Femara and low estradiol

[jc-]

Can anyone explain the coorelation between E2 and femara. It is my understanding that for a mature follie there needs to be about a 200 on the E2, but since femara is an estrogen blocker, aren't the numbers lower then? This is my first cycle on femara and they never checked my E2 on clomid, why do they on Femara? I had a cyst at my baseline u/s and on CD3 my E2 was higher than on CD10 with the cyst gone. I don't know what the numbers were, just that it's a little lower. Could it be because the cyst was still producing estrogen? I am going in again next Monday for another u/s and bloodwork. The nurse said something about taking a few more days of the femara, but won't that overstim? Shouldn't I just wait for another u/s? I O on my own and with clomid, is there some way femara could stop me from Oing? I am so confused at this point.

[Katie_Lucey]

It was lower bc the cyst was gone and the cyst was producing estrogen. It will need to be 200-600 per mature follicle at ovulation. My doc doesn't check e2 on any meds except with IVF. You should do 5 days on femara then stop.

[Katie_Lucey]

Femara is not like injects where you will overstim if you take it longer. It doesn't actually block estrogen production it blocks estrogen receptors so your body doesn't think you are producing estrogen and produces more.

[defygravity]

The only bloodwork my RE does with Femara is a blood pregnancy test between rounds to be absolutely sure there's no pregnancy. I've never had E2 levels checked, although I'm only on my second round of Femara now.

[jc-]

Okay so my RE called in a script for 4 more pills of femara. 2.5mg from yesterday to Sunday. I picked them up, but didn't take it last night. Has anyone ever taken femara twice in the same cycle? It is a lower dose, but I think I should wait and see what the first round of 5mg does before adding more. I wish I could get some better responses from the nurses. It would be even more nice to talk to my RE, so he can explain things to me instead of giving me the doctors orders with no explaination.

[Katie_Lucey]

Personally I've found that taking more than 5 days has been very bad on my lining. I have a friend who HAD to take 10 days of the highest doses to get 1 follie but she was VERY med resistant. Did you O on clomid? If you did then I would stick with teh 5 days. Once you take it you have to give your body a chance to work with the estrogen it's producing and cycle. If you keep taking femara it's just going to delay your cycle more.

When is your next u/s? cd12? I assume they want to check things out about cd12/13 to see if you have any follies in there?If you have been on femara this whole time you probably won't. It takes about a 5-7days after you stop the meds for your body to make the hormones to produce mature follies.

[jc-]

Personally I've found that taking more than 5 days has been very bad on my lining. I have a friend who HAD to take 10 days of the highest doses to get 1 follie but she was VERY med resistant. Did you O on clomid? If you did then I would stick with teh 5 days. Once you take it you have to give your body a chance to work with the estrogen it's producing and cycle. If you keep taking femara it's just going to delay your cycle more.

When is your next u/s? cd12? I assume they want to check things out about cd12/13 to see if you have any follies in there?If you have been on femara this whole time you probably won't. It takes about a 5-7days after you stop the meds for your body to make the hormones to produce mature follies.

I don't think I'm med resistant. I O on my own and on clomid. They instructed me to take the 2.5 for CD 11-14 and then come in on CD16 for another u/s. I took 5mg on CD3-7 already and went in on CD10 for the last u/s. If we don't start producing hormones until 5-7 days after stopping meds, I would have only been in 3 days after stopping and things wouldn't be underway really. What's the point of adding more and delaying things? Is another 4 days of 2.5 really supposed to help?

[Katie_Lucey]

I have never heard of a doctor adding another round of meds unless you go in cd12/14/16/18/20+ and do u/s and labwork and you are not responding at ALL- then I have seen them add more meds at that point. Yeah if you toko the meds from 3-7 I woulnd't expect to see notable follies until cd12 if you stop the meds at cd7. Did they give you a reason for doing more? It's really odd if you were responding to 5 days of clomid. Femara is usually the same protocol- 5 days of meds then u/s about 5 days after meds stop.

[jc-]

The only thing they mentioned was my E2 was lower than at my baseline. That was obviously from the cyst though. I thought the CD10 u/s was to make sure the cyst took care of itself and then go in again when I normally do on CD 14-16. Not prescribe me more and delay things. I guess that's what I get for thinking. Thanks so much for your replies too. You have taught me so much!

[Katie_Lucey]

I agree with your thinking completely. THe cd 10 was to see the cyst clear up- the e2 dropped bc the cyst was gone and no longer producing hormones. Now it's time for the hormones to kick in and make some follicles you can see around cd12-15. If you stay on the femara it's just going to push your cycle out further. My friend who did 10 days 10 and 12.5 mgs to get one follie still woulnd't get an u/s to see mature follicles until a week after she stopped so she took it 3-12 and had mature follicles around cd 18 and O'd around day 19/20.

[ladydamia]

My e2 was low at my mid cycle us after taking femara. I ended up needing Estrace to help, because my lining was thin. My e2 was 35. Still in the 2ww.