Clomid, also known as Serophene, is a relatively common and relatively inexpensive fertility medication. By interacting with hormone levels, Clomid can help with ovulation. Specifically, Clomid can help with ovulation by counteracting the extra estrogen in a woman’s system that may have been produced by cysts on the woman’s ovaries. This is why Clomid is especially helpful with ovulation in women who have experienced PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

To understand how Clomid helps with ovulation, it is important to understand something about how the woman’s ovulation and how her monthly cycle works. During the early part of a woman’s cycle, the hypothalamus and the pituitary glad send signals that stimulate the ovaries. The ovaries respond with a process that, ultimately, results in the production and release of an egg, the process known as ovulation. As the ovaries respond, they put out an increased amount of estrogen. The hypothalamus, in turn, senses this increase in estrogen and therefore stops stimulating the ovaries. This is where Clomid comes in. Clomid blocks the hypothalamus from recognizing all of the estrogen produced in the ovaries. This causes the pituitary gland to continue to stimulate the ovaries, which in turn results in a higher probability that an egg will be released.

Through this process, Clomid, then, helps to produce ovulation that can be considered stronger than normal. In addition, it can also wind up producing several viable eggs. This is thought to be, at least in part, some of the reason that women who take Clomid are more likely than other women to become pregnant with fraternal twins. The timing of when Clomid is taken is also an important part of how it helps with ovulation, because it needs to be able to block those signals to the hypothalamus during the time when the egg is being prepared.

Your health care provider can help you further understand how Clomid works, and how it might be beneficial in your particular situation.

This entry was posted in Getting Pregnant.