Personal Experiences with Clomid?

Updated on January 17, 2008
Z.T. asks from San Jose, CA
21 answers

After two miscarriages in one year, I decided to seek help from a fertility specialist. I have undergone just about every blood test out there, as well as an HSG. My husband has also had a few tests. Still no answer for our failed pregnancies that occured at 8 weeks (second one was abnormal). We are now guessing at egg quality! Getting pregnant has not been an issue up to this point, but I feel like I am running out of time! After my second miscarriage, my cycle went from 28 days to 21. Desperate to try something new . . . I have opted for Clomid. I am scheduled to begin in a couple of weeks. I would like to hear personal experiences from someone who has actually taken it - and achieved a pregnancy. Did you experience any side effects? Did you have multiples? Were the constant visits (monitoring) to the office annoying? Would love to hear from you!

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J.C.

answers from San Francisco on

HI, I am 49 and have 12 year old twin girls from clomid. THe only side effect I remember having was emotional, ups and downs. I originally was pregrant with triplets, which the doc said was highly unusual for clomid. At 6 weeks, I spontaneously miscarried one. THe other 2 were fine. We did and IUI with the clomid. I was only working part time at the time , so the constant visits to the doctor's was exciting for me, not irritating. Good Luck!!! PS. It was the best thing I ever did, other than marrying my husband of 25 years.

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J.I.

answers from San Francisco on

I have two wonderful children as a result of Clomid. I had a lot of trouble getting pregnant and after a ton of tests for me and my husband we discovered that although my cycles were very regular (every 28 days), that I only ovulated about 4 times a year. The first month I was on Clomid, we got pregnant with my daughter. It took a bit longer the second time. I was on it about 4 months, then got pregnant and miscarried at 7 wks. We tried again for another 4 months on Clomid, and got pregnant with my son. It worked great for us, it's easy to use, I had no side effects and it was so cheap in comparison to IVF or IUI. When we were trying to get pregnant with my son my doctor also put me on progesterone and estrogen with the Clomid. Again, no side effects, but then again, I didn't have any pregnancy side effects either, so maybe it's just me (I never got morning sickness!) I was 33 yrs old when I got pregnant with my daughter, and 36 when I got pregnant with my son. Good luck to you, I know how heart breaking it can be to want a baby and not be able to get pregnant.

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K.V.

answers from San Francisco on

I have fertiltiy issues & had a hard time getting pregnant w/both uor boys. Had to take injectible drugs & had lotsa OB visits duringhte trying period. But, when I was first trying to get pregnant,I took Chlomid. At this point, I'd been diagnosed w/Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome. Anywhoooo.... I had a really bad reaction to Chlomid. I got very emotional very quckly over little things & then took a while to calm down. I also didnt' get pregnant. All the doctor visits, unfortunately, are part of the drill so that they can monitor you & check on your progress. But, I know other women who took it, didn't have the reaction I did & got pregnant. Chlomid is almost always the first drug most OB's prescribe when women first start having issues getting prgnant. A good rule of thumb is if they up the dose quickly & you still aren't pregnant, then ask to be taken off the drug &/or start a new one & also get a refferal to a fertiltiy specialist who will be better equipped to figure out what the problem is & how to best get you pregnant. Hope this helps & good luck. I'm not sure whereyou are but I live in El Cerrito go to Kaiser Okaklnd. My OB/GYN is Dr. Erika Brenneman & she's a fertility specialist but also sees women for typcial OB/GYN things. She's GREAT & I highly recommend her! Hope this helps & good luck.

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J.W.

answers from Salinas on

Try acupuncture, its AWESOME for fertility issues. Get a referral from your friends- start asking around about practitioners in your area. Make sure they have experience with this. We learn a little in school about it but its really additional training. BEfore meds and other fertility treatments that could land you with 2 or more babes at once- try natural. Acupuncture works on every aspect of you from emotional, getting your cycle right, to energy, digestion- all at once, its the best. Good luck!

