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Clomid newbie....

ryanhlryanhl Posts: 116
in Share Your Experience
I had my day 4 ultrasound. The doctor said that I had 2 follicles on each side....but that a typical 36 year old has 6 on each side. I am going to start clomid today. Should I be concerned? Do you produce a different number of follicles each month or is that all I have to work with? Will the clomid make me produce more or just work with what I have? Thank you so much for sharing...I'm so confused? :)

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    hill@netnitco.nethill@netnitco.net Posts: 59
    Well, you could still produce more but 2 follicles on each side is not necessarliy a bad thing. The clomid will force those follicles to grow into a nice size and remember you will always have a leader follicle. I am 34 and only had one good one with menopur shots. I had other but they were not viable. Try and get the sizes. If I understand correctly anything over 14 can be produce a viable egg (meaning able to be fertilized. Once the leader follie bursts so do the others. Your surge will warn you this is about to happen which is when you are inseminated witin a timeframe tbd by your RE. If you are taking a trigger and not just home OPT then the size of your follies will determine when you take the trigger.

    I am on my 4th cycle (I took clomid but did not respond). All my clomid cycles were unmonitored so for this cycle I injected menopur (FSH). had a monitored cycle and am now in the dreaded 2WW.

    I had so many questions so if there is anything at all I can help with I would be more than happy to. If my experience can ease anyone elses mind it would me nice.

    Good luckZ!
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    ryanhlryanhl Posts: 116
    Hill,

    Thank you so much for the information. I'm am definately feeling down today. I was crushed to find out that I only have 2 follicles on each side and that other people have 6. I talked with the nurse again today and she said that the 4 (total) was all we had to work with using clomid(give or take a little room for error). She said that they will measure the follicles when I come for the 2nd ultrasound next Tuesday. Wish me luck!!! Thanks again for responding. I hope your 2WW passes quickly... with a great result. :)
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    hill@netnitco.nethill@netnitco.net Posts: 59
    Remember it only takes one to get pregnant. I am sure with the clomid they are going to grow into nice viable eggs. Four is better than none. If she can see them this early I think that is great.

    Keep in touch.
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    kimi723kimi723 Posts: 231
    ryanhl,

    You must be referring to your antral follicle count. Antral follicles are used to predict your ovarian reserve. The more antral follicles you have (norm ~ 5-6 per ovary) the more likely that your ovarian reserve is still good.

    Taking clomid should help you develop 1-3 "dominant" follicles which will contain an egg for fertilization. (Without the clomid you usually only produce 1 dominant follicle).

    In general, the better your ovarian reserve, the more likely you should respond to the stimulant medications (ie clomid and others).

    Don't get too discouraged. Lots of women get pregnant with low ovarian reserve. You may want to ask your doctor to check your FSH level. Which is also used to predict your ovarian reserve. If this level is high, you may want to discuss with your doctor what you need to do to be more aggressive.

    I recently found out (after 8 unsuccessful IUIs) that my antral follicle is low (2-3 per ovary) and my FSH is fairly high (14). Despite this, I still had good response to clomid - just didn't end up with a successful pregnancy. I am moving to IVF in order to work aggressivly with what my body has... I am hopeful that I will respond well to the IVF stimulant meds since I did with clomid despite my "old ovaries". BTW, I'm 37.


    Hope this helps you,
    Kimberly
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    ryanhlryanhl Posts: 116
    Hill,
    Thanks... I'm really hoping the medication will help. :)

    Kimberly,
    Thanks for sharing your story & information with me. This process can be overwhelming & I always think of questions later that I wished I would of asked about. I wish that I would have found out earlier that my follicle count was low, then I could of gone straight to medication (I had 3 unsuccessful natural IUI's). My FSH count was an 8 (not great... but in the OK range). I talked with the nurse about upping the clomid dose because of the low follicles, but she said to try the low dose first. (I know it's a process.... I just would like to speed it up a bit). :) Good luck with IVF.... I hope this is the ONE for you.

    Heather
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    kimi723kimi723 Posts: 231
    Heather,

    Sounds like they are just wanting to go through the "process" like you said...

    Just a thought, my 1st FSH one year ago was 5.9 - based on this I thought everything was great. Now 1 year later it is 14. I asked the RE how could it jump so quickly in 1 year!!??!! His response (and what I read on the internet) is that your FSH number varies month to month. You may have some low months and some higher months, but overall they judge your ovarian reserve by your highest number ever. No matter how low it was last month or next month...

    Since your antral follicle is low, you may ask them to repeat your FSH if your next couple of IUIs are not successful. No big deal in my opinion since you go to the RE for a cycle day 3 sonogram before starting the clomid each month. You're already there, they might as well draw the blood!

    Not trying to discourage you, but after hearing what I did, I really wish we had moved to IVF sooner and not wasted money on so many IUIs.

    Good Luck!!
    Kimberly
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