Good luck! You have convinced me to ask about Femara instead of Clomid. I have read so many good things about it for PCOS’ers
Thanks [name_f]Maggie[/name_f] & [name_u]Shilo[/name_u]!
@shilo- Yes I would definitely go for it! Good [name_m]Luck[/name_m] and wishing for the best for you!
Allielle-That is great news and I hope you get your BFP this cycle.
[name_f]Maggie[/name_f]-I hope you ovulate soon and that you have a great trip. You definitely deserve the time away!!
[name_m]Hi[/name_m] all, hope you don’t mind me joining your thread. DH and I have been trying for 24 months now and have done 3 months of letrozole (femara) and timed BDing and 1 cycle of iui with letrazole. There were a couple breaks in our 2 plus years of trying cuz of military schools my husband had to leave for. We’ve both done all the tests and I’ve had a lap and found mild endo, they said nothing to worry about tho. DH has low morphology and motility but a good count. Started letrozole tuesday and we are hoping to do another iui next week. One thing I would have to say about letrozole is that it gives me horrible migraines but never affects my lining, they always say it looks perfect when I go in for my second ultrasound. If this round doesn’t work we are gonna do 1 more iui in [name_f]April[/name_f]. DH has to leave for another military school [name_f]April[/name_f] 13 so if that iui doesn’t work we will miss [name_f]May[/name_f] because he will be gone but at that point we are gonna have to look at ivf. Really hoping one of these iui works and we don’t have to go there. [name_m]Just[/name_m] had a friend to ivf with diminished ovarian reserve and they only had 1 egg fertilize and then it wasn’t viable… thats alot of money for a gamble but at this point i would do anything for a BFP!
Hey all, I hope you don’t mind me butting into your thread, as I am certainly not TTC. But I thought you might be interested in a review of the evidence supporting Femara over Clomid.
In case you’re not familiar with the Cochrane Reviews, they systematically comb through the literature and look at every single study conducted on a particular question (in this case, the effectiveness of Femara v Clomid and lap ovarian drilling) to see if any meaningful conclusions can be drawn.
In this case, Femara was superior to Clomid in women with PCOS both in the pregnancy rate and in the live birth rate. There was no difference in the most worrisome complication, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. If you read at the very bottom, though, the authors caution that the quality of the evidence isn’t the best given that many of the studies could have been biased towards Femara.
Regardless, worth asking about!
Thanks for the info [name_m]Blade[/name_m] 
Good luck, Allielle! Sounds very promising!
Thanks for the link, blade!
Had my appointment today. [name_f]My[/name_f] ovaries have a few tiny cysts on them but nothing concerning or major that requires surgery. As of now everything looks normal unless my pap comes back abnormal. She did let me go up to 1500mg of Metformin instead of the 1000mg I’ve been on. In 3 months if I am not ovulating or getting AF then we will try Femara. I’ve definitely decided to try it before Clomid. If I don’t get AF by [name_f]April[/name_f] 6th (last one was Feb. 6th) then she wants me to take Provera again to bring it on. Fingers crossed that it comes on its own and I ovulate.
And in 28 days I have lost 10 pounds! Yay. Metformin is my new bff for that. I’m not sure I have mentioned it but the PCOS made me gain about 70 pounds in 2 years. I put on weight like crazy when my symptoms got bad. [name_f]My[/name_f] goal is to lose 50 to 100 pounds long term. Right now I’m focusing on 50.
Metformin is a wonder drug-- average weight loss is usually about 30-35lbs in total. [name_f]Glad[/name_f] you’re having a good response.
I am freaking out a little today! I take an ovulation test every morning and they always look the same. I didn’t get a positive yet but today’s test was noticeably darker than all of my others immediately. I really hope this is the start of something and not a fluke. I have not ovulated in a few years.
[name_u]Shilo[/name_u]- thats great!!! hope that line keeps getting darker!!
wow [name_u]Shiloh[/name_u]! I hope this means good things for you too!!!
Update for me, I started my period the day I thought I would, tues the 25th. So I went in to have my consultation on the IUI, everything went fine. She says we dont look like a hopeless case and she does see us getting pregnant with help. Our chances with the IUI are 8-10%, lower than I thought it would be =( which sort of crushed my spirits. But she did say it was fine to give femera a shot and see how it works with my body (I have no known issues with ovulating, this is just to give my husband more targets to hit) My only fear is that I will ovulate too many eggs and have to wait till the following month to do the IUI. I dont mind the risk of twins but I am not willing to risk quints and lose them all. So we will see. I have an ultrasound scheduled for the 9th of march to check my eggs after femera. I’m SO excited!!! fricken nervous as hell and have cried a couple times because this whole process is stressful and expensive with no guarantees, but in the same light we are boosting our odds so I’m excited!
Im sorry I dont check in as much as I should or respond all that well, Im usually on my phone and its annoying to type out long responses on a tiny screen…
I am hoping the best for you ladies!!! I would love to see us all get pregnant this year!!! Things are sounding pretty dang hopeful for some of you!!!
