Clomid Buddies (moved to LTTTC board)

[Aphy]

Glad you found one Nita! That's a crazy price at dischem,glad you found it way cheaper. Temping is easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe sign up on a site like Fertility Friend which helps keep track of it all and also then works out your ovulation date once it has a couple months data. Always temp at he same time every morning and it must be before you do ANYTHING so no drinking water,speaking or going to the bathroom. Ideally it should be after 3-4 hours solid sleep as well else it won't be as reliable. Welcome to temping!

 

[Rawan]

Sarah-Thanks! Yeah, I guess better to be cautious since we've been ttc for awhile. Hope your cm means you are ovulating soon!

Nita-Thanks! Hope your af come and you can start new cycle soon!

Babydust-Thanks! Glad to hear that you have ovulated! Good luck on tww!

The clinic told me I am responding better to femara-it didn't make my lining thin compared to clomid, and I didn't experience much side effects from it, now I am in the tww again.
I've been taking selenium as part of my supplement, and I just realize that it contains beta-carotene, and i know that it can turn into Vitamin A, and since I know vit A can be teratogenic, I guess it's better to take a supplement that contains only selenium? I read that selenium is supposed to help with implantation. I hope I didn't do any damage. Have any of you taken selenium as part of your supplement? Thanks!

 

[Nita2806]

Thank you for the advice Aphy, have created a profile on fertility friend today !yay! So like i said still new but excited. I suffer from insomnia so i am awake every morning between 1 - 3am and get up for work at 4:30 so getting 3 hours of solid sleep doesnt happen often for me.

 

[2much]

Morning all. Thanks for the condolences for the evil AF, lol. I stepped away the end of last week through the weekend until she went away. Had a hard time dealing with it.

I'm on CD5 now, Clomid cycle again. Ordering Ovidrel again. I think this month will be better because a) I know what to expect b) timing will be better and c) I found out my insurance covered most of my scans! Was NOT expecting that. So at least I am not as stressed about money, too. Thank goodness.

Glad she's out the way for you now... onwards and upwards and loads of your way

That's ace news regarding your insurance!!

Babydust- Thank you!

Sarah-Thanks! Yeah, I guess better to be cautious since we've been ttc for awhile. Hope your cm means you are ovulating soon!

Nita-Thanks! Hope your af come and you can start new cycle soon!

Babydust-Thanks! Glad to hear that you have ovulated! Good luck on tww!

The clinic told me I am responding better to femara-it didn't make my lining thin compared to clomid, and I didn't experience much side effects from it, now I am in the tww again.
I've been taking selenium as part of my supplement, and I just realize that it contains beta-carotene, and i know that it can turn into Vitamin A, and since I know vit A can be teratogenic, I guess it's better to take a supplement that contains only selenium? I read that selenium is supposed to help with implantation. I hope I didn't do any damage. Have any of you taken selenium as part of your supplement? Thanks!

My lining was a bit thin last month due to Clomid. I'm glad Femara is working for you. I am going to ask about it next time. I don't know anything about the supplements but am really curious what everyone has to say. Good luck this month!

 

[BelleNuit]

I'll be watching closely to see how you ladies respond to femara! I'll be starting that in January

 

[TTCfirstovr30]

Babydust28 - Great news, you are still in this! FX's for everyone!

 

[2much]

I'm thinking about trying acupuncture to thicken up my lining... not sure. If anything, it should help me relax. I've had major issues with stress lately!

 

[BelleNuit]

Hey 2much, I've done acupuncture for the past 2 cycles for lining issues. I can say it's made my flow slightly heavier (although not by much), but that it has improved the color and reduced clotting and cramping. She has me on a mix of Chinese herbs this cycle so we'll see if that helps the lining thicken up a bit more. I'm still only really getting 2 days of actual AF with a couple days of spotting/light flow before and after.

 

[2much]

Hey 2much, I've done acupuncture for the past 2 cycles for lining issues. I can say it's made my flow slightly heavier (although not by much), but that it has improved the color and reduced clotting and cramping. She has me on a mix of Chinese herbs this cycle so we'll see if that helps the lining thicken up a bit more. I'm still only really getting 2 days of actual AF with a couple days of spotting/light flow before and after.

