PCOS and Clomid

I am 23 and I have been diagnosed with PCOS since April 2007.  Took the Metformin 500 mg 3 times day and still have had no regulation in my periods.  I took the Provera 10 mg for 5 days and finished that 10 days ago.  I can tell my body is about to start my period in the next couple days.  I am to start taking Clomid for the first time once I start.  Once on the Clomid what is the chance of someone like me (who doesn't ovulate) getting pregnant? How often should we have intercourse and when do we start after I finish the medication?  Very excited about the possibilities but also too scared to get my hopes up....any medical insight or personal stories of success would really be helpful.  Thank you!

[waiting01]

hi i dont know if this is the kind of story that you really want to hear but i am also young (24) and have pcod and clomid didnt work at all for me. we went up to 250mg with nothing! But the good news is that now im doing injections and they are working! good luck to you and i send you lots of baby dust!

[wantingbabies]

I would just advise you that your doctor should be monitoring you with ultrasound to make sure you are actually ovulating.  I was taking clomid for about a year (which I later found out is way too long to be on it anyway), and wasn't actually ovulating.  I had to have a trigger shot to make me ovulate.  I didn't find out any of this until I saw a specialist, I was just trusting my doctor (OB/GYN).  So I feel like I wasted alot of time and money.  The good news though is that once I started seeing the RE, we conceived within 9 months, and I am now 20 weeks pregnant!  Good luck to you, and I hope you have success with the clomid quickly!!

[Sheri1972]

Hello!

Yes, you should definitely be talking to a doctor about a trigger shot to go with your HCG, and they should be telling you exactly when you should have intercourse, when to take the trigger, and the doctor should be monitoring the size and number of follicles produced on clomid.  If you are seeing a regular doctor, I'd suggest going to see a reproductive endodcrinologist instead.  They are experts in things like PCOS and are typically very attentive.

I took clomid and got pregnant, but I never had trouble ovulating.  I do have a friend, however, who didn't ovulate at all, and she got pregnant with clomid on her second round! :)

Good luck to you!!!

Sheri

[Trying4aBaby08]

Thank you so much for the replies.  I'm just seeing the regular ob/gyn and I decided that if nothing happens by June I would take some time off from TTC and when we decide to try again I would try the RE.  I had never heard of them till I found this site a couple months ago.  I'll try the Clomid by itself this month but I'll definately mention the trigger shot and stuff to my doc.  

Waiting01-are the injections bad?  That was another option I could do after 6 months of Clomid.  I'm nervous about all of it...unfortunately my best friend has the exact same problem as me so we are our own suppost group.  

Thanks again for all the advice and answers ladies!  

Amanda  

[katydid78]

I never had a regular cycle until last April. I have PCOS and endometriosis (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). I took Clomid 6 years ago and got pregnant on my 1st try. They had to give me meds to have a period and then I took the Clomid. I have a beautiful 5 year old boy. I did not find out about all of my issues until after he was born. I have since had several surgeries and my right ovary removed. During my surgery last April, dye was injected into my tubes (at the time I still had 2) and that resulted in a normal 28 day cycle ever since. I just finished Clomid on 2/10/08. I'm so nervous. It worked so good the 1st time. I'm down an ovary though and I just don't know. I have a few symptoms, but I don't know if that is more in my head then anything. I have to wait until Monday and it is very hard.
I wish you the best of luck.

[mim181]

We have been ttc for 2+ years before seeing a RE.  After seeing the RE she confirmed I do not ovulate.  She put me on 2000mg of metformin for insilin resistance and started me with clomid. I also took Provera the first month I started the clomid. After finishing the Provera, I started about two weeks later.  I would typically have one "egg to work" with from the u/s findings each month.  I would go to the RE 14-15 days after starting and recieve a trigger shot to release egg/ovulate.  I found it difficult to read ovulation predicter kits so found my temp graph very helpful in seeing when I was about to ovulate.  We also did IUI's and lots of intercourse cycle days 15-18. Over three cycles I worked up to 150 mg of clomid five days, days 5-9 after period, and got pg on our third cycle but had an ectopic pg.  I have healed from surgery and we are starting to try again.  RE uped the amount of clomid again since I now only have one tube/ovary to work with and increased the number of days I take it to seven.  I finally started today and have never been so happy to start my period so we can start trying again.  Good luck to you!  

[Amberb9a]

Hello,
I have some questions about progesterone levels and Clomid, pcos and metaformin. I had progesterone level blood draw taken  on CD 21 and it said my levels were coming back to 4.8. Which my Dr office called and thinks that I was close to a 5 so I may have Ovulated this cycle but unknown..I read if its not 5 or higher probably not.  She said it would have been between cd 10-14 however, I took clomid this cycle and I advised her I was under the impression I wouldnt Ovulate until usually a week after my last Clomid pill was taken on cd 9, and advised her that my cycles were long like 40 days. She said the Dr told me to go ahead and come back in next week and do another progesterone level test based on later in my cycle. Since my cycles are longer. I dont want it to be a big waste of time and money, since I advised her that I had gotten 3 + opks just the day prior to taking my progesterone blood test so CD 20, 21 & 22 I got + OPKS. So she said it may very well be that I did Ovulate just the day of the progesterone level test and that it wouldn't  have then showed up on my blood work as being a higher level since it was measuring it from cd 10-14 and that is the reason to come back in a week an retest. What do you think.

[Trying4aBaby08]

Thanks so much for your insight.  I am still waiting for my period start.  Today is day 12 since I finished the Provera.  I had a clot out this morning but still no official AF.  I am SO ready.  I know I will be thrilled.  I haven't had one in about 70 days.  And I'm so anxious to see if the Clomid works for me.  I'm crossing my fingers.  I hope your test comes back BFP on Monday!!!!  Thats would be amazing!  Thanks again.  Talk to you all soon!

[mim181]

My doctor also says that if the progestrone level is not over five, I probally did not ovulate.  My progestrone levels are usually 7-10 when I do ovulate and ovulation is usally about a week after my last clomid pill.   I have a hard time reading the OPKS, so do temp graphs and schedule u/s the day my temp drops (CD 14-15 for me:my cycles are now always 30 days thanks to metformin?) after temp drops, ovulation is suposed to occur within 48 hours and temp goes up if you did.  I know OPKS work the same way, with ovulation occuring up to 48 hours after a postivie. If you had a positive OPKS the day of your blood test, you will be ovulating within the 48 hours of the OPKS so I don't think your progesterone level would change until after you actually ovulate.  If it were me I would go back for the blood test next week, especially since you have a longer cycle.  Have you tried temp charts?