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S.P.

answers from Sacramento on

first off, my heart goes out to you. i also lost 2 babies at an early stage. trying again can be so scary. after the 2nd miscarriage before 12 weeks i got pregnant again easily. (fertility was not the issue i guess) and the doctor immediatly put me on progestin (unsure of the spelling)to boost my progesterone level to help make the baby 'stick'. i seemed to have become imbalanced. there was nothing to do ahead of time since if i was taking the medication early i would be taking birth control pills.
the doctor told me there was not a whole lot to do to figure out the whys of the losses and the progestin might not have been the magic answer, but she made it full term and then some.
you are a brave woman to keep trying. good luck.

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L.H.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi Z.,

I just wanted to tell you not to give up hope! Sometimes I think the body (especially us older moms) just takes longer to recover from a miscarriage. I have a 3 year old and had two miscarriages since her birth - one in 2005 and one in 2006. It was frustrating to me because it would take me so long between miscarriages to get pregnant! So I tried clomid for 4 months over the Summer last year and unfortunately for me it did not work. I had virtually no side effects while taking the drug. But just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean you shouldn't try it. We were going to go on to injectables when I got pregnant on my own 2 months after stopping the clomid. I'm now 16 weeks pregnant, and I turned 40 in November 2007. Good luck, and don't give up!

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L.C.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi Z. T,

I started Clomid at about 40 but I feel like I wasted time. I did it for one year. I would try it for 6 months then move on. I think if I would have started fertility drugs (insemination) sooner it would have worked. By about 42 we tried Invetro but that didn't work either. At 44 I got pregnant on my own (surprise)!!!! I would like to hear what others say about the Clomid.

Good luck.

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G.M.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi - I went through a very similar experience when I was about your age I'm in my mid 40s now, I had the whole infertility work up including the HSG and then I tried clomid. I didn't have any luck with it but a relative of mine did and she has 2 delightful twin boys. Infertility is interesting (painful,sad, enraging), I can say "interesting" now because I have enough distance from it and have decided to adopt, some women won't even try clomid but because I'm a nurse practitioner I think I'm probably more open to medical interventions than other women. I hope it works out for you. GEM

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B.N.

answers from Sacramento on

When I was 39 we tried Clomid for one cycle and that was enough for me. I, too, had my cycles go from 28 days to 21. I felt completely fogged up and miserable on Clomid. Actually it screwed up my FSH numbers so bad, the fertility clinic said that I was starting periomenopause. I did some research on natural progesterone and decided that was the best alternative. There is a method in which you suppress your ovulation for 3 months by using progesterone cream for a certain number of days, based on your cycle. On the second month after stopping the progesterone, I got pregnant and I'm now the proud mom of a 5 month old baby girl. My first month off the progesterone my cycles returned to a normal 28 day cycle with zero premenstrual side effects and no cramping. What a relief! I never felt any weird reactions to the progesterone. Good Luck!

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P.H.

answers from San Francisco on

higher chance of multiples for women over 35. our issue was male factor but we tried about 4 cycles of clomid with IUI. . . we got pregnant on the 3rd try with triplets but lost the lost the pregnancy at 11 weeks. we then did one more clomid cycle & I was getting impatient so we moved forward to injections & IVF with ICSI (worked the first time & we are now proud parents of 7 mos old healthy twin girls).

side effects from clomid was discomfort in my ovaries (I am very fertile so I produced lots of follicles/eggs each cycle & some hot flashes both side effects were much worse using injectables though

Good luck to you!

