Why Clomid is not working for you effectively?

Why Clomid is not working for you effectively?
Manoj Kumar Published : Feb 05, 2024 Last Updated : Feb 07, 2024

Clomid, also called Serophene or clomiphene citrate is the most frequent fertility medicine recommended by the doctor. This medication helps women ovulate who are not able to ovulate naturally or ovulate irregularly and wish to get pregnant.

You need to know that Clomid or Clomiphene is also a part of treatment for women who suffer from PCOS and can be used by women below the age of 35 years who experience unexplained fertility.

But what if you do not get pregnant even after taking the Clomid tablet? In general, almost three quarters of the women who do not ovulate regularly start ovulating after taking Clomid.

On the other hand, half the women who ovulate after taking Clomid do not get pregnant. You might be now wondering why did this happen? What other treatments are available that can aid you to get pregnant?  

Remember just because Clomid did not work for you, does not mean that you can’t conceive or have a baby. To find out your other options, it is the right time to consult the doctor.

What are the major causes of Clomid resistance?

It is vital to understand that approach of the doctor to treat Clomid resistance is going to partially depend upon why they think your body is not responding. Below-stated are some possible and known reasons for Clomid resistance that you must know:

Higher weight

The chance of Clomid working in your body successfully automatically decreases, if you have high weight.

PCOS

Women suffering from PCOS generally have trouble with Clomid resistance, mainly the women who are diagnosed with insulin resistant or hyperandrogenic levels. 

Hyperprolactinemia

Women suffering from hyperprolactinemia might not respond to Clomid effectively. Also, there are times when it is not clearly known why Clomid drug is not assisting in encouraging ovulation.

How to deal with Clomid resistance?

For women with PCOS, treatment with insulin resistance medicine metformin also called Glucophage, can help. Generally, Metformin is recommended for 3 to 6 months before starting the treatment with Clomid again.

It is also believed that apart from improving ovulation rates, taking metformin and Clomid together can increase your chances of pregnancy and reduce the risk of miscarriage. 

A possible substitute for metformin is N-acetyl-cysteine which is an amino acid and antioxidant that works as an insulin-sensitizing agent. It is also said that combining Clomid and NAC can help you to treat Clomid resistance.

Before trying the Clomid tablet once again, the doctor might suggest you lose some weight. The effect of this medication can improve if you manage to lose at least 10% of your current body weight.

Women suffering from hyperprolactinemia can undergo the treatment of Bromocriptine alone or in combination with Clomid to improve the rates of ovulation.

Birth control medicines for infertility

One of the best ways to deal with Clomid resistance is consuming birth control pills for 1 to 2 months priorthe start of another cycle of Clomid. However, this is suggested for women with high levels of the hormone DHEA.

It was revealed that use of birth control pills, just over 65% of Clomid resistant women ovulated after taking oral birth control pills for two months before the treatment cycle.

What is the success rate of Clomid in women suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?

It is important to know that your possibilities of getting pregnant with Clomid are good as long as you take it for the right reasons. In order to eliminate certain problems, make sure to get some tests done.

The majority of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome who suffer from an adequate ovarian reserve, a healthy body weight, a partner with good sperm counts, and open fallopian tubes can help to have a baby easily with Clomid treatment. 

When using Clomid for PCOS and ovulation, what is the success rate?

Almost three-fourths of women suffering from PCOS that are not able to ovulate will start ovulating on Clomid at some medicating level. Women below the age of 35 with PCOS have almost a 15% of chance pregnancy every month with the treatment of Clomid. The pregnancy will take place only when a woman ovulates with Clomid.

When using Clomid, what is the success rate for getting pregnant?

It is said that 50% of women that ovulate with Clomid usually get pregnant with it. However, it also depends upon the age of women and other factors too.

In-vitro fertilization might improve your possibility of pregnancy. For women under the age of 35 with PCOS, the success rate of IVF is almost 70% for pregnancy with one IVF cycle and 60% for live birth.

No matter how well Clomid works to aid you ovulate, you will find difficulty in getting pregnant unless there are healthy sperm, good quality eggs, open fallopian tubes as well as an ideal weight.

How Clomid is responsible for affecting twins and multiples?

Generic Clomid ( Clomiphene citrate ) causes twins in almost 10% of pregnancies. However, less than 1% of Clomid pregnancies lead to triplets or high-order pregnancies.     

It is important to know that most twins conceived with Clomid will be dizygotic twins or non-identical. This is because Clomid leads to various ovulations and non-identical twins.

Non-identical twins are twins that result from distinct eggs as well as fertilization with diverse sperm. On the other hand, identical is the result of the splitting of a single fertilized identical egg as well as sperm. 

It is important to know that Clomid is the first fertility drug that you can give a try after a diagnosis of infertility. You might have tried to conceive for a year by the time cycle of this treatment begins.

Therefore, before you plan to start your treatment with Clomid or find that it is not working effectively then consult the doctor once.