Femara Info

[candie429]

To all of my friends using Femara, and those that are thinking about it, I found some really good info online that is very detailed.  It's actually a fact sheet from a fertility clinic in Ontario.  I don't know anything about the clinic, but it's by far the best info I've seen on using Femara for infertility.  Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://www.soft-infertility.com/docs/PILetrosol.pdf

Also, any updates from those of you using Femara?  My first cycle resulted in ovulation, but no BFP.  :(  I'm now on cd 9, so hopefully it will work this time!

To jnitro26:  I saw that you are also in your 2nd Femara cycle.  How is it going?

To HeathJo:  How is your 2ww going?  SSBD to you!!!

To G_S:  Here's hoping everything is OK and that you get your BFP!

To bny807:  Best of luck with your ultrasound today.  If there is some endo, I'm sure it will be treatable.  My thoughts are with you today.

To kschnack:  How is your first Femara cycle going?  I hope it works out for you!!

Thanks to all the wonderful ladies on this forum who are so supportive.  My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

[candie429]

jnitro - Best of luck to you and your DH.  I know how stressful this can be, and you know more than anyone what you need to do in order to go on.  If it's possible to take a mini-vacation or even have a weekend getaway, maybe that would help.  Sometimes a change of scenery helps.  Every once in a while, we just leave the dog with my parents and get a hotel room in a nearby city and just enjoy being together.  You always hear these stories of people who take a break to relax and that's the month it happens.  Hopefully you will be one of those lucky people!  Please keep in touch.

nevaeh222 - If I were you, I would definitely give the femara a shot.  I think once you've had 6 IUI's the chances of conceiving start going down, so maybe your body just needs a different drug.  Lots of luck being sent your way!!

bny807 - Thanks so much for sharing that info.  You're right.  There's just so much to think about, so many causes of infertility, so many treatment options.  It can feel so overwhelming at times and make you worry that you're not doing the right thing!  I think that's a good idea to get some questions written down and then meet with the doctor.  Hopefully she'll have more answers for you.

[bny807]

I also read somewhere in an article that after three months of femara there were no traces of endo to be found... but i wander if all of the endo was removed during the first lap (they couldn't remove much of mine since it was on the bowel and bladder, ureters etc). hummm.. this is all so confusing and overwhelming!   I have a few more days to do as much research as I can before the Dr and I sit down and figure out a plan.. she is currently researching the femara as well, since i dont' think its as widely used!   Good luck to yall using femara instead of clomid, i hear its great and it doesn't thin the lining as much as clomid, also read that the success rates were higher with femara than clomid!  Here is an article that I found about it that looks promising::::::


Aromatase is an enzyme that is responsible for the production of estrogen in the body. Letrozole works by inhibiting aromatase thereby suppressing estrogen production. Clomiphene citrate, on the other hand, blocks estrogen receptors. In both cases, the result is that the pituitary gland produces more of the hormones needed to stimulate the ovaries. These hormones, FSH and LH, can cause the development of ovulation in women who are anovulatory or increase the number of eggs developing in the ovaries of women who already ovulate. As a result, several studies have now been published using letrozole as a fertility drug.

One of the earliest studies using letrozole as a fertility drug looked at 12 women with inadequate response to clomiphene citrate. Ovulation on letrozole occurred in 9 of 12 cycles and 3 patients conceived. A later study by the same investigators compared the effects of letrozole to those of clomiphene citrate. This time 19 women were studied. Ten women received clomiphene citrate and nine women received letrozole. This study was unable to demonstrate any difference in the number of women who ovulated, the number of eggs that developed in each woman, or the thickness of the uterine lining during treatment. However, a more recent study by a different group of investigators found that compared with clomiphene citrate, letrozole is associated with a thicker uterine lining and a lower miscarriage rate.

Nobody has yet identified the optimal dose for letrozole. Three dose regimens have been tested: 2.5 mg, 5 mg and 7.5 mg. Different studies comparing these dose regimens have occasionally found favor with one dose or another but there is no conclusive data that one dose is better than another. The usual length of treatment is for five days.

Some early studies suggested that the pregnancy rates with letrozole far exceeded those with clomiphene citrate and were possibly even higher than gonadotropins. Further data has determined that this is not the case. Pregnancy rates with letrozole are similar to those seen with clomiphene citrate and are lower than the pregnancy rates seen with gonadotropins. Older patients have a lower chance of success than younger patients.

Treatment with letrozole may still be successful even if other treatments have failed. For example, some data shows that in women who did not ovulate with clomiphene citrate, they still may ovulate with letrozole.

[nevaeh222]

i am going to see if i can try femara next month instead of the clomid. Obviously the clomid isn't working (starting 6th IUI). Hopefully this is the trick.
thanks for the info.

[jnitro26]

hey cnadie just wanted to say thanks for all of the support, me and dh have decided to take a break, for a bout a month or so, he wants me to get stress free, he said i was focusing on getting a bfp that i stopped taking care of everything else, so i am going to take a break and get everything back to normal and when the time is right we will get our bfp.

[candie429]

I definitely remember talking about this.  I think it was in another post because bny807 has been going through a lot of difficulties.  I just saw in a her most recent postings that she has pretty severe endo and they are going to put her on Femara.  Hopefully this is true.  I'm sure it would give hope to many.

[G_S]

I read an article somewhere that femara was tried as a test on some endo people...consistent use after a couple of months removed all traces of end. I think i read it somewhere in this or endo forum.