Clomid

And so I began Clomid. I was very nervous as I took my first Clomid pill. I read message boards, and heard lots of horror stories about Clomid: One girl was rushed to the ER with horrible abdominal pain and had to have surgery to deflate her enlarged ovaries. And, of course, she just had to post pictures with this! Then there were stories of horrible side effects: weight gain, terrible moodiness, severe ovary pain, the list goes on and on. And I am a papranoid person with a touch of hypochondria. I always think the worst is going to happen. So taking that first pill was scary. But I did it. And I took the rest of the pills.

Amazingly enough, my side effects were not bad. Day 4 of the Clomid I had some sharp pains in my ovaries, and while it did hurt, I was more paranoid that it was going to get worse or not stop at all. Later in the month, I had more pain in the ovary area that hurt. I was at work, wlaking, and I must have had a pained look on my face because a co-worker stopped me.
"Are you ok, Heather?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled weakly.
Luckily the pains subsided and I went about my normal teaching day.

Because of the pains, I was convinced the Clomid was working! I would be pregnant in no time! Every day I religiously took my temperature, felt my cervix, and checked my cervical fluid. A year ago, I would have laughed if you told me I would be checking me cervix!

Finally, it looked as though I ovulated! I was ecstatic since there had been nothing since I began. I tried not to get TOO happy though. I knew if my temperatures didn't stay up, that would mean no ovulation. As it was, the charting software only gave me dotted lines which meant I might not have ovulated. A few days later, my temps dropped. I did not ovulate. I was devastated. My doctor had said before he wanted to put me on metformin because he thought I had PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). However, he said this based on one thing: no ovulation. He never bothered to look at my medical history, do any bloodwork, or even an ultrasound. I didn't want to start metformin because it lowers your blood sugar. I already have problems with low blood sugar if I do not east every 2-3 hours. I had a feeling the metformin would make that worse.

So, I called my doctor and asked for the 100 mg. of clomid. He said ok! But as I thought about it and read more about clomid, I began to worry. What if I had cysts? You are not supposed to take clomid if you have cysts! It can make the cysts grow and that can be painful as well as dangerous. I tried not to think about it, but as the days continued, I kept worrying. So, I called my doctor and left him a message asking if I needed a pelvic exam to check for cysts. But I have a feeling I know what his answer will be: NO. Already with the fist dose of clomid, I had called him after I thought I might have ovulated and asked if I could a progesterone blood test. If your progesterone is over a certain number, it means you did ovulate. His response was that the numbers wouldn't tell us anything and it was expensive. Hello? This is MY body and MY money! I probably should have insisted that I wanted it done, but being the wimp that I am, I did not.

After that incident, I also made an appointment with the other OB in the office. Of course, it takes 2 months to get an appointment. But when I do go to that appointment, it will be almost 1 year that I've been Trying To Conceive. So, I will ask the new doctor if he will give me a referral to the fertility clinic. I would feel a LOT better if I was monitored while on clomid.