Single girls having/considering IVF part 10

[GIAToo]

Bingbong - Sorry that you are having to consider IVF as I know how hard it is from a financial point of view.    I can't help you with the drugs I'm afraid as I have never heard of them.  As for FSH/LH tests, I have always been told they chould be done on days 2-5. 

Winky - glad you had such a positive appointment, i think it really helps pyschologically when someone in the profession is so positive for you.    Good luck with your next cycle and  it is your time 

AFM - had my follow-up on Thursday and not so good.  He has given me an 8% chance of success with my OE and wants me to do exactly the same protocol  which I just don't get.  Also saw my GP today and they are not paying for any more drugs.  Had a brilliant chat with the counsellor at the Lister about DE and she told me not to rush, however I have asked Stepan to add me to the DEgg and Dembryo waiting lists.  Also asked his advice about OE IVF and he said he would put me on the Short antagonist protocol - he was fab and responded to my email within about an hour!  I am also emailing Penny @ Serum.  AF is due Wed and I am therefore self-inflicting some pressure on myself about starting another OEIVF, but if I don't take the pill first I can start on Day 21, so I really should relax!!! 

Lots of love to everyone else on here 
Take care
GIA Tooxx

[suitcase of dreams]

BB -  and sorry to hear of your recent BFN. After just 2 IUI at a relatively young age, it seems a little odd that you are being advised to move to IVF. Does Stepan give a reason for this? Of course the success rates for IVF are much higher and if it worked first time you would probably save money in the long run (although IUI at Reprofit is so cheap it's harder to make the step there I think - here in the UK the cost of IUI is so high that you sometimes feel you may as well move to IVF rather than do 2 or 3 more IUI)
Guess it partly comes down to how many times you feel you can go through IUI and the dreaded 2ww...afterall couples take 6-8 months on average to conceive, so if you look at it that way, you still have a good 4-6 tries left of IUI before you move on to IVF. Maybe ask Stepan why he's recommending IVF already?
Can't help re the drugs I'm afraid, I've always been on Puregon.
Oh, and pretty sure LH/FSH must be done on days 2-5, so ignore your GP!

GIAToo - sorry to hear your follow up wasn't too helpful. My clinic also kept me on the same protocol for 3 attempts saying it was just 'bad luck' it hadn't worked before. With the benefit of hindsight I can see that I should have been more proactive and challenging of them - after all if something hasn't worked, why do it again? Sounds like you are completely on top of things with exploring other avenues though, so best of luck with all that

Winky - meant to call at weekend but ended up de-cluttering my flat instead...took longer than expected (where does all that 'stuff' come from?!) - let's chat soon but glad it all went well at Care

Suitcase
x

[Roo67]

BB - sorry for your recent BFN.
I used Merional for my final 2-3 iui's alongside clomid, not sure how much I paid for it but the current price in the national drugs formulary is 75 units , net price per vial (with solvent) = £13.95; 150 units,  net price per vial (with solvent) = £27.90.

Never heard of Bravelle and it is not listed, so may not be available in the UK

R x

[bingbong]

Thanks for looking the drugs up Roo  interesting that you took Merional alongside clomid. I did wonder if they are cheaper than gonal f why they aren't used more often and the only thing that I can think of is because they don't work as well, and if you needed it alongside clomid maybe that's true. I'll ask Stepan.

Suity when I told him the IUI didn't work that's what he suggested. I've told him that money is tight and I can only afford one IVF cycle and he still thinks that's what I should do next. Tbh I'm not sure how many more IUIs I could do anyway, trying to sort the time off work and someone to look after my dogs is a nightmare. And although they are very cheap the odds aren't great. I'm not sure what I'll do yet, will see what the new lot of blood tests come back as.

Thanks for confirming that I'm not  about the blood tests 

I'd be interested to hear why others moved on from IUI to IVF  if anyone is happy to share 

bingbong x

[Fraggles]

Hi All

Thought I'd pop on say Hi to y'all.

Bing, you obviously have a lot to think about and good on you for sorting things out.

My mum made me laugh she bought me some size 14 pyjamas - just in case I get 'bigger'. I am hoping this is a lucky charm and it means come the end of April I will have a glorious BFP assuming my iui happens next month.

Sorry to ask the same old question what are good cheap travel site to book accommodation through please where if you have to amend dates you don't get charged. I am going to have to fly at easter and don't want problems of getting a hotel!

F x

[suitcase of dreams]

I guess I moved on from IUI to IVF (after 2 unmedicated and 1 medicated IUI) because I was nearly 38,  felt like time was running out - clinic quoted 1-12% success with IUI, 35-40% ish with IVF, so felt like the odds so much better with IVF. Plus was paying around £1000 for IUI in London so didn't feel like good value for money with such a low success rate
Almost impossible to know what to do for the best, you could be really lucky like kylekitten and others and find that the switch to IVF brings immediate success....or you could be like me and others who go through IVF after IVF with no success and some of us even end up going back to IUI as potentially a better option for 'older' women....
Success rates are def higher with IVF but of course the costs are much higher - so you have to weigh that up. And of course as you say, the regular IUIs are stressful too in terms of time and the emotional investment in the dreaded 2WW...

Best of luck with the decision making process, it's all so hard sometimes  
Suitcase
x

[lulumead]

Hi BB

I did 3 natural IUI's then had a horrendous HyCosy done where my tubes went into spasm and they couldn't say if my tubes were blocked or not. I then changed clinic who seemed pretty confident that IVF would work for me...1st attempt biochemical...and then 2 attempts which haven't worked. Due to money I thought I might switch back to IUI as much cheaper and I could do 3 goes at IUI for every IVF attempt, and my consultant at the moment can't say why its not working and its probably just a matter of time! hmmmm....

