Why NOT Clomid?

[knx9211]

I had my hysteroscopy today. No idea what the radiologist saw on my HSG, but it was nothing. Gyn didn't see a thing. So that's good news.

He said that he would be comfortable putting me on Clomid next cycle if we wanted to. Or we could wait a few more months. I have a couple weeks to think about it.

But as I sit here, I have to think.. Why not? Is there any reason you can give me NOT to do it? Thanks in advance for all of your advice and experience.

[HoneySpider]

I am assuming you are unexplained IF?

[knx9211]

Jul 8, 2015 13:47:17 GMT -5 HoneySpider said:

I am assuming you are unexplained IF?

So far I've only had blood tests, HSG and the hysteroscopy. Nothing out of the ordinary found. They haven't suggested any other tests yet.

[ouokie]

I'm unexplained. All my tests have come back normal and my RE has put me on Clomid and Met. I ovulate on my own every cycle too. I have had sucess after my second time taking it (although it did end in a mc). My RE's thinking was it couldn't hurt. Plus it does help regulate your ovulation days. I was ovulating between CD 12-25. Now I'm consistently around CD 16 to 17.

[knx9211]

Jul 8, 2015 14:31:59 GMT -5 ouokie said:

Thank you so much for sharing this, and I'm very sorry for your loss. 

[mpc]

I just did my first cycle of Clomid (50 mg). Now I'm doing a cycle of no meds, and next month we will try 100 mg Clomid.

Clomid can make you a bit of a hormonal mess. I cried a lot. Some people get rage-y. It's possible you can overstimulate your ovaries and end up with twins. One thing I didn't learn until after I started it was that it can thin your uterine lining. So even though it can help you ovulate, it's possible that it makes your uterus less hospitable. There may be more I'm not thinking of.

But, for me, it seemed like a good first start. Trying on our own wasn't getting us anywhere.

Good luck!

[knx9211]

mpc - thank you so much for sharing. Honestly, I'd be pretty excited about twins so that part doesn't scare me off

Does your doctor monitor you while you're taking it? It wasn't something mine mentioned but he was essentially just telling me that we could start it, gave me basic info, and told me to call with questions. I didn't even think of that. I only ever think of questions for my doctor hours after leaving the appointment.

[july]

Some women are not mentally ready to start clomid or medical treatments and prefer to try on their own longer.
Clomid can also have side effects listed above like mood swings, headaches, thin lining, dry CM. Your ovaries could also respond too well resulting in multiples or some ovary problems. Monitoring would reduce the latter risks.

[calmcosmo]

Has your H had a sperm analysis yet? Make sure that gets done before you take Clomid.

[knx9211]

Jul 9, 2015 8:26:45 GMT -5 calmcosmo said:

Has your H had a sperm analysis yet? Make sure that gets done before you take Clomid.

Yes, he had it a few months back.  Everything's well above average with him.

I just called my insurance and found out my work's plan offers absolutely no infertility coverage at all. While the Clomid itself may not be super expensive, any monitoring that my doctor orders will get really pricey, really quickly. Dammit.

[knx9211]

I called and they do not order monitoring right away, and take you off it for testing after a few cycles if it doesn't work. I had someone tell me about NO NEVER DO AN UNMONITORED CYCLE OR THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE DIRE but when I look it up, all I can find are message boards saying this. I trust my doctor over that, but I wonder if there's something out there I'm missing.

[ratherbepaddling]

Another clomid user here (I normally post on TTTC). Like mpc said, it can thin your lining. You can try drinking pomegranate juice and red raspberry leaf tea to counteract it. I'm not sure it actually does anything, but it's worth a shot. Do you ovulate on your own? The clomid could help you produce more follicles/have a stronger O. I don't ovulate on my own, so the monitoring appointments help them figure out if I'm responding. Both cycles I've only had one follicle and took till after day 20 to ovulate. Monitoring would help to figure out if you are wasting your time with clomid and need to move on to something else. My insurance doesn't cover infertility treatment either, yet somehow my ultrasounds have been covered. I've been going since April and just got a bill for $60. You might ask them what they code ultrasounds as and then ask your insurance company if that service is covered. Good luck!!

[knx9211]

ratherbepaddling - That was incredibly helpful, thank you. Based on temping/OPKs, it does seem that I ovulate on my own. My cycle has been a little wonky, but I've only had one month where I was not confident that I ovulated. It sounds like they'd just keep me on this for a couple of months to see if we need to explore other options. Good thing I love pomegranate juice and raspberry tea

[riffraff]

Have you thought about going to see an RE?

Fertility meds can cause cysts which is the main reason it's not such a great idea doing unmonitored cycles.

Clomid made me crazy hormonal, one minute I was crying and the next I was yelling at my poor H.

