STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I know many, many people who've been on clomid and to be honest many have pronounced side effects - hot flashes, irritablility, bloating, weepiness.  And some hardly notice it!  It really depends on the person and the side effects usually get worse as the dose is increased.  It's the magic ticket for lots of people though!  And good thing is that you only have to take it for a week or so at a time!

The risk for twins isn't really terribly high (for clomid), unless you overstimulate (OHSS) in which case you'd be cancelled for that cycle.  There are signs to watch out for that your doc will tell you about, but the chances of that - especially on a starter dose - is waaay down there.  Most docs start you on 50 mg/day, the typical 'test' dose.  If it causes you to ovulate that's the dose you'd likely stick with, but in almost every case it causes you to only produce 1 or maybe 2 eggs at a time.  That's generally the goal of clomid - to provide a 'strong' ovulation of one or two eggs, as opposed to injectables where the goal is usually quantity.

Is your doc going to be monitoring your follicle development?  Some do ultrasounds so they can see how you're responding, some just have you do at-home ovulation tests.  The ultrasounds pinpoint your progress more exactly, and are used frequently if you're doing an IUI and/or a trigger shot.  Do you know if you're doing a trigger, or if it will be a 'let's see how this goes' kind of cycle?

I know of a great resource that was put together by people who've actually taken clomid themselves too, if you'd like it.  Good luck!  I hope it works well for you!