Me: 39 on the cusp of 40 Question: How many mature follicles for you to cancel stimmed IUI?

[Anonymous]

Diagnosis: Egg quality issue based on age. Fear: No pregnancy vs. highly undesirable twins vs. more and horrific selective reduction.

[Anonymous]

Speaking just for myself, I'd be afraid to go forward with more than 3 mature follicles. But back when I was 41 I gambled against my better judgment and went forward with an IUI with 4 mature follicles. In the end, it turned out that my worries about multiples were misplaced: BFN.

[Anonymous]

Maybe this is a dumb response, but what does your doctor say? I know that it's important for us to make our own decisions but this is one I'd definitely make with a medical professional.

I'd probably go forward as long as my doctor said that I could. But I also am one who would consider selective reduction. If that is absolutely out of the question for you (no judgment to you for that ethical choice) then maybe IVF is better than stimmed IUI, which has a certain level of unpredictability to it.

[Anonymous]

I am the same age as you are. 2 IUIs with more than 3 mature follicles - BFN. Two IVFs (plus FET) with high-quality multiple embryos - BFN. My RE always said that in my age group, you are lucky if you get pregnant at all through an IUI. Multiples are HIGHLY unlikely. But you should should go with whatever you are comfortable with.

[Anonymous]

agree w/ above pp.

[Anonymous]

My RE said she'd cancel if there were more than 6 follicles, but my friend was at the same clinic (Shady Grove), and had EIGHT, pushed them to go forward, did the IUI, and got pregnant with her ONE baby. A singleton, from 8 follicles.

I think I may stim well, and I will push to go forward regardless of how many follicles mature. I am ok with twins--it's not ideal, but better than no baby--and I would do selective reduction if necessary to ensure that two babies survive. I really don't think at my age (just turned 42) it would come to that.

If my antral follicle count is good, I'll ask them to consider lowering the clomid dose to avoid too many, I do trust this doctor to go with my data rather than a standard protocol after she has the tests in front of her.

I don't have fertility issues, I'm just single, which changes the equation as well--I don't have multiple failed tries behind me.

[Anonymous]

PP - are you doing Clomid and IUI? I feel insecure often at continuing to try IUI at 40+, concerned that I may be wasting my time. The percentages are so hard to understand and to believe even. I have several friends who got pregnant via IUI at age 39 or 40, and I highly doubt they make up some rare 6% or whatever the number is that you see repeatedly.

[Anonymous]

I'm not PP 16:43, but unfortunately, age 40+ (or 42) is different even from 39 and 40, as far as fertility goes. Or so the stats tell us. So looking at your friends a few years younger who got pregnant via IUI may not be an accurate comparison.

[Anonymous]

I'm 16:59. I'm 40 years old and 4 months. I agree with you that there is a great difference between 39 and 42. Maybe there's a huge difference between 39 and 40. This all is so discouraging for AMA. I feel pretty discouraged at least. I'm try to "blow my fertility wad" by age 41 if possible, because I feel like that's the very outset of possibility, but if I don't have success by then, not sure I'd be ready to stop all ART efforts.

[Anonymous]

PP 17:08 here: Several weeks ago I posted in a thread about how ART feels like gambling. We all know someone who "struck it big." We all end up feeling like, just one more try, one more roll of the dice, and our lucky number will come up.

In some ways, as a single person, I almost feel almost relieved that at some point, I will just run out of money that I can realistically spend on this effort and that I don't have to come to an agreement with a partner on when I've reached that point. I am not willing to spend myself into poverty for this. If I had the money, I can see just trying and trying and trying, past the point of all logic.

[Anonymous]

single here, too---it is tough to know when to stop, and, YES, it does feel like gambeling a lot of the time. However, regardless of the outcome, I feel like I will have "peace" knowing I gave it my all (literally!) That said, I REALLY hope I do get a BFP soon! In the meantime, I am also considering regular adoption/embryo donation ("only" $5,000.) I mentioned this on another thread, as well.

[Anonymous]

I turned 42 in the summer, and did 10 - yes, 10 IUIs. 3 resulted in BFPs. Two regrettably ended in miscarriages (after hbs, at 9 weeks and 12 weeks), and I am due next week with a baby from the final IUI. I was a good responder, and never cancelled a cycle due to too many follicles (several times had 5-6, but the odds of getting even one to take seemed so low at my age, we went forward). All BFPs have been for singleton pregnancies.

[Anonymous]

PP 17:08 here, first, good for you! It's nice to hear a success story.

To PP 20:30, I know exactly what you mean about giving it your all. I definitely am not planning for failure but I feel like I need to keep myself grounded.

[Anonymous]

20.30 here. PP, I agree. Always good to have a back up plan, in the meantime be cautiously optimistic...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP - are you doing Clomid and IUI? I feel insecure often at continuing to try IUI at 40+, concerned that I may be wasting my time. The percentages are so hard to understand and to believe even. I have several friends who got pregnant via IUI at age 39 or 40, and I highly doubt they make up some rare 6% or whatever the number is that you see repeatedly.

Hey, lots of single moms here, nice to feel like I'm not the only one!

For this poster, I know what you mean, I also know of several women who conceived at 41 and 42 without a lot of trouble--if single, via a few IUIs (unmedicated, even), and others, naturally with their husbands after late marriages. Like you, I also find it hard to believe that all these women I know are in some tiny minority of women over 40 who can have a baby. We have to believe.

SOOOoooo many factors go into those statistics. I don't want to discount them completely but really, with IUIs just the bad timing alone can make such a big difference.

An example of the problems with numbers is that the statistics show a "small" 6% increase in success with back-to-back IUIs--but from 10% to 16% (or something like that in the study I remember)--um, that is a SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT increase in the 10% likelihood. Then for me I have to remember that those studies were done with fresh sperm--frozen doesn't live anywhere near as long, so my back-to-back IUIs probably increase my chances greatly, but there is no way for me to know by how much, and no studies have been done to support it. My clinic does back-to-back IUIs with donor sperm

Around here, I hear about successful 40+ pregnancies all the time, I would lose my mind if I thought it was impossible. Do I wish I'd done this earlier? Yes. The lesson is, I'm wasting no more time now, and doing EVERYTHING I can to increase the odds--acupuncture, supplements, exercise, cutting out caffeine, alcohol and most sugar and refined carbs.

In short, there is just no way to know how your individual make up measures up to the statistics.

Put it this way. I'm 42 with hardly any gray hair. What are the chances? Yet I know many women who have the same genetic predisposition and also have very few gray hairs in their 40s. I also know women who are totally gray in their 30s.

You've got to go with what you have and do what you can to maximize your chances.