Hormones/Drugs

To tell or not to tell, that is often the question when it comes to infertility struggles and treatment. When my husband and I first decided to try to have a child we adopted an "if it happens then great" attitude and didn't really think much about it beyond a general agreement that we thought we were ready and really hoped it "worked" soon. As the negative pregnancy tests piled up we began to realize that it might not be that easy and began to get a little more diligent in our efforts. We started tracking my cycles, taking basal body temperatures, and made sure that efforts to conceive were happening at the right time of the month… [more]

When I was taking the hormone Clomid, I struggled with hot flashes. I had heard about hot flashes from menopausal women, but I really did not understand what one was until I had one.

When I learned that hot flashes were a potential side effect, I was relieved that none happened while I was taking the Clomid. The hot flashes started about a week after I stopped taking the drug. Out of nowhere, I would suddenly feel very, very hot. I would start sweating, and I felt like the cartoon character that gets hot and has steam blowing out of his ears. Then, just as quickly, the hot flash would end, and I would be back to normal.

Hot flashes were particularly… [more]

When I was taking the hormone Clomid, I struggled with migraines. Not every woman experiences this side effect, but it is quite a challenge for those of us who do.

I would experience a migraine the first day on the pills and then the first day off. I believe this was due to my body adjusting to the presence and then absence of the hormones. I would feel irritable and aggressive. During that stage of my life, I was a very passive person, so some people were taken aback by my sudden aggressiveness.

Fluorescent lighting "hurt" my head, so going to work on migraine days was a real challenge. Whenever my migraine days fell on a weekend, it… [more]

When I told my sister that I had been hired to blog about fertility, the very first thing she said was that I had to share my French restaurant story on my blog. My husband and I are Chick-Fil-A kind of people, and we were invited to dine at a very expensive French restaurant with his company. For anyone who knows us, this is amusing enough. I happened to be taking Clomid at the time, and the side effects made for quite an amusing story.

The entire story is 1400 words long, which is much too long for this blog. So, I have excerpted just the parts that pertain to the Clomid side effects. I trust you will be amused… [more]

In my post Progesterone, I talked about my own experience with taking the hormone progesterone. Fertility specialists often prescribe progesterone supplements a few days after possible conception until either early in the pregnancy or a negative pregnancy test result. The progesterone supports the embryo until the umbilical cord is formed.

While I was sharing my story, I did not get into the different types of progesterone supplements that are available. During the course of my fertility treatments, my doctors prescribed progesterone to me in three different forms. I also include a fourth type, which I did not use.

Oral Tablets

My first experience with taking progesterone was as oral tablets. I had a hard time taking progesterone this way. The drug… [more]

I have two friends who were unable to get pregnant until they tried the drug Lupron. Both have gone on to conceive three healthy children. Because they were both successful, I thought I would provide you with information about this drug.

The technical name for Lupron is Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Analog (GnRH-a). (Try saying that five times quickly!) Lupron is one of several brand names for this drug. Since Lupron is a much easier name to read, I will use that name throughout this post. However, the information in this post refers to any of the brand names.

In a nutshell, Lupron works by shutting down the female reproductive system. While you are taking this drug, you will have no menstrual… [more]

Dr. M prescribed progesterone tablets, which he instructed me to start taking several days after the intrauterine insemination (IUI). Dr. M explained that the baby would receive nourishment from my body's progesterone until it attached to my uterus and formed an umbilical cord. If my progesterone levels were too low, then I might miscarry. That was all I needed to hear to take the pills.

I had a hard time taking the progesterone pills. They caused me to feel extremely depressed, which was the last thing I needed at this time in my life. By now, I had been trying to conceive for over a year, and I was ready to get this show on the road.

I… [more]

By this time, we were moving into the Fall, and I was ready to have an intrauterine insemination (IUI), get pregnant, and move on with my life. I wanted to announce our pregnancy over Christmas. This was going to be just perfect.

Unfortunately, Dr. M was not ready to try an IUI just yet. Instead, he wanted to try one month on Clomid and see how my body responded. He instructed us to try to conceive "the natural way" and see what happened.

Dr. M told me that some women might experience a headache or a few other side effects but that the side effects would not be that bad. To quote my six-year-old son: "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

Before I… [more]

ABC News Now, I realize that in some things I am behind the times. But I didn't realize how far behind I was until I started researching the connection between fertility drugs and the black market, most of the articles were from a few years back. But the article that I learned the most from was from the above link back in 2005. Now, I can really see where getting fertility drugs from the black market can be extremely dangerous. In fact, the doctor that is quoted in the article says that it is possible to even die from these drugs because there is no guarantee that they haven't been tampered with or that they are actually the drug that they are supposed to be. And that… [more]

I have been trying to expose myself to fertility problems that I myself did not experience. One of those avenues involved drug therapy. Well, maybe I shouldn't say "drug therapy" as I know that antidepressants really were helpful to me during recovery times. But as far as the drugs classified as fertility drugs, I don't have much experience with them or with the resulting lifestyle from taking them. Of course, I could turn to the random article or study to learn more. And at times, I do. But I would first like to turn to a blog. Imagine that! The first blog to come up on my google search was Jenn's Journal. The journal begins in 2004 and according to her bio on Momblogs… [more]