Clomid Is Often the First Step in Fertility Treatment

If you are having trouble getting pregnant, starting Clomid may be one of the first fertility treatments you consider.

Often, a woman experiences infertility because she is not ovulating regularly or not ovulating at all. When this happens, a fertility doctor may use controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) to stimulate the growth and development of ovarian follicles to produce multiple eggs and increase the chances of getting pregnant.

To stimulate the ovaries, the woman takes fertility medications. There are many different kinds of stimulation medications, both in pill form and injectables. However, one of the most common and simple fertility medications is clomiphene citrate (Clomid). Clomid is a first-line fertility treatment that blocks estrogen receptors and “tricks” a woman’s body into thinking it is low in estrogen. This trick stimulates the production of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), both of which are needed to induce ovulation.

Clomid is taken orally and may be used alone or in conjunction with other fertility treatments such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF). In general, the fertility doctor prescribes a dose of 50 mg daily for five days, and the does is increased of ovulation does not occur.

Generally, a baseline blood and ultrasound are performed early in the menstrual cycle, and Clomid is started within three to five days of the beginning of the cycle. The fertility doctor monitors your response to the fertility medication through blood tests and ultrasound and may give you an HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) trigger shot when the follicles are mature. Then, sex or insemination is timed for about 36 hours after the trigger shot.