femara and birth defects

Hi Ladies, I am starting on Femara tomorrow, and I'm worried about how my doc is handling this with me. I've read about the possible birth defects, and asked if my husband and I shouldn't have sex while I'm taking Femara- to which my doc said it doesn't matter. I also asked my doc if at the end of the months treatment on Femara if I should have an ultrasound before going back on the drug (if pregnancy is unsuccessful) and he said a home pregnancy test would be sufficient.

Just FYI: I think the study that found birth defects was done in Canada, so it might be a little harder to get it prescribed there. However, the study was on women who used Femara WHILE they were pregnant, and it has since been challenged. Like candie said, since it is used prior to ovulation when TTC, it is already out of your system by the time a possible egg implants. As for the pros and cons.

hello! we just had success with femara (and injectables) and we have endo, pcos and male factor! we did do IUI... however we may be losing this pregnancy (in the waiting game right now) as far as side effects, i didn't have many at all, and it actually can increase cervical mucus unlike clomid. and it does have a short half life so birth defects shouldn't be a worry!. a lot of people have success stories on this! good luck!

you take it the same cycle days as clomid, so no worry of birth defect. birth defects only occur if you take while pg (and it was originally a drug for breast cancer, and happened to get cancer patients pregnant, that's how it's use was discovered).

Femara has a very short half life and therefore does not lead to a thin lining. Femara DOES cause birth defects if you take it when you are ALREADY pregnant. If you are NOT already pregnant when you take femara it does not cause any more birth defects than clomid or general infertility. So if you take it on days 3-7, it is gone by the time implantation occurs (due to it's very short half life) and theoretically it cannot cause birth defects because it is not even around anymore.

I'm in the same boat as you. I just started the Clomid this month and took the last pill on Wednesday morning. So I am just waiting to ovulate. I was told to start doing OPK's on day 10 and just wait and see. I am currently on 500 mg metformin 3 times days and 50 mg Clomid. Hope it works right away!!!

I was on chlomid for 7 months and for the past 2 months have been on femara. I got my period this week and took 3 days of femara - on the 3rd day had a funny feeling like I should take a pregnancy test. It came back positive. I went to get blood taken and it too came back that I'm pregnant. What are my chances of having complications - birth defects - if I carry to full term?

I would recommend this to anyone considering femara as it does cause birth defects if taken when pregnant. That being said, I took it and got prego on the first round and now have a 14 month old dd to show for it (and she is *perfect* of course!!

Thank you Dr. Brown! So I guess that's kind of my question: since it's possible that it's NOT really the middle of my cycle right now, is it possible that the ultrasound is just too early? So let's say I am not going to ovulate until day 20, for example; would a day 12 ultrasound be too early to determine if I'll ovulate, or should a day 12 ultrasound still be able to determine if I'll ovulate, even if it's not for a another week or two?

now my doc has put me on letrozole....as this is an anticancer drug it worries me and as side effects i has birth defects in babies.i dont know if i should take it or not???and wht if its does not work.

Haven't tried injectibles yet, but your options are also mine at the moment (except I have a fourth option-natural cycle with IUI). I responded horribly to clomid. I started at 50, then they backed me down to 25 b/c I produced too many follicles (12) and my lining was too thin. The second month on 25 mg, I still had lining problem and I produced a cyst. I'm on my second month of waiting out the cyst (and also on birth control to help with that).

I'm a bit scares to start clomid, I've not heard. Lot of positive stories, why is if So bad??

Birth defects are actually pretty rare. I caught myself worrying about that alot too. Until I realized how rare and unlikely it was. But trust me when I tell you to please just enjoy this pregnancy and have faith that everything will be ok. Worrying so much takes away from all the joy you should have. I worried way too much and I look back and wish I hadn't. Theres nothing we can do other than take good care of our body, eat healthy, see our ob, and have faith.

I know they like to limit the amount of cafine and sugar. Can you drink cafine free? That's what I did with my daughter. This time its only water cuz everything else sounds yucky! Talk to ur Dr about it and see if they have any solutions. I know my friend couldn't get enough pop when she was pregnant!

Her surgerian told me whenever i was to get pregnant again i had to drink a higher dosis of folic acid to prevent birth defects, my ob prescribed me folic acid in pills which i have to take 4 of them every day im not taking no vitamins since he didnt prescribed none to me. I have to say im really concern about this pregnancy im so worried. Idk if any of you ladies had gone through something similar to this.

Ladies im really concerned and cant get excited because im scared ive caused birth defects to my baby. Before I knew I was taking chinese herbs and also had a typhoid inj as I was goin to bali. I stopped the herbs at 4 weeks but wudda been after implantation. I had the vax the day before ovulation but heard the vax stays in ur system for 14 days. Anyone else worried about medications they been taking or have any advice? I just cry and cant b happy.

Did you do the blood and amniotic testing? I think some defects can be picked up on an ultrasound and you would have been told by now. Is there a reason you are worried? Does something not feel right with your pregnancy?

Teratogen exposure in the 1st trimester can be linked to congenital birth defects.

I would like to comment on the use of the fertility drug, Clomid, for those women who were curious about the risk of birth defects, and give them the benefit of my 30+ years of research in the subject. Clomid has a long half-life and is biologically active up to 54 days after it is ingested. It is thus present during the development of the embryo, even when the drug was taken prior to conception.

This is just a informational post for any mommies who may be taking Zofran and also for mommies who took Zofran and gave birth to a baby with any defects.

t remember what the drug was that caused many birth defects and such was from the 80 and is no longer on the market. I lived off diclectin for two pregnancies (morning sickness up till day they were born) and they both are health.

s just like Clomid in that it causes that risk only if you would take it while pregnant. I was on both Clomid and Femara for 4 cycles each and liked the Femara a lot more. It did cost a little more, but nothing outrageous. Good luck and take care.

I'm on thyroid med (levothyroxine) and it does not cause birth defects. I also have heart problems but nothing that could be changed with medicine so my doctor and I agreed not to try any more medicine now that I'm pregnant. I've tried several before becoming pregnant and nothing helped. My heart problem has gotten worse since being pregnant though. Good luck!

A couple of other larger studies have found no increase in the risk of heart defects, but perhaps a slight increase in the risk of other birth defects of brain, bone, and GI tract. Once again, these are very rare conditions so even if the increased risk is true, the overall absolute risk is pretty small. Of course, we do not know what long term effects on a baby using such medications would have.

Femara and birth defects

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