Femara for infertility

If this isn't a reason not to use Femara when TTC, IDK what is. This is from Femara.com, copyrighted 2009.

You should not take Femara if you are premenopausal. Your doctor should discuss the need for adequate birth control if you have the potential to become pregnant, if you are not sure of your postmenopausal status, or if you recently became postmenopausal. Femara is only indicated in postmenopausal women.

After the stillbirth of our son (our first child) in 2004 due to an umbilical cord accident, 7 IUIs with Clomid/Repronex and a failed IVF cycle, we opted for 4 cycles of Femara ending 11/08 because th issue had finally been traced to my husband (so much for "experts" who found it easier to tell me I am "old".) I had one menstrual cycle between stopping the femara (and turned 40) and getting pregnant.

Our joy turned to horror on June 2, 2009 when @ our 19 week u/s it was revealed that our baby girl has both Trisomy 13 and holoprosencephaly. The data sheet the geneticist gave me has "hormones" listed as a cause for HPE, so I went googling about Femara. Sadly, after burying our son 4.5 years ago, we are going to lose what was supposed to be our first living child as well to what can probably be traced back to Femara. It supposedly metabolizes "quickly", but I was pregnant one cycle after stopping it.

There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth (Femara.com) about the dangers of taking it in pregnancy. I am currently pursuing a malpractice lawsuit based on the above information due to RXing it off label. If it's dangerous enough to put a "use alternate BC if you could POSSIBLY get pg" is on their website, why isn't this in the hands of EVERY fertility dr who rx's it off label?????

Sorry to be a buzzkill about what appears to be a "Miracle" drug, but it has some potential nightmarish side effects.

Carolyn Pruett
Oklahoma City

My husband and I we married in July 2007, we thought we had time to have children. In November I learned I had PCOS. We figured since they told us we may have problems, we started ttc. No luck yet, Endocrinologist tried metformin, no luck. Finally we just went to a infertility specialist and he just started me on Femara 5mg days 3-7. It is so overwhelming, Mine has you have a blood test on day 2, day 9 you have a Dye test, day10 you have an ultrasound and then days 9-12 you have a biopsy. Hopefully we will get pregnant this round. I am glad that many people feel the same way. This can really be overwhelming to people. My husband is there for me but, they just don't understand. Thank you.

:-)

I have been on femera for 3 cycles and I have not gotten pregnant yet. I am working with my doctor and have pushed to now do more testing in conjunction with the femera. I have to go in when My LH level goes up to do some testing. I too have PCOS and from what i have read clomid doesnt' work if you have this most of the time. I have also read that it takes about 3 months get the cysts to decrease in size if you are on the avandia too. I do know that with the numerous types of ovulation tests that are out there I have mainly only had success with the clearblue brand. Hope that this is helpfull.

Ok, I am sooo confused here.. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for almost 2 yrs now. I am 29 yrs old, I started Clomid last month and ended up having a cyst rupture (painful)..I went back to the fert specialist the next day and he gave me a script for Femara 2.5mg. I just picked up the script and noticed, when i got it home, it says on the bottle in bold print " DO NOT TAKE IF YOU ARE PREGNANT OR TRYING TO BECOME PREGNANT" !!!!! WHAT????!!!! It also says it is used to treat breast cancer in women AFTER menopause. AND it notes on the paper in CAPS " THIS DRUG HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CAUSE HARM TO THE HUMAN FETUS"..

Should I take this drug or not? I wanna have baby but if it means risking having to bury it, I'd rather not. I'm very depressed and am looking for help..

I was confused too when I saw what femara said on the label. I talked with my doctor and she said that if you are using a stronger dosage and are taking it while pregnant that is when issues may begin to show. I would call your doctor with any questions regarding your prescriptions. I wouldn't talk with the pharmacy about it because they don't always know what all if the uses for the medications are. I have yet to get pregnant, but i do know that my bbt charts are following the same pattern month after month and now I am going in for a iui when I have my LH surge. I have seen my ultra sounds and have noticed my cysts getting smaller so the medication that they have me on for that is helping and working! best of luck to you and hope that it works out for the best! Merry christmas!

Have you proceeded with a lawsuit?

After multiple failed IVF attempts, IUIs, miscarriages & the stillbirth of our daughter at 38weeks (cord accident), we continued to try. Clomid causes me to ovulate on my "bad" side and Follistim was how we got pregnant with our daughter, but my body wasn't responding as well, so I asked for additional options and Femara was one. I reviewed & decided to move forward with it. My first attempt gave me positive ovulation results & our IUI was successful. This happened April/May of 2011. I had an amazing pregnancy & our daughter was born happy & healthy exactly 2 years after we lost her sister. She is now almost 15 months old. I believe some of the issues in the earlier posts have declined, so I definitely think it's worth considering. I recommend speaking to a fertility specialist as opposed to a general practitioner or even an OB/Gyn. Best of luck to you all on your journey.

I am actually meeting with my fertility doctor tomorrow to begin the process again. Femara will be my first choice of action, assuming my doctor agrees it's a good one.

I would recommend to try Fermara. I am now 36 I have had PCOS since I was 16 and was told I would probably never have children. :( I tried for 1 1/2 years and finally conceived My now 14 year old son with Clomid. :) Then  I started trying for another child when he was 1 1/2 years old unfortunately the Clomid was making my uterus lining thin so we decided to try Fermara 2.5 after 2 cycles and a hcg shot I conceived my now 8 year old daughter after a long 3 years of trying :) Then we decided to try one more time and after1 cycle of Fermara 5 and 3 cycles of Fermara 7.5 I conceived my now 1 year old son :) So it may work for you too. Thank God everyday that all my children are healthy and happy :)

 

I tried 3 cycles of clomid and the first time with chlomid I had a false pregnancy which was upsetting as I took the test on Thanksgiving day and went through the long weekend getting excited. Keep in mind this was 6 months after losing a pregnancy at 18 weeks due to an incompetent cervix In my first pregnancy. Chlomid did not work for me. Then I during my exam after the last cycle of chlomid the doctor said I should consider IVF due to my age( ahead just turned 39). I had researched Femara and asked if I could try that so he said ok 1 round. I did and I got pregnant on the first round. We have a beautiful and healthy 16 month old daughter now. I just turned 41 2 months ago and today I asked the doctor if I could try Femara again. So when my next cycle starts I am trying it again.

It is an orally active nonsteroidal compound that reversibly inhibits aromatization all over the body, as well as that within the breast cancer cells, resulting in nearly total estrogen deprivation.It is a selective inhibitor of estrogen formation.it inhibits the estrogen synthesis by inhibition of aromatase enzyme that is crucial for the formation of estrogen.The proliferation of estrogen-dependent breast cancer is suppressed to a greater extent than with tamoxifen.know more about femara Femara:Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Use in pregnancy, Dosage