Odds of IUI none medicated working when in 20's

[Whatslovegottodo]

Hi everyone, my first venture to this topic!
My wife and I are both very late 20s (same sex couple) we are going for IUI consultation and counselling next month. I am interested to hear the benefits of medicated over none medicated for people with no known fertility issues in their late 20s and early 30s. The 5-10 year plan is for us each to carry a child from the same donor sperm with a gap of 3/4 years ideally.
We are not sure how likely and realistic it is at this stage that we would both be able to have IUI and it be a success as the statistics look low but I wondered if that was due to some ladies being older or having fertility issues rather than the treatment having a poor success rate overall.
Any help or thoughts appreciated.

[Whatslovegottodo]

Hopeful bump

[Rogue1234]

DP and I wondered the same thing when we first started treatment 2 yrs ago. There are no separate success rates that we could find for people having treatment due to an absence of eggs / sperm rather than a fertility issue so everyone goes into the same figures. (Hardly surprising - HFEA dont ask them to record them so why would they?) Having said that, whether you're having fertility treatment or not, the chances of getting pregnant per cycle are generally really low. Our consultant told us that in their experience, around 70% of couples (with no known fertility problems) will get pregnant within 3 attempts. Those that don't will find it much, much harder to get pregnant.

IVF has a much higher success rate because every stage is carefully controlled, but is considerably more expensive and invasive. Medicated IUI is normally only an option if they find a problem with your hormones or you've had a couple of unsuccessful natural IUIs.

It can seem tempting to throw everything at it, but if you / DP don't need extra hormones you run the risk of over stimulation, multiple pregnancy or even just a lower quality of eggs.

I would suggest making sure you are happy with the clinic you are using, do your own research, make sure you are asking any questions you have, and coming up with a treatment plan between you both and the clinic that you are happy with.

Good luck!

[Rogue1234]

Oh - and if you haven't decided which one will carry first, ask if you can both have an AMH test. You normally have to pay extra for it but worth it IMO as it can tell you a lot about quantity / quality of eggs.

Whoever's comes out "worst" is possibly better off having treatment first as this will only decline over time.

We wish we'd done it 2 years ago...

[INeedNewShoes]

I don't think there are any stats on this.

I'm having natural (non-medicated) IUI. I conceived on two cycles out of two, but unfortunately lost both (the miscarriages have nothing to do with the IUI). I'm in the two week wait for attempt three.

I think that you can up your odds considerably if you track cycles for six months before you start the IUIs because timing is everything with IUI. The egg gradually deteriorates over a period of 24 hours and the sperm (assuming you use frozen donor sperm) also has a life span of 24 hours. So basically you have about one optimum timeframe of less than 24 hours per cycle for IUI to work. The odds sound bad when you put it like that, but I think if you're familiar with when you're likely to ovulate it's possible to get the timing more or less right.

[Whatslovegottodo]

rouge that is really helpful thank you. The 70% for 3 cycle figure is really quite encouraging, and I think it sways us towards the clinics 3 cycle 'deal'. That is another interesting consideration about us both getting AMH bloods. It is really unfortunate that due to circumstances it really would be better for DW to 'go first'. I am self employed and we have just bought a house, DW has a good job with good maternity pay, whereas I am running a fledgling business and am hoping to be in a better position in 4 years time to take unpaid time off for my maternity while the business keeps ticking over. I also have a highly irationale fear of needles and blood work which I was hoping to sort counselling for . However these problems are not insurmountable and it is something for us to give consideration to before the appointments.

shoes oh goodness what an emotional time, everything crossed for you and this pregnancy . Yes we have tracked for the last 4 months so will be 6 come the time for the IUI. At the clinic initial meeting they said they give us a test to take each day for when you are ovulating and then you go in the morning the smiley face appears! All the best and thanks both for your support. I'm finding it hard to find much information out apart from the clincs own pack.

[Whatslovegottodo]

Rogue not rouge! Oops!

[INeedNewShoes]

You absolutely must test for the LH surge more than once a day around ovulation otherwise you can miss it or not know when the surge started. My clinic always want to know when my last negative test before the positive was and ideally you want to have done that previous test no more than around 6 hours before.

We have a thread running which is full of useful info for ttc using a donor and very supportive too. I'm on my phone now so can't link but will try to remember to later.

[SpottieOttie]

Hello, we were in a similar position to you, both age 30, and my wife aiming to carry as I am less stable financially (PhD student and self employed) where her materinity deal is great. We went for the initial consultation at a clinic and found out she has lots of follicles, which could suggest PCOS. The consultant recommended IVF, particular since, for us, time is important, we have wanted this for a couple of years already and had some unlucky circumstances holding us back. So, we are starting out first IVF next month. It is VERY hard to get any sort of stats about your success rates that are relevant to same sex couples or single women, because the vast majority of stats are referring to fertility issues. We found this made it really hard to decide what to do, especially since PCOS doesn't clarify things - some people say it makes little difference to fertility others say majory problem... we have opted for the better chances although financially its a lot to swallow!! Best of luck on your journey, xx