Did Clomid or Femara work for you?

blueeyedrose86 · January 2016

I'm taking an unofficial poll for my best friend, who has been ttc for about 2 years. She just had one failed round of Clomid and is feeling pessimistic. I, myself, had 3 failed rounds of Clomid and 3 failed rounds of Femara before naturally getting pregnant with my first, so my story isn't very helpful to her. This poll is open to anyone who reads it and ever took either of the meds while TTC. Please comment with how many rounds you tried and whether or not it was successful. Thank you for your time

chime · January 2016

It was either the 3rd or 4th round of Clomid (along with estrogen) for me. That was after nearly 2 years of trying.

Cowboycorgi · January 2016

I voted to just show me because I took Clomid for 1 round because I wasn't ovulating, just to find out the next month that both my tubes were useless...
It did cause me to ovulate, but obviously didn't help to get me pregnant.
(Lesson learned, go to an RE instead of a GYN for fertility issues)

flowerpower5838 · January 2016

I took Clomid for two different cycles and it helped me ovulate and conceive both times, although the first ended in MC. Best of luck to your friend.

smount2011 · January 2016

I did 6 rounds of femara, followed by ovarian drilling, and a 7th round. I ovulated a couple times but did not conceive. The only thing that worked was the drilling, metformin, and losing weight.

flowerpower5838 · January 2016

Oh I should add after reading @charley15 's comment, I only conceived after ALSO losing 30 pounds, so I am always a little hesitant to credit Clomid 100%.

ETA 30 since my num lock wasn't on. Whoops.

blueeyedrose86 · January 2016

@charley15 ovarian drilling??? That sounds awful.

Thanks for the responses!

smount2011 · January 2016

blueeyedrose86 said:

@charley15 ovarian drilling??? That sounds awful.

Thanks for the responses!

Laproscopic surgery. All the doctor did was go in and explore, and since my ovaries were so full of cysts he pretty much poked 15 holes in each one to drain them off- nothing worse than draining a cyst on the surface or popping a zit (sorry for the tmi). It's an old school surgery but my doctor himself is old school and the results of the surgery speaks for it.

alilee818 · January 2016

My first round clomid resulted in a miscarriage. The second round didn't work. We switched to injectables and that ended in another miscarriage then after giving up we naturally became pregnant with this baby.

BrittaniLC · January 2016

I did 5 or 6 rounds of Clomid. I was also taking Metformin to help with insulin resistance, a handful of OCT supplements to combat any possible endometriosis, and had an HSG 3 months prior to conceiving to make sure my Fallopian tubes were patent. Oh and we were on vacation when we conceived. So it could have been one or all of these things, not just the Clomid. I still voted yes.

amaniupendo · January 2016

I was on metformin.

3 failed rounds of femera.
1st round clomid was successful

ecwk · January 2016

I hope she is doing it fully monitored by her doc???
My OB wa going to start me on in but Metformin worked btw.

jenniferamcooper · January 2016

I luckily conceived both of ours naturally. I say luckily because I was told it was going to be a long road. I have PCOS and was ovulating very irregularly. My doctor gave us the best advice "lose weight if you can and have sex often, don't bother charting" our plan was to see where it went for 3 months, then do cycles of clomid combined with metformin. With our first I was just prepping my body for 5 months (seeing if we get pregnant, starting clomid after our wedding) and I got pregnant on our 3rd month. I honestly think the biggest thing I did was making a concentrated effort to lose weight (15-20 lbs) and I took up running, it helped with the weight loss and I was less str stressed. I usually eat healthy so if your friend is a normal weight I wouldn't suggest she lose 20lbs but with PCOS it's HARD to lose weight. I followed a low GI diet and it worked combined with exercise. Lots of healthy fats and protein.

My strategy with conceiving our 2nd was the same, I lost 10 lbs, took up running and low and behold it worked. The appointment before I was going to start clomid it worked. I know my story isn't typical and a bit it a slap for people with PCOS who have been trying to conceive for awhile but it's what worked for me. From what I've been told by my doctor clomid can take a couple cycles, don't give up yet. Our plan was after 3 failed cycles to make an appt with a RE and keep up with the clomid and metformin until our appointment. Roughly 5-6 cycles.

As a joke to this serious topic, my husband works in a physics lab and each year for a week he runs a lab with radioactive material. It's safe to handle it normally if it's 3 hrs a day for 5 days. However, the when he's running around swapping material for the students he has a tendency to keep the material in his pockets. I was SOO mad the first time he joked about doing this, his response was that he was making faster sperm. Yeeeeeah the last thing we need when TTC with PCOS is low sperm count, but maybe he was right?

blueeyedrose86 · January 2016

@ecwk Oh yes, she's working with her doctor. She's had full fertility workups, surgeries, etc.

She has PCOS, but is only a little overweight (and more in her head than actuality lol). She's also on metformin and progesterone.

Thanks again for responses! It sounds like PCOS can go suck a bag of... you know lol

ecwk · January 2016

blueeyedrose86 said:

@ecwk Oh yes, she's working with her doctor. She's had full fertility workups, surgeries, etc.

She has PCOS, but is only a little overweight (and more in her head than actuality lol). She's also on metformin and progesterone.

Thanks again for responses! It sounds like PCOS can go suck a bag of... you know lol

Does she have periods on her own? I wasn't but once I reached the correct doaage of Metformin I did nd I got pregnant the next cycle.

blueeyedrose86 · January 2016

ecwk said:

blueeyedrose86 said:

@ecwk Oh yes, she's working with her doctor. She's had full fertility workups, surgeries, etc.

She has PCOS, but is only a little overweight (and more in her head than actuality lol). She's also on metformin and progesterone.

Thanks again for responses! It sounds like PCOS can go suck a bag of... you know lol

Does she have periods on her own? I wasn't but once I reached the correct doaage of Metformin I did nd I got pregnant the next cycle.

She does! They weren't always regular, but they have been for a long time. She's been tracking her temp and using opks the whole time, but I know PCOS can effect that. Althought my infertility was unexplained and I ended up getting pregnant naturally, I know her frustration and disappointment. I feel like I want her to get pregnant just as much as she does lol.

jenniferamcooper · January 2016

@blueeyedrose86 you're right PCOS is the flipping worse - can't lose weight, $$$ spent on electrolysis for fun facial hair, weird periods, acne!!

The good news and I'm sure her doctor told her this but you CAN get pregnant with PCOS just need to be proactive and patient which she's doing. We were planning for awhile our kid-time line and knew after 2 years we'd go to fertility specialists and try an aggressive approach. I wish her all the luck. My fingers are crossed clomid will work (esp with metformin).

ecwk · January 2016

@blueeyedrose86 I can totally empathize, I totally understand how she feels. This time last year I was beginning to feel pretty hopeless. It's good that she is temping to track O. She has many many options out there even after Clomid and Femara, best of luck to her!!

diablesse · January 2016

I did 3 rounds of cloud, 1 round of femara, a couple years ago after three years of trying. Neither did much for me. We only tried one IUI and were told to do IVF next. We had some traveling to do so figured we should take a break before IVF. While on break, we conceived our son naturally on our own. This current pregnancy happened all on its own as soon as I stopped breastfeeding.

should add: I'm 39 and have diminished ovarian reserve - probably why the Clomid wasn't much help

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