Letrozole - First cycle starting next week

[PollyAnnie]

Hi,

As title says, I will be starting Letrozole next week. I'm a bit nervous, was wondering if anyone would mind sharing their experiences.

I have PCOS so long cycles. I do ovulate (pretty sure), however it can be hard to pinpoint exactly when. So Letrozole is the next option.

I struggle never knowing when my period will come, it really gets me down and I find TTC really stressful because of this. My cycles can be anywhere between 30 - 55 days. Do those on Letrozole find they have had regular 28-30 day cycles?

Also, are those on it getting scans to confirm ovulation? Our fertility clinic mentioned we should for the first couple of months and then we can continue with the medication but no scans if we want to make it a bit cheaper, if we haven't fallen pregnant within 3 months.

Interested to know how others have found it, any side effects, has it worked etc.

Thanks!

Hi! I also have PCOS and have very long infrequent cycles (100+ days). My husband's results are all great. I have had a positive pregnancy test this month on my fourth cycle of Letrazole (combined with my first month of monitoring scans, plus a trigger shot and IUI, which I don't think was a coincidence).
I think monitoring scans are really important as follicle progress can be tracked (for example, I ovulated on day 21 which was later than I would have expected) and also because of the chance of overresponding to the meds and risk of multiples.
In terms of side effects, I found the first couple of cycles impacted my digestion a bit and also had some dryness which made sex painful, but both went away quite quickly after I stopped taking Letrazole.
I think something also worth noting is that whether you respond to Letrazole in the same way each month is a bit of a gamble. Of my four cycles, I ovulated on two and didn't on two - this is apparently quite common. I took two months off TTC between my third and fourth cycle to focus on eating well and destressing etc which I think did really help.
Hope that's helpful and good luck!

Hi @magnoliasinbloom congratulations on your positive test!!

This is really helpful, thanks. I don't know anyone else who has had to take it, so I feel a bit overwhelmed. So it's good to hear other peoples experiences.

If you don't mind me asking, did your doctor recommend IUI?

I'm looking forward to the scans, as you say, it'll be good to know for sure. Did you track using OPKs also?

@PollyAnnie yes our clinic recommended IUI - although we had no known male factor issues they recommended it to give the cycle every chance of success.

No I didn't use OPKs as they aren't always reliable for PCOS as our LH is naturally higher. I find that for me I tend to get positive results when I'm not ovulating. I just relied on the scans :)

@magnoliasinbloom that's made me feel slightly better, as I really don't want to use OPKs. I've tried them before and they just confused me and weren't accurate. So I think we'll go by the scans too.

Our fertility specialist hasn't mentioned IUI, but I know they want us to try 3 months with letrozole and scans and then check back in, so that will maybe be the next step.