IUI experience - Success!

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to share our story for anyone else out there in our situation. I know I spent countless hours reading other people's stories on various forums, so I just want to give back a little.

My wife and I tried to conceive naturally for over a year without any luck. We did all the tests and they basically said we were both normal, however, I feel like we had a mild male factor infertility. My sperm count was high, motility was normal, morphology was low but in normal range. The one stat that always concerned me was the progression rating of the sperm. I was getting 1+ ratings. My research on the interwebs showed that you need to have a progression rating of at least 3 to fertilize an egg. So I started working out and eating eggs every day to boost testosterone and ejaculating every day because they said that also helps boost testosterone and keeps the sperm fresher. I ate Brazil nuts for the selenium and I gave up caffeine. I feel like doing all of this really helped to improve my sperm quality - the count went up, motility went up, morphology increased, and the progression rating improved from 1+ to 2+.

We went through 4 IUI's and got our BFP on the 4th. My wife experienced normal period like cramps around 10dpiui of each IUI and had sore breasts during the 2 week wait for each IUI. We did do one thing differently for the 4th and successful IUI - my wife started consuming the Brazil nuts as well and she ate pineapple core for 5 straight days after the IUI. I don't know if the Brazil nuts and pineapple core did the trick for us, but a lot of women talk about doing it, so we gave it a shot.

The one main thing that we learned is that you can't read too much into the symptoms you may or may not be having. There were times when my wife thought for sure that she was pregnant and it wasn't the case, and there were times (like our 4th and successful IUI) where she thought for sure that she wasn't pregnant.

Like I said, I just wanted to share our experiences for anyone else that is in our situation. Good luck to all!

[Anonymous]

congratulations!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations! Thank you for posting this. My DH and I are trying to conceive as wells does have not had any luck. This gives us hope.

[Anonymous]

barbaramo wrote:Congrats! I coma across a few posts saying that pineapple core has actually worked.

OP here. Yeah, I thought it was BS, but we did the pineapple core along with the Brazil nuts and voila! We were almost in disbelief and took multiple HPT's just to be sure.

There are multiple videos on YouTube that give accurate instructions on how and when to take the pineapple core.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations, OP! Always great to hear good news stories.

[Anonymous]

OP, glad you found success but I am worried about this giving people false hope. Another possible explanation is just random chance. For example imagine I said the following:

I was flipping a coin trying to get heads. I got three tails in a row then I ate a lot of Brazil nuts and got heads on the fourth. It must be the Brazil nuts. Maybe, maybe not. (And IUI has a lower chance of success than a coin flip).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, glad you found success but I am worried about this giving people false hope. Another possible explanation is just random chance. For example imagine I said the following:

I was flipping a coin trying to get heads. I got three tails in a row then I ate a lot of Brazil nuts and got heads on the fourth. It must be the Brazil nuts. Maybe, maybe not. (And IUI has a lower chance of success than a coin flip).

and so does IVF. but you can do many many iuis easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, glad you found success but I am worried about this giving people false hope. Another possible explanation is just random chance. For example imagine I said the following:

I was flipping a coin trying to get heads. I got three tails in a row then I ate a lot of Brazil nuts and got heads on the fourth. It must be the Brazil nuts. Maybe, maybe not. (And IUI has a lower chance of success than a coin flip).

OP here - I totally understand where you are coming from. I just felt like sharing the things that we did could help someone. As I mentioned in my first post, I read over posts like this on various forums for hours and hours and we tried just about every gimmick/trick under the sun.

Whether eating Brazil nuts and pineapple core had any real impact? We'll never know. The only concrete evidence is the improvement in sperm quality I experienced as a result of selenium intake and the things I did to naturally boost my testosterone. I didn't mean to induce any sense of false hope for anyone, just trying to share what we did on an IUI cycle that was successful.

[Anonymous]

OP, ignore the mean poster--every success should be celebrated! Thank you for sharing your experience! And it was awesome that you were so involved in the process! Congratulations! I wish you and your wife a happy and healthy nine months!

[Anonymous]

OP, could you please tell me if your wife continued her exercise regime? I just had an iui (low sperm motility, low progression, low morphology) can't figure out whether I should continue running or not. My RE seems indifferent about the outcome of the treatment , honestly, so I have to rely on the internet to figure everything out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, could you please tell me if your wife continued her exercise regime? I just had an iui (low sperm motility, low progression, low morphology) can't figure out whether I should continue running or not. My RE seems indifferent about the outcome of the treatment , honestly, so I have to rely on the internet to figure everything out.

Not OP, but an experienced infertility vet. Honestly, it isn't about running or not not running--it is about getting a BFN and then wondering IF continuing to run during the 2ww caused the BFN. Most RE's are probably going to advise you to do lighter physical activity so you don't end up with what ifs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, could you please tell me if your wife continued her exercise regime? I just had an iui (low sperm motility, low progression, low morphology) can't figure out whether I should continue running or not. My RE seems indifferent about the outcome of the treatment , honestly, so I have to rely on the internet to figure everything out.

Not OP, but an experienced infertility vet. Honestly, it isn't about running or not not running--it is about getting a BFN and then wondering IF continuing to run during the 2ww caused the BFN. Most RE's are probably going to advise you to do lighter physical activity so you don't end up with what ifs.

Thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, could you please tell me if your wife continued her exercise regime? I just had an iui (low sperm motility, low progression, low morphology) can't figure out whether I should continue running or not. My RE seems indifferent about the outcome of the treatment , honestly, so I have to rely on the internet to figure everything out.

Not OP, but an experienced infertility vet. Honestly, it isn't about running or not not running--it is about getting a BFN and then wondering IF continuing to run during the 2ww caused the BFN. Most RE's are probably going to advise you to do lighter physical activity so you don't end up with what ifs.

Thank you

OP Here - My wife just went to work and came home, relaxed, and took it easy. However, the night before our BFP, she was so sure that she was going to start her AF that we decided to go to a friends party and she ended up dancing around and worked up a pretty good sweat. She didn't drink any alcohol though, only water.

I would recommend that your husband start working out, lifting weights, and eating more protein. I ate eggs for breakfast every day for 3 months and my testosterone levels increased and sperm quality went up across the board. It didn't happen all at once but gradually. I also ate Brazil nuts for the selenium (only a handful a day) over that same time period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, could you please tell me if your wife continued her exercise regime? I just had an iui (low sperm motility, low progression, low morphology) can't figure out whether I should continue running or not. My RE seems indifferent about the outcome of the treatment , honestly, so I have to rely on the internet to figure everything out.

Not OP, but an experienced infertility vet. Honestly, it isn't about running or not not running--it is about getting a BFN and then wondering IF continuing to run during the 2ww caused the BFN. Most RE's are probably going to advise you to do lighter physical activity so you don't end up with what ifs.

Thank you

OP Here - My wife just went to work and came home, relaxed, and took it easy. However, the night before our BFP, she was so sure that she was going to start her AF that we decided to go to a friends party and she ended up dancing around and worked up a pretty good sweat. She didn't drink any alcohol though, only water.

I would recommend that your husband start working out, lifting weights, and eating more protein. I ate eggs for breakfast every day for 3 months and my testosterone levels increased and sperm quality went up across the board. It didn't happen all at once but gradually. I also ate Brazil nuts for the selenium (only a handful a day) over that same time period.

Thank you, OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, ignore the mean poster--every success should be celebrated! Thank you for sharing your experience! And it was awesome that you were so involved in the process! Congratulations! I wish you and your wife a happy and healthy nine months!

Disagree. I think this poster was realistic. That said, "Congrats, OP!"