I have been L/C H/F for 6 years. Last week I miscarried at 9 weeks (no heartbeat on U/S - medical assisted). This was my 12th cycle of IVF. I want to get 10 kg off, loss water retention, and get my body back together for my next cycle.

I take a handful of supplements, and I would like to know of anything I might be omitting. (I take: Prenatal, vit b12, vit b complex, vit c, e, d3, folic acid, alfa lipoic, 1\2 Idoral, selenium, magnesium, zinc, omega 3, primrose, q10).

The only fats I use at home are butter, olive oil and coconut oil. At work they use soy oil.

I eat 2 eggs for breakfast with tahini.
Lunch at work is meat with veggies.
Dinner is usually dairy - cottage cheese or sour cream.
Rarely will I snack on almonds or peanuts.

The week after the MC I added iron, but have now stopped.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I don't know all the answers to your questions, but I wanted to say that I am so sorry for your loss. My heart goes out to you. {{HUGS}}

so sorry about your loss

your list of vites sounds really comprehensive. is there anyone who can run some labs for you to see if your levels are all in the range you want them to be in?

one of my favourite books for pregnancy preparation and recovery is rafflock's natural guide to pregnancy and postpartum health

Thanks, Eriksgirl.
Walnut - leafing through the Amazon preview is a hard read for someone who just had a miscarriage, could you outline what I am missing. I need to get my hormones back in balance, I am still weak and have abdominal fluid retention that varies throughout the day. I must be missing something. I am on sick leave but I'll be back to work on Sunday, the way I feel today I don't know how I'll get through that.

Sondacop, I am very sorry for your loss...
Please don't haste now into another circle of TTC. Let yourslef recover for few months emotionally and physically. Nor feel despaired, it WILL come in right time for BOTH of you

On nutrition side, I should admit, I am big fan and follower of Weston Price ideas, who was basing his research on striking difference in health, stamina of native tribes as compared to modern society. There are not all things I stick to in his recommendations, as comes for example to potatoes (even though soaked in butter) or soaked grains, but apart from that his suggestions fall into category of clean paleo eating.

In his research he was mentioning that tribal women don't simply jump into getting pregnant, they follow preparation 'course' before. For seaside tribes it would mean consuming fish caviar for women. If fish caviar is expensive for you, the alternative would be table spoon of cod liver oil taken daily together with butter . I actually ate both : fish cair served on 2 halves of boiled egg smeared with butter in the morning or as a day snack, and then toook my cod liver in the evening with butter too.

In your menu you say you have dairy mostly for dinner. I would probably cut that out to moderation (as per some studies dairy can effect fertility, especially for women with endometriosis or hidden allergies) and replace with fatty fish /meat + dark green veggies.

I'm so sorry you had to go through that Are you thinking your diet had something to do with what happened? Or just trying to get a feel for what you might want to change in general?

Your diet looks pretty sparse as far as calories and variety. I wouldn't think that would cause specific pregnancy issues, but just as a general observation.

I also agree you should have some extensive bloodwork run to check your levels of everything, especially because you're supplementing so much. I take multivitamins, calcium, magnesium, iron, vit C, vit D, B12, probiotics, zinc, DHA, and also had previously taken vit A, B complex, and probably some others I'm forgetting :P I have annual labs run that include the following:

• CMP
• CBC
• HBA1C (I've been diabetic)
• vit A
• vit D
• vit E (tocopherols)
• vit K1
• vit K2
• selenium
• folate
• B12
• B1
• B6
• zinc
• magnesium
• lipid panel
• iron
• ferritin
• transferrin
• TIBC
• UIBC
• PTH
• copper
• prealbumin

And sometimes they throw in things like uric acid or TSH or fasting serum insulin for good measure. I usually end up having about 10-15 tubes of blood taken when I go in for my annual labs. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on how any of these may or may not impact fertility or pregnancy, but I generally believe if you're taking so many supplements, you should be keeping a close watch on your levels to make sure you're not going too high in anything or throwing something else out of whack (for example, I actually take the zinc not because I had low zinc levels, but because I had high copper levels, and the two sort of balance one another).

I am so sorry for your loss.I had a similar experience last year at 11 weeks,and oh boy that was a terrible experience.More emotionally than physically.
I did not actually lose any weight after m/c even though I returned to Induction levels.And when i did lose,I still did not lose inches around belly/waist and chest until about 3 months later.
It is a good idea to drop some unwanted weight and get into optimal shape before next TTC,but I agree with jillybean that your diet looks sparse in cals and variety.Also supplementing with so many stuff can sometimes do more harm than good.Although I would wait for another couple weeks until maybe your periods restart to get a bloodwork done.Bcoz you will be losing blood and me thinks there will be some variation over those weeks.
I just continued my prenatals and B-complex,vitamin C and calcium.thase water retention should come down as soon as your hormones return to normal.In fact,in our culture(I am from Asia),the old wives' tale is that you should get enough rest just like postpartum to prevent problems like back pain.
If you do like chiropractic care,this is a good time to go and get adjusted before next TTC.That gives you some optimum balance in your body.I was also taking fenugreek herb for my back pain.keep in mind that fenugreek and primrose are not advised during pregnancy,also omega 3 should not be coming from flax oils,as these can can possibly cause miscarriages.

