Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just did my first IUI which as of this weekend seems to be a success (definite positive hpt but I'm on vacation so I won't see my RE until next week). I have serious DOR, am in my mid-30s with an undetectable AMH, high FSH, and an AFC of 2-3. I'm genuinely shocked that this worked and have minimal expectations of a successful birth given my history of miscarriages. But mostly I'm just shocked that iui worked. We just tried this month while we wait for our IVF meds to arrive, though I'm also skeptical IVF will work given my low AFC. My RE said he wouldn't even genetically test any embryos since I'm only likely to get one or two out of any IVF round, so I figure the risk of miscarrying this one is the same as whatever risk I'd have of miscarrying with IVF.

Congrats!!! Did you do injectables or with clomid?

Also my RE said the same thing as you, but was your RE open to banking and then testing?

100mg clomid on cd2-6. I'd tried clomid 4 years ago with no success but under the care of a regular OB who, in retrospect,was a total waste of time given my issues (unknown at the time). Trigger shot of CD 14, iui 24 hours later.

My current re is totally open to banking then testing assuming there's some quantity to bank.

Anonymous wrote:Just did my first IUI which as of this weekend seems to be a success (definite positive hpt but I'm on vacation so I won't see my RE until next week). I have serious DOR, am in my mid-30s with an undetectable AMH, high FSH, and an AFC of 2-3. I'm genuinely shocked that this worked and have minimal expectations of a successful birth given my history of miscarriages. But mostly I'm just shocked that iui worked. We just tried this month while we wait for our IVF meds to arrive, though I'm also skeptical IVF will work given my low AFC. My RE said he wouldn't even genetically test any embryos since I'm only likely to get one or two out of any IVF round, so I figure the risk of miscarrying this one is the same as whatever risk I'd have of miscarrying with IVF.

Congrats!!! Did you do injectables or with clomid?

Also my RE said the same thing as you, but was your RE open to banking and then testing?

Just did my first IUI which as of this weekend seems to be a success (definite positive hpt but I'm on vacation so I won't see my RE until next week). I have serious DOR, am in my mid-30s with an undetectable AMH, high FSH, and an AFC of 2-3. I'm genuinely shocked that this worked and have minimal expectations of a successful birth given my history of miscarriages. But mostly I'm just shocked that iui worked. We just tried this month while we wait for our IVF meds to arrive, though I'm also skeptical IVF will work given my low AFC. My RE said he wouldn't even genetically test any embryos since I'm only likely to get one or two out of any IVF round, so I figure the risk of miscarrying this one is the same as whatever risk I'd have of miscarrying with IVF.

thing about IUI is i wonder if they have a higher miscarriage rate than IVF since you can't tell the quality of the eggs

I have 2 IUI kids. Our diagnosis was "unexplained," though there may have been some luteal phase issues. (Fluctuation in luteal phase length that fell within the normal range, but at the extreme end of normal. ) I got pregnant with kid 1 on my third round of IUI with Clomid and ovidrel at 35. We tried on our own for several months for a second, but given my age, I went back to Shady Grove for more IUIs (same protocol). This time, got pregnant on the second round, but that pregnancy ended in a missed miscarriage. The third round worked; pregnant at 38.

I got pregnant at age 38 on my third IUI with clomid plus follistim and 4ish follicles - one was too small at the last ultrasound, but might have grown enough by the time of the IUI, and one was fairly large and could have popped early.

It was my second pregnancy, first time was without assistance. Second time we went to IUI after nearly a year of trying plus several months of getting my thyroid regulated after discovering I have hashimotos and had sprouted small goiter in my neck that definitely wasn't there one year prior. My AMH was low, I think 0.8, and my antral counts were low (maybe 7 or fewer), but I had a higher antral count (12, I think) going into the third IUI, not sure of the meds from the previous two IUIs helped to wake up my ovary a bit.

Anonymous wrote:21:18 hope its ok to ask how old were you when you delivered and did you ever try for #2? Thanks!

i delivered at 41 and 45.

21:18 hope its ok to ask how old were you when you delivered and did you ever try for #2? Thanks!

Over 40 here looking at IUIs bc I respond so poorly to meds. PP this gives me hope, thanks! And congrats!

