Fertility and Dong Quai

I thought about writing a little bit more about the herbs I took to get pregnant.
I developed for myself, a special regime I followed diligently over about two years (after that I got pregnant), including exercise and taking special vitamins, herbs, supplements and maca .

I will start today with some information on dong quai.
I was lucky to be pretty healthy, not taking any medication, therefore it was a safe choice for me.
Before start taking it, please read carefully about drug interactions and evaluate if it’s a suitable alternative for you.

Dong quai ( Angelica sinensis ) root has been used for over a thousand years as a spice, tonic, and medicine in China, Korea and Japan. Although there are few definitive studies on dong quai, it is reputed to relieve constipation, increase red blood cell count (which helps treat anemia), and provide relief from menstrual disorders such as cramps, irregular menstrual cycles, infrequent periods, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and menopausal symptoms. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is used for various purposes, including reproductive, circulatory, and respiratory conditions.

Though dong quai does not actually contain steroids or hormone molecules, one of its constituents is coumarin. Coumarin is most widely known for its use in preventing blood clotting, but constituents related to it may have numerous actions. Coumarin compounds have an anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic effect, especially on the uterus.

Dong quai also contains ferulic acid, a pain reliever and muscle relaxer. Indeed, the herb is often used to treat painful menstrual cramps or other cases of uterine spasms. Oddly enough, several studies have shown that dong quai acts as a muscle relaxant overall, but before it relaxes the uterus, it stimulates the uterus briefly. The uterus is a muscle, and when dong quai stimulates it, its tone improves and it becomes tight and contracts more readily.

All muscles function better when they are well toned, and the uterus is no exception. A well-toned, strong, healthy uterus is less prone to cramps and muscle spasms. In addition to relaxing the uterus, ferulic acid also may relax the heart muscles, lower blood pressure, and calm cardiac arrhythmias (a variation in the normal rhythm of the heartbeat).

Reports and studies of possible uses of dong quai include the following:
• Menopausal symptoms – some women report relief of symptoms such as hot flashes from this medicinal herb. However, some clinical studies to date do not support the effectiveness of dong quai for menopausal symptoms.
• PMS – studies suggest that dong quai offers some value when used in conjunction with other Chinese herbs, particularly black cohosh ( Actaea racemosa ), to treat PMS.
• Anemia -there are individual reports of successful treatment of anemia using dong quai, but to date no studies verify this.
• Heart disease – when used in combination with Asian ginseng ( Panax ginseng ) and astragalus ( Astragalus membranaceus ), dong quai decreased symptoms of chest pain and improved exercise tolerance in a small group of people with heart disease.
• Stroke – a series of reports published in China indicate that the use of dong quai just after a stroke demonstrated a decrease in the amount of brain damage.
• High blood pressure – reports indicate that dong quai may lower blood pressure in some people.
• Ulcers – animal studies suggest dong quai may soothe ulcers, but studies in people are needed.

Other conditions for which dong quai has been used in people, although studies are still lacking, include:
• Constipation
• Migraine headache
• Pain
• Liver disorders
• Correct hormone imbalance
• General tonic for female reproductive system

Precautions:

Because dong quai dilates the blood vessels and improves circulation in the uterus, regular use can sometimes make menstrual flow heavier – in China, dong quai is called a “blood mover.” Many herbalists recommend stopping the use of dong quai during the actual menstrual period in women prone to heavy flow or if heavy bleeding is a concern.

Do not use dong quai if you take blood-thinning or high blood pressure medication.

Dong quai should not be used during pregnancy because it may affect the muscular functioning of the uterus. It should also be avoided by nursing mothers, because there is little information about its effect on the infant through breast milk.

Warning

Dong quai may interact with the following medications and herbs:

Warfarin
Dong quai may increase the potency and, therefore, potential risks of blood-thinning medications, such as warfarin. It should not be taken with these medicines unless you are under the supervision of a doctor.
Hormone medications
Although there is little research on the use of dong quai with hormone medications — such as estrogens, progesterones, oral contraceptives, tamoxifen or raloxifene — health care providers advise against using them together, due to the possibility of adverse effects, unless you are under the supervision of a doctor.
Blood-thinning herbs
Although reported extremely rarely and not published in the scientific literature, the practice of combining dong quai with other herbs that thin the blood could possibly increase the risk of bleeding in some people. The following herbs with this potential when combined with dong quai — and which should be used only with caution and under the supervision of a doctor include:
• Feverfew ( Tanacetum parthenium )
• Garlic ( Allium sativum )
• Ginger ( Zingiber officinale )
• Ginkgo ( Ginkgo biloba )
• Ginseng ( Panax ginseng )
• Licorice ( Glycyrrhiza glabra )
• Chinese skullcap ( Scutellaria baicalensis )
• Turmeric ( Curcuma longa )

Herbs or medications that cause sun sensitivity
Given that dong quai may increase your sensitivity to sunlight, you should not take it with other medications or herbs, such as St. John’s wort ( Hypericum perforatum ), that may cause the same reactions.

