I took about 12-13 doses of Clomid over a 16 month period to conceive my (singleton) first son. Had I conceived the month prior to the one I did, my Dr said I had an extremely high chance of conceiving triplets according to the amount of hormone levels that month. I was on an extremely high dose the last few months of taking it. I don't recall having any out of the ordinary side affects (crankiness, etc).
My second (singleton) child was conceived several years later after only one dose of Clomid. No crankiness etc then either.
A few years after that I went back on it - this time I was so angry, cranky, moody etc.
Good grief! It was like I'd had a complete personality transplant.
I was on and off it for about 10 months the third time. No baby unfortunately, as by then they'd discoverd that I was no longer fertile due to a complication following the birth of DS2. It would have saved a lot of grief if the tests that confirmed that problem had been done sooner - as I kept asking them too.
So all that angst for nothing.
Just as an interesting aside - following DS1's birth I had enough breastmilk supply to have fed quads. Unfortunately I am not exaggerating. It was literally flowing out of me 24 hours a day, for 10 months. It was HORRIBLE!!
After DS2 I still had a good supply, but this time it was much more manageable.
I often wonder if this was all due to taking the Clomid. Have any other Clomid mums' experienced this?
I can't answer about the milk production, but I know the 6 months or so I was on Clomid with increasing doses each month, I was crazy by the end of it. Clomid affects the seratonin levels in your brain. This is a chemical that helps control your mood. I feel like I lost a year of my life but I would do it again in a heartbeat because it was the first step in getting my wonderful son (and now daughter).
How high did your doc go with the Clomid? My RE said that after 250mg, the quality of eggs diminishes--something else for the OP's sister to worry about if Clomid doesn't work at first.
My sis and her husband have been trying to have a child for about 6 months now. They have kept this a secret from everyone but me--she needed a shoulder to cry on...She is 26 yrs old and has been on the pill since she was 14 yrs old.
The first OBGYN (and me) told her it will take time for her body to get back to normal since being on the pill for so long. They do not want to hear this, so they went to a second OBGYN--she did an ultrasound, and is doing a sperm count today--then wants to put sis on Clomid. Here is the kicker--my sis is very spoiled; my parents own their own business, so if she has multiples she would have her hand out in a minute...My mom and dad would have a fit if they knew what she was doing, b/c yes she can afford one or 2, but she cannot afford more than that--they would tell her to wait also...I dont know whether to tell my parents or not?? She will not be starting invetro yet--they want to see if clomid works.....What are the chances of multiples with clomid....Anyone take clomid--Did you have multiples? Sorry if it is tmi
Like many of the previous posters have said, this seems really fast for someone who's only in their mid 20's. And although fertility issues can affect anyone at any age, it becomes more of a factor as you age. Most well-trained, experienced OB/Gyns and REs will want you to try longer at a younger age and move faster the older you are. Also most will do alot of upfront testing to get a clearer picture of hormone levels and other health issues. We were started on Clomid at about 6 months of trying by my regular OB/Gyn but I was 31 not 26 and after a couple of cycles and no real response, she referred me to the specialist. Not only did he test me early on, but my DH also because he didn't want my body ready to conceive only to find out DH had a problem (he didn't).
Docs should also be monitoring FSH levels while someone is on Clomid. Like all fertility drugs, Clomid can cause ovary over-stimulation which can be dangerous. If your ovaries develop too many follicles at one time, it could burst.
My question about your DSis is why are they talking IVF already and they've not even tried Clomid yet? You said they weren't "starting In-vitro" but since it's come up obviously...?!?! There are other steps between Clomid which is an oral drug and IVF. There are several "levels" of injectable drugs that normally would be tried before IVF.
When I was initially going through fertility treatments--yes I do have PCOS, I never got to the point of really considering IVF. I wasn't willing to spend the $10K+ on a 50/50 chance when my body had never even started a pregnancy. After Clomid, my RE tried me on Repronex (an injectable drug), it had almost no effect. After that cycle I took a year away from trying to get back to normal...I was still feeling the mood effects of the Clomid. I was lucky that my RE understood the need to take a break and started me back at the same point when we started trying again. The next cycle I was started on Gonal-F. It looked promising but it didn't work the 1st time. The 2nd cycle of Gonal-F, I was started on progestrone on the day of my IUI. It worked. My body produced no or so little progestrone that I was on the maximum amount of oral progestrone I could take in order to hold the pregnancy and 5 weeks of bedrest during the 1st trimester.
If I hadn't succeeded at that point in having my DS-now 6, I would never have tried again. The heartache and mental anguish of going each month only to be told not this time gets to be too much. But luckily, it worked and I went back last year and started at the point I succeeded and now I also have a beautiful new Princess. Another thing that helped this 2nd time is I had gastric bypass to get healthier and that resolved much of the insulin resistance issue. But I also had to be on progestrone injections which normally only IVF patients are given. The G-B caused malabsorption so I wasn't getting enough progestrone from the pills.
There is a chance of having multiples on Clomid, but it's not a very high chance. And almost always this results in twins. Yes, there have been cases of triplets from clomid, but this is rare. The VAST majority of Clomid births have been singletons.
Now injectible FSH drugs is where you need to be very, very careful. If not closely monitored these pregnancies can results in high-order multiples. I have twins from using Gonal-F.
I had to go have bloodwork and ultrasounds every 2, 3 or 4 days during the injection cycle, then after the "trigger shot", IUI in the office aka "the turkey baster".
My OB/GYN told me that Clomid doesn't raise your chances of multiples very much. Something like 7% or something and even then if you did have multiples it would be more likely to have twins than anything higher.
Actually my RE told me that overall, drugs (Clomid, Gonal-f and all the others) only increase multiples (all--twins or more) by about 17%. I had worried about it initially. And when the Gonal-f worked the first time, I wanted twins so bad....My DS is a little on the high maintenance side...he's very melodramatic, so it's good that he was a singleton. So far my Princess is much more laid back. But even after all the fertility treatments and drugs, I still had two singletons.
To the OP--it's hard to know the best thing to do. You know more about the entire situation and your DSis than any of us. I tried to give you some insight into the specific process since I have been down the fertility treatment road. Feel free to pm if you want anything specific answered.
Best of luck to you and your DSis (& the other family members being drug along for the ride!)
