First IUI, got really sick, early period, continue with round 2 straight away?

[willowlillie92]

Hey everyone,
I’m 34, female, in a same-sex relationship. Normal/ high AMH, high follicle count (for my age). Had my first IUI with donor sperm this month. We got 3 "straws" and a package for 3 rounds.

My cycle /ovulation tests are usually super consistent, I almost always get my LH surge around CD15. At my CD10 scan, my follicle was already 20mm, so I was wondering if it’d be better to wait and let it happen naturally since I normally ovulate a bit later. But the clinic said it’s best to do the trigger shot so we don’t miss ovulation.

I had my IUI on CD11, the day after the scan.
About 4 days after IUI, I got really sick — full-on flu, fever (which I literally haven’t had since I was a kid), and then a mouth infection on top of that. Ended up on antibiotics and have barely eaten for 9 days.
Then my period showed up almost a week early, about 8 or 9 days after ovulation, and it was a lot heavier than usual. So unfortunately, this round didn’t work.

I spoke to the clinic and they said the early period was probably because of the fever/being sick, not the trigger shot. They suggested maybe skipping the next cycle to give my body a rest, but left it up to me.
Now I can’t stop thinking that maybe it’s better to just keep going every month to improve the odds, but I also don’t want to mess up my cycle or go into the next one run down.

Has anyone else gotten really sick after an IUI or noticed their cycle change because of illness or the trigger shot? Did you take a break or just keep going? I was very happy before starting treatment that I had such a consistent cycle and was hoping to do it all naturally but the nurses already said they would probably just check for follikels size again and do another trigger shot next time if my cycle messed up a bit.

Would love to hear your experiences 💛

Are you sure you need the trigger shot? I remember getting side effects from ovitrelle and it messing up my cycle. Private clinics do like to upsell.

if everything looks good and you have age on your side then I would rely on the ovulation sticks to monitor LH surge and try the IUI without the trigger shot.

Good luck!

My first IUI I got really sick the next day (high fever and flu like symptoms and later realised I had tonsillitis and needed antibiotics as it wasn’t getting better. My period was about 1 week late, but I didn’t have a trigger shot so put it down to the illness/work stress. I did end up going ahead with the next cycle, but that was unsuccessful. No advice really as mine was likely due to other factors, but a month out might give you time to see if your cycle goes back to normal.

Thank you for that. I wondered this, I prefer to try without next time, but they almost made it come across as if it was a non negotiable cause of the size of my follicle on CD10. Looking at the lightness of my ovulation test, compared to other months, it looked like I had 3 / 4 more days before LH surge. Fingers crossed I can go without next time. Deffo had side effects cause I felt so weird and hormonal, I thought the IUI was successful...

Thanks, I think I might give myself a month out and just try again... !