Seeking a fertility drug as an answer to long-term efforts to conceive is understandable, especially when one sees the biological clock running short on time. The use of Clomid (clomiphene citrate) is usually the drug of first choice, because it can be taken orally at home - rather than by injection - and the side effects, including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and multiple births, occur less frequently than Pergonal (hMG) and other injectable inducers of ovulation. Unfortunately, many women see Clomid as relatively harmless and often seek its use to facilitate pregnancy, rather than to produce ova from ovaries otherwise incapable of producing them.
Contributing to this sometimes casual view about the safety of Clomid is the unfortunate consensus among many fertility specialists that the resulting embryo is facing no risk from the drug because, among other reasons, it is taken only prior to conception. In truth, Clomid has a very long half-life; studies have shown it to be biologically active for up to 54 days after it was last ingested, and that it can accumulate with successive cycles of treatment.
The recent (May 2010) study out of the Harvard School of Public Health, reporting that the use of ovulation-inducing drugs (including Clomid) almost doubled the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring, is only one of several epidemiology studies reporting an increased risk of congenital anomalies in users of Clomid. Among others, Reefhuis, et al.(2003) found a 280% increased risk of craniosynostosis; Wu, et al.(2006) found a 10-fold increased risk in spina bifida; and Meijer, et al. (2006) found a 508% increased risk of penoscrotal hypospadias. In a still-unpublished study (currently submitted for publication), the CDC presented the results of its findings from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study at the Teratology Society convention on July 2, 2008. They found a 170% increased risk of anencephaly; a 140% increased risk of limb reduction defects; a 200% increased risk of esophageal atresia; and a 110% increased risk of hypospadias. Each of these studies involved CLOMID.
Another important factor that strengthens the argument that Clomid presents a risk to the unborn baby it produces is the fact that it is a CHOLESTEROL REDUCING DRUG, which impairs the ability of enzymes in the body to produce cholesterol, similar to Lipitor and other statin drugs. Most experts in the field will acknowledge the cholesterol is a vital ingredient needed by the developing embryo to form its organs, and in fact is a component of every cell in our bodies. Absent a sufficient amount of cholesterol, an embryo will develop abnormalities.
The GOOD NEWS is that with this knowledge, we are in a position to reduce or eliminate a large number of birth defects caused by cholesterol-inducing drugs, such as Clomid. Animal studies have shown that cholesterol supplementation, given along with a cholesterol inhibitor, can eliminate the risk of birth defects otherwise caused by the drug. Clinical (human) studies are needed to validate these animal studies and to establish the optimum level of total cholesterol in a pregnant woman to minimize or eliminate this risk. Such confirmatory studies, however, will only occur when the above risk is openly acknowledged and medical science sufficiently motivated to see that they take place.