First Cycle Review

So this was our first cycle really treating and I had my cycle review on Friday.  Though before discussing the review I should probably discuss what we were doing in the first place!

As I mentioned in the last post Dr. S noticed some TEBB (tail end brown bleeding), so she prescribed Biaxin for both my husband and me for the first 10 days of my cycle in case it was caused by an infection.  She prescribed clomid, at the lowest dose of 25mg for cycle days 3-5 to see how I would tolerate it.  She also prescribed progesterone for post peak.  For an honorable mention, I also take Metformin, but I've been on that for years.  So that's it for the prescriptions!  We also started a whole bunch of supplements, including Fertile CM (for CM quality), BioResponse DIM 150 mg (for something to do with estrogen? I can't remember), L-Methylfolateand Methylcobalamin (B12) (for MTHFR), and Cellgevity (I don't remember exactly what for, egg quality I think?).  Just to round it all out I add a women's one a day :). And I got myself a snazzy new pill box to put all of these in!

I think it looks like a caterpillar :)

All in all it wasn't too difficult to adjust to all of these.  I didn't notice any side effects from the supplements.  I tolerated the Biaxin fine, though it took poor hubs a few days to adjust.  The Clomid was ok... though I did get some hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings (so fun).  They were worst when I was taking the pills and the few days after, then tapered down and were pretty much gone 10ish days later.  Unfortunately the absolutely worst day was on 4th of July... who doesn't love hot flashes and irritability while spending the day at the beach with 20 relatives? 

I now know how it feels to be  a firework

I didn't notice much from the progesterone at first.  Toward the end of my cycle my skin started breaking out (which never happens),the crazy mood swings came back, and my cramps, which are generally mild if anything, have been pretty bad and nonstop ugh. Dr. S did warn that things would be worse before getting better on progesterone, here's hoping next cycle is a breeze :).

So P+3 I did an ultrasound (supposed to be P+4 but I couldn't find an imaging center open on a Saturday) and P+7 a blood test.  On P+10 I had my follow up with Dr.S!  Good new was that the Biaxin appeared to work, TEBB was gone! So good news for the Hubs, we don't have to take Biaxin again this cycle!  The rest was bad news :(.  Ultrasound showed that I didn't ovulate, my body didn't even try. I kinda expected it as I didn't get any positive OPKs, but still not fun to confirm.  All the side effects from the Clomid for nothing :(.  

How I picture my system (sans the actual functioning)

The ultrasound also showed that my lining wasn't thick enough.  The most disappointing news was that there were small cysts on my ovaries, so either things have gotten worse since my last ultrasound a year and a half ago or that doctor wasn't paying attention (my guess is the latter). The blood test was consistent with no ovulation, with both my progesterone and estradiol being low.  My CM wasn't great and I only had one day of peak type... to be expected with Clomid I guess.

So, going forward, we're giving the Clomid one more shot, upping it to 50 mg for 5 days.  If it doesn't work, I guess I'll be switching meds.  Dr. S also added a B- Complex, L-Argenine, and Mucinex.  As I mentioned, the next cycle has already started up, so I'll see how this works soon!