the average person, it might not be so easy.

Like I said, I would be extremely grateful and happy for any child or children God ever decides to give me, and I will consider it an extreme blessing, no matter what happens. Even if for some reason I am unable to have any children, I will look at the positive side and thank God for the fact that it would probably save me a lot of worry and possible heartache (the normal type that comes form being concerned about a child, your whole life) and remaining childless would enable me to be able to accomplish more of my own personal goals.  But of course I would rather have a baby. I already feel really fortunate for the fact that I have been able to afford to take fertility supplements, and that they have worked to get me pregnant in the past (even if one sadly ended in a miscarriage).  And I feel fortunate for the fact they seem to be working again. Regardless of whether this will be the "lucky month"... I am grateful.

EB