Zita West answers your fertility questions
Zita West is a practising midwife, acupuncturist, nutritional advisor and founder of The Zita West Clinic, London’s leading fertility clinic specialising in integrating complementary therapies into mainstream medicine.
Over the years, Zita’s highly experienced multi-disciplinary team has worked closely with leading fertility clinics and gynaecologists in the UK, helping thousands of couples conceive. Zita has helped many famous clients during their pregnancies, including Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Stella McCartney and Ulrika Johnson. Zita has also developed her own fertility and pregnancy product range and is the author of six books. Her latest,‘Plan to get Pregnant’, is out now. She is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times Style supplement and has her own page in Junior Pregnancy and Baby Magazine. Zita has also made countless appearances on television.
Is itching normal in pregnancy?
I am eight weeks pregnant and feel very itchy all over my body. What can I do?
Zita says: itching can be very common in pregnancy. When you are pregnant, the blood supply to the skin is increased, which causes itchiness. Also, as your pregnancy progresses and the skin of your abdomen becomes tighter, this can cause itching as well.
What you need to be careful of is severe itching in late pregnancy, which may be the sign of an underlying serious medical condition called obstetric cholestasis. This potentially can lead to stillbirth so it is very important that you get the itching checked out with your GP, who will do a blood tests to see if you have this condition. It may mean that you deliver earlier and not around your due date.
How do I know if I'm pregnant?
I think I may be pregnant but I was wondering what the early signs are as I'm a bit confused.
Zita says: the most common sign of early pregnancy is the obvious, which is a missed period. Many women feel that their breasts are tender and for some their nipples are sensitive. Others feel nauseous, tired and a bit emotionally fragile and start to crave certain foods. But there are many signs that are different to this. For example: a metallic taste in the mouth. The only way to find out for sure is to do a pregnancy test.
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Published August 2008
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Last Modified: 02/09/2008
Comments 3 3
hi i came of depro injection after being on it for less than a year and since then me and my fiancee havent used anything i have come back on my periiod regular but still know signs of being pregnant it has been around 7 months since my last injection i would love to have a baby and it is really getting me stressed out how long is it going to take?
i am the same aswell but i dont really understand the overlation calender... i had the implant takin out last june and havent used anything since and i have still not become pregnant wat could this be down to can you please tell me what i could do
Hi I have a question on trying to get pregnant and working out my most fertile days (or days when i should be having sex). I took my evra contraceptive patch off about 4 days during the week 1 patch week. My last actual period was 22-27 november, I had a period like bleed (pains and feeling hot quicker like a period), this was 9-13 dec, 14 dec being a bleed free day. It was heavy like a normal period which usually lasts 6-7 days. Why is this happening? And how do I know when I am most likely to conceive? Which dates do I go by for the ovulation calculator? My periods used to be every 29 days from the day I come off, then i got ireegular periods, until about 6months before evra where they were going back to normal, they got completely back to normal after 2-3 months of using the patch. When I had irregular periods i had blood test after so many days after one of my periods, it showed i was not ovulating then, this was a few years ago. Will i have problems getting pregnant? Please help me! How do i know when i'll be / When will i be more likely to get pregnant?
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