When to take Clomid/Extended Cycle ?'s
8 Replies
aidansmom324 - June 22

I am starting my first round of Clomid tomorrow in ttc #3 (day 3 of my cycle). Based on experience, when is the best time to take it? I am also on thyroid medication for hypothyroidism and usually take that first thing in the morning. Also, My cycles have been 38-40 days (38 days apart since November; 40 days for the past two). My doctor is telling me to come in on day 21 to get bloodwork to check my levels. Is the clomid going to make me ovulate sooner, or will I ovulate on/about day 24 (based on 38 day cycle)? Any advice/experience is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Val - June 22

Hi~ Sounds like my situation is similar to yours... my cycle is also long (34-42 days) and I'm also on thyroid hormone! I just started clomid and took in in the evenings so I would hopefully sleep through most side effects. It seemed to work because I didn't notice any bad effects... in fact, I've been sleeping better and have been less emotional. Why did your doctor prescribe the clomid? Mine thinks I am ovulating (based on my charts) but prescribed it partially to test for fsh and partially in the hopes that my cycles would shorten. I believe he said that ovulation usually happens 5-8 days after you take the last clomid dose. Good luck to you!

 

aidansmom324 - June 22

Val,
Doctor's prescribing it to regulate my ovulation mostly. Before having #1 and #2, my cycles were 28 days, give or take a day either way. After I had my second, the first couple of cycles were a few days off.....then the next couple were about a week off...then about a week and a half longer....then now, for the past two, they have been 40 days. I have absolutely NO idea when I'm ovulating. He's going on the assumption/rule of thumb/whatever you want to call it that I'm o'ing 14 days before the beginning of my next cycle. He wants me to take the clomid days 3-7 and test my levels on day 21. The only thing I'm worried about is that I'm going to ovulate SOONER than that and by the time I go in to get the bloodwork the window of opportunity will have passed. I don't know if I should take my doctor's word and just go in on cd 21, or tell him I want to come in sooner. I just don't know. I hope this all works out though.....

 

soimpatient - June 22

When your doc checks for bloodwork it will tell you whether or not you have ovulated. For example, I had blood work done on cd 35 and it said that I O'd...Obviously, I didn't O on cycle day 38, but it is just confirming that I ovulated sometime before then. having your bloodwork done on cd21 sounds quite reasonable. He probably just wants to make sure that you DID O. Make sure you BD lots so you don't miss out on an opportunity! Sorry if this is confusing...I hope it makes sense

 

Val - June 23

Did the doctor say specifically what he is testing for? I think the 21day test is often for progesterone levels. It's usually done 7 days after you ovulate (so if you don't ovulate until cd 20, you'd probably go in on cd27 instead of 21. At least that's what my naturopath had said when she was going to check my progesterone levels a couple of months back.) You might want to check to see what he is testing for. If it's just to check to see if you are ovulating, then the date might not matter so much (as Soimpatient said). If you don't already use ovulation predictor kits, you might want to use them for this cycle - you'd get a pretty good idea of when you're about to ovulate. But since you took the clomid cd3-7, chances are you'll ovulated around cd14 which is perfect for the 21day test. Hope that all makes sense. I hope it all works out for you!!

 

aidansmom324 - June 24

I don't remember exactly what he said, but I'm assuming that the bloodwork would be to check and see if I'm going to o or already have o'd, like soimpatient said. So do you think that this month might just be a sort of a marker to gauge when I o? I tried the ovulation pred. kits a couple of times and they were hard as hell to read (trying to read half lines and all that); would it be worth it to get the digital ones? I don't have the money right now to get the Clearblue EFM :(

 

Val - June 27

hi again... sorry it took so long to write back - I was out of town since Friday! re: ovulation predictor kits...do you have dollar stores in your town? Because I really like the tests from the dollar stores... they seem accurate (my temps always rise a couple of days after I get the dark line) and easier to read than some of the others. My dr had me use the clear blue ones (just the regular tests, not the monitor) this cycle, and they are sooo hard to read! I'm really not sure if I got a positive or not. If you can, get the dollar store ones, or maybe go online - some websites sell them for a really good price. I got preseed from early-pregnancy-tests.com (there are dashes between each word in the web address) and my order arrived really quickly.

 

Tammy276 - June 28

Hi ladies. Thought I would jump in and ask a few questions. When you asked your doc. about Clomid, how long did it take them to start you on it? Did you have to go in for test too? I was thinking about asking my doc about it, but I already started my AF, on CD 6 right now., and think it is too late to start it this month. I normaly have a 40 - 45 day cycle, very long. So maybe they would still start me on it this month? It could still shorten my cycle. ANY advice on clomid would b helpful. Thanks.

 

Val - June 28

hi Tammy... I don't know if the doctor would have you start clomid since you are already on cd6... from everything I've read, most people seem to start by cd6 at the latest. I didn't actually ask my doctor to go on clomid - he suggested it. I had a miscarriage last August at 9 weeks and hadn't gotten pg since. My cycles are around 33-45 days long, and I've been charting and both my ob/gyn and the fertility dr said that it appears from my temps that I'm ovulating. My dh had a sperm test (normal) and when we went to see the fertility specialist, he said that given my age (36) he wanted me to do the clomid challenge test (where they test FSH on cd3 and cd10). (My results turned out normal - definitely a big relief!) Plus he thought that the clomid would hopefully shorten my cycles. The plan that the dr gave us was to do the clomid for 3 months, then do an HSG (to check the tubes), and then move on to IUI for 3 months if we have to. Some questions for you... do you chart your temperature? How long have you been trying? Good luck to you...

 

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