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. So with IUIs they tend to have you do OPKs at home? PP that gives me hope that at 44 you had success! When you were being monitored at 39, was it for IVF or IUI?

they can do at home or in office monitoring. i asked to monitor at home to save money because monitoring is expensive at shady grove. the procedure itself was only about 300-400 bucs so I could afford like five monitored at home cycles for the price of one monitored in the office. given my age I knew I had to do a lot of cycles to be successful (if ever) so I played the long game and maximizes the number of cycles.

at 39-40 I did 5-6 IUIs then 3 IVFs and then another IUI. All were medicares and monitored. that last IUI was the only BFP and that child is now 4.5.

Anonymous wrote:At Shady Grove they monitor your cycle with transvaginal ultrasounds, so they can see how many mature follicles you have, when you will be ready to ovulate and how thick your lining is. Once your follicles are mature enough, they instruct you to take a trigger shot that will make you ovulate within 36 hours so they can time the IUI correctly.

My IUI experience at Dominion a few months ago (which was successful-->almost done with 1st trimester!) was similar. They took blood and did an ultrasound at each of my monitoring appointments. My LH started to rise and my estrogen increased earlier than they anticipated, so they told me to trigger on Thursday night at 7 PM and we did the IUI on Friday at 1 PM. This scenario isn't the norm, from what I've gathered. It seems it's usually IUI around 36 hours after trigger, as PP said. I wouldn't pay OOP or use my limited number of insurance attempts on an IUI without having this level of monitoring!

Incidentally, my IUI was unmedicated except for the trigger shot. It is in fact possible for this to work--for the right patient...we'd had multiple losses within the last year trying on our own, so we knew we could conceive. My RE recommended 2 unmedicated cycles to start with before moving on to Femara, but left it my choice to determine how aggressive I wanted to be at the outset. I was very wary of the risk of multiples, so I feel really fortunate this route worked for us and all is good so far.

At Shady Grove they monitor your cycle with transvaginal ultrasounds, so they can see how many mature follicles you have, when you will be ready to ovulate and how thick your lining is. Once your follicles are mature enough, they instruct you to take a trigger shot that will make you ovulate within 36 hours so they can time the IUI correctly.

New poster here. So with IUIs they tend to have you do OPKs at home? PP that gives me hope that at 44 you had success! When you were being monitored at 39, was it for IVF or IUI?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that IUI is hit or miss, but for those who were successful...which clinic did you use and who was the doctor? My husband and I considering it and I’m looking for good options.

I know the q is where were you successful but I think its equally imp. to know what to avoid with respect to IUIs. I did 3 IUIs with Shady Grove. The first two included just a baseline ultrasound and no further monitoring. I was instructed to track my ovulation using at-home opks and no trigger; they did not test blood to make sure I had ovulated. I am v. sure there was user error and am not at all confident the procedures were done on the correct day. If I knew then what I knew now there is no way I would have wasted time/money on that. Given that I was out of pocket, I also would not have wasted what amounted to the cost of a cycle of IVF on the 3 IUIs.

I agree, I think if you're going to do IUI it's definitely worth it to do blood work and u/s monitoring.

Can you ask for this? Shady Grove recommended natural cycle IUI for me.

I wouldn't bother with a natural/unmonitored IUI. There's too many moving parts that could go wrong. Do you trust yourself with your OPKs enough? OPKs are also not always 100% and it is possible to get a false LH surge. There's so many things that could go wrong. If you are going to move onto IUI you should at least be monitored and I'd try to push for a trigger at least so you know for sure that your timing isn't completely hosed. If there is no MFI, a natural IUI with only one follicle isnt going to change your odds much from natural conception either. Just trying to be realistic here.

not PP - i had more success timing IUI with opks at 44 than while being closely monitored at 39. there is some randomness there but also i think doctors tend to do IUIs too late.

For my first child, I did 3 IUIs after 2 years of trying on our own. None of them worked. I got pregnant naturally while awaiting IVF after giving up on IUI.

For my second child, I went straight to NC IVF. The process was almost identical to IUI except for the retrieval, which was not a big deal at all, and I did it without anesthesia.