How long does it take for fertility drug to work? - Dr. Sangeeta Gomes

Fertility drugs are available in the form of tablets and injections. Tablets are those containing clomiphene citrate, anastrozole and letrozole. Injections are the ones known as the gonadotropin injections containing follicle stimulating hormones and luteinizing hormones either in the ratio of 1:1 or 2:1 or highly purified forms prepared from the DNA recombinant techniques. The oral medication is usually given from the 2nd day to the 5th day of the period or from the 5th day for 5 days. The doses 50 to 150 mg in the case of clomiphene citrate and 1 to 5 mg in the case of anastrozole and letrozole. The oral medications acts by inhibiting the estrogen receptors or by inhibiting some enzymes like the aromatase, thereby decreasing the estrogen level in the blood which indirectly stimulates the pituitary hyopothalamus axis to produce more follicle stimulating hormones which indirectly stimulates the ovary to form multiple eggs. These medicines are used in case of medicines with anovulatory cycles or in case of women with PCOS. Coming to the gonadotropin injections, they can be combined with the oral tablets in a low dose in case of intrauterine insemination cases to they are given purely from the day 2 in case of IVF cycles the treatment is usually given for 3 to 6 cycles in case of oral tablets and in case the woman does not get pregnant, we see stopping the oral medications or after stopping the gonadotropin injections, the woman starts producing the normal eggs and she gets pregnant naturally as the irregular hormones gets corrected the effect of the hormones lasts for 3 to 6 months even after stopping the medications, that is the oral tablets or the gonadotropin injections.