Clomid vs femara

cupcake122

What are the pros and cons of each? Im not sure if one is better than the other. I've heard femara works better (as some people are clomid resistant).

catlover790

What I've gathered so far is:

clomid-

pros: more follies

cons: can thin lining, can cause hostile cm, only use for 6 cycles

femara-

pros: usually 1-2 good follies, doesn't thin lining, doesn't harm CM

cons: not sure

I can't think of anything else at the moment. Also, I might be wrong on these, someone correct if I am!

DharmaChick

As others have mentioned, letrozole/Femara seems to have fewer side effects than Clomid.  For me, I also responded a decent amount faster with Femara than with Clomid.

BunnyBerry

Femara - fewer side effects, low/no risk of too many follies, thinned lining, dried up CM.

Clomid - works for some people when it's hard to get them O-ing.

Honestly after everything I've read I would never want to take Clomid unless it was necessary. Our RE drew me pictures to show how each drug functioned in the body, and it's easy to see why Clomid has so many systemic effects. Basically, Clomid cancels out your natural estrogen so there's less in your body to do what estrogen does (including telling your brain to stop producing follies, therefore you get follies). But Femara just clogs up the part of the brain that perceives estrogen levels, so you get the hormones like normal, and your brain just doesn't send the hormonal signal to stop developing follies as it normally would.

Chasity08

What ketchup said on the clomid/candy point. My OB gave me 3 cycles of clomid and did absolutely no monitoring...but I had no idea that I NEEDED that sort of monitoring as I wasn't really active on the boards at the time. I then moved to Femara and had her monitor me one month and then moved to my RE.

What I DO know (without monitoring) is that I had terrible side effects with clomid. Lots of mood swings, hot flashes. I just felt awful most of the time. Femara has not given me hardly any side effects and I seem to be responding well to it.

I hope you find one that works well for you! 

TTCBabyJ

When I first started the process my ob/gyn mentioned the one study that mentioned there was a risk of birth defects with femara. I then read the actual study myself and spoke with my RE about the study. And the study results showed that there was a 2-4% chance of birth defects but this is the same rate for birth defects in the general population. Also femara does not stay in your system as long as clomid. And actually other research studies have shown that femara is completely out of your system by the time conception occurs. Sorry the scientific perspective...but I love researching!

cupcake122

@ttcbabyj - THANK YOU! I love scientific research, too. 

Does anyone have links to studies they've read? I'm doing my research before I can attempt this in the fall with injectables. Insurance won't cover IUI or IVF until we attempt this for a few rounds (as it's less expensive), even though my RE does not believe I will be successful until we do injectables and IUI.