IUI thread - natural cycle IUI and medicated IUI
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Anonymous
| Was 35 with unexplained infertility. Started with 3 natural IUIs then 4 medicated cycles of IUIs. All were paid out of pocket. Same sex couple & insurance wouldn't cover anything with donor sperm (at first). Had a CP and a miscarriage. Moved on to IVF and was expecting to pay out of pocket. SG was able to provide enough for insurance to cover 3 IVF cycles and medication. 1st IVF had a miscarriage. 2nd IVF BFP with twins. Had a healthy pregnancy and delivery. Was able to freeze 6 embryos. We are trying for our next child. New insurance and they have lifetime max of $100k. Already on 4th FET cycle. First two BFN, third FET had miscarriage. Transfer next week for 4th FET. If your insurance will cover after 6 IUI, I would do that. It worked out to be such a huge blessing for us because the cost of the IUI were so much more affordable than IVF. Best of luck OP! |
Anonymous
I found Dr. Humm to be quite nice, straightforward, and easy to work with. The first appointment is generally intake, discussion of options, and setting up any remaining testing to be done. If you've had day 3 testing (AFC, AMH, FSH, E2) she'll probably discuss your options more concretely; in my case I needed to come back to discuss specifics after the HSG and sperm analysis and day 3 testing. There likely will be a resident or a nurse with her for the meetings. There is also a 3-hour orientation class where various staff (I found the embryologist part to be pretty fascinating, actually, even though I wasn't doing IVF) discuss the process of IVF and you get a giant packet of information and disclosures for all procedures they do that need to be signed by both you and your partner. They have to witness the signatures, so if your partner doesn't join you for the class you'll need them to drop by the clinic at some point to sign. I think two of the folks in my class brought their partners. When you go in for monitoring for a cycle, it's kind of a factory. You have to arrive between 0700 and 0745; if you're just getting bloodwork, they'll hand you two sheets of paper and your sign in label and you queue up along the wall to wait for the blood draw. If you're getting bloodwork and a sono they will hand you one sheet of paper (testing to be done is usually highlighted at the top) and the label and you get your blood drawn and then you go wait back in the front for them to hand you another sheet of paper and tell you to go back for the sono. The sono room vestibule has two curtained off areas where you strip from the waist down, leave your clothes, and take a paper sheet for some modicum of modesty. (the sheet isn't long/wide enough to make a skirt over my generous butt.) There is a bathroom off the vestibule if you need to remove a tampon or just use the bathroom before or after the sono. All three of the doctors do monitoring sonos, so it just depends on the day when you go which one you will get. There will usually be a nurse or resident in the monitoring room to take your signing sheet and record the measurements. All of the doctors review the day's results, and then your nurse will call or email you with next steps in the afternoon. I personally wanted to know the exact measurements/levels, so generally I'd need to ask for that- especially if they left voicemail. Your nurse will have it, but by default will probably say something like "the numbers look fine, come back on X day for..." The good news is that since all three of the doctors collaborate, you get the benefit of all of their experience without having to wait three months to see Dr. F. Most of your interaction is with your nurse; feel free to email them with questions. Good luck. |
Anonymous
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Double check with your insurance whether the six IUIs to be be covered for IVF have to be medicated or can be unmedicated. Had I known I needed to have six failed medicated IUIs before they would cover IVF, I wouldn't have wasted time and money on more than three unmedicated IUIs.
I am vehemently anti-multiples so medicated IUIs were never going to be an option for me. I'll be doing a single embryo transfer unless my eggs turn out to be so bad that my RE advises transferring more. |
Anonymous
Is this in MD or anywhere? |
Anonymous
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I echo PP sentiment to check whether your cycles are covered medicated. I also have 6 IUI cycles covered, medicated or not. We are 2 natural down and moving on to medicated. My fertility is considered "untested" as we are same sex and my doc at SG wanted to do 3 natural before moving on but after two failed, we are ready to move on. I'm 28.
If your numbers are normal and medicated is covered, I would definitely try it! As far as the twin thing, I would push for Femara, I have found that a very small amount of advocating for yourself goes a long way in treatment protocols. |
Anonymous
| NP here. When I asked about Femara for unexplained fertility I was told Clomid works better unless you have GD or are obese or have PCOS. If you are unexplained but don't have those conditions then clomid is the first line treatment. Can someone point me in the direction of the twin studies head to head vs clomid? |
Anonymous
| I was 34 at the time of my IUIs and successful 2 of 3 times - medicated with Letrozole. Unexplained infertility. First one wasn't successful, second one was successful but I had a miscarriage at 7 weeks (blighted ovum), third one (2 cycles after previous miscarriage) was successful and I'm currently 31 weeks pregnant with twins. I'd also heard that Letrozole was lower risk for twins and I only ever had low numbers of follicles each month (I never tried Clomid). In fact, I was being monitored closely to reduce the risk of multiples - that said, they only saw one mature follicle the month of my 3rd IUI and I ended up with fraternal twins (all I can figure is that one of the follicles they deemed "immature" or didn't expect to produce an egg did). My RE was pretty floored and was convinced they were identical and that the one embryo had "split"; we later learned they are boy/girl, which debunked that theory. So, even if you're being monitored closely, weird things can still happen. |
Anonymous
| Trying an unmedicated IUI this month. Checking in to see if there are more stories from successful unmedicated IUIs (unexplained infertility)? Also, what does it feel like (compared to HSG, for example)? |
Anonymous
| IUIs feel like nothing. The only part worth mentioning is the speculum. You'd never know the catheter was there; a speculum is hard to ignore. Over in about 1.5mins. |
Anonymous
| It's a bit uncomfortable given the speculum plus the fact that they want your bladder to be full, but not at all painful and it's over quickly. I always got panicky that I was going to pee on the doctor, so it was more mental stress for me than anything else! |
Anonymous
| I just had my first IUI and it was really NBD.... EXCEPT a brief moment when the catheter touched the top of my uterus and it really hurt! Does that happen every time? That they put it in until it touched the top, then back out ever so slightly before injecting the sperm? Anyone BTDT? |
Anonymous
I think it's insurance-specific, but I believe this can be a requirement under MD law. With MDIPA, though, my RE was able to waive the IUI requirement based on the MFI dx. The MFI dx was severe enough that RE recommended going straight to IVF with ICSI. We actually did do 2 natural IUIs since it was the fall, and I was planning to switch to Federal MDIPA for coverage during open season before starting IVF the next year. Unsurprisingly, neither of the IUIs were successful. Unfortunately, I know, Fed MDIPA is no longer an option for IVF coverage 
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