Literally, Clomid is the gateway drug. When one first goes to the doctor for infertility concerns, this is almost always the first medication they put you on. Its an easy blue pill that can be bought at the local pharmacy and I think that it was only about $8 for a bottle. Wow, do I wish that my drug taking experience ended there! Next thing you know though, you are on to the harder stuff...shootin' up and all:) The lovely meds that are involved with an IVF cycle can't be bought at your local pharmacy. They usually have to come from a specialty pharmacy and are mailed to you and usually have a 3-digit price tag. Some of them have to be kept refrigerated until taken, most come in the form of a needle that you inject yourself with multiple times a day, and almost all of them come with side effects. I think when people think of IVF, they think of taking a couple days of medication, then going to have a procedure. At least that's what I thought. However, I was WAY wrong. I have been on hormonal medications now literally for almost two years straight. The side effects of these meds is enough to drive you crazy in itself. But, in the grand scheme of things, are absolutely something you can tolerate if it gives you a baby.
For the most part, my side effects have been fairly mild from others that I have read about. I didn't really have crazy emotional rages (although my hubby may say differently:)). However, there have been plenty others. Lupron which I've taken 4 cycles of for one month each gave me horrible hot flashes and night sweats the first three months. I'm talking wanting to take your clothes off in public hot flashes. Now I know that my mom was not kidding when she used to want to go roll around in the snow when she was having hers! This last month of it, I've had horrific headaches. Headaches that aren't made better by any kind of Advil or such. I think my head has hurt for the last twenty days and I've just kind of gotten used to them. Last go around, Lupron caused Aunt Flo not to come. So, there was another med for that. Unfortunately, that med gave me a bad round of Colitis which landed me in the ER followed by a lovely colonoscopy. Most of the injection meds go in the abdomen. They burn when they go in but the shot itself isn't painful at all. Progesterone though has to go in the bum. Alan had to give that one. And he HATES needles. And he had to do it for 2 weeks straight. That in itself was an experience! I've never been allergic to any medication in my life, but it turned out I was allergic to that one. About 2 weeks after taking the meds, I broke out with huge itchy welts. Good news is I don't have to take that one again! Then there are the lovely suppositories. I'm not going to go into more detail on those other than the they are fact 3 suppositories a day. NOT FUN. All of the meds cause significant weight gain. Of course there are millions of other reasons why I've put weight on this past year, but I'm going to blame most of it on the meds:)
So, that's just a little glance at what kinds of meds I've been taking and all that they've done. I honestly can't remember what it is like to feel "normal" since I've been on hormonal meds for so long. Part of me does worry about the long term effects of all of these. There really isn't a whole lot of research out there since women haven't been taking them all that long for there to be longitudinal studies, but a little common sense tells you that if a medication can make your body make 25 times the normal amount of eggs it is supposed to, it probably isn't that good for you. That's the funny thing about infertility though. You don't care about anything else. You will endure any physical pain if the outcome is a baby. When I went to the doctor for my allergic reaction, I asked her if I could keep taking it because I knew what an important med it was. I told her I could withstand the itchy welts. She looked at me like I was crazy and proceed to remind me that welts were the first sign of more severe reactions to come. It was worth a shot though! So, next time someone you know is on fertility meds, give them the benefit of the doubt. They are literally at war with their own body, doing everything they can to feel normal when they feel anything and everything but that.
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