The Clomid Cycle

I have started my first cycle of Clomid (Clomiphene).

I'm both excited and nervous about starting this journey. Clomid can give you some side effects such as nausea, breast tenderness, headaches and abdominal pain. Your body is doing some pretty significant stuff while taking this medication! Clomid works by stimulating an increase in the amount of hormone that helps to grow and release a mature egg. Basically, I have eggs but due to the hormone imbalance and other factors, my eggs just don't mature enough to release - ovulate. This medication will give it a boost of good hormones in order to make an egg mature. 

So my month is pretty much mapped out for me and detailed by my specialist. I've talked about CD's in the last post but just for a refresher - CD = Calendar Days - the amount of days since the start of my last period. 

Here is what a month of Clomid looks like:

• CD1 - Start period.
• CD2 - Start Clomid - 1 tablet/day x 5 days.
• CD8 - Blood test.
• CD10 - Ultrasound visit to the specialist.
• CD21 - Blood test.
• CD29 - Pregnancy blood test.

Phew - are you tired just looking at how much work and visits to medical facilities I have to do? They really do monitor you the whole way through the month!

Here is a breakdown of what each of these tests are looking for:

• CD8 Blood test: This blood test is to check my levels to see if it looks like I have eggs that are going to be mature enough to ovulate. If my levels are higher than 2000 then we will be advised to cancel trying to conceive that month due to a risk of multiple pregnancy!
• CD10 Ultrasound: This ultrasound is to see if there are any eggs ready to release by measuring the diameter of eggs seen on the scan. If there are more than 3 eggs measuring larger than 16mm in diameter then again, we will be advised to cancel trying to conceive. 
• CD21 Blood test: This blood test is to see how my progesterone levels are. A high progesterone level will indicate that I did indeed ovulate! Hurray!
• CD29 Blood test: To check if we are pregnant!

I am currently on CD4 (3 days of taking Clomid - 2 to go!) So far I have only had some nausea and a bit of fatigue/grumpiness. Nothing major thankfully but the smell of my favourite herbal tea this morning nearly sent me to put my head over the toilet bowl!

So - here we go!