Gaia HerbsVitex Berry, Chasteberry, Hormone Balance for Women, Vegan Liquid Capsules, Black 60 Count

Works wonderfully to alleviate PMS symptoms. I am 33 years old and currently on my second round of Vitex. I took it a few years ago to ease the transition from birth control pills and to possibly help increase my fertility. I got pregnant my second month on Vitex. Unfortunately, I lost that pregnancy, but I do not think Vitex was to blame for the loss, as the pregnancy was ectopic. I started taking it for the second time eight months ago at a lower dose (1 pill a day rather than two, same brand). I started taking it to help with my PMS symptoms and acne and to hopefully help with chronic spotting, which has plagued me since my ectopic. It helped immediately with PMS symptoms. I foolishly went off it for a few weeks, since I had been on it several months with no change in the spotting and thought it wasn't working, and had the worst PMS of my life. I was very depressed and irritable for a week. My cramps were awful as well. I started again the second day of my cycle and haven't looked back. I still have a bad day or two before my period, but it's a day or two, not a week.It hasn't helped much with the acne, which is cystic and awful. I'm on cephalexin for it, and that does seem to help a bit. As I said, Vitex doesn't seem to help my chronic spotting much, although I've started spotting later the past two cycles (9-10 days past ovulation, instead of 4-7 days past O), so maybe it's just slow to work for spotting or maybe I should take two pills instead of one, although that seems to give me a headache when I try. It hasn't helped with breast tenderness. I've always been an early ovulator (day 9-12), and had a long luteal phase (17-18 days). Vitex has decreased my luteal phase, which I don't mind since it was quite long, to around 14-15 days. My ovulation has stayed on its typical days. Thus, Vitex has shortened my overall cycle, which is usually around 24-27 days now.I am not trying to conceive, so I cannot speak for an increase in fertility this go-round, although I did recommend it to my hair stylist who had been trying for a year and a half. She has PCOS and has very long cycles, had attempted several IUIs, rounds of Clomid and Femara, was charting with opks and temps, and her timing had been perfect every month. She is currently pregnant naturally after taking Vitex for two months, which seems to be the magic number in terms of ttc.She and I both noticed the following on Vitex: Better moods, lighter periods, less cramps, better quality cervical mucus, better sleep, very stable temperatures, with lower pre-O temps and higher post-O temps. My pre-O temps are now almost always 97.7 with a 97.5 dip on O day, and 98.6 with a couple 99.0 spikes during my luteal phase. She runs cooler than I do, but her temps were also stabilized on this herb. She noticed a significant increase in her sex drive. Mine has always been high, so I didn't notice that, but I can say that Vitex has not decreased my sex drive at all.Vitex is supposed to take a long time to work. Perhaps it does for some, or perhaps it takes longer to work on certain issues, such as spotting or acne. Yet I noticed immediate improvement with PMS. For that reason alone, I HIGHLY recommend Vitex. My advice is to listen to your body, go gently, and be patient with this herb. Good luck, ladies!

I don't write as many reviews as I should, but I was SO skeptical that this would be helpful and I am so glad I tried it that I have to tell you about it. I didn't take "before" pictures because I was so embarrassed of my 34 year old acne that I made sure all photos of me have my mouth covered by something. But suffice it to say I had large, deep, painful zits on my face all month long. They'd erupt the week before my period and then I'd get either scabs or scars that lasted the rest of the month. By the time my cycle-based zits had cleared up, new ones had started forming. It was awful. I'm Catholic, so birth control is not an option for me and its also a really horrible thing to do to your body, convincing it that its pregnant just to control your face.I started charting my cycles using the Creighton method in May, and it quickly became apparent that I had a serious hormonal imbalance. The first month I was fully trained I charted a 20 day folicular phase with 16 fertile days before a 5 day luteal phase. If you're familiar with tracking you'll know: that's not normal. That meant my body was putting out a TON of estrogen and very little progesterone. And when that huge amount of estrogen dropped off, my face would explode in zits.I started taking Vitex berry on a recommendation from a friend. I had been taking anti depressants as well for what I thought was unrelated depression. I went off the antidepressants in June (a month after starting the Vitex) because of side effects. Anyway, after the first month on Vitex berry I noticed I only got a few small zits, nothing like the deep cystic zits I'd been getting (that was the cycle ending in June). In July I got no new cyst zits at all, just scarring left from the older ones. This month the scarring has cleared even more and no new cyst-y zits. This is absolutely INCREDIBLE for me since my face has been a disaster zone for 4 years since I had my last baby. I also noticed that the depression which was CRIPPLING the week before my period had subsided substantially. I was no longer laying in bed crying about nothing. I did still find my children extra annoying on cycle day 23 but that's to be expected for me. I have had no relapses of the terrible depression I was feeling in the Winter/Spring/Early Summer.Anyway, I did not expect this to be effective. I generally think herbal medicine is a sham but maybe that's cause I only ever got low-quality stuff that wasn't effective? This brand and herb WORK for me. I only tried it because my friend reminded me how when you're pregnant they tell you not to take herbs cause it can effect the pregnancy and I figure if a doctor agrees herbs can alter your hormones enough to cause miscarriage then they must actually do SOMETHING to hormones... turns out they do. My folicular phase is down to a nice normal 12 days, my luteal phase is much longer and my face isn't a friggin warzone. GOOO team!(Photos are from the last two cycles in what would typically be my "painful awful zit phase". Still scarring but this is much improved! No make up in either photo.)

I have been taking chaste berry tablets for my PCOS symptoms for over 18 months. My symptoms include cystic acne, an irregular cycle, and weight gain. After 2 or 3 weeks of taking chaste berry, my skin had almost completely stopped breaking out. After regularly taking the tablets for a few months, I was not breaking out at all.I was skeptical at first that it may have been another factor that caused my skin to clear up, but I've tested this by waiting a few weeks between bottles. Seriously, 3 weeks without chaste berry and I start breaking out on my neck, and getting the painful cystic breakouts. I've tested this a few times in the past 18 months, and it happens without fail.Before taking chaste berry, my cycle was 30-35 days in length. My period would usually last a week, or even go a few days longer. I noticed that my first period while taking vitex was much shorter. After just a few months of regularly taking chaste berry, my cycle was back at 28 days and my periods were less painful, and lasting only 4 or 5 days.I've also noticed that chaste berry doesn't necessarily make me lose weight, but it does curb my sugar cravings. So I do lose weight by not constantly craving sugar.Another benefit is that I don't seem to have as many mood swings while taking chaste berry.I've purchased chaste berry at a few different health food stores, and I've tried several options from Amazon. So far, Gaia's chaste berry tablets have been the best. They seem to be more potent or pure, and produce quicker results and more noticeable results. The Gaia vitex berry tablets are a little higher priced than other options, but they're very high quality. I'll definitely continue to purchase.