Is clomid a must if not ovulating?

[shoesandwine]

Bit of background info: I'm 33, DH 40 and I came off the pill in May of last year. No luck with TTC yet. My cycles were consistently 34/35 days with visible signs of ovulation (slight pain, CM) until December, when I had a 49 day-cycle. Went to GP who said no big deal and basically sent me away and told me to come back in the summer if no BFP by then. I then had another 34 (normal for me) cycle, and now I'm on CD 52 with no sign of AF.

I'm guessing this means I'm not ovulating (not really surprising as lots of fertility issues in my family linked to not ovulating, although no PCOS found in anyone to date).

My question is whether a specialist will push me to take clomid? Is it the only option or can anything else be done? And, setting TTC aside (having a baby isn't really the "be all and end all" for me and DH - we're more a "let's see what happens, we'd be happy about a pregnancy but not the end of the world if we stay child-free), do gynae specialists tend to push to get the ovulation issue sorted for other reasons?

I only say because apart from the unpredictable nature of my cycles, I actually feel really good compared to the first months after stopping the pill: no mood swings, light periods with very little pain compared to the pill, no bloating, good skin. I'm worried about the prospect of being pumped full of stuff and prodded and tested (I freak out big time about smears and have needed vodka to get me through them in the past ).

[EuroShaggleton]

Well there is no obligation to have any investigations or treatment that you don't want. I guess it depends how much you are prepared to go through to get a baby. I never thought I'd do IVF but now I am.

If you aren't ovulating at all, you are never going to get pregnant. Clomid is probably the lowest intervention fix for that available. If you are ovulating some months at not others, it might just take a bit longer (assuming everything else for you and your husband is in working order).

[shoesandwine]

Thanks, Euro. I just get a bit anxious at the doctor's and was worried about being put under pressure. I should have added that I live in continental Europe and the system is semi-private, so they like to push from treatment (even when not entirely necessary).

[shoesandwine]

Er...well, yes, I do get anxious about health issues, but that's also because the approach is very different in the country I live in, so they bombard you with information on possible side effects so you can make an "informed choice" (scare you into spending more money), which is a bit overwhelming if you're used to the UK where your GP tends to be fairly friendly and relaxed.

I didn't mean to insult anyone with "being pumped full of stuff", so I'm sorry if I did.

[EuroShaggleton]

I completely understand the anxiety about taking medication. I hate doing it. Mr Euro had to hide the large box of drugs that came for IVF from me because it completely freaked me out (with good cause as it turned out, as I ended up reacting badly to one of the drugs).

Clomid is not without side effects but it is usually the first port of call where someone is not ovulating. Some drs use an alternative called Letrozole. I tried that one.

[shoesandwine]

I haven't done ovulation sticks yet - we both wanted to take a relaxed approach to the whole thing, but I guess it would give me a better idea of what's going on.

I've actually asked for the topic to be deleted now, as I realised I might have caused major offence to people taking TTC more seriously/people on Clomid. I guess next time I should think before I type.
Thanks for the replies anyway!

[EuroShaggleton]

I don't see any reason to have the thread deleted. I think most of us have had concerns and queries about moving towards assisted conception so your query was perfectly valid.

[shoesandwine]

It's ok, quietly, I just had a panic and thought that if other people tend to be anxious like me, I may have made them worry. Electronic messages are hard sometimes.

(Mental note as to how often I used words like "panic", "worry" and "anxious" in there - can you tell I hate all things medical?)

I thought I had been ovulating (and GP thought so too) based on the 35 day cycles. AF came bang on 14 days after I felt the OV symptoms. But I've also read that you can get symptoms without ovulating. It's all much more complicated than I thought.

Will have a look on Ebay for the sticks (if AF ever turns up and I ever start a next cycle). You have to buy them in a pharmacy here and they cost a bomb.

I didn't realise that you know when you ovulate with Clomid. How can you tell? Or is it very obvious?

[EuroShaggleton]

Clomid cycles should be monitored (although they are not always) so you would have scans and from those they will be able to predict what day you will ovulate.

I have loads of sympathy for how you feel. It has taken me a long while to get my head around AC and I have had to work up through the ranks in baby steps (cycle monitoring, then letrozole, then IUI, then natural IVF).

[shoesandwine]

It probably would be monitored here, everything is. I once had a doctor who wanted to do smears every 3 months.

Thanks for the advice and good luck with the IVF!

[ScarlettInSpace]

You could ask for an un-medicated monitored cycle, so some well timed bloods & scans? Just a thought, if you don't want to jump straight in to treatment, at least then you can feel you understand why your cycle is irregular without any intervention?