Moving from IUI to IVF: What made you decide?

Hi all,
DH and I have now had two failed IUI's. We haven't had our followup FS appointment yet, and although I was thinking we'd try for our 3rd IUI, my DH reckons we should just bite the bullet and go for IVF.

I have mixed feelings about it but more than anything else want that bubba !
Our situation is: 17 mths TTC (about 18-19 cycles), assessment cycle showed my small follicle count was low-ish so although I ovulated from a dominant follicle each month, they felt may be an indication my egg quality was possibly not the best. No other factors for me, and DH's SA was fine.

I'm thinking, that if I was a few years younger, I'd happily keep going with the IUI for another few months... but I'm 35 and we're wanting more than one child, but I'm also conscious of the fact my mother went through menopause at an early age (about 43years). So I'm worried it might happen to me --??

Anyway I'm just interested to hear people's stories, ie did they decide to move to IVF before recommended by doctor? Did they have success?

Hi Deni,

Although DH and I have never completed any IUI cycles, making the decision to start IVF is a pretty daunting one as it is a huge committment , not only financially, but physically, emotionally and realtionship wise.
Like you I am in the 'upper' 30's age bracket and really felt that the time factor was closing in on me.

Having said that, it is not an easy decision to make, however one that you make together as a couple. DH and I have promised ourselves that either one of us can call it off ant any stage if it ever gets too much for us, as it is a joint thing. Even though we have that agreement, every cycle we do (we are just coming up to start our 3rd, so we havent been on it for as long as others) we are eager, excited and ready to go as this time we could get our utopia - a little us.

And that is the motivating factor to make the decision I think - do you want a little one? IF so, you will do whatever you have to in order to have that baby.

Each couple and their circumstances are different, and use different criteria to make their decision on when to start the IVF roller coaster ride. My only advice to you would be to make sure you are ready in yourself and your relationship, and stop worrying about the age thing - it is just a number after all!!

I wish you and your DH much luck and successs in this journey and hope that it is a short one for you both.

Cheers :hello:.... Fi

deni - moving from IUI to IVF is, as the others have said, a big decision. we moved partially on the advice of our FS, but more on intuition than anything. we had 5 attempts at IUI - the first two were cancelled for poor response, so i guess you could say we'd done three full cycles before we moved to IVF - we decided we needed to KNOW what was going on, and IVF gives more control over the outcome - we KNOW we're putting a fertilised embie back tomorrow, not just hoping that we catch the eggie...

our FS said all along only 2 or 3 attempts at IUI before IVF - after our third full IUI cycle, we made arrangements before even speaking to the FS - we had about 6 weeks before seeing the FS, so we fit in the counselling, we booked ourselves in for a local IVF cycle - then turned up to the FS and said "this is what we're doing - what does of meds do you want me on".

this is something you want to have as much control over as possible - don't feel pushed into something you're not ready for - as has been said, IVF is much more invasive and time consuming - but also, if you're ready, don't wait for your FS to suggest it. as much as IVF is more expensive, each cycle of IUI can still have a decent financial outlay...

one thing you mentioned stuck out for me as a reason i'd be more interested in moving to IVF than sticking with IUI:

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they felt may be an indication my egg quality was possibly not the best

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i have just done my first full stim IVF cycle, got 22 eggs, but only 4 have fertilised correctly - a large number were immature and the balance just didn't fertilise properly - so the way i look at it is that, were i to do IUI, i might have had a 4 in 22 chance of a successful outcome on those stats - that's only a little over 5% each time... not the best odds in my book....

personally, if i were in your situation, i'd move to IVF sooner rather than later - one thing to take into account though is cycling times over the christmas break - it may be that you can fit another IUI in while you're waiting on appointments to start up your IVF cycle - and hopefully it would be the one to give you a BFP! i guess it depends on the cycle style you use (we didn't have a down reg phase, so all it took was a BT to confirm hormones and straight into puregon shots - we went from BT to IUI in 8 days most times - so we'd fit another in this year if it were us, where IVF would probably be more difficult...)

ok, i think i've waffled heaps here - feel free to PM me if you need any help hun - more than happy to chat to you about it

BG

We did 12 cycles of IUI's before moving onto IVF, I had a huge response to FSH drugs whilst trying still to do IUI's and FS wanted to pick them up rather than wasting them.
It took awhile to get our heads around it but once we did we never looked back
Bec

Thanks so much for your thoughts girls.. I'm definately going to give it more thought and chat to DH and the doc.. I''ll see if I can get an appt soon and make sure I bring a list of questions!!

I have one question that's come to mind now though, being someone who doesn't know much at all about IVF - how long does it take, from deciding to do IVF , to actually getting an embie in (assuming success in first stim for embies) - I heard somewhere that they make you go on the pill, or something about a spray - do you have to do that very long? At least with forced "break" cycles during IUIs, I feel at least we still have a go at a natural BFP, but if for IVF I have to take the pill/spray to get the base hormones right, then it must be an agonizing wait !!

BG - I'm :crossfingers: hard for you that your embie grows beautifully and you get your gorgeous bub in 9 months !

i think it depends on your own body Deni - i don't do all of that "down reg" stuff - i don't have a cycle of my own, so my hormones are basically "flatlined" already - which is great, cos all they do is check that my hormones are still behaving and off we go. if you have a cycle of your own, they will down regulate you - pill, synarel nasal spray (or lucrin injections), then onto the stim drugs - can take up to 3 months from when you start to when you get to egg pick up...