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P.F.

answers from San Francisco on

My husband and I had difficulity getting pregnant due to my very irregular periods. (only 1-2 a year) I was referred to a fertility specialist in SF and was immediately put on Clomid. I started with half a dose, then a full pill, then a double dose. I noticed some side effects with the full dose and they really hieghten when the dose was doubled. I had mood swings, HORRIBLE hot flashes (it was during the summer time too) and some acne. It did make me ovulate with the increased dose but sadly we didn't get pregnant. You're only allowed to take Clomid six times in a year. The following month I took a break from it since my husband was going to be traveling for business. SURPRISE though.. during that break we actually got pregnant without the medicine. (Were we ever shocked.) So who knows if the Clomid helped kick start my cycles or what... needless to say I was very pleasantly surprised.

Not sure if my story helps but feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

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L.O.

answers from San Francisco on

i took clomid 3 years ago for a month and it was only up to 2 a day and I had every side effect you can possibly have and my husband and I had to decide weather or not we wanted a marriage or a baby. We now have a 1 year old and are extremely happy. I have PCOS so I was pregnant by the 3rd month of trying w/another med. My situation was a lot different from yours. I will pray for you. :)

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D.B.

answers from San Francisco on

Z.,

There is hope! I have had 6 miscarriages (2 before 9 weeks, 1 at 22 weeks, had a son, 1 at 13 weeks, another before 9 weeks, had another son, and my last one at 16 weeks.) I tried Clomid after my second miscarriage (for me it was having trouble getting pregnant and keeping a pregnancy). I got pregnant right away and the pregnancy went fine. No side effects. Unfortunately I lost that baby at 6 months, but it was due to an infection and not the clomid. The doctors have never known the reason for any of my miscarriages, except the 6 month one. The good news is that I've been blessed with two wonderful boys, now 7 and 10 (I was 40 when I had my last also). I would definitely try the clomid. Many women have had multiple miscarriages and still able to deliver a healthy baby. Don't give up. I pray you will be blessed with a healthy, full-term baby soon!

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M.H.

answers from Sacramento on

Hi Z.:
I took Clomid for 5 cycles when I was 39. It was for 5 days and by the 3rd day I felt very drugged, foggy brained, and out of it, however I have a friend who took the same dosage and she didn't even notice it. She could work through it, but by the 4th and 5th day, I had to stay home as I work closely with high school kids and parents and I appeared to be "on-something". Clomid with an IUI did not work for me, so we moved on to injectible hormones and IUI, and still no dice. Finally, we did IVF, and I got pregnant right away (for the first time in my life!). My baby is now almost 5 months old and happy and healthy. So, do I recommend it? Hard to say, since it eventually led me to my baby, so I guess I do!

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A.C.

answers from Yuba City on

Hi!

I'm not sure how much help I will be because I did not achieve a pregnancy while on Clomid but was on it for about a year so I can speak to the side effects I experienced and the routine the medication requires. It was very hard to take because the side effect I experienced the most was very intense anger and very intense mood swings. We are a military family and the nearest military facility that did fertility was about 1 1/2 away so yes all the monitoring was extremly annoying. I was working full time so it was hard to take all the time off work for the appointments for monitoring etc. However, all that said it wasn't so bad that I stopped taking it. I pushed through because I really wanted a baby. Also probably the most important thing that I learned is that different women have VERY different reactions to clomid. Two of my very best friends took it with absolutely no side effects and had perfectly wonderful pregnancies with twins. Clomid carries a much lower chance of mulitiples than most of the other drugs so I would definitly recommend atleast giving it a try. My doctor required that I tried it for a year before moving onto a stronger drug which we ending up having to do and got pregnant immediately w/multiples :)!!

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K.M.

answers from San Francisco on

Z.

My husband and I were trying to conceive when my cycle all of the sudden decided to just go away. After 60+ days with no period and many negative pregnancy tests I visited my doctor and she prescribed me the lowest dose of Clomid. I took it for one cycle with no side effects. I also used the ovulation predictor sticks to be able to see when my ovulation occured. All of this was almost exactly 1 year ago and I am now the proud mother of 4 month old twin girls! Our percentage of having multiples with Clomid was 2%, so we were more than shocked at the first ultra sound visit. But now I can not imagine life without them!

