Risks of clomiphene

[Marty13]

Hello everyone,

After some issues I'm finally ready to start trying this cycle with unmedicated IUI. My doctor wanted me to try with clomiphene but I declined because of the risks.

I have 6 tries, after that I'll run out of sperm (and I'm not willing to draw it out further anyway).

That did get me thinking about potentially accepting clomiphene if it doesn't work after a couple of unmedicated tries. But my main concerns are :

• Risks of birth defect - apparently studies have found that risk increased 300% with unsupervised use of the drug - I couldn't find data on supervised use. Anyone know what the risk is when the drug is prescribed by a doctor ?


• Risk of multiples - I am absolutely not ready to deal with twins. In fact twins would be a disaster, financially speaking. Obviously if I'm ttc I'm accepting that there is a small risk of having twins but I can avoid it partly by not having the IUI if there are more than one egg. And I'm keen not to increase said risk !

Anyone been there ? Did you opt for clomiphene, and if so what happened ?

I'm doing this cycle unmedicated regardless, and probably the next as well, but I'm projecting forward to the 3rd/4rth if that doesn't work. Maybe I should just skip straight to IVF rather than risk clomiphene twins...?

Hi Marty,

As far as I know, every fertility treatment has some risk of twins. If you are set of only 6 tries due to sperm better try IVF. I'd do only 2 IUI's then focus on IVF.

I had 3 rounds of Clomid, no issues but it didn't work, now trying with IVF. Sometimes women have unkown fertility issues that only come up when doing IVF.

Good luck

Hi @Marty13,

I'm planning to start IUI in the next few months, but like you I'm unsure whether to go unmedicated or take clomiphene. I'm aware that medicated cycles tend to have higher success rates, but like you I'm worried about the risk of multiples. I also have a high antral follicle count so I'm concerned about cancelled cycles if I respond too well to the meds and end up with more than 2 mature follicles. Plus I read that sometimes Clomid can thin the uterine lining too? Not heard anything about possible birth defects, I'll have to look into that.

The clinic has suggested we try unmedicated for a couple of cycles, and then perhaps switch to Clomid for a 3rd or 4th attempt if no success. So basically the same as what you're thinking of doing. After that point, we'll probably have to consider moving onto IVF.

Will you be taking a trigger shot during the unmedicated cycles or not? That's the other decision I have to make! All so tricky, isn't it?!

I'll be interested to hear how you get on, I'm happy to keep you posted from this end too. Good luck with it all!