Thinking of asking GP for clomid - help please

Need some advice ladies.

I have a ds who is almost 19mths old. It only took 6mths to conceive him naturally which was amazing since I only had 3 cycles in that time. Very long irregular cycles nothing was under 40 days and longests was 60.

I am still b/f him we are down to 2 feeds a day and am thinking of dropping one of them. I don't want to fully wean him yet but we aren't getting pregnant.

af returned at Christmas and I am on my 4th cycle, the first 2 I am pretty certainly from temping that I didn't O, last cycle I did and this cycle I don't think I have (cd31 so far) my cycles are more regular than bc (36 - 43day) but I really want to get pregnant fast as I wanted ds to be close in age to his siblings and every day he is getting older, and I really don't want to have to wait another 6mths for anyone to listen to me. I did have some bloods done about 2mths ago and am waiting for af then will get some more. I have research a bit on the net about clomid and hear about the many success stories.

Should I make an appointment to my GP and ask to try clomid?

Hi Baby Blue Eyes,

I'm a bit new to all this fertility talk and have only just read up on what Clomid is but I'd say your GP is definitely a good place to start. I'm not sure if GPs can prescribe it (there's a thread asking this question not too far below your thread) but your GP can at least refer you to a Fertility Specialist who can help you with these sort of queries.

But that will take some time I imagine!

Try your GP and take it from there.

Cheers
OP

I would make a GP appointment and get a referral to see a FS. The FS will do some tests and work out what the best route to go is.

I used Clomid (pregnant on 4th cycle of Clomid), I had cycles like yours. Long, irregular, and I wasn't ovulating and the FS found I had PCOS, my hormones were all over the place and I needed monitoring and ultrasounds while I was on the Clomid to make sure I didn't develop OHSS. I also needed a HCG injection to pop the eggs out as my hormones just didn't do the right thing. For that reason, I don't know that a GP will (or should) just prescribe Clomid to you without any fertility investigations or monitoring as it can have some nasty side effects and you definately don't want OHSS.

But go have a chat with teh GP about it for sure. They might be able to recommend something else.

Baby Blue Eyes, I understand your frustrations and the desire to have your children within a certain age gap (I ended up with longer gap than I wanted too) but i would advise caution with Clomid. I got pg on the second cycle with DD but we were trying for close to a year with DS - I went off the pill and didn't have a period for over 100 days!!!! I was charting and it was clear I just wasn't ovulating. I had all the tests and there was "nothing wrong" - I apparently wasn't ovulating for no reason. I did 3 cycles of clomid and the drugs made me terribly depressed and those 3 cycles were unsuccessful. I then went "natural" again, hoping the clomid had kick started my body and also because the timing would have been wrong on the clomid anyway (I would have been away on conference at the time I was going to O on the clomid!) I had 2 longish cycles (about 50 days) and was pregnant on the second one.

My husband said I was really depressed and difficult to live with while on clomid - he was ready to chuck the whole TTC thing in and didn't like at all what it was doing to me. I felt terrible and like it would never happen for me again, and he felt under pressure. While I'm not suggesting that it will do the same to you (many women have good expereinces with it) I would be inclined to try all the other options first - ie, chart for a while, maybe use OPK's, take the supplements that everyone talks about and all that. I'm pretty sure also that GP's won't prescribe it, they'll most likely send you to a specialist, who will likely respond better if you can walk in having done your "homework" so to speak - ie present him with your charts, tell him all the steps you've taken and then ask assertively for clomid! I really hope you get pg really soon and that you don't have to travel down the AC path.

On the other side, I wanted my kids closer together by about a year and a half, but it didn't work out that way, and now I have found that the way we have it has many unexpected benefits - both financial and social (DD absolutely LOVES her brother to death!) and my maternity leave worked out to coincide with when DD started school!

thank you for all your help.

Last night I was looking over my blood test results from last month and saw on it that I was meant to go back to my GP to talk about my hormone results but the receiptist told me everything was normal and to get my thryoid re-tested in 3mths time

my thryoid is on the border line of being classed as an inactive thryoid 0.4
my progesterone was 2nmo1/L and my fsh was 13 u/l and from the info I have been able to gleam on the net this isn't great

have made an appointment for Monday to discuss this with my GP

oh and I have been charting for 5mths (4cycles) since af returned, the first 2 no sign of ovulation but I understand that is normal after b/f (still b/f down to 1 or 2 feeds a day) 3 cycle I was very certain that I ovulated and this cycle nothing certain. Oh and I had a werid af last cycle that lasted for 12 days most of it spotting but normally I only have a 5day cycle and the previous af to that was really light

It's good that you have made an apointment with the GP to discuss your bloodwork - I'm sorry that your hormonal levels seem to be out of whack :( Hopefully they can work out what is causng this and then they will have something to work with to get it all sorted out. Good luck for Monday!

fak
I'm not ovulating. GP is sending me for some more thryoid tests and am going back in to get the results next week - still not sure if it is pcos or thryoid, I guess we will have a better idea next week. I know I did O last cycle and due to my unusal bleeding there is a chance I had an early mc but noone will ever know the answer to that one

I am feeling better that I am not crazy and that my new GP is listening.

I brought up clomid and she said that if I want to get things moving quickly (which I do) we can discuss it next week more. DH doesn't want me to take it as it is a 'drug' but I don't care I need some help in this department and will take all the help I can.

Baby Blue Eyes - I don't ovulate at all and am about to start ovulation induction via FSH injections. This is another alternative to clomid. Perhaps you could mention this to your Dr to see what they think - but I definitely think you should see a FS about this issue, because it's what they specialize in, and in my experience a GP doesn't always know all the options etc.

Wishing you all the luck in the world!

thanks Mrs P, I think if the GP allows me to go on clomid I will try that for a bit as what ever I have isn't completely affecting my cycles as I do O from time to time and think maybe the boast of clomid will help. If it doesn't help I will certainly look into going to a fs

Thyroid problems can cause fertility issues so deal with that first before you try clomid.

Also remember that clomid is associated with multiple births. There's a show on Foxtel at the moment with a couple who were having trouble conceiving baby number two who took it and ended up having quintuplets. No IVF, no other fertility drugs, just plain old clomid.

I used clomid for a while but got huge mood swings whilst on it and I didn't fall pregnant whilst taking it. Thyroid problems can also cause huge mood swings (a workmate is going through this at the moment) and if you add clomid to the mix it could be very volatile.

Best of luck for getting your issues sorted.