Butterflykisses—It looks like you and I started ttc around the same time! We are doing our second iui on weds, march 5th. I have only ever had 2 follicles be big enough to trigger on femara. That was something my RE told me, that with femara you have lower chances of multiples, maybe 2 but usually not more. This month, we only got 1 that was a good size, and I’ve always had regular cycles, so don’t worry about having more than 2 follies. Everybody is defferent tho. I’m wishing you lots and lots of babydust and hope that your first iui works!!!
I don’t know if I mentioned this or not, but my husband and I made an appointment with a fertility clinic for [name_u]March[/name_u] 31. By then, we’ll have tried for thirteen cycles. My period is due this [name_m]Saturday[/name_m]. I tested this morning (my usual habit is to test at 10DPO, then when it’s negative, I psych myself up for next cycle and am not too disappointed when my period arrives). Well, this morning’s test was negative. So, yeah. Good luck everyone.
Good luck at your appointment, [name_f]Sarah[/name_f]. Hopefully you will get some answers.
I’m having a terrible day today. I am so depressed about TTC and have been crying all day. It has been 1,271 days since we started TTC and not one single positive (pregnancy or ovulation). That’s a depressing number.
[name_u]Shiloh[/name_u], I’m so sorry hun 
this is such a difficult road and it isn’t fair. You sound like you have been through a lot. When was the last time you and hubby took a vacation? I know nothing ever really takes your mind totally off ttc but sometimes it’s good to change up scenery and be distracted for a lil bit. [name_f]My[/name_f] heart hurts for you.
Kliendavis, good luck on your IUI! Omgosh that was today yea? So you have been trying for a couple years now too? It’s hard isn’t it? Oh gosh, the tww is killer. Good luck again! [name_u]Baby[/name_u] dust!!!
[name_f]Sarah[/name_f], any ideas of what they are going to suggest about you and your husbands situation?
Thanks for the information, [name_m]Blade[/name_m]. That will provide some good background as we move forward, as I’m thinking either Clomid or Femara will be in my future.
I’ve been on vacation, so here’s a bit of an update on what’s been happening: I never noticed ovulation last cycle, as there was definitely no temperature rise, so I didn’t anticipate AF arriving while I was away. On [name_f]Tuesday[/name_f], I had some spotting and I thought it might turn into AF. I kind of panicked because I am supposed to start cycle monitoring this cycle and didn’t want to be calling home from Dominican Republic to book the tests. I was able to email my clinic and the nurse told me to come in on Friday morning. Then the spotting stopped, so I have no idea whether it was the shortest AF ever, or just random bleeding.
We got home last night. The holiday was great, but I spent all of [name_f]Wednesday[/name_f] worrying about my cycle and then my husband sprained his ankle so traveling was awful. Then I had to go in for an ultrasound this morning at around 7am. The clinic was great and able to sneak me in. I had two ultrasounds (pelvic and trans-vaginal - oh joy…) as well as blood work and was able to see my doctor. She said the ultrasounds don’t show any evidence that the bleeding was ovulation bleeding, so we might as well call this a new cycle. I have to go in tomorrow for more blood work, [name_f]Tuesday[/name_f] for a sonohysterogram, and next Friday for another ultrasound. [name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s ankle is still in rough shape and he has not been sleeping well, so together we’re falling apart. :-S
I also have a new nephew, born on [name_f]Wednesday[/name_f] morning. His name is [name_m]Luke[/name_m] [name_u]Gray[/name_u].son Cha.im (obviously without the added punctuation), and I’m excited to meet him soon!
Congrats on your new nephew, [name_f]Maggie[/name_f]! Sorry you and your husband aren’t so well health-wise.
I’m 13DPO, AF due today, but hasn’t started yet. Negative pregnancy test this morning. I’m assuming I’m out this month. It’s not unheard of for my AF to be a day late here and there.
Thank you, [name_f]Sarah[/name_f]! I’ll meet little [name_m]Luke[/name_m] tomorrow and am very excited about it. Sorry to hear about AF coming. Good luck for the next cycle.
I had my sonohysterogram today. This is where they inject saline into your uterus and use an ultrasound to get a picture of the uterus and fallopian tubes. It definitely wasn’t the most pleasant experience of my life, but aside from some cramping it wasn’t too bad. [name_f]My[/name_f] uterus looks healthy; the doctor said it was “beautiful and photogenic” (um, what?), and my tubes are open. The ovaries have cysts on them, but that’s consistent with PCOS and no surprise. I’ll have a follow-up with her soon to look at option going forward.
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] you are all doing well! Any news from you ladies?
Not much going on here with me. I have decided I want to start Femara (similar to Clomid) now instead of waiting until [name_u]June[/name_u]. I just don’t want to waste anymore time and I’m optimistic about Femara. I talked to my OBGYN’s office today about it and the nurse said she’d talk to my doctor about starting it and call me back. Hoping they’ll let me do it. If so then I will be taking Provera on [name_f]April[/name_f] 1st to bring on AF and should get AF around [name_f]April[/name_f] 8th if it goes like last time. Would do Femara on [name_f]April[/name_f] 10th - 14th (CD 3-7). If it works for me, I should ovulate for the first time in about 5 years around mid-late [name_f]April[/name_f]. I really hope this works.