Hellobee Boards

Personally I haven't done Clomid but wanted to chime in that your gut seems to be telling you to do more, and there is more that should go along with Clomid. You should be getting some kind of monitoring to keep an eye on how many follicles you have and when you're going to ovulate so you can at least time BD, or else the whole thing is a waste, right? And yes, if the ultrasounds show that you're not ovulating (or making enough follicles for Clomid to be useful), you might increase your dosage. Generally OBs aren't great or aggressive about helping you get pregnant. I'm sorry this is happening especially at such a sensitive time. It's awful that insurance companies make it so difficult to get good care, but if you can you might find it worthwhile to try an RE.

I did two rounds of Clomid, the first 50 mg without an IUI then the second 50mg stepped up to 100 mg mid cycle with an IUI and I got pregnant that cycle. We wanted to try at least one cycle without an IUI, but the fertility treatments were wearing on us (it had been 4 months of testing, etc. before we got to start trying) so we decided to get aggressive.

@twodoghouse: I feel like our story is SO similar to yours! We did 3 months of clomid - with no monitoring, just 'every other day BD'. I ended up having a lap and they wanted me to do 3 MORE months of clomid. I did one and in that time DH and I decided it wasn't working for us and we wanted to change paths. We went to an adoption meeting to feel that out, bc we thought 'either adoption OR and RE'. Well, yesterday we had our first RE appointment and it was great! I'd encourage you to go, even just to talk and see what they would have in mind for you! I wanted to think that my OB could get us PG with just a little clomid, but I feel like, monitoring is just SO important. I"m thankful we'll be having that for our cycles from now on! Good luck!

We did 6 rounds - 2 each of 50, 100 and 150. I was just seeing an OB, and I felt the same as you - kind of like I wasting time and wanted to move on to something else, but I finished it out. We ended up choosing to start adoption, but if we hand't chosen that, I think we would have wanted to do an IUI. Good luck!

@twodoghouse: Yes, I had an HSG first and there was some trouble getting the dye to move. Come to find out, it wasn't blocked it's just tightly wound. But I do have some endometriosis. I think it's definitely beneficial to have the lap. It can give a lot of insight I think as far as the shape/open-ness of your tubes. We have decided to focus on our RE for now. The adoption agency we looked at is strongly against doing both at the same time. So we had to choose!

@twodoghouse: It's going well! We are just completing our homestudy right now do we have a ways to go! Starting the adoption process has brought a lot of hope and healing into my life. Good luck with whatever you decide to do! I'm sure you'll be a mama one way or the other

i did two rounds of clomid. the second round we did an iui and i got pregnant (though i miscarried). if it is an option, i would definitely get more aggressive and pursue an iui.

I'm seeing an RE and she feels that if you don't get pregnant after 3-4 cycles on Clomid, then it likely won't work. I would really recommend seeing an RE because it's not good to take Clomid for a long time (can thin your lining), and to me without the monitoring it's kind of a waste of a chance. If you go to see an RE they might need to immediately go to more aggressive therapies, when Clomid might have worked with monitoring.

At first I thought it was overkill, but now I think the monitoring is awesome. I've had a lot of trouble responding to Clomid and Femara, and needed extra doses along the way. If I had been handed an rx for Clomid and left on my own, that would've probably been 6 months wasted.

Also, IUI or IVF may not necessarily be the next step. Femara may work for you even if Clomid didn't. And I had a CP pregnancy the first cycle I ovulated, which means we're probably not going to do IUI since the trouble is likely with the eggs, not with sperm, which is what IUI helps with. I'm on Femara now, but again had trouble responding. If this cycle doesn't work out, I'll do a combination cycle starting with Femara and then injectables and timed intercourse.

At some point down the road if the injectables don't work (not sure how many cycles), I'm guessing the next step will be IVF.

3. My RE usually moves on after 3. We did IVF afterward and it worked. We had low morphology and unexplained issues on my side.

Personally, I would try the Clomid a little longer but would try to get monitoring during the pre-ovulation stage. You may know some of this from the IF support thread, but I did three cycles on 50 mg with my OBGYN. Once I moved on to the RE, he questioned why the OBGYN didn't increase my dosage sooner, but I don't think that is typical for OBGYNs.

I then did two cycles on Clomid with the RE but although I ovulated, didn't get PG. My RE only recommended 5-6 cycles on Clomid. My RE and I both seemed to rush me onto Femara, so after those 5 total cycles on Clomid, we moved on. I wish I had done one more on Clomid. The Femara didn't work for me at all, so then my only option is injectibles. I have done 2 cycles on injectibles and IUI and so far no luck. I just feel now that my only option will be IVF. I wanted to get more aggressive too, but 6 months after first seeing my RE, I feel like we may have moved too fast through the less expensive treatments and here we are looking a big bucks out of pocket.

To summarize, if you stay with Clomid, I would try to make the most of it - get monitoring and try a higher dose before you move on. Again, that is my opinion and I completely understand your desire to move on. Best of luck with your decision!

We did 3 rounds of clomid w iui. Unsuccessful.

Edit... Then moved to ivf

@twodoghouse: Looks like we're close to the same age, too!!

@Shutterbug: OH MY!!! So great!