[mpc]

my doctor didn't do ultrasound monitoring, but she did do a check for cysts at the beginning of my next cycle. She also had me do bloodwork during the cycle to verify that I actually ovulated.

She will only prescribe clomid every other month because it can stick around in the system longer than a month. She also says there's research that shows the no med cycles in between can actually be more fertile. I have no idea if there's any truth to that. Anyway, since it's not back to back I feel a little better about not being as closely monitored.

[knx9211]

Jul 10, 2015 17:45:24 GMT -5 mpc said:

my doctor didn't do ultrasound monitoring, but she did do a check for cysts at the beginning of my next cycle. She also had me do bloodwork during the cycle to verify that I actually ovulated.

She will only prescribe clomid every other month because it can stick around in the system longer than a month. She also says there's research that shows the no med cycles in between can actually be more fertile. I have no idea if there's any truth to that. Anyway, since it's not back to back I feel a little better about not being as closely monitored.

True story, my friend and her DH were trying for years.  Did three cycles of Clomid and got pregnant the first cycle AFTER stopping it.

[knx9211]

Jul 10, 2015 16:28:32 GMT -5 riffraff said:

Have you thought about going to see an RE?

Fertility meds can cause cysts which is the main reason it's not such a great idea doing unmonitored cycles.

Clomid made me crazy hormonal, one minute I was crying and the next I was yelling at my poor H.

I'm open to this idea, definitely.  However, I found out that my insurance won't cover any of it

[knx9211]

Third post in a row: but I have people telling me that I would pretty much be an idiot to not go to an RE first and not insist upon 3-4 ultrasounds, etc during each cycle. I just can't find anything supporting this panic except Bump, etc message boards. If there are significant concerns, I definitely want to know about them. I don't really want to go to my doctor and say I need to do this because of the Internet. I keep looking but all of the FDA, etc information just doesn't seem like I should be panicking. So if anyone has any legit articles or anything I would love to see them.

[cilantro]

My OB insisted that they could tell based on my blood work alone that hyperovulation was extraordinarily unlikely. Also, she insisted that it was impossible to know for sure based on a 12 day or so ultrasound if a second egg will pop day 15. A 3% increase in the possibility of conceiving twins was just something I had to decide whether to accept or not. The likelihood of higher order multiples was something really really low. So, even though I had monitoring with my first (where I conceived a singleton the first time I took the lowest dose of clomid) I skipped it the second time. Again, I was pregnant with a singleton from the lowest dose.

I would just say to think really long and hard about the 'excited for twins' part of your pp. Twin pregnancies carry a lot of risks that you should fully appreciate before you write off the 3% chance increase of twins with clomid as no big deal. I don't think I will risk going for a third if it requires clomid again because I ended up with preeclampsia in both pregnancies which would probably kick in way earlier with a twin pregnancy, resulting in premature delivery.

[riffraff]

Jul 12, 2015 18:13:26 GMT -5 knx9211 said:

Jul 10, 2015 16:28:32 GMT -5 riffraff said:

Have you thought about going to see an RE?

Fertility meds can cause cysts which is the main reason it's not such a great idea doing unmonitored cycles.

Clomid made me crazy hormonal, one minute I was crying and the next I was yelling at my poor H.

I'm open to this idea, definitely.  However, I found out that my insurance won't cover any of it

I sympathize. Mine doesn't cover anything but the dx up to IF, once I have that dx it's all out of pocket

[knx9211]

Jul 13, 2015 9:33:39 GMT -5 cilantro said:

I would just say to think really long and hard about the 'excited for twins' part of your pp. Twin pregnancies carry a lot of risks that you should fully appreciate before you write off the 3% chance increase of twins with clomid as no big deal. I don't think I will risk going for a third if it requires clomid again because I ended up with preeclampsia in both pregnancies which would probably kick in way earlier with a twin pregnancy, resulting in premature delivery.

You're definitely right; my reaction was more of a "Squeee! Two babies at once!" instead of the actual realities of carrying twins.  That's something else I'd like to read up on before calling my doctor back, so thank you for that heads up. Unfortunately, I don't know how my body will react to one single pregnancy let alone carrying two, but I'll still be sure to look into it more to understand all of those risks. Thank you again.

[ouokie]

Jul 12, 2015 18:13:26 GMT -5 knx9211 said:

Jul 10, 2015 16:28:32 GMT -5 riffraff said:

Have you thought about going to see an RE?

Fertility meds can cause cysts which is the main reason it's not such a great idea doing unmonitored cycles.

Clomid made me crazy hormonal, one minute I was crying and the next I was yelling at my poor H.

I'm open to this idea, definitely.  However, I found out that my insurance won't cover any of it

I'm out of pocket too, but my meds and labs are covered (which is odd to me since they are fertility meds). My RE has a fantastic payment plan that they set up for us and she has also added discounts to certain things.