Sondacop, i hope you're able to take the time you need to nurture yourself before you have to go back to work. If you're not ready on Sunday, i hope you can take more time.

Ecos - I have been doing IVF for over 2 years, the best thing for me is to get back to it, especially since my understanding is that you are more fertile after a miscarriage. Emotionally, as an IVF patient I am "used to" grieving and continuing. In fact, after 11 rounds of failing to conceive, just being pregnant for 2 months has filled me with so much hope for the future, not to act on it would be contrary to what I feel. I am 41.5 so I don't have the time to wait, and DD is almost 3 now, as I have given up my dream to have the 2 close in age I am now just hoping they wont be too far apart. I am single, so this is only about me.
I don't like cod oil or caviar, but I will try them. Thanks for the advise. I like the dairy, I look forward to supper, I don't have any other dairy during the day. I will try to phase out the dairy meals slowly.
Jillibean - I am sure that my diet is the best thing for me and pregnancy in general. I L/C during DD's high risk pg, and I believe that is one of the main reasons she survived. I want to regain my strength and lose water retention (and weight) in order to start IVF asap.
I was a bit general about my diet, and it also comes down to amount. When I am pg I am more hungry so I eat more. One of the signs that proved to me that the u/s was right and that the heart beat had stopped was my energy level (it went way up) and my apatite (it went way down). I listen to my body and eat as much as I need. For IVF I do lots of blood work, but I have never done b/w on the supplements levels. From what I understand, an excess of many of the water based supplements would be dealt with by the kidneys, am I wrong?
Primrose - I have had only space spotting for a few days. I am getting a bit confused - I had understood that the supplements were a nutritional need that supplements a lacking soil (ext). I also understood that it is important to supplement in advance and not start at the beginning of a cycle. What would I stop? I hadn't heard that primrose is not beneficial during pg and had continued it. Omega 3 I take is from fish oil.
Walnut - I want to go back to work on Sunday, now I need some normality in my life. If I am tired, I am sure they will let me rest. The people I work with are good people.
Thanks for all of your replies, you have given me a lot of food for thought and I will try to implement your advice.

Sondacop
Good to hear that you work in good environment and people are understanding. I work in competitive business, so not honoured to such great support unfortunately. Every 'weakness' will be immediately gosipped around and taken advantage of.

I doubt there is a single person in the world who would like cod liver oil But good medicine usually tastes bad
Just for motivation, please check this article:http://www.westonaprice.org/cod-liv...r-one-superfood . There is much more info on this site on this and other health-related topics.

I never said low carbing was a bad idea - it just looked like you have VERY few calories overall, and you made it sound like you basically eat the same things every day, which can be less nutritionally diverse, which is another reason I would recommend having labs run. I think low carbing before and during pregnancy is great and was able to stick with it throughout my first trimester and am trying to get back to it now because I know it's the healthiest way to be.

Excess of SOME supplements will be flushed out in your urine (such as most excess B12, but even high levels of B12 in the blood aren't really dangerous), but not all of them. And, as I mentioned, some things sort of work together, so by supplementing one thing, you could actually be affecting something else (as in my examble with zinc and copper). Another example: vitamin B6 is not a fat-soluble vitamin, yet it can absolutely get too high in the body and can cause such issues as peripheral neuropathy. I stopped taking my B complex because both my B6 and B1 were consistently high in my lab results.

i just wanted to offer my sympathies.

I will try the cod oil and the caviar and overcome the blah.
As for the supplements - My diagnose is now "age" since I am over 40, other than that my diagnose is "unexplained". So to battle age I am trying anti-aging supplements, I don't know which of those to stop. I was expecting someone to chime in with what I am missing. I will see to the b/w but how would I know what would be a good range for me? I feel great (besides this recent event) and am healthy most of the time.
Thanks, Pilotgirl.

I'm sorry Sondacop. I don't know much about what, if any, supplements you are missing. You are definitely taking more supplements than me though. I just do the regular prenatal, 600 mg calcium, and 200 mg DHA. So, I'm not a whole lot of help there.

Okay, eriksgirl, I just have to combat age, ivf and overcome a mc. I wanted to be sure I was on the right track.