Confused by clomid

[ChristyM26]

Hopefully somebody here has had this happen to them or at least has some insight. In January, I did my first clomid cycle (50 mg). I ovulated on cd23 (far earlier than I ever had before) but my doctor didn't like that so she upped me to 100mg. On 100, I ovulated on cd15. I also got pregnant and subsequently lost the babies, so now we're starting over.

Here's my confusion. I've never had two cycles follow one another so closely in every aspect ever, but if you look at the cycle I'm on now (with 50mg of clomid) and the one in January, I'd swear they're exactly the same (my chart:http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/151f3a). My understanding was the clomid didn't have the ability to dictate your body that much. Can it really have that much control as to cause two cycles to look almost identical? Since I don't seem to ovulate on my own, could that be why the clomid has such an effect? Is this just a total coincidence? Has anybody ever had something similar? I'm feeling like a wierdo...

[Ammaarah]

Check your link...it worked when I took out the parenthesis at the end of it, but others may not be so brilliant as I am.

Those do look pretty similar but not totally identical. I do think Clomid's results can be pretty consistent at the same dose on the same person. I think a bunch of rocky temps followed by a "settling down" followed by ovulation is pretty normal on Clomid.

I hope you get pregnant soon and all goes well. I'm sorry about your miscarriage.

[ChristyM26]

Doh! Thanks for letting me know about that link! That's what I get for typing while sleepy.

[cristeen]

I'm sorry, but Im a bit confused... you ovulated on 50 Clomid, but the RE didn't think that was good enough so she upped it to 100? At 100 you hyperstimulated for twins? Did she give you a reason for the increase? If you were annovulatory to begin with and you got ovulation with 50, why the increase? Stimulating any ovulation for an annovulatory woman is a big step, to double the dosage in a single cycle because the doc didn't like the results is a bit... odd.

Has she checked other factors? Done a hormone work-up, taken blood at specific times in your cycle, etc.?

I always have to ask... since I wasn't there (and it's not unheard of), but did the doctor go from point A to point G, or were there stops in between?

[ChristyM26]

cristeen, we did a bunch of tests before the initial cycle, which determined the anovulation. She put me on the clomid and then had me come on cd21 to do a 7 dpo check. I hadn't o'd yet, so she had me call and come back once I had. I didn't o until cd23 (I think) and at 7dpo from that point my progesterone was still very low (I think it was 5 or so). She didn't think I ovulated based on what she saw and we decided not to wait for another week to see if I would ovulate. She gave me another round of provera and upped the clomid to 100mg. She also wanted to avoid having to trigger if she could, since that would mean even more meds (I'm on several to begin with for other reasons). At which point I o'd on cd15. Plus I have insulin resistance. And I guess now I can add high risk for PTL/possible IC.

But yeah, there were steps in between. It wasn't quite as straight forward as it sounded from my post. I was just trying to summarize. And as it happened, this time I o'd on cd19, so that's an improvement.

[cristeen]

phew. Had me scared there.

Well, annovulatory, low progesterone, and insulin resistance sounds an awful lot like PCOS to me.

Speaking as someone who has gone the Clomid routine with those same three symptoms (due to PCOS), yes, Clomid can have a profound effect on your cycle. I do not ovulate on Clomid, though. At Clomid 50, I get beautiful follicles by day 14, but without a trigger, I will not release them. The drug I get triggered with is HcG, which is an analog of the hormone produced by your body during pregnancy... I'm not sure how it would interfere with your other medications any more than pregnancy itself would...

We actually decided not to do Clomid this month at all... I altered my diet radically and have achieved ovulation and menstruation on a 28-day cycle by that alone. Compared to no cycles at all without drugs the old way, the diet is worth it to me. We decided rather than paying out of pocket for the drugs, we were going to try it the old-fashioned way for a while.

You may want to check into the PCOS tribe, many of the women there have gone through fertility treatments with that set of symptoms and may be able to provide you some more insight.

HTH

[Ammaarah]

Christy, is your doc of the mindset that a later ovulation is not as good? My daughter was conceived on day 21 of a Clomid cycle.

I hope you are pregnant as we speak! Def check out the PCOS tribe.

[ChristyM26]

Thank you ladies. I was unaware there was a PCOS tribe. I'll have to look into that!

Ammaarah, it wasn't that the ovulation would have been late. It was more that if I ovulated on that cycle it clearly wasn't a good cycle (since the progesterone was so low) and that waiting any longer than we had wouldn't yield a good egg anyway. She's ok with a late ovulation but by the time we got to cd23 she was pretty sure not much good would come of it.

And my doctor may have been onto something with her theory that my pregnancy would have helped things, because I ovulated on cd19 this time through. I'm hoping that this worked and we get a baby this time. I'm trying not to be to hopeful though.

[Ammaarah]

Oh, OK, that makes sense.

I hate the feeling of trying not to hope! Fingers crossed for you.