Letrozole first cycle

[ChipAndDip]

Hi ladies,

I’m due to start taking letrozole next cycle for the first time, just waiting for my period to start. I’ve got some spotting so reckon it will be in the next couple of days.

I wanted to see if anyone else is at a similar stage and wants to join me on the journey? Or if you’re already taking it I’d love to hear your experiences!

I’ve been reading all about the side effects so I’m a little anxious, but generally just excited to give it a try! My cycles are very irregular, and although I always get a peak OPK recently this hasn’t happened until around CD32, so I have a lot of waiting to do! Really hope the letrozole speeds things up 🤞

I had my first dose this month (I’m now CD19). I won’t lie - I was a full blown psychopath for 3/4 days at random days after I’d taken them, it was seriously PMT on steroids!! However I had a positive OPK yesterday, and I also use Mira and my LH has went from 1.4 to 75!! So it has definitely worked. I usually ovulate around about CD 35-42 on a natural cycle.

Hope that helps, it’s a rough ride but seeing my numbers this cycle has really encouraged me.

Good luck!

Hi, little bit different as I took part in a hospital trial so don’t know for sure if I took leterzole or clomid but I felt fine with both. I ovulated on my first cycle CD 19 and am now 5 weeks pregnant x

Thanks for your replies!

@Hbx oh wow that’s a huge difference in LH levels! Sorry to hear it made you a bit loopy, but fingers crossed you caught first cycle! What dose are you on? Have you/will be scanned?

@ChateauProvence congratulations! So lovely to hear a good news story. Wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy 😊

I used letrozole to conceive DD1 in 2020. It took 3 cycles and i don't remember any side effects at all (the provera used to bring on a bleed, on the other hand... well, ive never known anything like it!). Good luck! We are hoping to start a new course over the summer for DC2.

@CrispAppleStrudels thanks for your response, so great to hear you had success with letrozole ☺️ My clinic did offer to give me provera if I didn’t get my period by now, luckily it’s definitely on its way so sounds like I’ve had a lucky escape!

Good luck for your next round this summer!

Hi Ladies,
On Provera here & starting my first letrozole tablet tonight... nervous! How are you all getting on? Also, how are you all measuring your temp?!

Hi @Obione1 how exciting! I took my first round of tablets last week and I’m now on CD9. I was so nervous taking that first one too haha. But I didn’t really get any side effects, except maybe some hot flushes over night, but then again it was quite muggy last week so I might have just been hot anyway! I took the tablets at night as well.

I don’t measure my temp, I get up at different times everyday so it won’t work for me. Just doing OPKs and then I have a scan next week (CD16) to check if the letrozole has worked.

Hope everything goes well, let us know how you get on 😊

Hi @Obione1 how are you getting on? Did you get any side effects?

I’m now on CD15 but no peak yet 😞 Feeling slightly reassured by the PPs who ovulated a little later so hoping that I get there soon. I have a scan tomorrow to check how things are going 🤞

Hey. I got pregnant on my third cycle of letrozole - never had a peak opk but my temps made me think I had ovulated, this was then confirmed by a scan. And, well, now I definitely know that I ovulated 😅 are you being monitored at all? My clinic (nhs) said if I hadn’t got a peak by a certain time they’d scan me, and give me a trigger if there was a maturing follicle. good luck, keep trying, and don’t worry too much if no peak! X

Hey @ChipAndDip
I finished the tablets on Saturday.., and my first scan is on Thursday 13th to see if anything is happening - I suppose it will be to see if any eggs are maturing? I haven't started looking at peaks yet - according to my Flo app, i'm on CD9? I had some side effects - SO hot & dizzy every day for a little bit, but can't be sure that was the tablets, lol. I

Let us know how the scan goes tomorrow!

@graceinc22 congrats! That's some good Monday hope for us!

Hi all, lovely to see some positive stories! I conceived my first via IVF, but we are thinking of trying letrozole first this time. I have PCOS.

What is the process? Do they scan regularly? Do I buy the ovulation kit or do they provide? So many questions!

I'm requesting progesterone, steroids (to suppress immune system) and blood thinners, as I did immune protocol for the IVF which was successful.

Should say, I have pcos but have regular cycles, though of course, even with ov tests being positive, I've not necessarily ovulated every month. I had my first chemical last week so have wondered whether it's worth holding out for natural conception, but this never happened in 4 years before IVF so don't want to waste time, given I turn 38 this year

@graceinc22 thanks for sharing your positive story! Congrats! 😀 I’m technically being monitored but my first scan isn’t until CD16 (tomorrow) so not being monitored that closely! But they did say they’d scan as many times as needed so I’ll see what happens tomorrow.

