IUI or straight to IVF (pco)?

[seven201]

Has anyone been successful with pco and IUI? I can't decide if we should go straight to ivf or not. What helped you decide?

I have pco (not really sure if it's pco or pcos - consultant is quite vague about everything!).

Tried clomid but it thinned my womb lining. Tried tamoxifen but it over stimulated my ovaries. Then had ovarian drilling and a Fallopian tube unblocked in July and also put on metformin 1500mg.

Been trying for coming up to two years and my mental health is suffering. I did fall pregnant naturally about 20months ago but ended in an early mc and also have a 3.5 year old dc who was conceived naturally but took a while. I'm 37, dh's sperm 'fine' - we weren't told more than that.

We're just getting into the researching clinics stage and feeling a little overwhelmed by it so any advice is appreciated.

Pco isn't a 'diagnosis'. It's a natural variant of ovarian physiology. Up to 30% of women have this (but most will be unawares). Sounds like it must be pcos? Ovarian drilling is usually performed with anovulatory women, so sounds more like pcos (of which pco can be a symptom). Any symptoms? What's your fsh:lh ratio?

I'd skip straight to ivf. Iui has very low rates of success, basically the same chance of success as ttc au naturelle.

I have no idea what my fish:lh ratio is. I assume it's fine otherwise someone would have said it wasn't. I will dig it out (assuming I've had that tested, have had lots of blood tests) and try and work out what the figures mean.

I was on the waiting list to get surgery to unblock my tube when my consultant discovered the cystic ovaries during a monitoring scan when on tamoxifen. I don't think he'd have done the drilling if I weren't already getting surgery done by him anyway. I have irregular cycles, had gestational diabetes with my dd and a bit hairy too. My sister has it.

Oh ok, that's good to know! Didn't realise it was similar success to normal ttc sex!

Thanks so much for your reply

@physicskate I've found my results.

My fsh was 4.6 iu/l
And serum lh level was 5.4 iu/l
That was taken over a year ago on cd3 I think. Do you know if that's 'ok'?

A ratio of 2:1 (or larger) is indicative of pcos. You don't have that ratio...

Pcos symptoms?

Nm, just re-read the post properly!! You could have pcos...

Thanks for your help @physicskate