Monday, September 1, 2008

Clomid


Clomiphene citrate - this is the first medicine i took when i had my first fertility check up which i think is the most prescribed fertility drug. My very first OB Gyne prescribed this to me without having examined and having some lab tests for me and my husband... the only thing we told her was we want to have a baby! I took this for 2 cycles (June & July 2006) just a year after we got married. I thought i would already get pregnant, but nothing happened.

I've searched through internet about CLOMID... and also wanted to share what i' have read

What is CLOMID?

-Clomid is the medication Clomiphene citrate. It is a hormone used to induce ovulation, to correct irregular ovulation, to increase egg production and to correct a condition known as luteal phase deficiency. Clomid is typically taken in doses from 59 mg to 200 mg, and taken for 5-9 days. Clomid is among the most inexpensive fertility drugs. It is easily taken (orally rather than by injection) and it is the first line drug used for ovulation induction in patients with PCOS and other ovulatory disorders. It has been used for patients with luteal phase defect. It can also be used to assess ovarian reserve (the likelihood that a woman's ovaries can still produce viable eggs). Clomid is not useful for women whose ovaries have reached the end of their working life.

Clomid is a potent and complicated medication. Clomid is reacts with all of the tissues in the body that have estrogen receptors, such as the hypothalamus, pituitary, ovary, endometrium, vagina, and cervix. Clomid influences the way that the four hormones required for ovulation, GnRH, FSH, LH and estradiol, relate and interrelate. While we do not completely understand the mechanisms by which this drug works, in essence it appears that Clomid fools the body into believing that the estrogen level is low. This altered feedback information causes the hypothalamus (an area of the brain) to make and release more gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) which in turn causes the pituitary to make and release more FSH and LH. More follicle stimulating hormone and more luteinizing hormone should result in the release of one or more mature eggs - ovulation.

What are the SIDE EFFECTS of CLOMID?
- Just as women's bodies are so different from one another, their reactions to Clomid vary tremendously. Some women have virtually no side effects. Others do, but they are more frequently related to emotions. Side effects may include mood swings, hot flashes, breast tenderness, thinning of the uterine lining, nausea and vomiting, visual symptoms and abnormal uterine bleeding. About 10 percent of those who use Clomid will have a multiple pregnancy (twins). Clomid can cause hostile fertile mucous and thins the uterine lining in over 30 percent of the women who use it. The hostile mucus kills sperm, and the thin uterine can prevent implantation or cause an early miscarriage.

Most women do not have any symptoms from taking Clomid. Some will have some lower abdominal cramps in the 2nd half of the cycle. Rarely (less than 1-2%) a woman may experience ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. In this case the ovaries become quite enlarged and grow cysts. If this occurs, the ovaries can cause moderate pelvic pain. There can also be large amounts of fluid secreted into the abdominal cavity. Sometimes the fluid can be so severe that it can cause heart or kidney failure.

---those in bold letters are the side effects that i felt when i took clomid.

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