Clomid: Is this Fertility Drug Right for You?

Using Clomid Could Help You Conceive

By Gail Johnson

Tammy Feldman always assumed that once she and her husband were ready to have a baby, she would simply stop using birth control and get pregnant. For many of her friends, it really was that simple. But for Feldman, like millions of others, the road to pregnancy was difficult.

After a year of trying to get pregnant, Feldman says that she and her husband had a hard time admitting that there may be an infertility problem -- but she knew it was time to look for outside help. After a thorough examination by her OB/GYN, she learned she was not ovulating. "I was infertile – and I was devastated," she says.

Feldman is not alone in her infertility. According to RESOLVE, a national infertility association based in Somerville, Mass., more than five million people of childbearing age in the United States experience infertility – defined as the inability to conceive a child despite trying for one year. Often a diagnosis of infertility means that becoming pregnant will be a challenge, but this challenge is becoming less difficult for some women with the use of fertility drugs.

One of the most commonly prescribed fertility drugs is Clomid. Dr. Scott Roseff, reproductive endocrinologist and director of the West Essex Center for Advanced Reproductive Endocrinology in West Orange, N.J., says that Clomid is the brand name for a drug called clomiphene citrate. Two major companies market clomiphene – one calls it Clomid and the other calls it Serophene. A generic form is also available.

Clomiphene (Clomid) is typically prescribed as a "fertility pill" for women who do not ovulate. "There are many reasons a woman may not ovulate, and she should first be screened by her doctor to assure she is an appropriate candidate for Clomid," Roseff says.

Clomiphene is thought to work by "faking out the brain into thinking the ovary is not producing an egg," according to Roseff. The brain responds by pumping out more of the appropriate hormones for stimulating egg development. Clomid is most commonly prescribed when a woman doesn't ovulate properly and if her infertility workup reveals she is an appropriate candidate for Clomid therapy.