“Crazy Woman Juice”: Making Sense of Women's Clomiphene Infertility Treatments

Abstract

Approved for clinical use in the United States in 1967, clomiphene citrate is now the most commonly used medication to treat women with various infertility diagnoses or unexplained infertility. The majority of medical researchers have reported few side effects, yet, over the past 40 years, a few case reports and qualitative studies, as well as one quantitative study, have linked clomiphene to severe mood disorders. My analysis is based on interviews with 12 women who recently received clomiphene citrate drug therapy for infertility; eight of these women experienced severe psychological side effects. The respondents methodically drew on personal observations to attribute their mood disturbances to clomiphene and described their frustrations with what they perceived as healthcare providers’ lack of knowledge and communication about clomiphene side effects. These women's larger, structural feminist critiques of clomiphene usage are revealed in reference to sociocultural norms of the importance of motherhood, the naturalness of pregnancy, and fertility treatment practices. Finally, suggestions are made for current practices that could alleviate some potential problems associated with clomiphene-induced psychological side effects.