A reader recently surprised me with a lovely write-in about how much she appreciated my blog. Little gems like that really do remind a person as to why they blog. It's a therapy. It's a way to vent and you do it in hope that someone, somewhere, going through the same thing may feel a little better or supported. I've also had quite the luck when I stumbled into a huge panel of supporting lovelies at Stirrup Queens. This reader also unintentionally reminded me of a something I had meant to post, but may have forgotten, the Clomid update.
Let's start with the facts as a little reminder for those of you who know and an a little education for those of you who don't.
In short, clomid helps induce ovulation or regulate the ovulation cycles. Clomid is also only a five pill dosage taken days 5-9 of your cycle. The hope is that it will push the ovulation days 9-17.
Throughout a clomid regime blood work is often taken to monitor the different levels and see the effects on your body. As previously mentioned, I've been through four rounds of
Clomid. The first two dosages were 50mg and the second were 100mg. After regularly monitored blood work before, during and some ovulation ua tests after, I can tell you that the 100mg dosage appeared to be inducing my missing ovulation cycles. The slightly disappointing part is that the first month un-medicated after those four med rounds was ovulation free. I just finished peeing on a stick daily for 31 days to prove it.
So how has clomid affected my body? I'm not quite sure, to tell you the truth. Six out of the prior nine cycles before we started on the meds were utterly disasterous. I had some of the worst menstrual cycles of my life. Long, ugly and messy. The four c-cycles were slightly emotional, far more regular, shorter and fair less painful. I'm also fairly certain the emotions were less about the meds and more about the fact that a years worth of testing and four med rounds later and still no baby or non-medicated ovulation for that matter. A friend got pregnant and delivered a child in the meantime and two sister-in-laws managed to conceive. The luck of the draw.
Now we wait. We just received a referral to a specialist. All prior testing, drug work and procedures were done with the OBGYN. I was under the impression we may be able to do a few more dosages of clomid perhaps and than invitro. After looking at this fertility site it seems that the next round of treatments could be injections.
If Clomid is not effective in 3-6 cycles, the fertility specialist will usually advance the patient to the "next level of therapy " of infertility treatment What this "level" is depends upon each couple's specific cause (s) of infertility. Some physicians may try Clomid intrauterine insemination; however; many specialists opt for FSH IUI because of its superior success rates.
In FSH stimulated IUI cycles, the patient self-administers subcutaneous injections of follicle stimulating hormone. Unlike Clomid, FSH directly stimulates the ovaries to develop multiple follicles, each of which contains an egg.
Tertia over at So Close really sums up some of the frustration of this little journey. It really is a balance on the razors edge of 'when is it time to stop trying?'
When is it time? I keep thinking that I don't know if I can stomach invitro (artificial insemination). The cost alone just induces full body hives. I know a baby is priceless but we're still digging out from under a bankruptcy, bad spending habits and the smallish military income and past personal loans. From the looks of things it may also involve some money and commuting to the west side of the state as well.
So the whole slightly muddled point of this post was to share how Clomid is treating me and I hope I've accomplished that.