Best of luck and do not be frightened away by Clomid, just be prepared for the potential of multiples!

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A.F.

answers from Sacramento on

Hi, I have had the distinct privlage haha, of trying almost every fertility treatment. I did clomid every month or about a year. It made me eat more, but that was about it. After 15 years of trying we went to invetro, and now have a beautiful 3 1/2 year old boy. If you have a any questions about invetro I would be happy to tell you about our experience.

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S.W.

answers from San Francisco on

Hello,

I just wanted to repsond to you. I suffered 4 miscarriages, and recently gave birth to a precious baby girl. I went to fertility specialists and they couldn't find anything wrong with me or my husband. I was put on progesterone and baby asprin and that seemed to be what I needed. I suggest you ask your doctor about these options. I went on Clomid also, but it didn't work for me, I got pregnant very easily except when I was on Clomid. The month I went off Clomid was when I concieved and it stuck. hope this helps, miscarriages are awful and I wish you the best of luck

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K.D.

answers from Sacramento on

I had 3 miscarriages, so good luck in the future and keep praying, it will happen. I took Clomid and got pregnant the first time using it; however, lost the baby at 9 weeks after a placenta previa and the heart stopped beating. I had major hot flashes with Clomid but other than that, no adverse reactions. My fertility specialist tried to tell me that it could be my egg quality, but now I truly believe that it was purely stress. They also found that I don't metabolize folic acid and needed to be on 2.2 mg of folgard twice a day and a baby aspirin. I got pregnant last February (without medical assistance) and followed the folgard, baby aspirin (until 36 weeks) and prenatals until the birth of my son.
Good Luck to you and keep up a positive attitude, it took us 5 years, hopefully you won't take as long.

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B.H.

answers from Sacramento on

Hi Z.,
My husband and I had a miscarriage at 8 weeks...a blighted ovum is what they called it. Then 2 years later we got pregnant the first month of trying, now have a beautiful 3 1/2 year old daughter. We tried for a year to get pregnant and nothing was happening, we thought it was strange since we got pregnant right off the get go before. They checked my progeterone levels and looked at my tracking calender of my cycles, turned out I had luteal phase deficiency. I was put on clomid 50mg the 1st month nothing happened, had my progesterone levels checked were still only at 6, so they increased my dose to 100mg. The side effects were nausea, but I am a morning sickness suffer anyways. Had my levels checked and I was at 140. I knew I was pregnant even before I tested positive. We now have 4 month twin daughters...best of luck to you!!!

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K.R.

answers from San Francisco on

I recently conceived using clomid. I was told by others that they had horrible experiences using it. I went thru 4 cycles before conceiving and it wasn't as awful as everyone made it sound (for me). The side effects I experienced were, hot flashes (a few days after the cycle), 1 episode of dizziness (hadn't eaten in awhile), a little irritability (but who doesn't ;) -it was as if I was on my period) and a positive thing...my libido increased. The one thing you have to remember is every woman is a different, and how you react will be different than others. When I was feeling moody, I just took a deep breath, and took my dog for a walk. Also, I avoided caffeine and decreased my sugar/high fructose intake.
Yes, there were many visits to the fertility clinic. I would have to go during my period to see if there were any cysts on my ovaries due to the Clomid causing hyperovulation, then I would go on my 12-14 day of cycle to see if I'd ovulated and how many eggs were there. Also they would measure the size of the egg to see if it was mature and ready to be fertilized. These exams are quick (5-10 min once you are being seen by the NP/MD) and painless. There were cycles where I had multiple mature eggs (1st cycle 5 eggs!) so we would avoid intercourse as this was not something my husband and I were prepared for! For the most part though, I had 1-3 eggs every cycle but not all were mature. Throughout the whole process, my husband and I stayed positive and did not stress...And remember, sometimes there isn't an answer to everything, just remain positive, stay healthy and hope for the best. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

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