Why you need to think twice about using clomid

Since we're all posting our favorite articles.... Here's my favorite.

by Bill Roberts - Clomid is the anti-estrogen of choice for improving recovery of natural testosterone production after a cycle, improving testosterone production of endurance athletes, and is also effective in reducing risk of gynecomastia during a cycle employing aromatizable steroids.

While it has been claimed that Clomid "stimulates" production of LH and therefore of testosterone, in fact Clomid’s activity is achieved not by stimulation of the hypothalamus and pituitary, but by blocking their inhibition by estrogen.

Clomid is a mixed estrogen agonist/antagonist (activator/blocker) which, when bound to the estrogen receptor, puts it in a somewhat different conformation (shape) than does estradiol. The estrogen receptor requires binding of an estrogen or drug at its binding site and also the binding of any of several cofactors at different sites. Without the binding of the cofactor, the estrogen receptor is inactive. Different tissues use different cofactors. Some of these cofactors are able to bind to the estrogen receptor/Clomid complex, but others are blocked due to the change in shape. The result is that in some tissues Clomid acts as an antagonist -- the cofactor used in that tissue cannot bind and so the receptor remains inactive -- and in others Clomid acts as an agonist (activator), because the cofactors used in that tissue are able to bind.

Clomid is an effective antagonist in the hypothalamus and in breast tissue. It is an effective agonist in bone tissue, and for improving blood cholesterol.

Clomid also has the property of reducing the adverse effect of exercise-induced damage of muscle tissue. This is very significant for endurance athletes but is not very significant, if at all significant, with reasonable weight training. Clomid does not perceptibly affect gains of the weight trainer either favorably or adversely in my experience.

The drug seems to have estrogenic effects on mood, which can be beneficial (improving relationships with women by improving empathy) or can yield depression or PMS-like symptoms, but for most users there is no significant effect either way.

The claim that duration of intake should not exceed 10-14 days is incorrect. Clinical studies with male patients have been for periods of a year or longer. This error probably originates from the fact that, for use in women, due to the menstrual cycle there would obviously be no point in trying to stimulate ovulation all four weeks of the month. Thus, use in women is limited to 10-14 days. That limitation is not because of toxicity.

Clomid is in fact useful throughout a cycle if aromatizable drugs are being used. I do think however that to be conservative, one should use it no more than 2/3 of the time throughout the year or a little less.
 
I agree that you can't compare two drugs like they did in the Belgium study.
The clomid study on cultured rat pituitary cells which has shown that clomid is estogenic in pituitary doesn't mean absolutely nothing for us due to specie differences, which was confirmed by later studies.
Saying that Clomid sucks because it acts like an estrogen on cultured rat pituitary cells makes no sense.
There's probably very little difference between clomid & nolvadex in their ability to increase LH/test so it doesn't really matter which drug is used IMO.
Just choose the drug which gives you good results without many sides.

If you experience eyesight problems while on Clomid you should switch to Nolvadex.


Fertil Steril 1994 Feb;61(2):390-1 Related Articles, Links


Optic neuropathy associated with clomiphene citrate therapy.

Lawton AW.

Department of Ophthalmology, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans.

A 31-year-old woman developed acute visual loss in her right eye immediately after a 5-day course of CC for primary infertility. Although she gradually recovered vision, she did not return to 20/20 acuity in that eye. As CC may cause vascular sludging, it is hypothesized that increased blood viscosity resulted in sufficiently reduced flow in a posterior ciliary artery to produce an anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. Patients experiencing visual symptoms while taking clomiphene should have their eyes examined promptly for evidence of visual changes or optic nerve injury.


Arch Ophthalmol 1995 Apr;113(4):482-4 Related Articles, Links


Visual disturbance secondary to clomiphene citrate.

Purvin VA.

Midwest Eye Institute, Methodist Hospital of Indiana, Indianapolis, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To identify a distinctive constellation of persistent visual abnormalities secondary to treatment with clomiphene citrate. DESIGN: Description of the clinical findings in three patients with visual disturbance secondary to clomiphene treatment. SETTING: A neuro-ophthalmology referral center. PATIENTS: Three women aged 32 to 36 years treated for infertility with clomiphene for 4 to 15 months. RESULTS: All three patients experienced prolonged afterimages (palinopsia), shimmering of the peripheral field, and photophobia while undergoing treatment with clomiphene. The results of the neuro-ophthalmologic examination and electrophysiologic studies were normal in all three patients. Unlike previously reported cases, visual symptoms did not resolve on cessation of treatment. Patients remain symptomatic from 2 to 7 years after discontinuing treatment with the medication. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with clomiphene can cause prolonged visual disturbance. Patients who develop such symptoms should be advised that continued administration may cause irreversible changes. Women with characteristic visual symptoms should be questioned about past use of clomiphene.
 
I have done both many times and prefer Nolvadex now. Clomid gives me too many emotional sides and it gets worse each time.
 
While were on the subject of post cycle therapy (pct), i know most poeple like the HCG/Clomid/Nolva combo. Doesnt arimidex have an effect in there to help post cycle therapy (pct) as well???
 
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