Clomid vs. Letrozole - have any of you tried both?

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

We are dealing with MFI (low sperm count), docs recommend IVF but our insurance does not cover it but does cover IUI unlimited...we have tried numerous IUI clomid cycles which did not result in any BFPs, I did however respond excellent each time and so far have had no side effects...this month the docs are switching me to Letrozole which I start taking today (last month my hubby's sperm count was the highest it has ever been: 20 million prewash/14 million postwash, he has been taking a variety of different vitamins which might be working). My question is have any of you had failed IUI clomid cycles but got a BFP with Letrozole? If so how many cycles of each did you have? Did you have any side effects from the Letrozole? Were you dealing with MFI? Thanks for your feedback

Sarafuss · January 2012

This may be a stupid question but is Letrozole = Femara? If so then yes I've tried Clomid and Femara. I did not respond to Clomid at 50 and 100mg. But did respond at 150mg with a failed cycle. Our third Femara IUI resulted in DS (we weren't dealing with MFI though, only PCOS). I had no side effects with Femara.

Good luck to you!

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

Yes I do believe it's known as Femara too

Thanks so much!

ohiostategal · January 2012

I assume they are moving you on past clomid because you can only take clomid for a few months (I think most OBs will do up to 6) before moving on. I did clomid and femera and responded on both and got pg on both (clomid resulted in a mc). I hod no side effects from femera. We weren't dealing with MFI. Good luck!

itsmevkb · January 2012

I did nine cycles with clomid, two of them with IUIs, with only one resulting in pregnancy and that was a timed intercourse cycle. That pregnancy also ended in a miscarriage.

I've also done one cycle of Femara with IUI and when that didn't work I tried Femara, three days of Follistim and an IUI and that ended with a successful pregnancy.

Our issues are 0% morph and borderline count and motility for my DH and old age for me along with being a poor responder to meds.

I had no side effects with Femara and I was on a very high dose.

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

Yes that's exactly why we are moving on to this

Thanks for your input

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

Thanks for your feedback!

dusk42 · January 2012

I didn't do both, but if you respond with a similar number of follicles to both drugs, letrozole does not have a negative impact on your lining, so it can have an edge over Clomid. And ditto pp that there is a limit on the number of times you can take clomid.

I have done three letrozole cycles, the first was successful (DD) and the next two were BFN. All were with TI, but we are moving on to letrozole + injectables + IUI now. My lining was not great with the last two letrozole cycles, so the RE wants to add the injectables for that reason.

sliz · January 2012

I loved clomid and hated letrazole - probably in a minority there. I got pg the first time on clomid with twins but lost them. The clomid does thin my lining though and when we tried again I only did one cycle of clomid. I tried two of letrazole and got follies both times but no pg resulted. The letrazole made me bleed mid-cycle which NEVER happened to me before. I just didn't like it.....we moved on to further treatments with injectibles after that....

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

I have spotted for about a week leading up to my BFNs on the clomid which before doing the fertility treatments I would normally only spot the day before getting my period - I am curious to see how my body reacts to the Letrozole, I hope I respond as well as I have to the clomid

dana316 · January 2012

I had 5 failed Clomid cycles...I never responded.

I got pregnant with my first letrozole cycle...and that gave me my beautiful daughter.

14 million is great for MFI. My doctor says he can work with anything greater than 9 million...

Good luck!

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

Yes the 14 million was the highest postwash count yet - he went as low as 100,000 but normally teetered @ 1-5 million - he has been taking a few different vitamins the last couple months I am wondering if they are working - he medically is ok - all his urine, bloodwork and physical exams came back good so it's sort of "unexplained" - he did just turn 40 and works around excessive heat all day so they think these may be effecting his counts - I can't wait to see what the count is this month I hope it's at least the same if not higher

mmttc · January 2012

I didn't, but a friend of mind did. She had several clomid cycles she didn't respond to. She got a bfp the first or second letrozole cycle and ended up with triplets.

jastl32 · January 2012

My IF issue is different as I didn't ovulate (PCOS), but I did both clomid and femara (letrozole). I did not respond to clomid and had horrible side effects. I took femara and did not respond on the lower dose, but when it was upped, I began ovulating. IUI #1 + Femara = DD. I also had absolutely no side effects on the letrozole.

Good luck!

KYRN · January 2012

I didn't respond that great to clomid and only every used it with TI not IUI, but I had lots of s/e with clomid and none with Femara. I responded well to 7.5mg (not a good response with 5mg) and got pregnant that first month on 7.5mg w/ IUI. I'm PCOS. Not technically MFI but DH's #'s weren't exactly stellar because he'd been on some meds and had some bladder issues requiring him to have a home cath for a few weeks so that took his counts down a little.

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

Thank you ladies!!!

my*heart*is*his · January 2012

We were only dealing with PCOS and I did 8 rounds of Clomid with a m/c, then we switched to letrozole and IUI. Our first cycle was a success - even though DH's post-wash count was low - maybe 5 million? We were on the border of not going through the the IUI b/c of the count, but everything else looked so good my RE went ahead and we now have a bright and bubbly 4-year old!

cherylanne3550 · January 2012

Wow that is good to hear and very reassuring, thanks!

Clomid vs. Letrozole - have any of you tried both?

Re: Clomid vs. Letrozole - have any of you tried both?

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