persistent corpus luteum

  I began my first round of clomid 50mg on days 6-10 ending on Feb. 13th.
  I had lite spotting on day 24 of my cycle (just as I did my last pregnancy).
  I did a hpt on day 27 and day 32, both of which were negative. I had extreme breast
  tenderness, frequent
  urination and lite abdominal cramps. After discussing this with the RN Practioner
  at my GYN office, she assured me I was not pregnant. I have begun bleeding
  today which makes my cycle 40 days long. I read a couple of sentences in your
  Q&A section about Persistent Corpus Luteum.  It would seem that is probably what
  happened with me. My questions are: Is this a common occurance? Since it happened
  on my first trial, will it likely happen again?  Should I go ahead with another
  month's try? For the last 18 months or so, my cycles have been 24 - 26 days with
  extremely heavy bleeding. I had been trying for 9 months to get pregnant when my
  GYN suggested trying Clomid. I have read heavy bleeding may be associated with no
  ovulation. Does this seen correct? Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly
  appreciated.

[hfhsmdrcs]

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Dear Nancy:
Persistent corpus luteum is a random and uncommon event.
Menstrual cycles can be monitored to know if ovulation is occuring: basal body temperature pattern and urine ovulation detection kits are the most common ways to do this.
In women who are ovulating and in whom clomiphene is being prescribed to increase the number of eggs release or to support the hormone environment after ovulation, the drug is taken from cycle days 3-7 in a dose of 100 mg.
For women who are NOT ovulating, clomiphene can be started any day between day 3 and 7; the starting dose is 50 mg for 5 days.
In all cases, monitoring is the only way to know if ovulation occurred. In the absence of ovulation, cycle length is variable and bleeding amounts are variable.
Keywords: clomiphene, persistent corpus luteum
This information is provided for education purposes and is not a medical consultation. If you have specific questions, please speak with your healthcare provider.