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| Sun, 12-16-2007 - 10:40am |
Hi everyone I'm not sure of my next move. I am in need of advice. A little bit about me. I've been married for 6 years and we just went off bcp Nov 06 and started timing ovulation Feb 07. We have been together since 1994 and never have gotten pregnant never 2 pink lines and now we can't seem to get pregnant. Since I've been keeping track the only thing I can find wrong with me is that my cycles are short anywhere from 21-26 days and my lp is anywhere from 9-12 days, 12 days only if I take b vitamins and natural progesterone cream. But I start cramping 10 or 11 dpo. Nov 26th I finally saw the RE that prescriped prometrium to take after O. Yesterday at 11 dpo I got a bfn and was cramping. I'm thinking af is coming and wondering if prometrium is enough to get me pg. The RE said he'd leave it up to me to try clomid. But if I do clomid what am I in for? Is it gonna help me? He said he'd have to monitor me to see if I get overstimulated and when would he have to do that? I'd love any advice for someone who has tried clomid. He also said I could try femara but I am nervous about that one too.

Hi
Sorry you are going through all of this. I know how hard it is to never get the double line month after month after month. Although the decisions you make about treating your infertility are really personal, I do have my own opinion based on my experience and also based on the fact that both my DH and I had unexplained infertility (meaning perfect #'s, perfect tests etc).
as your RE done testing? Do you know your FSH, progesterone levels etc? Also have you done the HSG? Finally has he/she done U/S to look at your follicles and their development?
I know from reading these boards that lots of people have had success on Clomid. However, I wish that I had skipped Clomid and gone right to the injection cycles. For me, Clomid was a waste of time and I experienced awful side effects (my mood). I feel like for me, Clomid was offered because the OB had not done enough research to come up with a better plan. In my situation, I already produced lots and lots of eggs so Clomid did not really do anything for me. Plus the doc did not monitor me via U/S w/ Clomid. When I switched to the RE after doing Clomid combined with five IUI's for three plus months, the RE took me off and started a long injection cycle that worked the first time.
Remember, this is just my experience and CLomid may be your magic bullet. If you have any other questions, i am more then happy to tell you what I went through.
Good Luck!
Kim B.
Is the doc you are seeing a reproductive endocrinologist? Also, when you did the U/S what day were you in your cycle? I would be VERY hesitant to use Clomid when you already ovulate and have a number of eggs. Clomid is supposed to regulate ovulation and one of the side effects can be a decreased lining in the Uterus. I feel like they sometimes just throw Clomid at unexplained infertility as the first, easiest and cheapest effort towards pregnancy.
What I found really helpful was the fact that when I started doing the injection cycle with my RE I had U/S every three days. At each appt he would count the follicles and measure them and also measure my lining. This kind of cycle often proves to be very diagnostic. For me, I think the issue was not the number or quality of my eggs but rather that the follicles were not growing large enough by the time of ovulation. Also, I have extremely regular periods but they are also very light and lasted for only about two days.....so I think that I also was not growing thick enough lining.
I am not sure how much insurance coverage you have? I was really lucky and everything up until IVF (which we ended up not needing fortunately) was covered at 99%. If you have good coverage and or can afford it. It might be worth getting a second opinion. Your doc is right and in the #'s game you are young....but I know that doesn't help when you really, really want to get pregnant.
BTW I am 36 and seven weeks pregnant thanks to my first and only round of injections. I wish you were in SF. I have the best RE ever!
:) Kim B
Oh you are pregnant! That's excellent!
Having 10 follicles on each side is great. Now the work is to make sure they grow. I think that they are supposed to be above 20 b/4 ovulation. The reason I asked about coverage is that from what you have told me it sounds like maybe your follicles are not getting big enough by O. One of the treatments for this is to prevent ovulation with a drug called Lupron and then artificially stimulate the follicles with a gonadatropin class of drug like Menopur or Repronex. The RE then triggers you to O by having you give yourself a HCG trigger shot when the follicle or hopefully follicles are big enough. However, Clomid is your cheapest option.
Whatever you decide, I hope it works!!
Kim
(Hugs)
It sounds like the other ladies gave you great advice.