Clomid!?
Me, writing a happy post about a doctor's appointment? Is that really happening? YES IT IS. And I wrote an entire book for yall about it. When the doctor walked into the patient room he introduced himself and looked over the written history I had just filled out. He commented on my gastric bypass – I had the old style one done. He said he hadn’t seen someone my age with that procedure before because they have switched to the sleeve around here so that was a funny chat about my experience. There was no shame, he was just intrigued. Then we got into the fertility bit of things and he asked how long we had been trying – I told him 26 cycles since my depo shot expired. He jotted that down and then asked me about my cycles. I told him that they’re 29-30 days long, I ovulate around day 17 or 18, my luteal phase is 12 days, and I believe that my period is light. As he was writing all that down on the notes I started getting panicked and told him about when my periods came back after depo, when I first started getting positive OPKs, how they’ve changed recently, etc. He cut me off as gently as he could and told me straight out, “Even if I take a full year off because of the birth control wearing off, you’re over a year. Honestly, I usually only take off six when it comes to counting things like this.” That was such a relief. To just be validated that we have been trying, we have reasons to be concerned, and he is ready to get into action. He did mention that my luteal phase is too short for his liking, he understood my worries about the length of my period, and my ovulation being later raised some questions for him. After that he asked Stephen a lot of questions about his sexual history, his workplace, his eating/drinking habits, etc. Then he told me that when it comes to infertility treatment a couple years can go by in a flash if people aren’t on top of it, so he’s going to operate on a schedule to try and streamline the process since we’ve been doing all we can at home. On Cycle Day 1 I will call the office and they’re going to put me on clomid. He said that the nurse would outline everything with me (a lot of the specifics I have already blanked on). They’ll start me at 50 mg on Cycle Day 3 and… that’s where I forgot. They’ll tell me what days to take the pills, what days to have sex, and I will have 21 day bloods. There was probably more but I was so excited that this was even an option that my brain went into mush. He said that they’ll check and if I have confirmed ovulation then I will do three cycles on clomid. If I didn’t then they will up it to 100 (150 following cycle if still not). Whenever I do have confirmed it’s three cycles. After that he said they would do an HSG on me and something else – forgot. They will also opt to do the semen analysis at that point. After that he said he can’t lay down too many specifics because it all relies on what they find in all the testing but it usually ends up being roughly: 3 cycles on femora, IUI, injectable hormones, and IVF. Hopefully we won’t get that far, he has high hopes for clomid. Today they took: prolactin, thyroid, and insulin levels since I had fasted overnight. He stressed that if we follow the instructions exactly as they are given he will do everything he can to help us in as cost-effective of a manner as he can (I mentioned concerns about costs) while still not dragging this out for years. It feels so good to be seen, heard, and understood. There were no remarks about my age, my weight, my mental illness, or anything else. I’ve been on the edge of crying on and off whenever I think about the fact that we are finally being listened to and helped. It’s been a long two years of trying to DIY this at home. Knowing there’s a great doctor behind me, I really couldn’t ask for more at this point. At one point I must have been making some sort of face because he stopped and asked me, “Does this all sound okay. Do you have concerns?” All I could do was shake my head and tell him that he was the fourth doctor I tried talking to and I couldn’t believe someone was finally listening. He seemed a little caught off guard by that but told me that this is what he enjoys doing and he’s glad to be able to give us the assistance we’ve been looking for. Here’s to getting the most out of Cycle 26 that I can. Maybe I won’t even need the Clomid if this naturally kicks its rear into gear. So, for those of you who have used clomid/are using clomid: experiences? Did it work for you in the past, how long did it take? What were your side effects? I know he mentioned some hot flashes and an increased risk of twins (15%) but again… my brain went to mush and I forgot. I’ll get more specifics when I call on CD 1 but thought I’d ask for some real life feedback.
