I know I've heard before that fenugreek lowers your blood sugar. Well, I've been on WonderUp for 4 months now, after previously taking individual herbs such as Fenugreek, Saw Palmetto and Wild Yam.
I noticed I was very tired lately and would yawn a LOT. It really annoyed my boyfriend, and that's mainly how it was brought to my attention.
I started school this week, and have been SO SO tired, I literally can't keep my eyes open at times and on Tuesday I almost fainted in class. My friend told me I looked incredibly pale and was worried herself I would faint.
I think it's all the fenugreek in the Wonderup, so I've stopped taking it for now. (It wasn't working anyway). Either that or I could be a bit anemic since I've been borderline before...

Gosh I don't really know what I'm asking, I guess just for help and/or advice! I don't really know what to do. I was going to stop Wonderup after this month anyway since it isn't working, but i don't want to waste the last bottle, I want to finish it!

Should I start iron supplements and see how I am then?

You might be right about the fenugreek being the culprit. I remember reading (not sure if it was on this board or not), that there have been problems in the past with fenugreek causing tiredness, dizziness, low blood sugar, fatigue, headaches, and other problems. Not everyone experiences this, but still, it is a definite cause of concern.

i say fennugreek!! i definately messes with my blood sugar and if im on it for long enough without a break, i start to have heart palpitations. so when i used to take fennugreek i would take a break from it whenever i started to feel the effects on my blood sugar. i stopped taking it but i havent had good growth without it.. but of course health is more important! so proceed with caution my friend!

I felt very tired for a while and I started taking some iron and some other vitamins as well, C and B vitamins and that helped. But I can't say what is causing your tiredness. I never felt like fainting.
I am taking Fenugreek, Saw Palmetto and Wild Yam at 3,000 mg a day.
I do beleive the herbs somehow contributed to my tiredness whether it was through changing hormones or something else I don't know, but I am still taking my herbs along with vitamins and I do feel better now.
If the wonderup wasn't working anyway, just drop it. Save it for later you don't have to throw it away.
Take at least a multivitamin with iron and C. If you don't feel better in a week or if you feel like fainting again, please see a doctor. You can always start up on BE again later when you are feeling a bit better.
Take good care of you! :)

I'm actually leaning away from the fenugreek...if you took it before, seperatley and didn't have the same problem then you may want to look into something else, like the anemia...when you take fenugreek as a seperate herb you normally ingest more mg than what you get from taking the wonderup...but I don't know how many mg you were taking when you were taking fenugreek seperately compared to what your getting now...so I would check, just to be safe, it is your health afterall :) good luck, and I hope you get to feeling better!

It's a good idea to check with a doctor to see if you are indeed anemic. I don't remember if I read it somewhere here on the forum or on one of my searches, but some herbs shouldn't be taken together because they can cause interactions or have unhealthy affects. If I remember correctly FG & SP shouldn't be taken together because they both thin out the blood and if you get a cut, you'll have a hard time stopping the bleeding. They mentioned a bunch of other phytoestrogen herb interactions but I can't remember where I read it from now. FG also lowers blood glucose so it probably would make you tired if you take large doses of it. Take care and get healthy

Whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve...

alcest, i think it might me aneamia, when i was aneamic i kept yawning and was so tired all the time, get a blood test done to be sure, if you are very low on iron, you might have to take very high doses at first to bring it up quickly
i would say to take a break and get this sorted out first
good luck, hope you feel better soon

Alcest, I am curious ~ in the first couple of weeks taking the Wonderup did you feel these symptoms? or have they just suddenly appeared over the past few days/week? The reason I ask, is it seems strange that you took fenugreek before, and then also were able to start wonderup, and its just recently started to affect you. I think most people start to get a reaction shortly after taking it, like within the first few weeks, and certainly wouldn't be able to go 4 months with these symptoms, you would have fainted way before this time.

I would wonder about your diet as well. Maybe you need to have a snack throughout the day, something along the lines of either a form of cheese, or peanut butter. I wouldn't go with something sugary as that can tend to make symptoms worse, what you want is something that gets in your system and then will stay there for a little bit before you need another dose.