Hmmm...that is really interesting to me. My AF was REALLY short this month, compared to usual. I blame Clomid. It was only a "real" flow for 1.5 days, then light. It was over in 3-4 days, and usually I'm 6-7 days. Not sure what to make of it.

Chinese herbs are fascinating to me too...I want to throw everything at this and hope something sticks, but at the same time, it's more financial sense for me to try 1-2 things at a time. All of these "alternative" treatments are out of pocket for you too, I'm assuming?

 

[Aphy]

Nita,maybe take your temp whenever you wake from insomnia?

 

[BelleNuit]

Hmmm...that is really interesting to me. My AF was REALLY short this month, compared to usual. I blame Clomid. It was only a "real" flow for 1.5 days, then light. It was over in 3-4 days, and usually I'm 6-7 days. Not sure what to make of it.

Chinese herbs are fascinating to me too...I want to throw everything at this and hope something sticks, but at the same time, it's more financial sense for me to try 1-2 things at a time. All of these "alternative" treatments are out of pocket for you too, I'm assuming?

Ya everything alternative is out of pocket (but that's the same as for traditional fertility treatments for me too). My health insurance covers 500 for acupuncture, but that's used up by now. It's $95 a session and they want you in once a week so it is a costly intervention (albeit not as much as IVF). That's why I figure I'm okay to go with it now for a few months until I'm ready to start western treatments. They say it can take up to 3-6 cycles of weekly acupuncture sessions to have the full impact on fertility. But if you consider that most people statistically will be pregnant in that time frame anyway it's kind of a wash. I feel like it's helping my stress levels and I have seen some improvement in my flow so I'll continue going for now.

Also I'm curious to see what kind of impact it will have for me with unexplained infertility. Because I'm unexplained I'm hoping that by sorting out stress and seeking body balance through TCM that, that will be enough. It's worth a try. When I do have to seek IUI/IVF at least I'll be able to say that I tried everything else that I could beforehand

I wouldn't mix herbs with femara or clomid though, who knows what kind of interaction that could have. I'm happy to try out herbs for now since I'm not planning to start femara for another 3 cycles.

 

[mnelson815]

Just going to pop in here for the mixing of herbs with Femara. My acupuncturist is also a Dr of Chinese medicine. She said for me to definitely not take the herbs on the same days you are taking Femara. She said I could for the rest of the cycle, but definitely not on the days with them. I think I might start mine a few days after, since Femara has such a short half-life, I figure it should be out of my system within a few days.

 

[BelleNuit]

Thanks mnelson, I think that sounds like a great plan! Femara does have a shorter half-life than clomid I think as well. Honestly I'm a little wary about the herbs as my RE told me to DEFINITELY NOT try them LOL. But I'm not taking anything else right now so we'll see what happens. At this point I don't think it hurts much to experiment a bit before seeking traditional western treatment.

 

[mnelson815]

Well what an ominous message from your RE, haha!
Although, I see where they are coming from with anything interfering with what they are doing. But since you aren't currently seeking any treatment with them and are on nothing else, I agree with you that I dont think it will do much harm.

 

[Rawan]

2much: I tried some supplements to thicken my lining and I think it helped! I went from around 7mm to 9mm. This cycle I switched to Femara instead of clomid, and I also drank rasberry leaf tea, EPO, CoQ 10, L'arginine, and my prenatal vitamin. The rasberry tea/epo I only took it while I was on af(until I get flashing smiley on my ovulation kit). Maybe you can try some of these if you feel comfortable with them? Last cycle I had 4 follicles, and my doctor thinks it's because of the thin lining that's why even if fertilization did occur, it won't implant...but my dh just came back from a business trip last cycle before my fertile window...he went to Amsterdam...so maybe weeds had something to do with the bfn last cycle too...sometimes I just don't know anymore, I guess we can just try everything that might help, and hope for the best. Baby dust to everyone!

Morning all. Thanks for the condolences for the evil AF, lol. I stepped away the end of last week through the weekend until she went away. Had a hard time dealing with it.

I'm on CD5 now, Clomid cycle again. Ordering Ovidrel again. I think this month will be better because a) I know what to expect b) timing will be better and c) I found out my insurance covered most of my scans! Was NOT expecting that. So at least I am not as stressed about money, too. Thank goodness.

