Struggling through the days...

The chiropractor’s appointment went well yesterday. We reviewed my x-ray films and boy, am I really messed up. He said that my lower back looks great, but there is a definite curve from my mid-back all the way up through my neck. He also said that the curve in my neck is bad enough to be called mild scoliosis of the neck. Oh boy. He adjusted my hips, mid back and neck and was pleased to see that he felt some movement in the right direction after the adjustment. As for me, I felt a little weird afterwards and only a few hours later I had another raging migraine. I ended up going to bed by 8:00pm. How in the world am I going to get healthy if I can’t even stay up past 8:00pm? The headache was still there this morning, so I had to take two ibuprofen just to get through the day. Right now I feel like I’m in a complete fog; I can’t concentrate, my vision is blurry and I’m just miserable. Ugh.

There was a really interesting article in Newsweek this week about the connection between fertility and your dietary habits. I already knew most of the information (due to all of the research I’ve done over the past two years, not because I’m just a smarty pants), but I was really shocked to find out a few things. I’ve heard that a high-protein diet was important when trying to conceive, but most of the time the literature didn’t differentiate between animal protein (eggs and meats) and plant proteins (peas, beans, nuts). This study said that too much animal proteins can actually hamper certain types of infertility (specifically ovulatory infertility, where the woman has problems ovulating and releasing an egg) and that adding more plant proteins can boost fertility. They also said that whole milk can boost fertility while skim and low fat milks can actually hurt fertility. That one was a shocker to me. But, all of this has to be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak. In my case, I fall into that lovely 10% of women who have unexplained infertility: none of that information really applies to me. I ovulate fine, I just can’t get pregnant. But, it doesn’t mean that it would hurt me to adopt some of the ideas. The funny part is that I already drink whole milk because I hate the taste of skim. Unfortunately, I don’t drink enough of it! I get probably one or two servings a week, which is terrible. I also don’t eat much animal protein, but I will add more plant based protein in the next few months. Any little change can help.

I also finally went out and bought more fish oil capsules and I stocked up on CQ-10 as well. Both of these supplements are supposed to be good for your heart, which in turn can help circulation and possibly boost the blood going to the vital organs, including the uterus. It’s just a theory but many people swear that it helped their lining as well. If you remember, in September my lining got up to an almost healthy 7.4mm and I was taking fish oil at the time as part of my vitamin supplements. I stopped soon after because I ran out, and my lining was a terrible 5.4mm during my IVF cycle. Even though the RE is convinced that my lining is not an issue, I’d personally like to see it around the 7.5mm mark so I’m doing everything I can think of to get it higher this time around. The CQ-10 supposedly also boosts egg and sperm quality. R’s vitamin already has CQ-10 in it, so I bought the supplement for me and will take it with my other two vitamins. Once again, any little change might help…