clomid - what to expect

sarahandeddiejune212008

I will be starting clomid early next week and I'm not sure what to expect.  I've heard it can thin our your lining and dry up cm - is there anything I can do to help combat this things?

Also, my regular gyn rx the clomid and met.  How should she be monitoring me?  She mentioned b/w, but no u/s.  I thought I was supposed to get an u/s close to O. 

I will be switching to an RE soon, just waiting on getting in so that is why my reg. gyn is doing this now.  She didn't want to waste time.

MBandBud

Clomid stimulates follie growth which is indicative of eggs.  The reason for the u/s when you get close to O is to see how many you have, to ensure you are responding and make sure you aren't over responding and have too many follicles which could mean high order multiples.  I would suggest moving onto an RE first and getting monitored b/c I am not comfortable with HOM or selective reduction.  I had 8 measureable follies during my u/s.  

The bw is to measure your estradiol (E2) level which can also be indicative of # mature follies, measuring 200 - 600 per mature follie.  My concern would be if it was 1200 that might mean 2 mature follies or 6...

GL to you and sorry you are having trouble! 

ladychicago

clomid can thin your lining and dry up CM.    many women here drink POM juice and take mucinex (not mucinex DM, just plain mucinex) to help with those issues.    its debatable if they help, but it sure can't hurt!  

my main side effects were headaches, night sweats, and insomnia.    

how frequent will your bloodwork be?   u/s monitoring is important to determine how many follicles you are developing and, therefore, what your risk is for high order multiples.    i would request at least one u/s if you can.   

good luck!

sarahandeddiejune212008

I was told I would have cd20 b/w to make sure I was responding.  I am going to ask for u/s when I call for my rx.  Maybe my doc isn't as concerned about multiples because DHs SA was low, but it could still happen.  I would never do selective reduction, not sure what HOM is?  (I'm new to all of this so please forgive my ignorance).  I was told I'd be at a higher risk for twins, which is fine - but I know that you can end up with more.  How many u/s are normal for just starting clomid?  I'm definately being my own advocate and trying to make the most informed decisions.  TIA

ladychicago

HOM = high order multiples.    

on my clomid cycles, i would go in on CD3 for bloodwork and a baseline ultrasound to make sure i didn't have cysts leftover from the previous clomid cycle.     i would then come in starting CD10 for additional monitoring (b/w and u/s) to check on my follicle development.    depending on what was going on in there, they'd bring me back either 1-2 days later for another check.     once i had one or more mature follicles (18-24mm), they would tell me to trigger with ovidrel (not sure if you are doing a trigger or just using OPKs?) and tell us when do either have TI or come in for the IUI.    

only going in on CD20 means you won't know how many follicles you're growing (i had 5 one cycle, and the only reason they didn't cancel was b/c we'd had a history of unsuccessful cycles so they felt our risk of having 5 babies was very very very low).    i wouldn't have wanted to ovulate 5 eggs on my first cycle and not know about it until AFTER the fact, you know?    especially if selective reduction is not something you would do.  

sarahandeddiejune212008

I'm just using opks this cycle.  Maybe my RE will have me trigger when I get to see him.  I will be requesting an u/s before I O because I don't want to risk having anything more than triplets.  I think even that would make DH freak out.  Hopefully I won't respond THAT well to clomid.  I was hoping for 2 or 3 mature follicles.

katieranck2202

sarahandeddiejune212008:

I was told I would have cd20 b/w to make sure I was responding.  I am going to ask for u/s when I call for my rx. 

That cd20 b/w doesn't do any good unless you ovulate on cd13. You need to schedule that progesterone draw at 7dpo, no matter what cd that is for the best results.

sarahandeddiejune212008

I generally O on cd13 or 14, or at least I thought I was until the u/s. I'm going to make a list of all the things that should be done.  I just hope I get to the RE soon.