The Natural Fertility Community

like most foods, coffee has many medicinal qualities. this webpage has a lot of interesting information about coffee's uses in chinese medicine:
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/coffee.htm

In sum, coffee dredges the liver to regulate the flow of liver qi, purges the gallbladder, opens the heart orifices, warms the blood circulation, detoxifies, and gently tonifies. However, while coffee dredges the liver qi, it does not necessarily smooth or soothe the liver qi. Therefore, one has to be cautious about the amount consumed and certain individuals will find the otherwise desirable effects distressing: releasing stagnated qi but not regulating its flow.

there is a lot more information online if you do a google search.

indeed drinking too much can throw the digestive and nervous system out of balance. this is also true of many other foods. but in low quantities, coffee can be a really healthy drink. anyhow, i will have to read more about it. i think if i can understand better its energetics, i may be able to understand if and how it could be effective in increasing availability of estradiol in the body for those who could use the little push.

as for your other suggestions, i drank red clover infusions for several months last summer and didn't see any changes in my cycle. i actually had my hormones tested in september, which was after more than 2 months of daily drinking of red clover, and that was when i was referring to having low levels. i have not tried licorice, as it is not usually an herb to use by itself.
and i am taking royal jelly right now, and have been on and off for several months. i have seen some changes in the last few months, which may or may not be linked to the royal jelly.. could have more to do with acupuncture, hard to say. but i have more fertile CM now, so thats a start!

Thanks for the info...we will have to look into it more. Hethir and I are trained in Western Herbalism, not in TCM. So any new info is always interesting and great. I think the key here even for wanting to increase estradiol is moderation.

You know I am like many others in the world, I love coffee, but it is hard to deny that fact that if you consume too much it affects your body, you can feel it.

Have you tried Maca?

thanks for the reply dalene.

yes coffee is definitely a big problem in too large quantities. and because of the average western diet, people's livers are already overstretched, and therefore coffee is pretty much a big no-no for most. i am not a huge coffee fan, i drink it once in a while. but i believe in listening to my body if i have sudden cravings for bitter foods, or salty, etc (in a healthy way, of course)

yes moderation is the key with anything. that has definitely always been my approach with health and fertility. seeking to increase estrogen too much would be a big problem. i don't think coffee would do that on its own, there are probably a host of other lifestyle and diet factors that contribute to women having excessively high estrogen and it being linked to coffee.

i took maca capsules for a while over the winter, i didn't see any major changes in my cycles or in my cervical fluid. i still take maca powder almost daily that i add in my protein shakes, though i know that the powder is not as strong, as a larger amount is needed than the specialized capsules.

i honestly don't know if low estrogen is an actual problem for me or not. it was low when i did bloodwork last year but my OBGYN didn't seem concerned about it.. she also, somehow, wasn't concerned about my low progesterone... but truthfully i don't think she knew that much about infertility except prescribing clomid needless to say i don't see her anymore.

Some areas have Naturopathic Doctors that are also OBGyn's, I used to have one in Portland, OR it was wonderful.

Dalene wrote:Some areas have Naturopathic Doctors that are also OBGyn's, I used to have one in Portland, OR it was wonderful.

i wish!! i live in a small city unfortunately, choices are very limited. i am friends with a wonderful homebirth midwife that knows a bit about herbs and such. most things i just study and do on my own. i currently drive 1.5 hours to see an acupuncturist who specializes in fertility and gynecology.

I know it is tough! I moved to a small town and choices are very limited here as well, it is difficult. Things are changing though and I wish you the best! At least you have the intiative to take time to research things on your own, and you have a midwife to help some!

of course you have to gave up coffee because it has effect for you and for your baby. coffee contain caffeine that can possibly cause miscarriage. try this link to learn more about coffee http://www.epigee.org/pregnancy/caffeine.html. hope it will help you.

mhayah wrote:of course you have to gave up coffee because it has effect for you and for your baby. coffee contain caffeine that can possibly cause miscarriage. try this link to learn more about coffee http://www.epigee.org/pregnancy/caffeine.html. hope it will help you.

of course? hah. coffee is not a drug, it is a food. in moderate amounts it has no negative side effects and in fact can have many positive health benefits. as with most foods, drugs herbs or supplements, taken in too large a dose it can have negative side effects on fertility and pregnancy. but it is not overall something that needs to be avoided like the plague, there is a lot of misinformation about coffee in our society.

coffee is really good to drink specially in winter . But it also got nicotine which is harmful , so it is good to some extent .