If you are really thinking you are anemic, then before you take iron, you need to talk to your dr, and get some blood work ran. UNLESS, you have been on iron before and can roughly judge how much you need, and evaluate your own symptoms. Usually when my anemia acts up, I am not so much tired and yawning as I really feel like the energy is being sucked from my veins and I can actually feel it draining, and then I get extreme fatigue in a short amount of time. Rarely do I get tired, more like drained and I don't get sleepy, I just feel exhausted, like I have run all day and have no energy left, and I haven't even got out of bed.

You also said you started school this week, and it could just be you need to readjust to your new schedule and what your body needs. I still would consider also looking at what you are eating and see if maybe adding something throughout the day would help you. If you decide to do nothing for now, at least see a dr if it happens again. If you are still going to stick with your herbs, then take a lower dose for now until you feel better.

Oh and one more thing, make sure you are getting enough water, dehydration can cause some of those symptoms as well.

I guess there are a lot of things it could be. It might also be a slight case of mono? I've been sleeping 10+ hours the past couple of nights. Though that could also just be because I've been so exhausted.

When I took fenugreek before, it was a few years ago now, and I was coming off a bit of an eating disorder so I was tired a lot already and would have blood sugar crashes sometimes as well so I didn't really notice it.

Perhaps it isn't the fenugreek though, since I have been on Wonderup for 4 months with no real side effects (including no good ones-- boobs!). I'm not on it now, I stopped on Monday.

I've been borderline anemic before, my mother always was too when she was young and have taken iron supplements before. I am wary to get my bloodwork taken again because I just had it done this summer and it was fine. I would just feel so silly to have it done again like 6 months later...

I'm trying to seriously reduce my stress level, just enjoy life, enjoy the scares and the deadlines and all of it because in the end, I have a good life. Sometimes it's really hard to appreciate though, I'm sure we all know how that is.

I will take an iron supplement, try and keep gaining weight, save the Wonderup for later, and in another few weeks we'll see where I'm at. I have been dying to try Wenonae's EE over on the BE board so perhaps this is a good time to do it! Thank you all so much for your input, and hypotheses-- it's scary how many different things it could be just from my symptoms. A friend of mine really frightened me by saying it could be diabetes. I'm sure it's not though, i'll let you know how things are in a week. =)

Crap I'm sorry, that's me above.

to make sure you snack throughout the day - just a bite or two or something every 2 or 3 hours helps keep the dizzy feeling away. but pick things that won't ramp up your sugar and then make you crash later (i.e. no candy bars or real starchy foods) and you dont have to eat until you are full, just a bite or two. and plenty of water. orange juice or grape juice always seems to help when im dizzy though, makes it go away pretty quick.
to help with anemia besides taking iron supplements, when you cook something instead of using a frying pan use a cast iron skillet, it really helps. (i guess your food absorbs some of the iron?)
nothing wrong with sleeping a lot, but your diet (whether or not you eat a good breakfast) can affect how you feel all day long or wear your body out making you want to sleep a lot. snacking all day long wont make you fat, it helps your metabolism a bit i think.
hope maybe this helps, it helps me.

a good way to build good weight (for me anyways) is at your meals drink a slim-fast or a boost drink mixed with whole milk or soy milk WITH your food.

I'm actually trying to gain weight, so have been meaning to eat throughout the day more, but at school I forget a lot (plus I'm vegan so sometimes its' hard to find food). But after this I am going to make much more of an effort.

And I'm going to take my grandfather's cast iron skillet to college with me. Thank you for suggesting that. =)

I was just posting replies about these topics on other threads. Eating frequently is supposed to increase your metabolism, it has supposedly been scientifically proven. I can see how, it makes sense, but I think WHAT you eat also plays a factor. I have difficulty gaining weight and keeping it on myself. Perhaps nuts would be a good snack? They're rich in healthy omega fats, and protein, low sugar, tasty, portable, and quick.

Does anyone else have more info they can post about fenugreeks effects on blood sugar?

Eating throughout the day often times speeds your metabolism up so try not to eat more than the regular 3 times...I'm actually on a weight loss plan right now and I have to eat 6 or 7 small meals a day! It's working pretty well, I've lost 3 or so pounds...but the way it works is that the less often you eat the more your body burns muscle in stead of fat because you muscle has more nutrients in it...since there are long periods between meals you body freaks out becuase it doesn't know when the next time it will get food and starts burning muscle, so the more times you eat the more your body burns fat because it's always getting a steady flow...just some advice...hope all goes well for you!