Clomid and Infertility--Am I informed?

[zoey_dog]

This is the first time that I've seen this website.  I've recently finished my 4th round of Clomid (1-50 mg, and 3-100 mg).  For the past three cycles I have ovulated, but have not gotten pregnant.  I also have not seen my doctor since my initial visit in August (not even to increase my dosage).  I see people on here talking about levels being tested and things like "AF" and "TTC".  I haven't heard these terms before, and am a little concered that my doctor would continue to administer a medication with no supervison or follow up?  Should I maybe request to see or at least speak with another doctor?

[gonza]

AF is your cycle "aunt flow"
TTC is trying to conceive

I dont know anything about clomid but anytime you have questions you should call your doctor.  good luck!

[JJety]

I don't think you're supposed to take Clomid more than a few cycles in a row.  It's definitely time to see your doctor.

[buda1]

I would suggest seeking advise from another doctor. I went through the same thing as you. I went and they prescribed me clomid and each month that I didn't fall pregnant, they would up my dosage until I was at 150mg. I was on clomid for 6 months and my doctor never wanted to see me or to check anything to make sure that I was indeed ovulating. After 6 months of nothing with the clomid, they sent me to a fertility doctor.  I was not happy with my first doctor. I felt as though she really didn't care and didn't have time to take to see if the clomid was even working for me.  I want to wish you good luck with ttc and if you are in doubt, go see another doctor.

[zoey_dog]

So if the Clomid didn't work for you and you had to see a specialist, what was the next step for you?  I don't even know what comes after Clomid.

[JJety]

I think IUI or IVF comes after Clomid.

[freakonaleash]

Most doctors will bring you in after one cycle of Clomid and do blood tests on cycle day 20-22 to see if you ovulated.  Some will even go a step further and do ultrasounds to see if your ovary is going to release an egg.  

I think it is unusual for a doc to increase your dosage and not do anything. You might want to look into seeing a more aggressive doctor or a specialist (Reproductive Endocronologist)

I don't think your doc is being negilgent, but he/she may be wasting more time than you want/have to spare.

[emilycaitlin]

Hi Zoey,

You situation sounds familiar. In 2002 I was prescribed Clomid and had 8 cycles of it with no results, also with very little doctor supervision. I was hoping the protocols had changed since then as I feel it's inappropriate to leave a patient virtually unmonitored while on this med, but it seems at least in some cases that they have not.

Six cycles of Clomid including two reaching the maximum recommended dosage is the standard. After that it is time to consider other options. This will depend on your diagnosis. Is your infertility unexplained, do you have endo or pcos or something else that could be contributing? Has your partner had a semen analysis to check his counts? There is a test called an hsg that can be performed to check for blocked tubes. It's a good sign you are ovulating, I never did on Clomid.

If you have not conceived after six cycles of Clomid you could ask to be referred to a reproductive endocrinologist. They will generally not see patients unless they have been trying to conceive for 1 year, but this is a generality and depends on many things such as your age and diagnosis. Best of luck to you, em

[zoey_dog]

My husband and I have been actively been trying for a couple of years, not protecting against for over three now.  When I went to my primary physican a year ago and also last June, he told me that everything was fine it just took time.  He took blood and ran a bunch of tests and said everything looked okay.  I wasn't comfortable with just doing nothing, so on my own I made an appointment with an OB.  She actually found some abmormality in the bloodwork that my Dr. had missed.  I gues two of my levels were flip-flopped.  One was high when it was supposed to be low and Visa Versa.  Otherwise, no known complications.  My husband had his sperm tested almost two years ago now.  Just frustrated.  It's no fun having to plan this much to have a baby.

[misslollipop]

Hi there, i'm currently on 100 mg of clomid and my doctor does a blood test before i take the clomid for a hormone reading and then a ultrasound to see wheather my ovaries are going to relsese an egg and then a blood test on day 20 to see if i ovulated, on my advice is that my gyn is a IVF specialist and they care and do everything to help you get PG, on what i have read your doc don't give a damn, they should be adjusting your does and after 3 months on clomid you suposed to have a break from taking it and usally a IVF specialist will look at other options to get PG, Maybe seeing a chinese herbalist and see what they say cause that is my next option if the clomid doesnt work. Good luck and keep us posted

[Esperanza/Hope]

i suggest  a seeing another doctor . my doctor sees me every month on day 20 of my cycle and we go over my chart. he checks to make sure my ovaries are not enlarged this is  a major side effect of clomid. he also will do a blood test on some months, when it didn't look like i o'd. the first time i got pregnant it was on my third cycle of clomid .. i miscarried at 8 weeks  waited to get two cycles and then tried again with clomid i didn't o on my own thats why i had to use clomid again . i am pregnant again with my first round of clomid since the mc. Have they checked to make sure your tubes are not blocked? Good luck and tons of baby dust to you.

[zoey_dog]

How do you tell if your overies are enlarged?  I've had some stabbing pain on the lower left side of my abdomen, and some pain when I urinate, but didn't really think much of it.
**By the way, Thank you all for your responses, all of my girlfriends have had no trouble shooting out babies so I have had no one to talk to.

[Jessa37]

Zoey - I'm so sorry to hear that you're going thru so much to conceive a baby. I'm in the same boat but my age (37) doesn't help me either. I had gone through 4 months of Clomid with no success so I decided to discontinue it (even though you're supposed to be able to take it up to 6 months legally). Clomid was drying up my cm (cervical mucous) so much that it was painful during sex. Although, I was supposedly ovulating with Clomid, you do need cm to conceive so Clomid was defeating my purpose. Also, Clomid has been known to cause "hostile mucous", too, could that be your case? I've now been referred to an RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist) for further treatments.

I've been trying without protection for 4 yrs now. A year ago, I miscarried at 8 wks and have had trouble ovulating since even though all the blood tests have indicated "normal" and my hubby tested his swimmers 2x (once last year and once just 2 months ago) and he was found normal. So, we're not sure what's going on but thru all this, I did find out how limited OB/Gyn's really know about reproductive organs nor infertility issues. The Dr is supposed to "monitor" how Clomid effects your system, step by step to see if it's even working but my OB/Gyn didn't do that either. With an RE, you're going to get that type of "step by step" attention. I had my first RE appt a month ago and he did more for me in one visit than my OB/Gyn did in months! RE's really don't like to waste any time. Although, I'll need further treatments with the RE, I'm hesitating right now due to insurance issues (besides, insurances really don't pay for "fertility" issues). My next step is HSG testing (tube cleaning) and thereafter would be IUI (if I ovulate with meds) where I take ovulation meds and they manually insert my hubby's sperm near the fallopian tubes. If that doesn't work, then I think IVF is the next step or final step.

I truly wish you luck and hope you succeed. Everyone I know also has no problems conceiving and it is very hard to find someone to talk to about what you're going thru. You do feel alone a times. Just don't give up.

[zoey_dog]

Thanks.  I know about the insurance issue.  My insurance did not pay for the Clomid, nor will it pay for any other tests or measures taken that are "fertility" related.

I should be thankful that I haven't had anything bad happen yet, no cysts, miscarriges, or any pain.  I supposed I should just have more patience.

Good luck to you as well.  Whoever thought when they were a little girl dreaming of getting married and having babies, that they would ever have trouble doing so?