A Frank, Honest Discussion About Clomid: What You Need to Know

Everywhere you turn, you see someone with a baby. You hear about so and so accidentally getting pregnant. You see commercials featuring a sweet mother and child moment. Celebrities left and right are having twins. You hear a song that moves you to tears because it has to do with the love between a mother and daughter. You long to conceive. You long to see that BFP (Big Fat Positive) appear on the pregnancy stick, and you want to carry that baby and proudly show your newfound tummy. You are willing to welcome all the side effects of pregnancy, and you would even go as far as to count them as blessings. You want to meet your baby.

You want to conceive.

If you have tried everything there is to try, from strange remedies to odd sexual positions, you may be thinking about talking to your doctor concerning Clomid. Clomid is a medication that is used to treat those who are having problem with fertility. Usually the women who are treated with Clomid are having problems specifically with ovulation, but is also used in women who are having difficulties with their luteal phase, and women suffering from PCOS, which is polycystic ovarian syndrome. Clomid does not cost too much money and it is becoming increasingly popular, which are reasons that you are very interested in this medication.

If you are considering Clomid, it's important to know how it works in case the doctor's explanation isn't too clear for you. (Sometimes they have a tendency to talk in text book speak, leaving us completely dumb-founded!) Clomid increases and accelerates the maturation process of the egg while it is in the ovaries. It lowers the action of estrogen on a group of cells known as gonadotrope which are located in your pituitary gland. This tricks the body in secreting an excess of FSH, which his also known as follicle stimulating hormone. Clomid also causes the pituitary gland to secrete LH, which is luthenizing hormone. These combinations are then responsible for higher success rates with ovulation since there are more eggs and more follicles. Be warned, though...this process of creating multiple eggs can mean giving birth to multiple babies! But I'm sure at this point, that's wonderful news!

The dosing for Clomid is kind of trial and error. Most women are started off with the 50 milligram dose. If a woman is given too much Clomid, she can suffer from what is known as ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome. This is when too many follicles are made, and the ovaries become large, swollen, and painful. So in order to lessen the chances of it happening (it happens to ten percent of women using Clomid), doctors use the 50 milligram dose. If the woman does not respond accordingly, the doctor may increase the dose for the next cycle to one hundred milligrams. The highest amount of milligrams that can be given per dose is 200 mg, but this is not seen often.

Clomid is supposed to within six cycles. If you are going to take Clomid, don't expect to get pregnant right away. Give it some time, because if you expect to get pregnant right away you will be completely devastated to see a negative pregnancy test. Many doctors agree with the fact that if you have not had success with Clomid in the first three cycles, the medication is unlikely to work. The good news is that eighty percent of woman do ovulate and respond to the medication in those first three cycles. The success rate for Clomid varies between thirty percent to ninety percent. It is quite varied, as can be seen explained at: http://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Success_Rates_of_Clomid_and_Fertility_Shots

A good median is to say that Clomid has a seventy percent success rate. It is not a sure fire thing, but a hit and miss type of medication, so it's a good thing that this medication is relatively inexpensive.

As with every medication, Clomid does have some side effects. The side effects can include fatigue, depression, headaches, insomnia, mood swings, tenderness of the breasts, pain in the abdomen, weight gain, blurred vision, vomiting, nausea and even ovarian cysts. If you are worried about Clomid and cancer, you should know that the link has not been established even after several scientific studies.

A word to the wise...it is extremely dangerous to take Clomid without having it prescribed to you, because you can over dose yourself and cause the ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome that was discussed earlier. And if you are a woman who has regular cycle and ovulate, but is taking Clomid, you are actually doing yourself a disservice by making your body less able to become pregnant. You can create a bad environment in your vagina by interfering with the natural flora, and your cervical mucous could react negatively with your husband/boyfriend's sperm. So it is imperative that if you are going to try this medication, you seek out the help of a doctor.

Remember, if Clomid does not work out for you in the first cycle, do not give up hope. Keep trying, but after six months, you should try and find other ways to help increase your fertility. You can keep using Clomid with other forms of fertility boosting aides, but again, this is between you and your doctor. Good luck and don't give up. Pregnancies do not usually happen in the first cycle after taking Clomid only because the body is still getting used to the medication, and sometimes the dose may be too low, but your doctor will be monitoring you.