What to Expect when Taking Clomid

Clomid (clomiphene) is a fairly inexpensive fertility drug often prescribed when a woman needs to increase her odds of conceiving. It’s generally used when a woman has polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), doesn’t ovulate regularly, is using frozen donor sperm through intrauterine insemination (IUI) or when her male partner has a low sperm count.

Clomid is usually taken for 3 – 5 days at the beginning of a woman’s cycle, and it works by tricking the body into producing more mature follicles, each of which contains an egg, thereby increasing the odds she’ll conceive.

If your doctor has prescribed Clomid, here’s what you can expect:

A Low Price Tag
Clomid is often covered under health insurance prescription plans, even when no other fertility benefits are offered, and insured patients can expect to spend as little as $1 per pill. Depending on your dose, you can expect to take anywhere from three to 15 pills per cycle. Its low cost is part of why Clomid is so popular.

Remember: never purchase medication online or from a source your doctor doesn’t recommend. Man websites and email advertisements offering “discount” medications can’t be trusted.

Side Effects
Side effects you can feel are typically mild and don’t affect all women. They may include headache, nausea and acne breakouts. Any side effects should subside within a few days of taking your last Clomid pill.

Side effects you can’t feel may include a thinner uterine lining, which your doctor will want to monitor to make sure it’s thick enough to support a pregnancy.

Extra Blood Work and Ultrasounds
Your doctor will probably require blood work and ultrasounds to check your follicle growth and make sure your uterine lining can support a pregnancy. So, if you are prescribed Clomid, be aware this could lead to an extra two or three appointments each cycle.

Changes in Your Usual Fertility Signs
Clomid has been known to dry up fertile cervical mucus, called “egg white cervical mucus. It may also raise your pre-ovulation basal body temps slightly, so if you’re tracking your temps, don’t be alarmed if they’re slightly higher than usual. Finally, many women will not get a positive ovulation test while taking Clomid. If you don’t get a positive ovulation test, this doesn’t mean you aren’t going to ovulate. It simply means the medication is interfering with the test results.

Poor Response
Not everyone responds well to Clomid. In some women, it leads to multiple immature follicles instead of two or three mature follicles. Your response to Clomid is not expected to change; for example, a woman who doesn’t respond to 100 mg of Clomid one month most likely will not respond to a second cycle of the same dose.

If you’re a poor responder, your doctor may instead prescribe Femara (letrozole) or injectable medications like Bravelle or Gonal F.

A Canceled Cycle
Sometimes, a woman responds too well to Clomid and she produces too many mature follicles. Having more than 2 – 3 mature follicles dramatically increases the odds of having twins, triplets or more, and
many women aren’t willing to take that risk.

A less common reason of canceling a cycle is due to a thin uterine lining. Usually, a thin lining can be discovered via ultrasound before ovulation, and estrogen can be prescribed for a few days to thicken it before conception takes place.

Increased Odds of Having a Girl
Some studies suggest that Clomid changes the pH of the uterus to be more friendly to female sperm than male sperm. The male sperm are less likely to survive en route to find the egg, thereby increasing the odds of having a baby girl.

Sources:
http://infertility.about.com/od/clomid/tp/clomid_side_effects.htm
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/boyorgirl/p/girlorboy.htm
http://products.sanofi-aventis.us/clomid/clomid.html