Fertility Drugs

I’ve had a little experience with a few fertility drugs in the past year or so. We didn’t start any fertility medication until we got here to Fort Lewis and my new doctor started me on them. Before that, we had tried a natural supplement called FertilAid, that was supposed to help improve our chances of conceiving. We took it for a few months, but it got a little expensive and most doctors just consider it a glorified multivitamin. In addition to that, the women’s supplement contains some herbal ingredients that shouldn’t be combined with fertility drugs because the side effects and reactions between the drugs aren’t fully known. My husband was retested when we got to Fort Lewis (semen analysis) and his numbers hadn’t really changed much. The RE we were seeing said that all guys really need for TTC is a multivitamin, a little extra zinc, and selenium.

In late September of 2011, I started my first medicated cycle with Clomid. Clomid is a drug that has been used for years to induce ovulation. I already ovulate on my own, but they were trying to increase our chances with an extra possible follicle or two. I was nervous because I had heard horror stories from other women in my support groups of the side effects they got from it. Hot flashes, nausea, headaches, and mood swings. Like, serious, raging bitch mood swings. It was suggested to take it at night to help with the side effects, so that’s what I did. Clomid is taken either cycle days 3-7 or cycle days 5-9.  I was put on the lowest dose, 50 mg., and honestly didn’t have any side effects besides horrible hot flashes in the middle of the night. During the winter, I would wake up, drenched in sweat, and have to walk around the house on the cold tiled floor to cool off. That was the extent of my side effects. I had no mood swings, although Jim may feel different about that, but infertility causes a roller coaster of emotions anyway. 

I did 6 months of Clomid, which is about the lifetime maximum you should take it because although it does help with ovulation, it can thin the uterine lining after a while, which would hinder implantation of a fertilized egg. I responded well with Clomid, usually producing 2 follicles, and I think at one point even 3. We did IUI with Clomid in January of 2012, which was unsuccessful, even with 2 follicles. With Clomid, they would monitor my ovaries and if I had follicles at about 18 mm, they would give me a trigger shot, Ovidrel, of HCG to tell my body to release the follicles. The month we did IUI, I got to give myself the trigger shot. I was up at 5 a.m., holding a syringe and needle to my stomach. I’ve given shots to other people no problem in the past, but giving one to yourself is way different. No matter how tiny that needle is! 

After Clomid, my doctor put me on Femara (letrazole), and I only took that for one cycle, which was also our second cycle of IUI. Femara isn’t technically a fertility drug, it was first used in women with breast cancer to help shrink tumors. It depresses the amount of estrogen produced in the body and women will typically ovulate more follicles. Most women also claim to have no side effects like when they took Clomid. Not for me. I was nauseous, fatigued, had constant headaches, and the hot flashes. I was miserable on Femara and didn’t take it again. That’s also when we decided to take a break because we had our second failed IUI and I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. 

Now were at the point where we have decided to do IVF and this fall I will get the chance to experience many more infertility drugs. Injectable infertility drugs. Injectable infertility drugs that my husband gets to administer to me…