too acidic for sperm to survive?

Hi ladies - just wondering if anyone else has been told that their fanwah might be too acidic, so the poor little swimmers are dropping off before they can do their thang?
I was seeing a naturopath last year, who told me i had a strong acidic constitution, so this may be making if difficult for the sperm to survive the journey :(
He made me up a gross tonic, and gave me info on alkaline foods. It didn't help with falling pregs, but we discovered endo in June this year, which could have been a factor in preventing us from falling.
Sooooo, now that i've had the endo treated, i'm considering returning to the naturopath and seeking their opinion again.

Have any of you ladies had this experience? I've heard via the grapevine that a family friend was in a similar situation, but i'm not ready to discuss my unexplained infertility with family friends just yet :)

Hope one of you can share your experience/opinion.

Best wishes :)

Hi, has your dr diagnosed you with this? There is a test they can do that I've heard of... after you DTD they take a sample of inside and see how many sperm are living (or, thats how I think it goes...). Not that I think the naturopath is wrong, just that its good for the dr to know too, because they should be able to help as well...

Hi leasha - yes i've also heard of that test, i think it's called 'post coital' !! Ahh all these lovely terms.... well i guess they have to call it something! I guess they give you a little sample jar, so you can DTD at home, then take it to pathology within a certain time frame?? Mmmmm might ask the FS about it next appointment. Thanks for your comments :)

Hi sorry to butt in just thought I would give you info on the "post coital test" (name makes me chuckle :lol:)... My DH and I did that test while they were trying to work out why we couldnt get pg and it basically just involved us DTD as late as we could in the night and then going into FS rooms early next morning and he took a sample from inside the cervix (just like a pap smear kind of thing). It was painless and he gave us the results by the time I had gotten dressed and sat down.

Hope that helps, would definitely be worth looking into cause it would diagnose an acidic problem.

Hi Therese :)
Have you thought about buying some pH strips? I know when gender swaying there is lots of talk about the pH of cervical fluid.
I tested mine throughout my cycle and it fluctuates a lot! The only time you should be worried about it is at O time. If at this time it is below 4 you should be concerned.

HTH's

wow this is very interesting - im going to add it to my long long list of Q to ask at our next appointment

Mel - thanks for telling of your experience - now i know how they do the 'post coital test'.. lol .... i'll add it to the list of questions for my FS.
Tanya - the pH strips sound interesting.... are they available from a chemist? I hadn't heard of them, so great to know, and i'll try and pick some up. Thanks ladies!

The internet would be the easiest place to find them :)

thanks so much for posting this question - I am currently wondering this too. My nathapath said the same thing - she has got me drinking apple cider vinegar diluted in water 3 times a day, along with grapefruit juice to drink once a day.
I have also started using Preseed - do you think this will help with balancing out levels?

i have just had a quick look at Ph strips - one website mentions it tests saliva -what should we be testing for this purpose? Salvia or CM?? would it be realiable? I do not have an appointment with FS until Feb but do not want to wait that long.....

what foods have your nathapath told you to totally avoid??

Test your CM. You can test your saliva and urine too, but you are wanting to know what the pH of the environment you are wanting the sperm to survive in. :)

thanks Tanya - so you test your CM with these PH sticks? shall we test around Ovulation time? Seems an obvious question - sorry but just wondering if this is what you did.

In my investigation cycle of IVF I did a post coital test. From memory this was around ovulation.

so is this anything like the NK cells?

Hi pitapat - you've had a name change from loula right? Pitapat is a sweet name! What are NK cells?

Runnermum, i googled "alkaline foods" or something along those lines, and found alot of info on acidic/alkaline forming foods.... i can't find the pages i printed off at the mo, as havn't unpacked them from our moving house! I might grab some apple cider vinegar and give that a try also!

This is defintally something i will be discussing with my FS at next appointment.

Hi all - sorry I realise this post is off topic for this thread!!

I'm posting here because trying to get a message to runnermum - I couldn't figure out how to send her a private message, but I can see she's posted to this thread recently. I've been lurking/searching posts here for a while and identify with a lot of what runnermum has said regarding doctors and how they approach the treatment of people that exercise to a higher level. If runnermum is reading this, or someone knows how to get a message to her, I'd really like to talk to her about looking for an obstetrician (hopefully I'll need one soon!!!!), and how she dealt with doctors that are "exercise-phobic" :)

Thanks!

Tish
Recovering from her last triathlon for a while, hopefully..... :)

Tish you can post a message for her in the messages for members forum....

theresep - my GF had the same thing apparently she had a very high ph and it was killing the little guys. the naturopath gave her a alkaline powder to drink each day it took her 2months on this for her to fall pregnant after a year of trying.

wow, i had a surprise to see this thread again! Thanks for the info on the alkaline powder treena217, i'll see if i can source any. tp

You can also buy PH strips from the Pet Shop :)

Alkaline anything is supposed to be brilliant. I'm gonna look into that powder now.

I'm drinking pineapple juice as it's on the alkaline - boy diet and I'm drinking lots around ovulation.

goodluck girls.