Wow that seems like such a long time... but I guess really worth it if it is what the doc recommends to increase our chances. I'm going to try and get another appointment... I've been frustrated with my clinic because I've only been with them 6 months and already I've had to see 4 different doctors (their own staffing/scheduling issues) so I dont feel as though I'm getting any consistent followup!

Sharon - I am sure my FS said a whole cycle inc down reg would be around 6 weeks depending on how you react to the drugs... so not that much longer than a natural cycle. So for me I was going to start the pill 1 Oct (or when AF arrived), and was aiming for epu early - mid Nov.

It is a HUGE decision, but I can tell you that once you make it, it can go forward pretty fast... I know that from my 1st FS appt it was less than 2 months till I was going to start, and he reason we had to wait the second month was just due to waiting for AF to start on the pill...

You know you can PM me any time to discuss this too....

xo

Thanks Ruf.
In my mind I'm thinking I'll go for a 3rd attempt IUI, but we've got an FS appt next week and I've got a list of questions to ask - 17 !!! (and some have two parts!!) :redface: - I hope he doesn't think i'm a control freak or anything... just had heaps of time to think about it all!

um... another thought i had...sydney IVF have a great book on the process that they send free from their website. I have one already, which I could send you.... pm me if you like...

Thanks so much for the offer ruf :hug: - I'll keep it in mind and see what they give me this Wednesday, I'm sure they have a stack of information to give clients about IVF.. so I'm hoping this time next week I'll have a confident plan in place!

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how long does it take, from deciding to do IVF , to actually getting an embie in (assuming success in first stim for embies)

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I had a full stim cycle which started on June 30th it went for roughly four weeks, I started on my injections on July 31st, egg collection was August 15th, embryo transfer August 20th and BT (which gave us our BFP) September 1st. So pretty well two full months from go to woah.

HTH

Hi Deni
IVF was a BIG decision for us & something I said I would never do (just my own thing), however after 3 failed OI cycles, FS suggested that he was happy to continue with more OI cycles, but that IVF would give us much more control & a greater chance of preg. So, we went with it. It was hard for us to contemplate as we fall into that wonderful category of "unexplained" infertility, but hey, if we get our little bub, everything will be worthwhile.
Take care, ask heaps of questions & make sure you are comfortable with whatever decision you
come to.

we were over 12mths trying IUI before our FS suggested full IVF and we had 20 eggs collected at opu of which 12 fertilised with ICSI and 12 were frozen we had a fresh embie transferred but no luck and our DD was the first frostie, It is a big step to move to IVF it certainly wasn't what I expected but for me I'm glad we made the move. Be guided by your FS but also outline your concerns and ask his/her advice. We are currently trying for bubby 2 and after Nov's lost angel we are now down to 4 frosties remaining so we are heading close to another EPU cycle we are hoping we may not need this, but are optomistic either way. Good luck with your journey

Hi Deni, we moved to IVF after 2 failed IUI's, we had the opportunity to go a 3rd but decided we had made the Medicare threshold it was'nt going to cost much more than an IUI cycle and at least we would know if the eggs fertilized etc. ( I was always afraid that maybe I had O before the insem and equally as stupid things???) Our first IVF was cancelled just over a week ago because I only produced 2 follies, I produced 7 in the first IUI and 5 in the second one on much lower doses of hormones. When I went to see FS (fillin) he puts it down to age 40 and said that we may have been better to go straight to IVF?? 6 months can mean a lot of changes at a later age. I think it is very important to consider the fact that your mum went through menopause early. If I had been given the option of going straight to IVF with hindsight I would take it. In reality it is'nt a whole lot differnet to IUI assuming you have had a medicated cycle. If I were you I would,nt waste anymore time, especially when you want to have more than one child. Good luck with your decision, for me the cycle from down reg to pick-up was just on 6 weeks.

Hi

We did 5 IUI and then decided that this wasn't going to work so IVF was the go. This was after 1 year TTC plus 1 year TTC on herbals etc. then another year IUI and now it's been another year on IVF (no 5 just done, in 2WW after ET). I don't think we could have jumped into IVF straight away but the gradual increase in, shall we say complexity has been acceptable for us. Actually I didn't think IVF was that much worse than IUI but I've been lucky with next to no side effects from drugs. Well of course it's way more expensive but emotionally it's been nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

Also I have a normal cycle and have done both the flare protocol and the long one (where they downregulate your natural hormones) and my body didn't like the long ones at all, resulting in a cancelled cycle when we did the long one with synarel. Turns out my body only tolerates a certain amount of interference ... should have known, I hate to be pushed around too ;)

Good luck with your decision

little fish

We went straight to IVF without any IUI. However we did do 7 rounds of clomid before hand all of which were unsuccesful.
We made the decision to bypass IUI because of the combined cost and success rates. In our clinic, IVF was about $2500 more than IUI. We made this decision hoping to have some frozen, however this never worked out that way.
You and your husband are the only one to be able to make he decision, and i wish you all the best

Hun, how did your appointment go? xo