Glad she's out the way for you now... onwards and upwards and loads of your way

That's ace news regarding your insurance!!

Babydust- Thank you!

Sarah-Thanks! Yeah, I guess better to be cautious since we've been ttc for awhile. Hope your cm means you are ovulating soon!

Nita-Thanks! Hope your af come and you can start new cycle soon!

Babydust-Thanks! Glad to hear that you have ovulated! Good luck on tww!

The clinic told me I am responding better to femara-it didn't make my lining thin compared to clomid, and I didn't experience much side effects from it, now I am in the tww again.
I've been taking selenium as part of my supplement, and I just realize that it contains beta-carotene, and i know that it can turn into Vitamin A, and since I know vit A can be teratogenic, I guess it's better to take a supplement that contains only selenium? I read that selenium is supposed to help with implantation. I hope I didn't do any damage. Have any of you taken selenium as part of your supplement? Thanks!

My lining was a bit thin last month due to Clomid. I'm glad Femara is working for you. I am going to ask about it next time. I don't know anything about the supplements but am really curious what everyone has to say. Good luck this month!

 

[BelleNuit]

Rawan, my acupuncturist suggested that my DH take 400mg of co-q10 after she found out he had smoked weed recently. She said it would help to energize the swimmers. Might be something you can try if you are still worried about the weed?

Nice to hear that you had some luck with supplements thickening your lining! I'm hoping for the same to happen for me, although I really have no way to judge other than how heavy AF is. It was measured at 5mm on the day of ovulation (CD 15 that cycle) which is on the thin side, so I think that may be part of my problem. I've been using acupuncture and supplements to try and thicken it

 

[Rawan]

BelleNuit-Thanks! I will keep that in mind, I talked to dh regarding weed the other day...hopefully he won't use it again esp during my fertile window. I found that my period was lighter after clomid cycle, and I mentioned that to my doctor and she said it could be caused by clomid.
I asked about estrace, but my doctor said it won't help, so they didn't prescribe me that, so I did some research online, and I found alot of women use red rasberry leaf tea to thicken uterine lining, and also CoQ 10, L'arginine, and I even heard pomegranate/grapefruit juice might help, but I just used mainly rasberry leaf tea, Epo, and CoQ 10, L'arginine, and my other prenatal vitamin. Which supplements are you taking?
Hope your uterine lining will thicken soon!

Rawan, my acupuncturist suggested that my DH take 400mg of co-q10 after she found out he had smoked weed recently. She said it would help to energize the swimmers. Might be something you can try if you are still worried about the weed?

Nice to hear that you had some luck with supplements thickening your lining! I'm hoping for the same to happen for me, although I really have no way to judge other than how heavy AF is. It was measured at 5mm on the day of ovulation (CD 15 that cycle) which is on the thin side, so I think that may be part of my problem. I've been using acupuncture and supplements to try and thicken it

 

[BelleNuit]

Thanks Rawan!

I've been taking EPO, prenatal, coq10 and these chinese herbs this cycle (they're a mixture of things). I might have to look into that red raspberry leaf next! I've heard a few women suggest that one around here. I took maca for a couple cycles but quit it as I don't think it was doing anything

 

[Nita2806]

Morning ladies, hope all are well?

I also read that Raspberry leaf tea can help thicken your lining, haven't tried it myself yet but on of my friends drank it after her pregnancy and just said it had a horrible taste. Regarding vitamins - when I asked my gynae what vitamins I should take and she said all I need is Folic acid, so asked about other multi vitamins and she said its not necessary. For DH she suggested Staminogro which is just a multi vitamin for men.

CD42 and 5 days after my last provera - and still no sign of AF. The one time you want her to show and she is MIA.

Feeling a bit down today, DH's cousin gave birth to beautiful and healthy twins. I am happy for them, but can't help feeling sad and down and wanting to cry

 

[Aphy]

My temp dropped this morning so I guess AF will show her face tonight or tomorrow. Hitting me a little hard this time...its been 13 unsuccessful cycles! Only have 2 more cycles left on Clomid before we then get referred onto a Fertility Specialist