My Story

The chronicle of the journey from infertility, to miscarriage, to finally raising twin girls born in June 2012.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Tea

I generally don't like tea.  To me, it just tastes like dirty water.  I've really tried to like tea.  Others seem to love the ritual of tea oh so very much and consider it their daily treat.  But for me, dirty hot water.

But there is a lot of talk of the various beneficial teas out there in fertility and pregnancy land.  Now, obviously, as an IVF patient, I'm a big fan of science and western medicine.  However, I do think that herbal assistance is something worth investigating.

Here's why.  Up until very recently in human history, a family's survival was dependent on having children.  In agricultural society, you needed so many people to work on the farm in order to produce enough food to sustain the inhabitants.

Also up until recently, a woman's worth was measured by how many children she could produce within her lifetime.  Look at all of the women in history who were basically tossed aside due to fertility problems (I'm looking at you Tudor England!).

So throughout the history of the human race, fertility was right up there with food and shelter on the requirements for living scale.  And throughout most of human history, modern western medicine was not available.  So it stands to reason that the generations before us did a whole lot of study on natural supplements that would increase fertility and pregnancy survival rates.

Does this mean we should throw out modern medicine and go back to the knowledge of the ancients?  Well no, of course not.  But much of modern medicine has its foundation in those supplements.  Heck, even aspirin was discovered because some people would chew on the bark of a certain tree for pain relief.  Some guy named Bayer noticed this, and figured out how to extract the potent ingredient and amplify it's pain relieving properties, and thus invented Aspirin.

So I do think that teas and other supplements can have a beneficial effect and can be a good thing to add to your regimen.  Which brings me back to my original problem - I don't like tea.

One of my colleagues on Artfire.com makes and sells tea and I brought this problem to him.  The fertility teas are generally a raspberry leaf tea so I asked if he could make some for me, but add flavor to it.  He really went above and beyond in customer service.  He created a tea for me with extra cranberry and raspberry flavoring (I prefer fruity over herbal) and sent me a sample within 24 hours along with an ingredient list so I could run it by my doctor and make sure that he added only beneficial supplements and nothing potentially harmful.  Once I tried it, he made up a batch large enough for 50 servings.  So I will be drinking tea during this IVF attempt because every little bit helps!

If you'd like a source of tea, I really recommend you head over to Dreamweavershop on Artfire.  He has just about every tea imaginable and if you don't find what you want, hit the "Contact Artisan" button and ask for what you want.  Both the customer service and the product are top notch.

5 comments:

  1. I didn't like tea either until I had GOOD tea. So much tea that's available is just burnt tea leaf dust, it is disgusting, even now that I like tea I don't like that tea (ie Lipton, bleh). Glad you find the tea at least palatable :)

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  2. You crack me up :) You are so right about tea! I enjoy a cup of herbal tea, if it has flavor to it, but all of the 'medicinal' teas I've tried taste really yeck.

    There aren't many teas or things that are useful for infertility, unfortunately. Although many are helpful after childbirth or miscarriage. Most of the natural remedies they gave to women were to bring on menstruation or ease cramps. Raspberry leaf tea falls in that camp. Doctors used to prescribe tinctures of laudenum laced with mercury for 'women troubles'. I'm so glad we live in the present day :)

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  3. I tend to fall into the "tea lovers" category, but admittedly it takes time to find what you like. (and as Robin said; I'm a bit of tea snob. Too many teas are just crap.) At least you know you can handle the fruity teas. Hopefully these teas can make a difference!

    Have you asked the guy if there is anything he could incorporate that might assist with depression?

    Although, regardless, I think that taking the time to make and drink the tea (the tea ritual) will help you to relax and refresh your spirits.

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  4. This is such a good idea; custom made tea! I do love tea and tried the red raspberry with my last cycle and it tasted terrible! Is the tea they made you caffeine free as well? What ingredients did they use and did your MD give everything the 'ok'?

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  5. @amiracle4us

    This is the listing he made for me. The ingredients are pretty much there and it's decaf. It's still not something I particularly enjoy drinking, but it's better than it would have been with the fruity additives.

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