I will actively keep an eye on this thread. Even though i am currently undergoing ovulation induction with injections i wonder if this could also be part of my problem. Do any of you girls know where to buy these tests and also if you are testing your cm, how do you go about doing so?I know this will require maybe a lot of in depth information,so sorry in advance for the tmi warning....
Thanks Pauline

Hi Pollyanna - i'm off to town today, so will be trying to source some pH strips, and alkaline powder - will let you know how i go.
As for the mucus checking, this info is in a book i have: "The easiest routine is to check the mucus on each visit to the toilet. Some mucus is collected on the fingertips. Keep a record of the colour, amount and texture of the mucus"

It goes into more detail, but thought i'd keep it simple for now! I have two very good books, on woman's health and conception, i can give you the names if you like.

Best wishes, tp. :D

dear theresep,
i was wondering how you went today with youp ph sourcing?
AS for the ph testing, are you testing you urine,saliva or cm. I wo der if you get the same results no matter how you test.?Because i read somewhere that it was the cm you had to test?

Hi girls
Hope you dont mind me adding my 2 cents, i study naturopathy and have been to a few conferences on fertility stuff and a big one is candida (aka thrush) a lady i know who has had excellent success with homoeopathic FT uses a very basic candida diet which you can google or pm me and ill give you the low down (hers is very basic which i like some get very complicated), there are plenty about but you basically avoid anything that ferments fruit, fruit juices, beer and wine, mushrooms and anything with yeast. You dont necessarily have to have active thrush to cause a problem and i dont know for sure but i think it causes a pH problem as well. Oh if those little spermies werent so tempremental, they talk about us being fussy :lol:

Hi pollyanna - had to order the pH strips, and they are ones that test your saliva - not sure if the different testing methods give differing results or not :dunno:
I also picked up a product called liquid chlorophyll, which is an internal cleanser and tonic, derived from alfalfa - and i know that alfalfa is very alkaline - so thought i'd give it a go ... it was $15, so thought that wouldn't break the budget! A naturopath at the chemist was advising me, so that was helpful ... although she wasn't too certain about "alkaline powder".
Scooby - i'll pm you about the low yeast diet - sounds like it would be good to know about.
Best wishes, tp :D

I had a post coitle test during our long "unexplained" period of infertility. Highly acidic. I did change my diet, but without any luck.

I also read (on a US site) about raw egg white being alkaline and also the right fluidity/ph to help the swimmers along.

The one and only time we braved the use of raw egg white was when we finally concieved successfuly with Olivia.

Not sure if that helps anyone, but it may be worth looking into, if you can stomach it.

Lucy x

Wow - raw egg white .... well i guess nothing ventured, nothing gained hey?? I'm brave enough to give it a go .... wonder if DH will be keen!! Can't wait to see the look on his face when i suggest it!!
Wonderful to hear that you had success Lucy!

tp x

I have to tell you.......my DH made "chok chook" noises as I was "inserting" it, and it was a fairly dud shag (sorry to be crude, LOL!) but well worth the ick factor to have finally fallen pg and gone on to have Olivia. (And after that, all my fertility issues seemed to disappear......Charlie and Lexie followed and their conceptions were quick and easy.)

Lucy x

Looked into the yeast/ candida thing again and the reason its not good is because it reduces the "stringyness" (if thats a word) of the CM and the sperm use the stringy mucous to "climb up" into the cervix, hope that made sense. I guess its good if you are doing OI or natural cycles, but wont make much difference for other AC.

Hi theresep,
Just wondering if you have done your ph test yet and what results you got?
I'm happy to give the egg white a go, the only thing is it defantasizes(if thats a word)the whole dtd process and makes it more of a chore rather than something fun.

Hi again pollyanna - sorry, but no news for a few more days ... the test strips have arrived at the pharmacy, but i forgot to pick them up while i was in town yesterday :doh:! As i live 1/2 hour from town, prob won't get them until next week!
As for the egg white ... yeah, it could be an interesting experience ... guess we'll have to try and make it fun :rolleyes: ! I've also ordered a product called 'pre-seed' ... figure i may as well try everything on my next cycle!! :D tp

:

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I had a post coitle test during our long "unexplained" period of infertility. Highly acidic. I did change my diet, but without any luck.

I also read (on a US site) about raw egg white being alkaline and also the right fluidity/ph to help the swimmers along.

The one and only time we braved the use of raw egg white was when we finally concieved successfuly with Olivia.

Not sure if that helps anyone, but it may be worth looking into, if you can stomach it.

Lucy x

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I'm ditching the spermicide this cycle and doing THIS!!!!!

I was going to do this a while back, I am now though after reading this. WISH Me luck ..... we will be bed dancing next week.

Lisa XO

Lisa........best of luck. I have heard so many anecdotal stories of the success of raw egg white. Worth a try!

Update on the pH strips .... the pharmacy couldn't get them in after all! But, they pointed me to a web site, where i can order some myself, and they post them out.
Hope it's ok to leave the web address? It is vitalityplusaustralia.com.au They also have some info on the strips, and you can either use your saliva, or urine to test. HTH some of you. :) tp

Tish - sorry I am overseas ATM - going home today.

I just saw your post and will hopefully talk to you soon if I see a post on this topic of athletes and IVF.

Hi runnermum :)

Have replied over in the other thread! Have a good flight.

T