I was TTC for 3 years and took almost every supplement under the sun - COQ10, DHEA, wheat grass (to lower my FSH), vitamin D, açaí and a few more. I probably took the DHEA religiously for a year and the others for a solid 2 years. In that time had one MMC and one chemical.

DH and I eventually gave up on fertility treatments and decided we would just not have a second child. I stopped all supplements and got pregnant naturally a year later.

So who knows what helps and what doesn’t. I certainly don’t regret taking everything, but not sure it made any difference in my case.

Anonymous wrote:I strongly recommend COQ10. My RE tiold me to get Cosco brand. I really believe that is what got me pregnant. You are supposed to take it for at least 3 months prior to your cycle (although I only took it for about a month) and then stop taking it after retrieval/ prior to your transfer. Also this sounds crazy but during my one cycle that worked, I ate one avocado a day during stimulation up until retrieval. See link to article (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.medicaldaily.com/eating-avocados-more-triples-ivf-pregnancy-success-rate-241240%3famp=1). Best of luck!

I’m PCOS poster and this is exactly what I did too but we ended up not doing the IUI be size I surged on my own. I just did the 100mg twice a day for 2-3 months, and 1/2 an avocado a day. Doctor said my lining was the most beautiful she’s ever seen, and I finally got one juicy sized egg.

I strongly recommend COQ10. My RE tiold me to get Cosco brand. I really believe that is what got me pregnant. You are supposed to take it for at least 3 months prior to your cycle (although I only took it for about a month) and then stop taking it after retrieval/ prior to your transfer. Also this sounds crazy but during my one cycle that worked, I ate one avocado a day during stimulation up until retrieval. See link to article (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.medicaldaily.com/eating-avocados-more-triples-ivf-pregnancy-success-rate-241240%3famp=1). Best of luck!

I'm the poster who did l-arginine on an ivf cycle. All I can say is if you are not being followed by an RE who believes in it my suggestion is don't do it. Ask them why the recommend it etc. I don't think most people do dhea on their own either so sane applies there. I never imagined the negative effect it could have on me but it did and Ivf was able to show me that based on how my eggs responded one cycle compared to the next. Yes things can change each cycle but from what I researched fragmentation typically doesn't.

Ubiquinol is a form of CoQ10. I took 100 mg three times a day, in accordance with the It Starts with the Egg recommendations for diminished ovarian reserve (my AMH tested at 0.40). Additional supplements:

1. 25 mg DHEA 3x per day (my RE tested my testosterone, which was nonexistent, so though she didn't think the DHEA would help, she felt confident it would not hurt)
2. Prenatal once per day (Naturemade)
3. Vitamin C (500 mg 1 x per day I think)
4. Vitamin E (200 iu once per day)
5. Vitamin D (2000 iu once per day)

Regarding the question on l-arginine, It Starts with the Egg (2014, author: Rebecca Fett) says that one initial study in which 17 poor responders were given l-arginine found that they had fewer canceled cycles and had an increased number of eggs retrieved and embryos transferred. 3 pregnancies resulted (compared with 0 pregnancies in the group that did not receive the supplement) but all resulted in early miscarriage. Subsequent studies have shown that in women with other types of infertility, l-arginine reduced egg and embryo quality. One reason being that l-arginine increases nitric oxide, which can decrease the level of cellular energy and increase the level of oxidizing molecules. The study of poor responders probably did not show this because they already have low levels of nitric oxide, so increasing it did not show as much harm. But overall, It Starts with the Egg concludes that even for poor responders the evidence in favor of l-arginine is not very strong.

If people are willing to share... would be super helpful to know the amounts of Ubiquinol and CoQ10 people took.