@Obione1 ah good luck for your scan as well! Yes I think they check to see if we have any follicles maturing, which gives a good indication if/when we’ll ovulate. Fingers crossed for us both!

@MotherOfShihTzus welcome! I’m with an NHS clinic and they typically scan you in your first cycle to check that the letrozole is working. If it works then I don’t think they scan you again. If not then I think they increase the dose and scan again on the second cycle, but I’m not 100% sure. They didn’t tell me to use OPKs but I do usually anyway so I’ve just been using the ones I have at home. To be honest, they just gave me a piece of A4 paper with some info and I’m filling in the rest through Google etc! Will you be going through NHS or private?

Hi all, so good news from my scan - I have a 2.2cm follicle and nice thick womb lining so I should be ovulating any minute now! Need to have a blood test next week to confirm ovulation 🤞 But so far so good! x

And I just got a peak OPK! Woop!

Lots of good news @ChipAndDip ! You'd better get busy 😆
Thank you for all the info! I'm going to contact the fertility clinic today - hopefully can get started soon!

@MotherOfShihTzus haha you can guess what I’ll be up to this evening!

Good luck with the fertility clinic, hope you can get started asap 😊

Great news @ChipAndDip ! Now go do the thang ;)

I can't tell you how much this thread confused me
I take letrozole for metastatic cancer.
I have only just googled now and didn't realise that it had other benefit's too .
Good luck ladies x

Hi ladies, did you have scans/ bloods before you started? I've gone back to a clinic I was due to go to for IVF, but nhs funding came through so obvs went with that. Now looking to do letrozole at this clinic, and I can just start as soon as my next cycle day 1. Would you insist on scans/ bloods to see if anything has changed in the last 2+ years?

Hey @ChipAndDip had my scan this AM - womb lining looks good & the follicle is 14cm, so we're also at the fun time stage ;)

I don't want to get too excited because they said that 50% of the time it works, so we just need to enjoy it and see what happens. She did say that we'll know about the 2nd August to see if we're pregnant or not, so that's good to know we have a date to think about & then start the second round of letrozole if we need to

@MotherOfShihTzus I had everything done before they would give me Provera and letrozole - including a sperm test - so might be worth seeing if they'll do that?

@MotherOfShihTzus i think it will depend on your clinic and what you want.

we went private and had all the tests done first, then paid for a private prescription of Letrazole.

They did offer to scan me but it was nearly £100 per scan plus 1hr drive each way so I opted just to have a blood test taken on day 21 to see whether I had ovulated or not. If I had they would give me 5 more months of tablets to take without the blood tests.
My first months blood test result was 95 and the clinic took anything over 10 as a positive for ovulation. I got my positive pregnancy test on day 23.

I now have 5 months of unused Letrazole tablets sat in the cupboard 😅

@MotherOfShihTzus meant to say I wouldn’t insist on seeing if anything has changed to be honest. I’d be too impatient and feel like I was wasting time and money.
The clinic might insist though

@Obione1 great news! I’m going to test if I don’t get my period by 29 July, although I usually spot super early so don’t expect to get that far. I’m intrigued to see if the letrozole lengthens my leutal phase, I guess my progesterone test will be a good indicator as well. Are you having a progesterone test as well?

@MotherOfShihTzus I had the usual blood tests and scan done, plus semen analysis for husband, but that’s typical for the NHS to do before they prescribe anything. I’m not sure how much can change in 2 years to be honest so couldn’t say if it’s worth it for you or not! My clinic have said that if I don’t get pregnant after 3 cycles on letrozole then they’ll also check my tubes (for blockages I think?), but they didn’t see a reason to do that first.

@Mynextusername so great to hear that it worked for you! 🙌🏻

@gloriawasright oh yes that must have been confusing! Wishing you all the best for your treatment x

hey @ChipAndDip I am not, I haven't actually had a period since July 2022, so I'm on provera too.
Exciting news, at advice of my consultant, I've been checking my LH levels every morning, still always a negative OPK. However, like an hour ago, I had pain and thought, let me just check & I used 2 different types of kit & I got my first positive OPK! I know there is so much else that could not work out, but i'm pleased that i'm at least responding to the drugs!

@MotherOfShihTzus i had my tubes checked - a Hycsos (i think it's called), was all fine & it was actually pain free which I was not expecting.