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Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR)



- Book Recommendations -

The recommendations I have seen for DOR is reading the book, The Infertility Cure. If you would like to know where you can purchase this book, to buy it click here. This may provide helpful tips. I would also recommend trying the book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It has been considered the best seller in the fertility section on Amazon.com. If you would like to know where you can purchase it, to buy click here. That is if you have not already read either of those books. I have not read them myself, but these seem to come up often in discussions of trying to conceive. They may be able to provide more ideas and insight than I can. Before purchasing it, it may be helpful to read some reviews. 

 This is just food for thought. I know it depends on the person. I generally don't like to spend money on books for fertility and whatnot unless I can get them for an affordable price at a used bookstore for a few bucks versus $10-20 + dollars. My only exception is the Illustrated Day By Day Pregnancy Guide that I purchased at $25 when I was trying to conceive my second. The pictures of the developing baby inside the womb are beautiful. What is also cool about this book is they do talk a little about trying to conceive, day 1 is day 1 of your menstrual cycle and it starts at 2 weeks of pregnancy. So day 1-14 is filled with trying to conceive and menstrual cycle information and facts. 

Some other areas I am going to focus on that I have seen linked to DOR and fertility is diet. How is your diet and is it fertility-friendly? Do you eat breakfast? Do you drink alcohol?

 - Reasons to Eat Breakfast -
  • According to researchers from Hebrew and Tel Aviv University, eating more calories in the morning instead of the evening is shown to assist in overcoming reproductive difficulties. Eating breakfast can have a positive impact on women with problems of infertility. A big breakfast increases fertility in women who suffer from menstrual irregularities. The study was done on women who have PCOS and they tested to see if meal times had an effect. I have posted a link to the article. Link: Eating good breakfast can help overcome some fertility problems.
  • In a journal called Appetite, there is an article about female college students skipping breakfast and having more menstrual irregularities. I have posted a link to this article as well. To read the article, click on the link provided. Link: Side Effects of Not Eating Breakfast

-  Alcohol & Caffeine - 
  • "The March of Dimes advises pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant to drink no more than 200 mg of caffeine a day (that's a 12-ounce cup of coffee). Going without your caffeine fix is good when you're pregnant since research shows that in high doses, it can increase the risk of miscarriage. One study discovered that pregnant women who consumed two or more cups of coffee (or a caffeine-rich equivalent) were twice as likely to miscarry as those who gave up caffeine" (Amato).
  • Amelia Hirota from the Fertility Acupuncturist (www.the-fertility-accpuncturist.com) said, “It's extremely important for both men and women to avoid all alcohol and caffeine products when trying to conceive. I find that just eliminating coffee and alcohol does wonder for a woman's chart, her cervical mucus and the quality of the sperm.” 
  • Inquiring minds can find on the website www.fertilityafter40.com answers to the question, do I need to give up or just lower caffeine consumption? According to the website, "Caffeine stimulates your nervous system, temporarily increasing your heart rate and raising your blood pressure.  Caffeine constricts blood vessels, slowing blood flow to the uterus and potentially making it harder for an egg to grab hold. Too much caffeine may increase the risk of clotting and miscarriage. And they add this, "Limit to 1 cup of coffee per day or eliminate altogether if you are over 35 and/or having fertility problems. Studies show that even 300mg daily (the amount in one cup of coffee) can decrease your chances of conception. There is also evidence that 200 mg or more of caffeine a day raises your risk of miscarriage" (Diet, Nutrition, & Fertility).  
  • The website www.yinovacenter.com also addresses if women trying to conceive should cut out coffee. " Knowing that caffeine can cause fertility problems some of my patients switch to decaffeinated coffee in order to enhance their fertility. However, all coffee, be it regular or decaf is acidic and can make the body and cervical mucus too acidic and so hamper conception. Several studies have shown that coffee (even decaffeinated coffee) can diminish fertility. One Dutch study showed that 4 cups of decaf or regular coffee a day lowered a woman’s chance of having a baby by 25%. Some studies have linked coffee to miscarriage and some have linked it to low sperm count. So the message is clear. If you’re trying to conceive and nothing’s working, it may be time to ditch your daily cup of Joe" (Blakeway).
  • Blogger, Cindy Bailey, writes The Fertile Kitchen blog. On her blog says she was given a 2% chance of conceiving on her own at the age of 40. After much research, she put herself on a fertility-friendly diet and four months later conceived her son. In her blog she discusses regular and decaf coffee, "Coffee can also hamper the absorption of essential minerals and vitamins, such as magnesium, zinc, iron, potassium, and B’s, and it is also one of most heavily pesticide sprayed crops. Harsh chemicals are used in the decaf process. With organic, Swiss water-filtered decaf, you are getting a much better product (the decaf process is not nearly as harsh), but for what I’ve listed above, coffee and decaf still have to go while trying to conceive and while pregnant. My theory is that if something has a chance of getting in the way of conception, it comes off the list, at least temporarily until after the baby is born" (Bailey).

Sources
1. MD, Amato, Paula, and Maggie Blott, MB, MS, eds. Pregnancy Day By Day. 1st ed. New York: DK, 2009. Print.
2. Bailey, Cindy. "The Fertile Kitchen (R)." : Fertility Diet and Eliminating Coffee, Even Decaf. Cindy Bailey, 2009. Web. 03 May 2016. <http://fertilekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/07/fertility-diet-and-eliminating-coffee.html>.

3. Blakeway, Jill, M.S. L. Ac. "Should Women Trying to Conceive Cut out Coffee?" Yin Ova Center. Yin Ova Center, n.d. Web. 03 May 2016. <https://www.yinovacenter.com/blog/should-women-trying-to-conceive-cut-out-coffee/>.

4. "Diet, Nutrition, and Fertility: 15 Foods to Avoid When Trying to Get Pregnant." Fertility After 40: How I Got Pregnant Naturally at 43 and Had a Healthy Baby After Years of Infertility, IVF, IUI, and Miscarriage. FertiityAfter40.com, n.d. Web. 03 May 2016. <http://www.fertilityafter40.com/15-foods-to-avoid-when-trying-to-get-pregnant.html#sthash.g1dtDBY3.dpuf>

Last Edited: January 14, 2018

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