Anyone had any luck with Letrozole?!

[Victoriaspa]

I have just been prescribed this after TTC for 6 months (35) we had a fertility check up, everything was fine, although I had PCOS, although my periods are regular, so they didn’t think this was an issue.
I just haven’t really found many positive success stories with Letrozole, so was hoping someone might have some to share to give me a bit of hope?

Hi @Victoriaspa, I'm in a similar situation as I've just been prescribed Letrozole after TTC for nearly a year and recent PCOS diagnosis.

I'm taking Norethisterone to induce a period and then will start Letrozole. When are you next due on?

Hopefully someone will be along soon with some success stories!

@BeatAroundTheBush ah good luck, I’m due tomorrow, but hoping it doesn’t come! But otherwise I start the medication on Sunday. What dose have they put you on?

@Victoriaspa ahh yes that's understandable, fingers crossed for you!

They've said 2.5mg a day for me, what about you?

Yes! I conceived DD1 in 2020 and gave birth last June. It took 3 cycles for me - i had monitoring alongside which showed i didn't ovulate on the first cycle so the dose was upped. Cycle 2 worked but we didn't get pregnant and cycle 3 was the charm. I had also been taking metformin for my PCOS and used provera to induce the first bleed (horrible stuff).

Someone in my NCT group also used letrozole and was successful first cycle.

It is now the preferred ovulation induction drug over clomid (higher success rates, lower risk of multiples or OHSS) so I think it will be prescribed more and more.

Good luck! We are now thinking about #2 so will be starting the journey all over again soon.

I should add that I was 34 when i fell pregnant - gave birth just before my 35th birthday. Diagnosed with PCOS 8 yrs ago now i think?

@AnotherNC22 oh this is so good to hear! How wonderful. Can you remember what dose they upped you to? Weirdly I am ovulating I think, or at least they thought I had at the scan, but it’s quite late in the cycle so are using the drugs to bring it forward I think.
They also saw I had PCOS, which is strange because I was scanned for it 10 years ago and was all clear, so I was surprised when the found that. But I have regular periods.
I should add we conceived our DS1 when I was 33 naturally and second month, had him in jan 2021, so it was a shock it was taking so much longer this time around. I’m 35 now.
Great to hear your story though and good luck for the next one. Are your cycles regular now?

Following, just finished first letrozole pills waiting for the monitoring next week to see if it worked at all but was told to not expect 2.5mg to work for me

@Alexis7890 fingers crossed it does!

@Alexis7890 good luck! That's interesting about the dosage, do you know why they said it's unlikely to work?

@Victoriaspathe paperwork is all filed away but i have a feeling i skipped 5mg and went straight to 7.5mg. But my BMI was around 27 at the time so on the high side, which would have made a difference. My cycles are nowhere near regular now 😣 Stopped bf in March this year, periods came back in April and have been a bit all over the place since. Back on metformin now so hoping they even out in the next couple of months. Next year I'm 37 and DH is 40 so we don't want to be waiting too long for #2.

That's brilliant you had DC1 naturally! When i was first diagnosed, i was classed as pre-PCOS, which meant i had the other symptoms (hair, funny hormone levels, irregular periods) but no actual cysts. So maybe this was the case for you 10yrs ago as well?

@AnotherNC22 ah that’s interesting, I didn’t know it could develop over time, I’ve had excess hair, but managed luckily to keep my weight under control and periods have been regular thankfully.
I stopped bf in December and still have milk! So I also think that might be playing a major part, but the specialist didn’t really say anything about it?!
Yes we are the same, although my husband is younger 32 but still you don’t want to feel like you’ve left it too long.

@Victoriaspa im surprised your specialist didnt say anything about that, actually! When i was very first diagnosed, what triggered my referral was that the bloods the GP did came back with prolactin levels so high she thought i must be breastfeeding, when in fact i had never been pregnant. So it wouldn't surprise me if that was affecting things. Fingers crossed the letrozole does the trick 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

@AnotherNC22 what's weird is my prolactin levels were normal 112 I think, they need to be under 700?! To be fair it’s not huge amounts of milk, tmi, but if you squeeze there is still white. Thank you!

@BeatAroundTheBush thank you, he said it’s unlikely to work for me with my hormone levels. I was diagnosed with PCOS years ago and very rarely have a natural period so he was setting my expectations that I’ll likely need a high dose or injectables as the hormones are so unbalanced but you never know!

Yes, me! I conceived my 16 month DS on letrozole on 7.5mg. This was after 3 failed rounds of clomid and 2 non starters with lower doses of letrozole - the only time I ovulated was on the 7.5mg.

We also started the supplement regimen in 'It starts with the egg', so I took inositol, Co-q10 and some other weird and wonderful stuff. No idea if it actually helped but it got us to our goal.

Good luck!

Yes, me!!

I'll give you abit of background (I remember I wanted to hear success stories at the time too!)

At the time I was 33, PCOS so although I was ovulating (most months) it was always quite late so my cycles ranged from 35 days to 55-60 days. I was told Letrizole would hopefully shorten my cycles giving me more chances to ovulate a year.

So I was put on 2.5mg, and it worked first time. I was not expecting it to so was very shocked. I ovulated on cycle day 15, which was the earliest I had ever ovulated. I had a scan on cycle day 10 which showed a follicle at like 16mm (i think) and so I was told you "do the deed" during the next week. I think we did it cycle day 10,12,14.

Side effects: I was really nervous about this, as had heard stories about cramps, hot flushes and headaches however I read somewhere (on here probz) to take your tablet at night time and you'll sleep through it and I never had any side effects whatsoever so taking it at night time worked for me. Although aware I was on a low dose.

Hope it all goes well for you, fingers crossed! We are considering taking it again for our second, but will leave it another couple of months and then see about getting another prescription.

@AlannahJama ah this is great to hear thank you for sharing. Do you mind me asking. How long had you been TTC before you took letrozle?

About 18 months. So the doctor thought perhaps I was only ovulating about 7 times a year based on the length of my periods. They did say they didn't see why I wouldn't conceive myself naturally if I kept trying, but by that time I just wanted to try something.

@Res_Ipsa ah amazing thanks for reaching out. Was this the first cycle that you conceived?

Yes! I tried clomid and tamoxifen, and neither made me ovulate. Tried letrozole as a least ditch attempt before IVF (was waiting for my 30th birthday as that was the Criteria in my area for now ivf). 3 rounds of letrozole and we fell pregnant with my beautiful little boy - after 3 years trying it felt like an absolute miracle!

I have just began letrozole again for baby number 2.

happy to try and help with any questions x

@Flumpydumps oh amazing! This is so great to hear, did they explain why you had had troubles conceiving? I’m so glad it worked for you! And fingers crossed it does again!

We finally got our BFP after using letrozole and a trigger shot! My wife had taken letrozole for about a year, but it was our third cycle using the trigger shot with it that we got our BFP. Currently 17 weeks!

@BlessedBeyondMeasure this great news congratulations, what is a trigger shot?

@Victoriaspa it is a hCG injection that "triggers" ovulation. There are a few brands I think, but we used Ovidrel.

@BlessedBeyondMeasure thank you, and did they say why specifically they recommended it to you in the first place? How long were you TTC before the medication? Thank you again for sharing your experience!