PayPerPost or an exercise in futility

I swear, today PayPerPost drove me bonkers.
OK, it usually has this effect on my, but today it reached the climax. I was reading the other day about a trick to get a freaking opportunity: refresh very often.
As in, verifying the opportunities once a week- as I do- won’t do the trick.
And some guy offered even more than the informal advice, it gave a step by step guide. Curious?
Well, let say that the first step is a must have one: Firefox.
Switch as fast as you can from IE if you are still using it. Now, while on Firefox download an addon by going there:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/115.
Next step: set the addon to reload the page every x-freaking seconds and voila!
As in NOTHING!!!!

OK, OK, calm down, take a deep breath, count to ten, chant some mantra (the mantra of compassion preferably, as in compassion for your struggling soul) and take a zen approach to the whole PayPerPost experience.
It’s not working! Not for the idiots like me, who are not able to glue their asses to the chair and stare at the computer screen without blinking, because if you blink, somebody may steal the opportunity from under your nose.
It’s for the same category of stay-at-home moms, with time to burn and neglected kids.
Because nobody, as in NOBODY, can convince me that if you have to stay in front of the computer hours and hours at a time, you will have the time to look after your kids. It’s freaking impossible.

Today I tried the experiment: for three hours I refreshed the opportunity page almost every 2-3 minutes. Well, OK, I admit that I had to work something and for about 10 minutes I have not been able to check the page.
You know what happened? Every time I reloaded the page, the opportunities were already taken!!!!!!!
Something must be freaking wrong, there must be a pirate software, used by some people to steal this opps. Or some inside information regarding when a new opportunity is going to be posted.
Seriously, there is no other explanation. I have seen new opps showing up already in gray (as in reserved) in between 5 seconds span. How is it possible?
Actually it may be an explanation: only one of a kind opportunity. Especially the ones paying $50. Then I can understand that it can be grabbed by whoever has the fastest internet connection. My DSL does not seem to be the fastest one.

I gave up. I have refreshed the page for 30 minutes, every two seconds (I was on the phone and kept clicking on refresh).
Nothing happened.
It sucks big time!

How to recognize a bully

For quite a bit of time I had a wrong idea about how to recognize a bully. In my mind, a bully would be the person who would push you, pull your hair, make fun of you, kick you when you were down, and most of all, this would happen in a school yard.
Therefore I was more worried for my kid. He is only 4 now, but I can detect a hypersensitivity in him, that would make him a target, I am pretty sure of that. Plus he is a very intelligent kid, which would be another problem, right?
To my big surprise, adults are as much into bullying as the kids. Only that it’s done in a much more perverse way.
First case was my ex boss, a misogynistic pig.
Second case: one of my current colleague.
But I have learned something, and that is: how to recognize a bully.

Here are the signs:
- He will steal your ideas in a blink of an eye; as soon as you notice that your colleague is interested in your projects without giving any info on his, be aware!! Keep your info ambiguous.
- He is going to ask for updates on your projects to deflect the attention from his lame performance
- He is going to challenge your reports talking loudly in the meetings and making reference to some things he might have found out from your slip of the tongue. Again, be very careful with what you say
- He is going to back stab you with every possible occasion, especially if your performance is better than his
- He is going to pretend being your friend and he does that with art, being or looking compassionate if you have problems… be even more aware of the friendly behavior, it’s only deceiving and the more you say when you are upset/sad/vulnerable the more ammunition you provide
- He is going to remember only what he wants to remember, therefore get into the good habit of saving emails or any type of info/approval you need from him
- For him, lying is a second nature and can do that in a blink of an eye. Even if proved wrong, he would try to turn the tide in his favor somehow
- Being a woman in corporate world is tough;you have to prove yourself many, many times and if your bully colleague can make a mistake and be angry as a ‘manly’ way of dealing with various issues, as a women you are going to be considered hormonal and your mistakes are not forgotten, especially whey your colleague will make sure nobody forgets them
- A bully will never ever congratulate you for your success, on the contrary, he will try even more to destroy your reputation and your job performance
- My bully colleague is a brown nose as well and he is capable of spending a huge amount of time kissing asses

Recently I managed to secure a huge account for the company I am working for, and the first reaction of my bully colleague was to attack me for something that was not under my control and not related to the big account, just to cool things off a little bit, until our bosses forget about my success. Unfortunately that will happen pretty fast… I mean, the forgetting part.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s better to have a mediocre but constant performance,rather than bringing money to the company but not being able to replicate the success too often.