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Who Needs Fertility Drugs to Get Pregnant: Fertility Drugs 101

"I need fertility medication," is not an uncommon request doctor's get from patients who are having trouble conceiving. We have medicine for nearly every ailment out there - for when we can't sleep, for when we have a headache, or even if we are anxious. With all that we can treat today, it makes perfect sense that women struggling to get pregnant believe that there is medication out there to help them.

Dr. Don Aptekar says it's not uncommon for patients to come in and ask for fertility drugs without a proper diagnosis. He says that, "some even get angry with me when I say no. I understand that it can be incredibly stressful and frustrating when not getting pregnant, but there are…

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 The most effective fertility medications and fertility drugs for women

There are various types of fertility drugs online that can be prescribed to a woman depending on their diagnosis. The most common fertility medication works by stimulating a woman’s ovaries to release more eggs, which increases the chances of conceiving. However, other drugs can be used to prevent premature ovulation during IUI or IVF medication. Superovulation or controlled ovarian hyperstimulation is a process that requires fertility drugs to enhance the production of multiple eggs per cycle. The fertility pills here are used together with IVF or IUI.

Articles of Interest

Are Injectable Fertility Drugs Safe?

I have all too often heard it said that medical providers knowingly place unsuspecting infertile women at risk of developing cancer through the fertility injectable drugs and treatment they administer and that we knowingly place patients at risk by understating medical risks associated with the use of fertility treatments. To me this is both offensive and untrue.

Drug Shows Promise for Common Cause of Infertility

Infertility caused by PCOS is usually treated with clomiphene (Clomid), a drug that stimulates egg production. But letrozole (Femara), a breast cancer drug not approved for inducing ovulation, may be a better choice. (Both drugs are also sold in generic versions.)

Fertility Drugs For Men and Women

Fertility drugs are extremely effective and are often the first treatment option for women dealing with infertility. Millions of couples who rely on fertility pills safely get pregnant and stay pregnant by using fertility drugs - without having to go on to more high-tech procedures like in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Fertility Drugs, Not IVF, Are Top Cause Of Multiple Births

Drugs that help women become pregnant have replaced in vitro fertilization as the main culprit behind high-risk multiple births, according to a study looking at births of triplets and higher-order multiples.

Fertility Drugs: 5 Most Effective

Which are the most commonly prescribed fertility drugs in the world? Here are 5, and 1 you may want to think twice before taking...

Fertility Drugs: The Reproduction Debate

Are fertility drugs a gift from the heavens or a curse on our society as we know it? Over the past few years the debate has gotten heated on the topic of IVF, “octomom”, and so called “designer babies”. But people never seem to highlight the amazing miracles that can come from these new drugs and technologies.

How to Avoid Using Fertility Drugs to Become Pregnant

According to the World Health Organization, roughly one in six couples will struggle with infertility and about 70 percent of them will turn to fertility drugs or in vitro-fertilization. As a woman gets older her fertility decreases by about 3% each year after age 35. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Letrozole, Gonadotropin, or Clomiphene for Unexplained Infertility

In women with unexplained infertility, ovarian stimulation with letrozole resulted in a significantly lower frequency of multiple gestation but also a lower frequency of live birth, as compared with gonadotropin but not as compared with clomiphene.

My Hormone Crazed Life

Before going on fertility drugs, I heard horror story after horror story of mood swings I should expect while taking fertility shots. I was told, “It’s like PMS on steroids for 12 to 16 days.” Scary thought...

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome – it's time to reverse the trend

Severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a serious and potentially fatal condition caused by overstimulation of the ovaries by drugs during IVF treatment. It is preventable with the modern management of IVF cycles, and the incidence of the condition should therefore be falling precipitously to almost zero – as it is in many countries.

Side Effects and Risks of Fertility Drugs

The most common fertility drug risks are conceiving a multiple pregnancy (like twins or triplets or more) and developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).

The Femara vs. Clomid Showdown: What’s the Difference?

Femara (a brand name for a drug called letrozole) started out as a treatment for breast cancer in postmenopausal women. But doctors have discovered it can also help younger (“childbearing age”) women ovulate. It’s all about lowering estrogen levels, says Dr. Diaz. “The drug functions by blocking aromatase, a necessary enzyme needed in the formation of estrogen,” he says. Lowering estrogen can help knock out breast cancer in some women—and it can also help stimulate those egg follicles in TTC women. While Femara is technically not FDA approved for infertility treatment, a 2014 New England Journal of Medicine-published study found femara (a.k.a. letrozole) to be more effective than clomid for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in trying to get pregnant. It’s also often prescribed for patients undergoing IUI.