IUI success rates and feeling disheartened

[everwork]

I feel disheartened when I see success rates but surely it has to work for some people?

It worked for me! First time back in February. I'm now 29 weeks so although the success rates are low there is hope!!

Well it's cheap so if you want to try it or are offered it, it might work.
It depends too on why you're not conceiving (although the reasons may not be known).
Many single people try IUI too and they haven't been TTC the traditional way and it can work, though they may have no fertility issues, just no sperm supply!

It's not that cheap £1414 this cycle for low success rate... guess we'll see

@everwork

That's till much cheaper than IVF for which a normal cycle can cost around £7k - I've heard you need to factor in at least 10 rounds of IUI to have the same chance of success of IVF though?

Is there a reason you are doing IUI and not IVF?

Yes it's the fact you need more rounds of iui to equate the ivf chances.

Trying iui first as it's 'cheaper' and less invasive. Although I would have preferred to go straight to ivf.

We have one child already, spontaneous conception so we have unexplained secondary infertility

I had unexplained secondary infertility too - it took us 5 rounds of IVF and £35k for me to finally be pregnant with twins

To be honest as you don't know the reasons for your infertility I would just move on to IVF as you'll get more answers eg numbers of follicles egg quality quantity and quality of blastocysts you are able to make etc

@everwork I also felt disheartened when I heard the success rates for IUI with my tubal issues. Don't worry, there is always hope. We will get our BFPs one day. Good luck with your TTC journey!

So I had all the tests done on my egg reserve (very good), hormone levels etc (all good) and my husband had a DNA fragmentation test on his sperm (all within normal range.

There is a question mark on my tubes because the hycosy is inconclusive unfortunately and we all saw no reason to redo the test.

My consultant doesn't think I have blocked tubes. He thinks it just taking longer than expected, unfortunately.

I would prefer to go straight to ivf but equally iui could work at a much lower cost. We are happy to spend whatever it take though so I don't know what to do for the best!

Personally, I would do short protocol IVF. It's far less invasive than long protocol, no where near the amount of injections (typically only injecting for 7 -10 days) and there arent as many side effects and far more chance of success. Particularly if you've had previous pregnancies. Also, there is the chance of embryos to freeze so if it didn't work, you wouldn't have to go through the full process again.

@everwork I went straight to IVF so I don't know about iui success rates but I'd be asking them how do they compare to chances when trying naturally? It's still a lot to spend and if success rates are about the same as natural conception you may be better putting the money towards IVF

You could also try natural modified IVF - I moved to that and it's ultra low dose drugs whole thing over in about 9 days - I'm pregnant with twins from natural modified IVF

Personally if there is any question mark hanging over your tubes and whether they work or not then IUI isn't the best solution. I ultimately lost both tubes to ectopic pregnancies because my tubes stopped working after the birth of my DD (c section)

I also had a c section for the birth of my first.

I definitely think I would only go for 'natural' or 'mild' ivf (I'm not clued up completely on the differences so far).

My consultant doesn't seem to think my tubes are blocked because of where the blockage was showing on the hycosy. It was much more likely to be common muscle spasm brought on by the hycosy itself. Hence it's inconclusive but unlikely to be anything wrong.

See, so grey!

My tubes looked "perfect" on the scans and HSG - those scans won't tell You if the tubes work and it's a common misconception with doctors to pack people off thinking everything is fine with their tubes sadly.

I did 3 cycles of natural modified with all drugs, transfers and freezing for £13.5k (5 year loan £275 a month) - I have two embryos on board which are my twins and still have 2 more top quality frozen

(I did have 2 standard IVF cycles last year which didn't yield great results. For me I got much better quality the less drugs I took)

We did it and conceived my son on the second round. Oh had ed and I was at bottom of normal range for amh at 8. What issue are you facing or unexplained? How old are you?

I'm 34, unexplained secondary infertility with all good parameters apparently.

One previous child via c section

@complaining, sounds like IUI would give you a solid chance vs just doing the deed, given you haven't yet conceived via that route. It was around 15% chance when I did it which I'm told is around what it is naturally to conceive, but as far as I've understood it some women's down below environment may be hostile to the man's sperm so to bypass it and have sperm injected into your uterus can make the difference. I had the option of x3 IUI or x1 IVF on the NHS and we chose the less invasive option given that really all our parameters were fine. If I had the money and the time, which is sounds like you have, I'd definitely try a couple of rounds of IUI first. Even now with an almost undetectable AMH level and OH's poor morphology and at aged 38, they said it wouldn't be inadvisable to try it first... but we've got less time and no money so we're going straight to IVF.