General adverse effects
The adverse effects of enclomiphene have been extensively studied during phase II and phase III clinical trials. The drug is generally well tolerated, however infrequent side effects may occur such as:
Headache (observed in 3.3% of patients)
Nausea (observed in 2.1% of patients)
Diarrhea (observed in 1.9% of patients)
Common Cold (observed in 1.7% of patients)
Hot flush (observed in 1.7% of patients)
Joint pain (observed in 1.2% of patients)
Dizziness (observed in 1% of patients)
Overall, there was no evidence of drug toxicity and rates of adverse events were not significantly different from placebo. 1
Hair loss
Some people ask how our protocol could affect hair loss, because they've heard Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) worsens hair loss, since testosterone converts to DHT, another androgenic hormone that may contribute to male pattern baldness.
Our protocol is very different than TRT by stimulating your own natural production of testosterone, which affects DHT differently than synthetic testosterone taken from outside of the body. A study showed that testosterone replacement gel (1% 10g) increased DHT by 8X as much as enclomiphene, even at higher dosages than what we typically use (12.5-50 mg).
TRT also shifts the balance between the two hormones (DHT:TT ratio) towards DHT, while enclomiphene maintains the balance. Thus, enclomiphene should have minimal effect on hair loss compared to Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT), and is much more "hair safe/friendly" for most people. 2
If you are experiencing these or other side effects, please immediately contact your licensed clinician through the patient portal.
1. Earl JA, Kim ED. Enclomiphene citrate: A treatment that maintains fertility in men with secondary hypogonadism. Expert Rev Endocrinol Metab. 2019;14(3):157-65.
2. Ronald D. Wiehle, PhD, Gregory K. Fontenot, PhD, Michael S. Willett, PharmD, Wilfredo D. Garcia, MD, and Joseph S. Podolski, BS, MS. Enclomiphene Citrate Stimulates Serum Testosterone in Men With Low Testosterone Within 14 DaysJournal of Men's Health.Dec 2014.196-205.