IUI 2022

[unCliche]

Anyone looking to pursue IUI treatment in the new year?

I'm currently on cycle 18 with unexplained infertility and waiting for my NHS IVF referral appointment in January. In the meantime DH and I are looking to do some IUI cycles privately while we wait.

I have my baseline scan and consultation with Create Fertility next week.

@EmzieMurf1987 Noo! I was hoping for good news! I'm so sorry! What has your clinic said about next steps?

Yeah, the year is going crazy fast! It feels like 2022 has only just started.

@Shrut89 When will you have your first scan to check on follicle growth?

@unCliche sadly my doctor is not doing any ultrasound and any injectables she is saying I am not eligible for any injectables or any another medicines apart from letrozole. She will be charging me extra $300 for one ultrasound and saying that it doesn’t make any difference. I am so frustrated with the style. As I know we can achieve max results when docs are monitoring us on every step. But sadly no follicles checking for me. I just left it in God for this cycle.

If I take any injectable or if she increase dose of my medication it could end up in multiple pregnancies. That’s why I am not eligible for it 😞

@shrut89 do you think it might be worth paying for just one scan to see how your body responds to letrozole? For all you know, you may not be responding well to it. It makes no sense why your doctor thinks an ultrasound wouldn't make a difference! It would teach you a lot about your body and allow your doctor to decide medication dosage accordingly. It might be worth switching doctors if you can. No point staying somewhere you're not happy!

Hello Everyone,

I am hoping it’s ok to join.

My journey of TTC #1 started 27 months ago! I had one ectopic pregnancy in July 2020 and not a hint of anything since. I had a laparoscopy, D&C and HSG in July last year and cleared out some adhesions and endo that i didn’t know i had. All of our other tests both mine and DH have been really good so we have been put in the bracket or unexplained infertility.

We have had some consultations with a clinic and originally our consultant was leaning towards IVF straight away but because our tests results came back good (bloods, semen and DNA frag etc) and we are still young (32) they have suggested doing 3 rounds of IUI max before we move onto IVF.

Today is CD 1 and tomorrow I will start my Femara 2.5mg twice per day until Monday and then have a scan Tuesday before moving on to injections etc. This is my first time doing any fertility treatment and I am really nervous, i picked up everything from the pharmacy today and was very overwhelmed! I am on 5 different vitamins and a sachet of inofolic twice per day and have all the injections in the fridge it just looks like a lot!

Praying and hoping we have some luck over the coming months.

If anyone has any tips or anything additional you normally do (foods etc) please feel free to share! I haven’t spoken about this with any friends or family as we don’t want anymore pressure right now.

Hi @Twittwoo2020 welcome to our group chat. I am sailing on the same boat of unexplained infertility, hope you are coping good with it.

My doctor was also leading towards IVF but we also said exact the same thing that we like to give IUI a shot. Are you from UK as well?

This is so confusing for me we both are of same age but your doc is giving you all medication but mine saying that only femara 2.5mg no injectables nothing. Why two totally different styles of treating same issue. Did you doc tell anything about multiple pregnancies?

I wish you all the very very best for you IUI journey don’t get overwhelmed with all the medications it’s just the part of this process, I most of the time think of the end result which makes the process easy for me. I just finished my letrozole yesterday and today is CD8. Keeping my fingers crossed for all the ladies in here.

Hi @unCliche this is so true that doing regular ultrasounds tells that how my body is responding and what’s the progress, I am just waiting for this cycle, I am planning to talk at different clinics as well, let’s see if I can get appointment with them. The waiting line is so huge here in Canada.
My doc said that my AmH is good that’s why she can’t increase my dose from 2.5mg because it might end in multiples. But I am sure if she does ultrasound she can see how many eggs and follicles I have which can tell her what approach to use.

Hi @Shrut89, thanks for responding and for your well wishes! Wishing you every success as well. That’s pretty frustrating your doctor isn’t listening to you about medication/scans I can imagine you are frustrated. Fingers crossed for you for this cycle and that it is a success but if it is not your right to talk to another clinic if you can.

I’m not in the UK i’m in Ireland, some of the prescriptions i got were vitamins but higher dosages that are only available on prescription here in Ireland. I’m taking inofolic, high dose of folic acid, vitamin D, COQ10, vitamin B and then from tomorrow 5mg of femara for five days. In my fridge i have injections of cetrotide, gonal F and ovitrelle but won’t know which i need to use until i have a scan next week to see how things are progressing. They didn’t talk about multiples but they did say if there was more than 2 follicles that grow to the size they want that they will cancel my cycle and won’t proceed with 3 or more follicles. When i googled this i found that the reason is in case of multiples (i think). I’m sharing all of this in the hope you can go to your clinic armed with some information if our situations are similar.

