Clomid and OBs

PunkyBooster

The below post got me thinking. Why are there seemingly so many OBs who prescribe Clomid? 

I have known a handful of friends who took it and it was simply a matter of calling their OB and saying they'd been trying for (anywhere from 3 to 8 months) and they wanted clomid. They just went and picked it right up.

One girl in my mom's group wanted to get pregnant while breastfeeding but wasn't getting her period so she asked her OB for Clomid and her OB said no. 

My other friend, who is truly fighting IF (going on 6 years and she works with a team of specialists in our town as well as in Charlotte) didn't go on it until they'd been trying for 2 years and they had all kinds of crazy tests beforehand (and he DH was tested prior to them seeing anyone for her). 

Another friend just posted on her blog, she got pregnant in 3 months, but sadly, miscarried around 6 weeks. They have been trying for 4 months now and she said she had decided if she got a BFN this cycle, she was calling her OB for clomid.

I was thinking, is it REALLY that easy? Or are my friends (and some of the bumpies like the one below) just leaving out A LOT of information in hopes to gloss over the issues?

Discuss.  

ksuRN09

I have been wondering about this because if everything I've been seeing on this board. A friend of mine has been trying unsuccessfully for 3 yrs and started Clomid prescribed by her OB when they had been trying for about 18 mths so she's been on and off it since then. To my knowledge, an RE hasn't even been suggested to her. So in order to take Clomid, you should already be seeing an RE? Just wondering...hopefully I won't have to go that route but I want to be knowledgeable if I do.

Twinkie0612

kspark9311:

I have been wondering about this because if everything I've been seeing on this board. A friend of mine has been trying unsuccessfully for 3 yrs and started Clomid prescribed by her OB when they had been trying for about 18 mths so she's been on and off it since then. To my knowledge, an RE hasn't even been suggested to her. So in order to take Clomid, you should already be seeing an RE? Just wondering...hopefully I won't have to go that route but I want to be knowledgeable if I do.

The reason it is suggested that you see a RE before starting Clomid is because many OB/GYNs don't order the proper testing before starting Clomid (CD 3 blood work, 7 DPO blood work, HSG, and a SA for the husband) and most don't monitor Clomid cycles properly (blood work and u/s).  I did a round of Clomid with my OB/GYN and had to request monitoring.  

Not all REs are equal either.  The first nutty RE I saw recommended 3 rounds of unmonitored Clomid+IUI and then moving on to IVF.   I found another RE.  

huskymomma94

I went to my OB for my annual appt--we had been TTC for about 4 months at that point. I told my OB that and he said great, keep trying--if it takes you several more months then give me a call, "We can give you a medication called clomid to help you ovulate."

I ended up conceiving the next month, but I couldn't believe how easily he would have given it. 

 

As a side note, if it weren't for TB I would have had no idea what clomid was/the dangers of taking it without testing, etc. I like to think I would have done my own research if it had come to that, but still. Its scary.

PunkyBooster

Geeze, some of these stories are just mind boggling. 

And FWIW, my truly IF friend said she was referred to an RE prior to more testing than what the OB ordered. It was after seeing an RE and undergoing more extensive tests that she began her first round of Clomid. And yes, she said it was a b!tch, full of blood work and ultrasounds and it made her an unbearable person to be around. 

Not that Clomid doesnt help women who have trouble conceiving do just that, but I just find it really interesting that it is handed out like a vitamin by some OBs. Like, "Oh you have a headache, well here's some advil." Except it's Clomid- which has A LOT more long term consequences if not taken properly (from what I understand). 

Mrs.Slick

With some it really is that easy. It was with mine. She did order CD b/w, an u/s and a SA for dh but wasn't going to do much beyond that for monitoring until I asked her about it. I switched to a RE though because I didn't feel comfortable with treatment with her and she didn't do IUI's, which was the recommendation based on SA results.