My experience: Femara VS Clomid

Ding-ding: Round 1

So as you may know I tried Femara this time around, and have tried Clomid about 10 times in total (and injectables about 3 times as well) Very resistant to fertility treatments here... go me. You may also recall I recently had Ovarian Diathermy with Uterine Septum resection (good times)



With Clomid in the past I required 150-200mg to respond- and that's with the help of Metformin and Glucocortiods (still using these). My second pregnancy was actually from 200mg, unmonitored with no trigger.

When we jumped back on Clomid after surgery, we started at 150mg. I actually produced 2 follicles. But it did not result in a pregnancy.

We tried the 150mg again. Negative on responding at all- my body didn't even attempt it. Upped to 200mg in same cycle, and we got 2-3 follicles. But negative on pregnancy. Again.

I also had bad hot flashes, reduced cervical mucous, ovarian tenderness, painful bloating after trigger, and increased migraines. It also made my basal body temperature rocky and unpredictable at times, but I can't be sure if that's because of the high dose of Clomid, my batteries wearing out (haven't changes them in 2 years), my other medicine use, or my recent surgery.



So this time we decided to give Femara a try. Why the hell not? I'd never tried it before, and many women do seem to have better responses to it.

So I had less hot flashes, less migraines, a little better cervical mucous (although still not spectacular), and I haven't been feeling my ovaries hardly at all. My temperature has been much more stable, but I'm not sure what's up with that.

The Femara also produced one mature follicle, on the right. No stragglers- just the one. Which, to me, is much better than my normal zero.

We triggered Thursday, and I start progesterone supplements on Sunday.



So, the doses of Femara go 2.5, 5, and 7.5mg. I only used 5mg to get my follicle.
On Clomid you can do 50, 100, 150, 200mg (some women do 250mg- rare) I required 150-200mg of that.

On the Femara I still need the higher end, but it doesn't seem as bad as the Clomid. It at least gives me some alternatives to try should one stop working, or the other, etc... to vary it up at least.



Do I prefer one over the other? Not really. I like having less side effects this time around, but my Clomid side effects weren't really that bad anyway. Will I try Femara again, should this cycle not work? I think I will, but I have no qualms to going back to Clomid- or even alternating what meds I use what cycle.

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Eventually I will stop treatments, maybe in a few months, maybe at the end of the year (if I keep responding). Nothing is solid, except the knowledge that we are in the process of closing this chapter. For now though, I suppose we keep skipping along one month at a time.

On the adoption front, we are busy clearing up our credit and implementing a budget. Our goal is to buy a house in the next year, because we'd really like to have that done before starting adoption. I am also planning on getting a second part-time job, or a new full-time job so we can save money all the more quickly. After we do that, we are still considering adopting through the state while saving for private infant adoption.
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Slightly unrelated- I will be having a giveaway on here in the next week, just trying to figure out how to do it. I've never done this before~