CD 8 you are well into this cycle hopefully the weeks go by quickly!

@Twittwoo2020 thanks for your wishes hun, I am sure we all will have good news very very soon, I am so positive about it. I am also taking the same vitamins as yours but we don’t need any prescriptions for them here in Canada.
All the best with your scan I hope you react good to femara and get the results that your doc is expecting.
I am going to email my clinic right now to see if we can use some different permutations and combinations or if they can just give me some medication for implantation ( I had chemical preg last month), I don’t know if I am thinking in the correct direction, well let’s hope the best for this cycle. I have to do ovulation test from 12th March and once it’s change they will schedule my IUI.

@Twittwoo2020 keep us updated about your journey.

Welcome @Twittwoo2020! I hate the unexplained infertility diagnosis, having constant hope every cycle because "there's nothing obvious wrong" but getting heartbroken every time 😕 Sorry that you've experienced an ectopic but glad you're taking steps to make things happen.

I found being on letrozole so easy, no symptoms at all, although I did have a terrible headache on CD3 or 4. I also had a trigger shot and again, no symptoms so you'll be fine with those. I understand it feels overwhelming but once you start getting into the rhythm of things it won't feel like a lot.

I too was told if I had 3+ follicles, the cycle would be cancelled. Luckily I only got two but the IUI didn't go ahead as DH didn't have enough sperm! In the US people are allowed to do IUI with like 5 follicles! Crazy!

My only bit of advice is do your injectables on carpet or on the bed. When I did my trigger, my hands were shaking so much that I dropped it on the tiled kitchen floor. I was lucky it didn't break!

@Shrut89 Defo get a second opinion, it might even be worth starting now so that you don't have to skip a cycle if this one doesn't work out. Why do private appointments have such long waiting times? Here in the UK you can get private appointments almost immediately. I also agree you should push for progesterone!

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My little update, I saw an endocrinologist today and he prescribed me medication to get my prolactin levels down. DH and I are going away in April, coincidently during my fertile window, so I'm hoping with being on holiday and lowered prolactin levels we might get lucky and if we don't then we'll be starting IVF anyway.

Good luck with your cycles ladies!

Thanks @unCliche enjoy your vacation to the fullest. I am in the process of changing homes so this month gonna be very stressful for me.

How is everyone getting on? I had my CD8 scan today and finished my femara yesterday. I have quite a lot of follicles, with 5 of them leading in good size 11-13mm so far and my lining is really good. Because of all this i was told not to take any injections and to come back on Thursday for another scan with the hope that only 2 have continued to grow on their own. If we have the golden number of 2 follicles i will do my trigger shot on Thursday and do they IUI on Friday. If more than 2 grow this cycle will be cancelled. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed they all drop off except 2 lol!

Hi @Twittwoo2020 good to know that you are finished letrozole and your follicles numbers are amazing. I am scheduled for my IUI today. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed, hopefully this time it works. Mine is unmonitored natural IUI they just asked me to check OPK and today is the day according to it.

@Twittwoo2020 all the best for you IUI, keeping upu in my prayers.

@Shrut89 wishing you the very best of luck today! Fingers crossed this is your month!

Thank you @Twittwoo2020 for your wishes, just got done with my procedure, lying on the clinic bed as I am writing this. Yes hopefully it works this time 😊

@Shrut89 how are you feeling? I had my procedure yesterday, 2 dominant follicles! Stated estrogen to help thicken my lining and started my progesterone twice a day. The waiting game begins, my testing date is 1 April as a blood test in the clinic.

Hoping the next 2 weeks fly by!

Hi @Twittwoo2020 I am feeling absolutely normal, no pain or such. My testing date is 29th March. Fingers crossed. How are you feeling with all the medications and after the procedure. Hopefully this is our month 😊

Thank you @unCliche! I smiled when I read your breasts were fondled and you don't have cancer! Great news! Hopefully more good news will come your way soon!

Hello @Shrut89, sorry to hear about your chemical pregnancy. I am in a same sex relationship and we live in Nottingham in the UK. We already have a daughter from our fertility treatment 3 years ago, we were successful on our 5th IUI, and we're trying for a second now. All our IUIs are self-funded, think if we'd paid for 6 IUIs ourselves first time round we would have got 1 free IVF.
Strange your clinic isn't doing any ultrasounds during your IUI, is that standard practise over there? I had scans during all of my IUIs, usually 3-4 scans per cycle, to monitor the follicle growth so that they could time the trigger and IUI just right.

