Confession

Hi, my name is Charlotte, and I am a caffeine addict.

Phew.

That was surprisingly hard to say! When I was diagnosed with a (benign) heart issue as a teenager, I was told that it would be a good rule of thumb to steer clear of caffeinated beverages. I was very proud of my caffeine-free status for a long time, but over the past year, things started to get out of hand. A mug of Earl Grey here, a small iced coffee there... you know how these things go. It really got bad when I read that green tea helps with conception (although, maybe it doesn't?). I started drinking a cup every day, around 11 AM, when I would start to get hungry but lunch still seemed far away. Yes, green tea has less caffeine than black tea or coffee, but even that was enough. On days that I missed my cup of tea, I felt - could it be possible? - a slight headache. Uh-oh. Withdrawal.

When I started going over my IVF protocol with my RE, one question I asked was whether I needed to make any lifestyle changes. He was surprisingly negative on caffeine in any form while TTC (more so than alcohol), so when I circled the date on my calendar to begin my leuprolide shots, I knew that would also be the end of the road for my daily tea habit. I used up all of the green tea I already had and replaced it with decaf and herbal so I could still have a nice mid-morning warm beverage, and crossed my fingers.

Why do I bring this up now? Because for the last two days, my only symptom has been a low-grade but persistent headache. I hoped it might just be from dehydration, so I guzzled a bunch of water, but that didn't help. The other two likely causes are the leuprolide itself - and it totally could be that, it's a known side effect of the drug - but it could just as easily be caffeine withdrawal. I guess if it continues for the entire time I'm on the leuprolide, I'll know which one was the culprit, but for now I'm leaning towards lack of caffeine. So, in other words, I brought this on myself... sigh.