Hi Vicki,
I hope that things get better with your prog. levels! I'm not sure
where your doctor stands on Femara (RE's either love it or hate it)
but you may want to discuss using it instead of Clomid with your
doctor. My doctor put me on Femara last year to test my ovarian
response and he liked it because it has less side-effects. Doctors
sometimes hesitate to use it because of the fact that Femara can cause
birth defects IF you take it while pg. Other than that, it's just
fine. It has the same outcome as Clomid but works in a different
manner by actually blocking aromatase (a precursor to estrogen).
Anyway, when my doctor put me on Femara, I read every medical journal
I could get my hands on to learn the effectiveness of this drug.
Anyway, from what I read, Femara sometimes works very well in women
who do not respond to large doses of Clomid so you may be an excellent
candidate to try it. Keep in mind, I'm not a doctor but I am a
scientist with infertility who reads medical journals - it really may
be worth a try in your case especially since you have PCOS. A lot of
the trials I read about were women with PCOS who did not respond to
high levels of Clomid actually did respond to low levels of Femara.
I was on Femara for 4 cycles and really didn't have any side-effects,
I never had the horrors I've read about with Clomid. On the Femara, I
had dry mouth and was "warmer" than usual but did not have hot
flashes. When taking my bbt, I realized that it was very high as well
which makes sense because the Femara blocks the production of
estrogen. My body did not respond to Femara because I was already
ovulating on my own. My infertility stemmed from other things:
endometriosis, stress (I don't care what some doctors say - stress
WILL exacerbate infertility) and a hormonal imbalance. So, even though
it didn't work for me it may be worth a try for you esp since you have
a very different situation from mine.
I'm not sure if you are also incor****ating eastern medicine
(traditional Chinese medicine) into your regime but you may find that
will help as well. If you remain on Clomid or try Femara, you do NOT
want to take herbs with them. However, acupuncture is excellent for
calming your system and regaining balance. I do not know how it works
and as a scientist, it baffles me. But what I can tell you is that my
RE has done clinical studies and has always made a positive
correlation between acupuncture and relief of infertility. I go once a
week and love it. I feel great afterwords. I'm not pg yet and I never
have been. But, I know that the acupuncture has not helped. Part of
the reason why I'm not active in this group much anymore is my husband
and I have just been getting through a rough patch and haven't
actually ttc for 8 months. We're getting better and probably will ttc
again soon. I just want to make sure we're ok first.
Anyway, just thought that little bit of information may help you!
Take care,
Kari
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