Hi Ladies
I was wondering your thoughts on rasberry tea leaves while TTC. I read in "Inconceivable" that it is recommended. What do you ladies think? What about other alternatives? I'm a novice in this area of alternatives but feel that the medication isn't providing me all I need.
Thanks for your input
Limi

Limi,

What exactly are you trying to correct? Red Raspberry is a great uterine tonic which is supposed to help prevent miscarriage and help with menstrual irregularities among other things.

__________________

D
Thanks for the reply - I probably should have been more specific! Over a year ago I went to my RE and found out the reason I had not been getting pg was that I was not ovulating - I have periods and always assumed that was a sign of ovulating - I guess not! Anyway went on clomid for 5 months - it worked - did ovulate but did not get pregnant - also had an HSG where my RE found stage 1 endo - and now currently on femara to induce ovulation before moving onto injectibles. Did get pg my first cycle on femara but miscarried early on. Any advice on alternatives that may help would be much appreciated
Limi

Hi Limi - Nice to see you over here. Wasn't that book great? D is the one who recommended it! I'm a total newbie too. This board has a great list of herbs and their uses. Since I'm so new and don't even know what to ask, I use it as a starting point, go do some research on the web or in some herb books, and especially by asking questions here. What I find is that many times there is contradicting information so I eventually just go with my own intuition about what I need. This is pretty scary, especially if you listen to all the negatives that western med puts on herbals. So I take it very slowly and cautiosly. I find I have some suspicions that even though western medicine tests say certain things are "normal" such as my progesterone levels, I feel they may be off for me and my bodies idea of "normal" so I try to find natural ways to combat what I feel is the problem. Other people go with traditional chinese medicine herbs or native american herbs, etc. Just gotta educate yourself and find what referrence point you think fits you I guess. Not a quick easy answer I know but I have sure started learning a lot about myself and how I think and feel about things. Good luck!
~Hope

The tea may not help your particular situation, but it won't hurt, either. The best thing I could suggest for you is accupuncture. There are several girls here who use it!

__________________

I think that RR is good for most women since it tones the reproductive organs. I think that in your case, it would work best combined with other herbs like Vitex (Chastetree berry) but I would not take that (Vitex) as long as you are using meds. Vitex is good at helping the pituitary gland that regulates ovulation and I have heard (and suspect by my own use) that RR can help with ovulation, too.

__________________

red raspberry leaf tea is good not only for acheiving and maintaining a healthy pregnancy, but for a less painful labor and delivery;I became brave enough to have my two youngest children born at home. Red raspberry leaf is also a good source of calcium.

I was just sent some rasberry leaf tea by my aunt who is a qualified midwife. I am 36 weeks now and she told me that you should drink the tea for the last 3-4 weeks of pregnancy as it helps to soften your cervix in preparation for labour. She told me to stick a handful of the tea leaves in a teapot with boiling water, then when cool, stick it in the fridge (with the leaves still in it) and drink 2-3-4 cups a day (whenever you think of it). Leaving it in the fridge gives you a nice strong brew too...

I tried raspberry leaf to stimulate labor (along with various other things) when I was overdue with my DD but it didn't help (wound up being induced).

I'm trying it now for LPD since my last 2 cycles I had a 7-9 day LP. My Naturopathic Physician also prescribed me some other herbs and weekly acupuncture.

Claire