IUI conception, HIV+ father, HIV- mother

[KWiseSpencer]

Hi all

This is my first post, and I'm looking for help with regards to IUI conception. My partner and I have HIV-discordant status - meaning that he is positive and I am now. We're being referred to a special unit in London but it will be a month until we can go and speak to them, and I wondered if anyone here can relate? What we are doing is called sperm washing and then IUI conception. There are zero records, out of 10000+ cases like this, of HIV transference to mother or baby, so it's safe, but what are our chances of conception using this method?? I can only really find statistics from couples using this method for fertility reasons.

Any help appreciated

K

*he is positive and I am not, sorry for typo

I don't have any experience of this but didn't just want to read and run, I hope someone will be along soon with some advice and info for you. Good luck OP

Hi K, have you been to see his HIV doctor in clinic together to discuss conception?

Hi KWise, IUI is used for couples with infertility to try and give them a better chance of conception (I have had it a couple of times for male factor infertility). Trying to conceive naturally each month with no fertility issues you have a 25% chance of success so on those grounds, I would have thought that with a couple with no known fertility issues, IUI would give you a greater than 25% chance per cycle. But I have no idea how much greater. I think I've noticed a thread on here called something similar to 'donor IUI/ivf' you could try posting on there as although those ladies will be in a different situation to yourself, I would have thought their given odds would be similar.

Good luck - I hope it works for you :)

This is the thread I was talking about www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2587046-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome?pg=29&order=

Ah great I will have a look, thank you! We've only seen my own GP so far as I had an appointment already, but we will get our letter (and hopefully appointment) from Chelsea and Westminster in a few weeks, who have the only UK HIV conception clinic.

It might be worth you giving Positively UK a call - I'm sure they'll have experience of supporting women and their partners with this.

The 25% success rate for IUI is about right for no known fertility problems.

I'm having IUI using donor sperm, and have found that with very careful timing that it's perfectly possible to get pregnant using this method. I actually managed to get pregnant two cycles in a row, but unfortunately miscarried both (which isn't anything to do with the IUI so don't worry about that).

When you read the stats for IUI they often come out at about 12–16% success rate, but that is because most fertility clinics have a high proportion of patients with fertility problems which affects the stats.