Difference between natural and traditional IVF

[Anonymous]

I had a successful "normal" IVF cycle several years ago and we're now thinking about trying for a sibling. What is the difference between natural and traditional IVF, and the pros and cons? I don't know if being a little older (now 36, vs. 34) means that natural would be better or worse.

I was a slow responder the first time around if that makes a difference (was oversupressed by Lupron).

[Anonymous]

The only local practice that offers Natural Cycle IVF is Dominion Fertility. They also offer traditional IVF.

With Natural Cycle, Dominion does not use drugs to stimulate ovulation. They remove the single egg that your body naturally produced that cycle, fertilize and grow it in the lab, and then transfer it back to you (for me it was after 5 days).

For me, the only drugs involved were the hCG trigger shot a few days before they removed the egg (administered by DH at home), a few days of antibiotics to limit the chance of infection, and some estriadol (I think) pills and progesterone suppositories in the second half of the cycle to increase the odds of pregnancy.

In all, it was surprisingly easy, and it worked for me on the very first cycle (age 37 - secondary infertility, unexplained). The staff at Dominion is fanstastic. I worked with both Dr. Gordon and Dr. DiMattina and liked them both very much. They're true experts and they both care so very much about what they do. I think Dr. Gordon is a little warmer in personality, but I liked Dr. DiMattina tremendously, as well. And the nurses were all terrific -- professional and very caring!

The pros of NCIVF are that you're not taking all the drugs, you can do multiple cycles back-to-back, and it's much less expensive! There's also a far smaller risk of multiples because you're only putting one egg in at a time. It could split down the road, but that can always happen.

The cons are that not everyone is a good candidate. (You might want to check the Dominion website to learn more about that -- I don't know the details.) Also, you're only using one egg at a time, so if it happens to be a "bad egg," you're out of luck that cycle. And most obviously, the success rate is lower than for traditional IVF, I assume because you're only using one egg at a time. The final negative is that Dominion is the only practice in the DC area that offers NCIVF. For me this was not a negative -- they are fantastic -- but I know they're not convenient for everyone, depending on where you live.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Dominion Fertility is the only practice that does natural cycle IVF, they do not do minimal stimulation IVF. My DH and I were dealing with MFI only so it seemed like the best option, I was very reluctant to use fertility drugs since I have a strong family history of ovarian and breast cancer so natural cycle IVF was the best route for us. We were lucky with our first cycle but it ended in m/c, our second cycle we had a LH surge so no retrieval, the third cycle was a keeper and we have a beautiful baby boy. Now we are ready to try for DC#2 and we want to do natural cycle again.

[Anonymous]

NCIVF is a great alternative for woman like me, normal cycles but high FSH-15 so not a good candidate for traditional IVF. I know it's a long shot but I'm happy to be given a chance before doing IVF with donor egg.

[Anonymous]

This the OP. Thank you. So, is NCIVF better for women with high FSH (I don't know what mine is, haven't had it tested in a couple years). Does that also mean that it's better for slow/poor responders like myself? (Especially because at least I imagine I'm not as resposive as I was when younger)?

[Anonymous]

They're are a lot of variables that go into determining the best treatment, but it doesn't makes sense to take a lot of medication if you are only going to produce one or two viable eggs so why not go with the one egg you would produce on your own. Basically that is how my DH and I decided to go with natural cycle IVF.