Sergeant Major Clomid

I don't feel I can go any further without telling you a little bit about clomid & it's impact on my life. I as yet cannot tell you if it's the wonder drug that you seem to read about but it certainly seems to be running my life at the moment.

Side effect no 1: the headaches. I don't suffer from migraines so I can only assume what I get is pretty mild but they feel like someone has your head in a vice at your temples & they are continually squeezing it a little tighter. They seem to start around 10 or 11 a.m. & not go away all day regardless of what you take to get rid of them.

Side effect no 2: hot flashes. These can come without warning & leave you with your make-up sliding down your face a la me in House of Fraser last weekend. Not pretty at all. If I looked a bit older people would think I am going through the menopause. It's not that you are sweating a lot as such, just that you are so unbelievably hot that even if you took all your clothes off & bathed in ice you would still feel like you were boiling inside.

Side effect no 3: bloating. I am actually trying to put these in a vague order of how prominent they are & how much they effect my life but I think this would be joint second with the hot flashes. The headaches are the worst simply because they seem to happen every day! The bloating is awful though & there are times (thankfully mostly in the evening when I'm at home in my elasticated jogging bottoms) when I look about 5 months pregnant. There is pain too, low down where your ovaries are. Kind of like an ache or a stretching pain. I convince myself it means they are waking up from their temporary hibernation! Sergeant Clomid is rounding the eggs up for duty!

Side effect no 4: the moods. I have always been subject to a hormonal mood swing now and again (haven't we all girlies?!) but this is on a whole new scale & you can't contain it. I shouted at my brother-in-law for watching the X Factor when I don't like it & proceeded to rant about it for about 10 minutes even after he'd changed the channel! I can take any little comment the wrong way & I have never been a sensitive soul. I asked Mr W to list the clomid side effects from his point of view & he put this as no 1! Although he termed it as 'it makes you agitated'. Doesn't it just!!

Side effect no 5: crazy dreams & interrupted sleep. One of my work colleagues is pregnant & she comes in & tells us about the crazy dreams she has had. She doesn't have a patch on me, although I try not to share too much as no one at work knows we are ttc & crazy hormonal dreams might alert them that something is going on. Honestly, they can be some really weird sh*t. I've chased a giant sandwich (not sure why), ridden on the back of a dragon, been pregnant with various different creatures (none of whom human), and so on. None of them are particularly disturbing at the time but I wake up feeling just as tired as when I went to bed. And I have to pee at least once in the night, usually about 4 a.m. which is unusual for me. It might have something to do with the glass of water I gulp around 1 a.m. when I wake up so hot my blood must be boiling. And I have to fight not to go to bed at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night. What social life?!

My advice to those ladies about to start clomid? Drink plenty of water. I used to drink my 2 litres per day but I have upped it to 3 or even 4 & it has helped me to feel better. The more water I drink, the more the side effects seem to subside. Also, have acupuncture. It's been a god send to me & I don't know how I would have coped with everyday life without it. And find someone to talk to. Even if it's on a chat forum, or it's your acupunturist, or someone not that close to you. You'll feel like someone has pulled the rug out from under you & you can't underestimate the power of someone asking you how you are doing & really being able to answer truthfully. And most of all, I wish you all the luck in the world & hope that all of us will be adding to the clomid success statistics very soon.