IUI-- did you do it. Did you succeed. Why do people do this?

[Anonymous]

MY RE recommended IUI for me but all I've heard anecdotally is that it's a waste of time. Please prove me wrong-- did you have success, and how many tries?

[Anonymous]

We tried with timed sex for 2 years (married for 5 and never used birth control) and nothing. For 3 months before the IUI we had sex daily just to make sure we weren't throwing money away and still nothing. Our first IUI succeeded. They believed I had PCOS and wasn't ovulating, so the clomid and the ovidrel trigger helped me.

[Anonymous]

I am one who would say I wish we hadn't wasted money on IUI. If I knew then what I know now it was time and money lost. When I got pregnant I got pregnant on first try with IVF. By that time we had lost a year and a lot of money - and many many sad waits. IVF just seems a more controlled and successful outcome.

[Anonymous]

Many insurance companies require you to try X number of rounds of IUI before they will pay for IVF. It's often not up to the patient or the doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many insurance companies require you to try X number of rounds of IUI before they will pay for IVF. It's often not up to the patient or the doctor.

This exactly. For many it's a means to an end to get insurance coverage for IVF. It was for us. We had to do 6 IUI cycles before getting coverage for IVF. Some people get lucky, though.

[Anonymous]

I'm 30 with unexplained infertility and my doctor recommended 3 IUIs before moving to IVF and said that if 3 don't work, there is little chance that the subsequent ones will. I wasn't successful with any of the IUIs (doing IVF now). My IUIs were covered, so not a waste of money, but I did pass on the additional 3 my insurance wanted me to do before they would cover IVF and, though it meant paying OOP instead of having coverage for IVF, I'm definitely glad I skipped those 3 additional IUIs (6 total). I would say that 3 months of IUI is manageable and is a good training-wheels treatment before starting IVF but I wouldn't count on it working. Any more than 3 is torture in the hope and wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tried with timed sex for 2 years (married for 5 and never used birth control) and nothing. For 3 months before the IUI we had sex daily just to make sure we weren't throwing money away and still nothing. Our first IUI succeeded. They believed I had PCOS and wasn't ovulating, so the clomid and the ovidrel trigger helped me.

Wow congrats! May I ask how old you were?

[Anonymous]

My third Clomid/Ovidrel IUI worked. DD is almost a year and we are figuring out how to make it happen for number 2. I’d been temping and charting for 18 months and nothing, so I was surprised when it actually worked. My insurance required 6 before IVF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We tried with timed sex for 2 years (married for 5 and never used birth control) and nothing. For 3 months before the IUI we had sex daily just to make sure we weren't throwing money away and still nothing. Our first IUI succeeded. They believed I had PCOS and wasn't ovulating, so the clomid and the ovidrel trigger helped me.

Wow congrats! May I ask how old you were?

I was 30. We got married at 25 and never used birth control (although did pull out the first year or so). I'm not overweight either and had regular periods.

I have quite a few friends who got pregnant with IUI. Many of them went on to have twins though, so that may be a plus or minus for many.

[Anonymous]

Well first of all, I think a lot of people with issues on the male side do IUI, which makes sense. Assuming all is good there, it's just an intermediate step that is much less invasive(/expensive) than IVF so, for many, seems like it's worth a try.

I have annovulatory PCOS, and my first is an iui baby - I'm not sure that it wouldn't have happened without IUI, but we wanted to maximize our chances since I was having to use drugs to get myself to ovulate every month. My first IUI worked but I had an early miscarriage; my third IUI I got pregnant with my first.

I think it's a reasonable intermediate step if you have male issues OR if you're requiring ovulation assistance (clomid, injectables) - sort of a why not do this too to maximize your shot each round. Obviously people who did not have success with it and ended up ultimately moving to IVF will look back and feel like it was a waste of time and money - but there are definitely success stories out there.

How long have you been trying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well first of all, I think a lot of people with issues on the male side do IUI, which makes sense. Assuming all is good there, it's just an intermediate step that is much less invasive(/expensive) than IVF so, for many, seems like it's worth a try.

I have annovulatory PCOS, and my first is an iui baby - I'm not sure that it wouldn't have happened without IUI, but we wanted to maximize our chances since I was having to use drugs to get myself to ovulate every month. My first IUI worked but I had an early miscarriage; my third IUI I got pregnant with my first.

I think it's a reasonable intermediate step if you have male issues OR if you're requiring ovulation assistance (clomid, injectables) - sort of a why not do this too to maximize your shot each round. Obviously people who did not have success with it and ended up ultimately moving to IVF will look back and feel like it was a waste of time and money - but there are definitely success stories out there.

How long have you been trying?

That's a really good point in terms of people who have done IVF and are looking back. I've been trying for a year and have DOR but secondary infertility (have one kid naturally). Don't want to pay OOP for IVF quite yet and doctor said IUI is worth trying especially since I conceived/had successful pregnancy once already. Was just interested in hearing success stories since the great majority seem to be negative.

[Anonymous]

I ovulate late/have a short luteal phase (charting my cycles made that crystal clear). The combo of a trigger shot to ovulate at the correct time + a medical turkey baster was enough to get me pregnant on the first try. I didn’t even do Clomid. My only regret is how long we tried without intervention - I could have had my kids much sooner.

[Anonymous]

Lesbian (so there's that). Monitoring showed I wasn't ovulating on my own. with clomid and a trigger shot I got pregnant on my 2nd IUI. I was 38.

[Anonymous]

I have at least three friends who have successfully gotten pregnant with IUI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well first of all, I think a lot of people with issues on the male side do IUI, which makes sense. Assuming all is good there, it's just an intermediate step that is much less invasive(/expensive) than IVF so, for many, seems like it's worth a try.

I have annovulatory PCOS, and my first is an iui baby - I'm not sure that it wouldn't have happened without IUI, but we wanted to maximize our chances since I was having to use drugs to get myself to ovulate every month. My first IUI worked but I had an early miscarriage; my third IUI I got pregnant with my first.

I think it's a reasonable intermediate step if you have male issues OR if you're requiring ovulation assistance (clomid, injectables) - sort of a why not do this too to maximize your shot each round. Obviously people who did not have success with it and ended up ultimately moving to IVF will look back and feel like it was a waste of time and money - but there are definitely success stories out there.

How long have you been trying?

That's a really good point in terms of people who have done IVF and are looking back. I've been trying for a year and have DOR but secondary infertility (have one kid naturally). Don't want to pay OOP for IVF quite yet and doctor said IUI is worth trying especially since I conceived/had successful pregnancy once already. Was just interested in hearing success stories since the great majority seem to be negative.

I definitely understand that! We are about to start trying for our second so this has all been on my mind too. Did your doctor suggest trying clomid/letrozole/anything else along with the IUI, or just straight IUI?