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hi gem,
well...i am from the uk too..and no clomid is not available in the uk without prescription....you or your partner would have to have a fertiltiy probems for you to be prescribed clomid. There are various causes of infertility, one of them being anovulation (lack of ovulation) common among women with infrequent or absent periods. Such women don't secrete enough Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Follicular Stimulating Hormone (FSH) at the right time during the cycle resulting in an immature egg that is not released. In such cases, the most commonly prescribed drug is Clomiphene Citrate also known by its brand names Clomid or Serophene. If the lack of ovulation is the only cause of infertility, most women on Clomid treatment will achieve a pregnancy within four to six months of treatment.

Structurally similar to estrogen, Clomid works as a selective estrogen modulator, by attaching itself to the estrogen receptor sites in the brain disallowing them to bind with naturally circulating estrogen. In response, the hypothalamus releases more Gonadotropin Releasing hormone (GnRH), stimulating the pituitary to drain more LH and FSH, which then cause the ovary into producing more eggs and follicles, resulting in ovulation. Generally, a woman taking Clomid doubles or triples the amount of estrogen production in that cycle compared to pretreatment cycles.

In women with irregular menstruation, Clomid helps small and immature follicles grow to maturity (about 20 millimeters in diameter). Also, low estradiol level in a woman's blood correlates with an inadequately stimulated, small follicle. Although she may have enough hormones to produce an egg, but if her estradiol production is low (less than 100 pg/ml), she may not get ready to accept a fertilized egg for implantation. In such candidates, Clomid augments the stimulatory signals from the hypothalamus to the pituitary to the ovaries.

Clomid is also often effective in women with luteal phase defect (LPD). LPD causes a break in the natural ovulation process in women resulting in low production of the hormone progesterone in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Clomid has provably enhanced the hypothalamus and pituitary functions so as to keep producing the hormones the ovary needs to manufacture progesterone throughout the luteal phase, resulting in ovulation.

One particularly positive aspect of Clomid is that it's an effective fertility drug and doesn't require injections. Economically priced and easily available, Clomid is taken orally for only five days each month. Clomid therapy is usually timed to help the woman ovulate on or around day 14 of a regular 28-day cycle, the popular dose being one daily 50 mg. tablet for five days starting on cycle day three or five. If this does not work, doctors generally double the daily dose to two tablets (100 mg) in her next cycle. In candidates where double dose also fails, the daily dose can be tripled to 150 mg or taken in addition another fertility medication such as human menopausal gonadotropin (Pergonal) can be used in the next cycle.

i have taken unprescribed clomid at my own risk and ordered it via the net...this however is very sensitive issue here on these forums and condemned by alot of people...hence not a very popular topic of coneversation. if you are asking purely for knowledge then hopefully i have been able to give you some idea about clomid...
oh there doesnt seem to be any concrete laws of consuming clomid unprescribed in the uk...yet...meaning if you take it and decide to tell your doc then maybe you may get a waggin finger...but due to our national health service we don't seem to have the same problems as pople in the US who may be denied medical care as their insurances will not cover the administartion of unprescribed drugs suhc as clomid...i have taken it and never told my doc although until after i got pregnant and made sure i was ok but have told alot of other medical professionlas who were intreeguied thought i was mad and as well brave and folish even but noone really can doanything about it as there is not valid law against this yet.....i am now receiveing normal antinatal care as any other lady who is pregnant!
hope this helped!

What are the risks of taking clomid and where can I get it if I need to. I am not sure if I am ovulating as I have been doing ovulation tests and they arn't showing that I am. I have been TTC for about 4 months.

Gem, try going to your doctor to get accurate information. Yas is NOT a doctor - although she holds herself to be somewhat of an expert on clomid. There can be serious side effects w/clomid which can be fully explained to you by a professional. Good luck.

YOu would be surprised how many docs will just simply put you on it just for asking.. at least that way you would be under a doc supervision with it ..really you ought to do it this way . It is safer .

yes, i agree..if you can get it prescribed and if you have problems i don't see why you wouldnt't get prescribed anyway by your doc as i would strongly recommend you do..and no, tripletmom! i am not a doctor i belive gem is smart enough to know that..please don't underestimate people's intelligence and i may also be no expert on it but yes i know enough to have taken the risk for MYSELF!!good luck gem...

Who did you risk YAS200? Yourself? Really? Is that who you really risked? So if you had conceived quadruplets born at 23 weeks you would have protected them from the hell of the NICU?

No offence intended, YAS, but all you did was take a pill. You have absolutely no idea what effect that pill had on your body. We are all happy you are pregnant with your one child, but when you were taking Clomid, all you really knew is that you didn't "feel" any major symptoms... which really has nothing to do with what the drug was doing in your body. Had you been scanned, pre-screened, monitored, observed, etc you really would know what the drug had done, and would therfore be a much more reliable source of information to these women. All you really know, in the end, is you took a pill and after a few months you became pregnant with one baby. Luck to you, but don't make your experience more then it was, for the benefit of those still searching.

don't forget. She stated months ago that she was very fertile and the only reason she was even taking it was to conceive twins or more. So basically clomid might not even have helped her either way since she was fertile to begin with.