Hello @Twittwoo2020, sorry to hear about your ectopic pregnancy. We told friends and family we were having fertility treatment for our first child but it got more upsetting as each IUI failed and everyone kept asking how it went, so by the 4th IUI we'd stopped telling people. This time round we didn't want to tell anyone we're trying yet but friends keep asking when are we having another and I can't lie so have had to tell a couple of them, but kept details to a minimum!
You asked for tips so here goes...! Three years ago when I was 37 my AMH was low (4pmol/l) so I read up on tips to improve egg quality. I ended up taking 300mg Ubiquinol (more easily absorbed form of CoQ10), Royal Jelly capsules (3x 500mg per day) and changed to Zita West Vitafem conception capsules (instead of Pregnacare). I was also on Cyclogest progesterone pessaries, drank hot lemon & honey drinks, used Brita water filter jug, full fat organic whole milk, 3 Brazil nuts a day, lost weight, didn't heat up food in tuppaware, didn't stand near microwave when in use, kept tummy & feet warm (but not hot ie. don't use hot water bottle on tummy) and ate fresh pineapple (particularly the core) on an empty stomach after IUI/ovulation for 5 days only!

If you want to know more about how IUI works I wrote a post about it and have attached a link to it on my first post on this thread.

Thank you @EmzieMurf1987! So sorry it didn't work for you this time, I really had my fingers crossed for you. Yeah we did second medicated IUI back to back. This current cycle I've just done I was on Gonal-F 75IU CD4-CD11. On CD11 my lining was 10.7mm and follicles were 18mm, 16mm and 15mm so I triggered that evening and had IUI on CD13 (36 hours after trigger). I think my nurse said if the 15mm was 1mm bigger they would have to cancel the cycle as can't proceed with 3 follicles 16mm or over due to risk of multiples. My test day was last Friday and I got a BFP!

Good luck to everyone!

@TwoMommies wow congrats on your BFP what great news! Thanks for sharing all your great tips and tricks.

I had my procedure done Friday last week so currently in the TWW was feeling fine up until today but woke up this morning feeling really bloated and heavy feeling in my lower tummy. It’s probably all the medication i’m on, im taking 3 i estrogen tablets a day to help thicken my lining and then the crinone gel and 2 sachets of myo inositol so my body is just probably full.

My test day isn’t until friday next week so it’s gonna be a long next week and a half 😂😂

@TwoMommies woww that’s an amazing news congratulations on you BFP.
My test is next Tuesday @Twittwoo2020 fingers crossed for both of us. I am taking it very casually this time as I am in the process of moving houses.
Let’s see what happens on Tuesday .

@unCliche I'm on 14 months TTC and also have a diagnosis of unexplained infertility. I really don't know if I want to go down the IUI route as I've heard there's not great chances of success. How have you been finding it? I don't know if I'm mentally prepared for IUI/IVF yet but I think I will be in a few months. Just doing some last ditch nutritional changes!

@Shrut89 how are you getting on, how are you feeling? Your test date is getting closer, keeping my fingers crossed for you 🤞🏼

I’m exactly 1 week post IUI, one down one to go lol. Longest week of my life, my test date is friday next week. I have no symptoms at all thought this morning i had some white discharge but i think maybe it’s just from the progesterone suppositories. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hi @Twittwoo2020, thanks hun, let’s see what happens this Tuesday just keeping fingers crossed, I have no symptoms at all or may be just too busy in my moving process. All the best for your one week wait now, can’t wait to hear the news praying that March is our month.

@TwoMommies at last some good news! Congrats on your BFP! I wish you the happiest and healthiest 9 months. Take care of yourself 💕

@Shrut89 & @Twittwoo2020 How are you ladies getting on? Good luck for next week! Keeping my fingers crossed for some more good news! 🤞

@EmzieMurf1987 Hey lovely, I hope you're holding up ok? Have you started thinking about next steps? CREATE got back to me today and I have a follow up consultation booked in for next Thursday. Once that's done, I can have meds ordered in time for next cycle (hopefully!) AF due around 13th April but I'm hoping for a longer LP now that I'm taking medication for my prolactin. Let me know how you get on with things ❤️

@BritInNZ DH and I tried IUI and didn't even manage to inseminate 😆 During the washing process, less than 1% of his sperm survived and we literally only had 180,000 sperm to work with so we didn't go ahead. We'll be starting IVF hopefully next cycle. I feel pretty detached from my situation and don't really have any true feelings about it, I guess that's the only way to mentally get through it. I'm sure you'll know what to do when the time is right. I remember we've spoken on another thread before (can't remember which one) but I'm sorry you've had to make your way over to the infertility board, it sucks! I wish you the best of luck with whatever path you decide on 🍀💕