Unexplained Infertility...are the odds any good for sucess with IUI or IVF?

The most common tests that tend to be omitted are:-

Adequate x-rays of the uterus which may show abnormalities not otherwise seen at laparoscopy.

Hysteroscopy - telescope inspection of the inside of the uterus which may occasionally show abnormalities not seen otherwise

Repeated sperm counts over several weeks and months to make sure there is no subtle abnormality

Testing the sperm in special media such as swim up testsvelocity testing. However, when they are done, they often uncover a hidden cause for the suppposed unexplained problem

Thorough hormone tests to detect abnormalities of male hormone or early falls in progesterone

Scanning of the ovaries to see if follicles really are developing and there are no sign of polycystic ovaries.

ChoChoSan

What tests have you both had done to date?. Sometimes tests can be missed out.

Unexplained infertility is infact no diagnosis at all; it simply means that they have failed to date to find out what is wrong. Sometimes this "diagnosis" is also given to couples when not enough investigation in terms of tests has been done.

I had 8 courses of IUI followed by one of IVF in which I got pregnant. I hated HATED HATED IUI. It involved loads of hospital appointments to check whether I was ovulating (3 or 4 scans some weeks) followed by the actual insemination which was another day off work. EAch time it failed so like natural TTC, I had to pick myself up and start again.

With IVF I found some things which really helped (Apart from getting pg obviously!) - firstly, you can see which stages are working - i.e. look my body is producing eggs, they retrieved some, they formed embryos, the embyros are good quality etc. You also have a break between cycles so you can be incredibly virtuous in the run up to IVF about eating, drinking etc knowing that if it goes horribly wrong you are ont jeopardising the next attempt by drowning your sorrows. I would suggestr seeing if you can get straight onto IVF waiting lists at least.

hello
i too have unexplained infertility
we ttc for years on clomid, iui and eventually ivf
i must admit i didnt think iui would work as my periods were pretty irregular at the time how were they gonna get it right!
we went on to ivf which we had to fund ourselves. the first attempt failed and was heartbreaking as we had initially produced loads of embryos 2 were used and the others were not viable
we jumped straight back on the rollercoaster and had another shot funded by ourselves again
this time less embryos but sucsess we now have a beautiful son age 5
i would dearly love another but we cant fund it ourselves again so it wont happen
we r both still unexplained .
i used to use a web site called fertility friends when ttc and doing the treatment etc i must say i found it a great help.
good luck hun and
DONT GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM!

Big fan of IUI here.

I had unexplained subfertility - after about seven years of TTC with no joy, I took Clomid for six months and felt progressively madder each month.

We were told we could get funding for one course of IVF or one course of IUI so had IUI while on the waiting list for IVF - We paid for it (around £500, MUCH cheaper and less invasive than IVF).

Got lucky and it worked first time. I was 36 when DS1 was born.

The letter telling us that we could proceed with IVF came through when DS1 was about six months old (we were, of course, no longer eligible)

DS2 was born - with no fertility treatment - about two years later.

DC3 is now on the way and afterwards I really must do something about birth control for the first time in more than a decade!

Good luck, ChoChoSan, whichever route you choose.

Have you and your dh tried things like making dietary changes? Cutting back on refined products and avoiding much soya? Poss some supplements too? Cutting out alcohol and caffeine (dh can still have a little caffeine) can help too. I presume that neither of you smoke?

It took 3.5 yrs for us to conceive the first time (nothing found to be wrong with me. Dh wouldn't go for testing ), but we improved our diets and took supplements before we got successful.

Unfortunately we lost that baby, but conceived again in 7 months, and then took 14 months of trying to conceive number 2.

hi, have you heard of natural IVF? this is how it works. instead of taking a cocktail of drugs to make you superovulate, then harvesting the eggs, they wait for you to naturally ovulate and prior to you actually ovulating, they will collect the egg and then fertilise and put back.

this method has no bad hormonal effects on your body and you can do it month after month.

also the cost is a lot less. IVF costs around £6k per cycle and this costs only £1k.

there is a reputable clinic at harley street who does it. not sure of the name though. check it out on google if you're interested. good luck !

I'd be inclined to ask if I could go straight to IVF actually as then they can see if there are any fertilisation problems, whereas IUI it's all blind.

How old are you?