Anyway, I had a HSG and as my tubes were clear decided to go back to IUI where I am going to give myself 6 goes and then reevaluate. i think with IUI it can sometimes be about holding your nerve....in the US they seem to do way more IUI's before going to IVF whereas in this country it seems standard to switch after three.  I had heard somewhere that you need to give it at least 6 natural or 4 medicated goes to really see if it can work!!!!

Not sure if this is helpful at all.  I didn't find the switch from IUI to IVF too difficult but having switched back, it is nice to not be taking so many drugs and I never really did that high an amount 

xxxx

[bingbong]

Thank you so much to those who have shared their experience, it has been really interesting to read and has given me lots to think about 

Lulu I haven't had my tubes checked, figured that I am low risk and apparently only about 5% of women have blocked tubes anyway so thought I'd risk it. I did ask my GP to refer me over a year ago and they refused    but suddenly I feel like I need to get them checked if I'm going to have any more IUIs. I saw a different Dr today and he was lovely and will refer me to the local fertility clinic for tests but first I have to get fresh blood test done, which means I won't be referred for a month and then I'll have to wait however long for the appointment 

It's so hard to know what to do!!! Something in me is saying to move on from IUIs but I'm not sure if that is just the impatient part of me talking 

Lou good to hear that you used Merional with great success  can I ask how much it cost you for a cycle? I'm not really sure how many vials you need and with or without solvents to work out Roos prices 

 
bingbong x

[lulumead]

Hi BB, I totally understand your impatience to get going...I never thought it would be 18 months after 1st going to a clinic that I'd still be trying to get pregnant, and in total I've had 7 interventions of one kind or another. Maybe you could continue IUI's whilst investigating IVF so you don't have to wait months. The thing with IVF is that you can't really do them back to back so each attempt if you need more then one is more like a 3 month experience before you can go again!  So could end up taking longer, unless you get lucky quickly...and someone has to  , so why not you!
I never believed my tubes were blocked, I had no reason to believe that they would be and in retrospect I wish I had just had them checked again and stayed doing IUI's instead of moving to IVF.  At my age, and I am 5 years older than you so that does make a difference, its really a numbers game and IUI's offer more chances as less expensive.  Always good to have bloods done and see if that points you into any particular direction.
You could always do a go at IVF and switch back to IUI if you need to.
xxx

[bingbong]

Thanks Lou, that helps a lot  and does seem cheap compared to what I've heard IVF drugs generally come to.

Lulu if I do IVF I'd like to do it June/July time so maybe if my cycle fitted with work I could do a couple of IUIs before then. I guess that part of me thinks that with the IUIs, and especially the second one which I think was better timed, I had great sperm (20 million, over 90% motility) so it should have worked and as it didn't something must be wrong. I know that's rubbish and as has been said it can easily take six months of trying for a couple, I guess I'm just inpatient. But do I do more IUIs without knowing that my tubes are clear? I should ask Stepan if there is a reason he is suggesting IVF other than that it has higher success rates.

Hopefully the blood tests will point me in the right direction because right now I'm changing my mind about every five minutes 

 
bingbong x

[Fraggles]

Hi Bing

Did you see your dr today about your hsg??

I'd say get your tubes checked with hsg - it's one more thing to get the clear about which takes you closer to your wish and then you can confidently go on to next stage knowing your tubes are clear.

How are you?

F x

[acrazywench]

Bingbong - if you're worried about the delay/wait for getting your tubes checked, you could have a hycosy done privately. I'm sure you would be able to get it done at a clinic here even if you're not having your fertility treatment with them. (It's not the most fun thing I've ever done, but it was good to know in advance of IUI that my tubes were clear.)

x

[GIAToo]

Bingbong - I am getting my tubes checked - I have been given the name of a place in St John's Wood and I'm calling them tomorrow so I'll let you know the cost and how quickly I can get booked in if you like?  I'm thinking about doing IUI a few times before moving on to DE for reasons too complicated to explain here, but anyway, let me know.
GIA Tooxx

[Annaleah]

Bingbong - big decisions to make, and juggling work and finances is so difficult.   Regarding getting your tubes checked - it is usually fairly quick to get HSG or HyCoSy done at any clinic, as others have said, and I think HyCoSy is usually cheaper.  The two clinics i've been with wouldn't proceed with IUI without this being done which makes sense from a risk point of view. 

I moved onto IVF because the clinic I was with did not offer unmedicated IUI.  Because of the PCOS I had a high ovarian response to even the smallest dose of Gonal-f (37.5 iu alternate days) where I had about 27 follies in total and 5 were of good enough size to contain mature egg.  This was too many for IUI but potentially not enough to transfer to IVF cycle.  I was gutted at having to abandon my first cycle and there were not guarantees that things could be supressed enough for subsequent attempts to avoid cycles being abandoned. This was why I switched to IVF but clinic did decide to down reg first so they could take greater control of stimming (even then I had silly follie numbers).  Just a potential thing to bear in mind re the PCOS as some women to have quite a high response, so tx protocol may need to be adjusted accordingly.

I keep changing my mind...almost in a daily basis and am still no closer to knowing what to do!  Also applying for jobs and have no guarantee that future employer will be as supportive as my current one! 

Wish you well with you decision.  Annaleah xx

[sweet SA]

can I ask a really basic question - what can cause blocked tubes? if you've never been 'promiscuous' or had any fertility problems surely that is unlikely?

Sorry if I'm being dumb, but maybe I should have it done as well?