Clomid is a brand of fertility drug that contains the medication Clomiphene citrate. It is also sometime known as Serophene.
Clomid is a hormone used to induce ovulation, to correct irregular ovulation, to increase egg production and to correct a condition known as luteal phase deficiency.
In women with irregular menstruation, Clomid helps small and immature follicles grow to maturity (about 20 millimeters in diameter).
Clomid is typically taken in doses from 59 mg to 200 mg, and taken for 5-9 days.
It’s an effective fertility drug and doesn’t require injections.
Success rates of Clomid
If the lack of ovulation is the only cause of infertility, most women on Clomid treatment will achieve a pregnancy within four to six months of treatment.
How does Clomid work?
Clomid is a potent and complicated medication. Clomid reacts with all of the tissues in the body that have estrogen receptors, such as the hypothalamus, pituitary, ovary, endometrium, vagina, and cervix.
Clomid influences the way that the four hormones required for ovulation, Gonadotropin Releasing hormone (GnRH), FSH, LH and estradiol, relate and interrelate.
Structurally similar to estrogen, Clomid works as a selective estrogen modulator, by attaching itself to the estrogen receptor sites in the brain disallowing them to bind with naturally circulating estrogen. In response, the hypothalamus releases more GnRH, stimulating the pituitary to drain more LH and FSH, which then causes the ovary into producing more eggs and follicles, resulting in ovulation.
Generally, a woman taking Clomid doubles or triples the amount of estrogen production in that cycle compared to pretreatment cycles.
A woman with a low level of estradiol in her blood can lead to an inadequately stimulated, small follicle. Although she may have enough hormones to produce an egg, if her estradiol production is low (less than 100 pg/ml), she may not get ready to accept a fertilized egg for implantation. In such candidates, Clomid augments the stimulatory signals from the hypothalamus to the pituitary to the ovaries.
Clomid is also often effective in women with luteal phase defect (LPD). LPD causes a break in the natural ovulation process in women resulting in low production of the hormone progesterone in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Clomid has provably enhanced the hypothalamus and pituitary functions so as to keep producing the hormones the ovary needs to manufacture progesterone throughout the luteal phase, resulting in ovulation.
Side effects of Clomid
Women’s reactions to Clomid vary tremendously. Some women have no side effects whilst oter s have quite severe ones.
Side effects may include mood swings, hot flashes, breast tenderness, and a thinning of the uterine lining.
About 10% of those who use Clomid will have a multiple pregnancy.
Clomid can also cause hostile fertile mucus and thin the uterine lining in over 30 percent of the women who use it. The hostile mucus kills sperm, and the thin uterine can prevent implantation or cause an early miscarriage.
