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Ovulation Testing with Femara
Hi. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for about 2 years now. I was prescribed 50 mg of Clomid and took that for 4 months. For the first time ever, I was getting positive OPK's, but not until day 16 of my cycle. I had ultrasounds 2 months that showed follicles, but my doctor felt I was ovulating too late.
She prescribed Femara for me, and I am now in my first month. I took 5 mg on cycle days 3-7. She told me I should ovulate earlier with the Femara, so I started my OPK's on day 10. On that day, I got a very faint line, but yesterday, day 11, it appears that I got a very positive test. Does this seem reasonable? I've been charting my temperature too and it went up a little today, but not as much as usual after ovulation. If anyone out there has taken Femara or knows what to expect, I would really appreciate your thought and/or advice.
Thank you so much! I know infertility is a long, hard road for everyone, so my thoughts and prayers are with you all
She prescribed Femara for me, and I am now in my first month. I took 5 mg on cycle days 3-7. She told me I should ovulate earlier with the Femara, so I started my OPK's on day 10. On that day, I got a very faint line, but yesterday, day 11, it appears that I got a very positive test. Does this seem reasonable? I've been charting my temperature too and it went up a little today, but not as much as usual after ovulation. If anyone out there has taken Femara or knows what to expect, I would really appreciate your thought and/or advice.
Thank you so much! I know infertility is a long, hard road for everyone, so my thoughts and prayers are with you all
I did see your other post about Femara and it had a lot of good information. You're right in that it's hard to find information, and of course there's a lot of scary stuff out there about birth defects, but after reading all of the posts on this site, it really seems to work for so many. Hopefully it will work for all of us!
I was on Femara for the first time after 6 unbsucessful cycles on Clomid. I ususally was given ahsg trigger on cd 16-17 on clomid. With femara when i had my cd 14 u/s unexpectedly my follicle was 32mm...so i think with femara , your follicles grow faster.
They both are used to induce ovulation...they work a lil differently internally though...dont know exactly how
Thanks G_S for your input. Unfortunately, AF showed up today (12dpo), so I guess it didn't work this time. I was thinking about requesting an ultrasound next cycle to make sure it's working the way it should. Do you think that's a good idea?
To answer your question bny807, Heather Jo shared this info with me and I think it would be helpful to you: "Clomid works by binding to the estrogen receptor and acting sort of as a "pseudo"estrogen. This binding makes your body "think" estrogen level is low (although it really is not) and causes a cascade of events that lead to ovulation. Femara is not a new drug...it is actually a breast cancer drug and they discovered it could be used for fertility because many of these breast cancer patients were getting pregnant. Femara acts in a different way than clomid. It actually inhibits an enzyme that makes the real estrogen in your body. In this way it actually reduces the level of estrogen and like clomid this induces a cascade of events that lead to ovulation. This is why femara works better in some people than clomid does (maybe in people resistant to clomid the drug does not bind the receptor very well and hence the clomid does not induce ovulation as it should). Clomid also has a very long half life, so that if you take it one month some of it is still around the next month and so on. This can lead to a thin lining. Femara has a very short half life and therefore does not lead to a thin lining. Femara DOES cause birth defects if you take it when you are ALREADY pregnant. If you are NOT already pregnant when you take femara it does not cause any more birth defects than clomid or general infertility. So if you take it on days 3-7, it is gone by the time implantation occurs (due to it's very short half life) and theoretically it cannot cause birth defects because it is not even around anymore. Therefore it is very important for your doctor to verify by ultrasound that you are NOT ALREADY pregnant before prescribing this drug for fertility."
To answer your question bny807, Heather Jo shared this info with me and I think it would be helpful to you: "Clomid works by binding to the estrogen receptor and acting sort of as a "pseudo"estrogen. This binding makes your body "think" estrogen level is low (although it really is not) and causes a cascade of events that lead to ovulation. Femara is not a new drug...it is actually a breast cancer drug and they discovered it could be used for fertility because many of these breast cancer patients were getting pregnant. Femara acts in a different way than clomid. It actually inhibits an enzyme that makes the real estrogen in your body. In this way it actually reduces the level of estrogen and like clomid this induces a cascade of events that lead to ovulation. This is why femara works better in some people than clomid does (maybe in people resistant to clomid the drug does not bind the receptor very well and hence the clomid does not induce ovulation as it should). Clomid also has a very long half life, so that if you take it one month some of it is still around the next month and so on. This can lead to a thin lining. Femara has a very short half life and therefore does not lead to a thin lining. Femara DOES cause birth defects if you take it when you are ALREADY pregnant. If you are NOT already pregnant when you take femara it does not cause any more birth defects than clomid or general infertility. So if you take it on days 3-7, it is gone by the time implantation occurs (due to it's very short half life) and theoretically it cannot cause birth defects because it is not even around anymore. Therefore it is very important for your doctor to verify by ultrasound that you are NOT ALREADY pregnant before prescribing this drug for fertility."
WOw, that was really helpful! thanks so much!! i wander if femara is better for people with endo? from what i've read one of the theory's of endo is estrogen dominance, so if it blocks real estrogen, it sounds like it wouldn't essentialy double the estrogen in your body like it sounds like clomid kinda does.. Anyone know if femara is a better choice for endo patients? This stuff is all amazing, now if they could just gauantee to get everyone pregnant that would be perfect!!!
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