IUI or IVF

Sexyjj · #1 (**permalink**) 09-18-2007, 04:30 AM

Me and my partner plan to conceive in Dec of this year. I will like to know by opinion which process is better and which one is painless.
IUI or IVF, and if some knows a very good doctor in the VA, DC or MD area please let me know.

Julia-25- will carry
Kim-30- will like to carry as well (one day)

2yrs on the 27 of Sept

swell22 · #2 (**permalink**) 09-18-2007, 06:47 AM

Hello,

I can't speak for the IVF entirely. I think that most RE's would want you to start with IUI - it's far cheaper and mostly painless, sometimes there is some cramping, but generally not too bad.

Good luck!

2moms2be · #3 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 08:52 AM

IVF gives you much better ods, but it is MUCH more expensive!

As for pain, none of them are really painful. If you are afraid of needles then that can be a BIG issue with IVF and IUI if you do injectables.

LauraH · #4 (**permalink**) 10-09-2007, 02:21 PM

I agree with the other ladies. You might not have a choice. I did 4 tries at IUI before my doctor moved me on to IVF. The IUI was not painful at all (I didn't do any shots with IUI). IVF does have the shots but they really aren't bad at all.
Good luck!

WannaBMom74 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-12-2007, 02:44 PM

my dr also had me try iui's first I had 5 before switching to IVF I think the odds are something like 20% per cycle for IuI and 70 % per cycle for IVF but everyone is different in what type of fertility issues they have if any I was successful on my first IVF cycle.

Care75 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-13-2007, 07:16 AM

I did NUMEROUS home inseminations before we even started on IUIs. In my opinion, these were a waste of time. We moved on to IUIs. We did 6 (with injectables) before moving on to IVF.

I think IVF is one of the best diagnostic tools out there. I did all of the testing with my IUIs- FSH, C3T, and an HSG and everything came out fine. From my IVF, they determined that my eggs have an extremely LOW chance of ever conceiving (probably even if I were 18), but I never would have known this had we kept doing IUIs because everything appeared to be fine. I did not get pregnant from IVF the first time, but I still think it was a valuable experience- if you take the whole monetary cost thing out of it. (Who wants to pay $10,000 to find this out?) Ultimately, we moved on to donor embryos and we're 20 weeks pregnant with twins.

Personally, I would make sure you were working with an experienced RE- do a couple of IUIs (possibly with injectables- it can't hurt) and then think about IVF.

AliandAmy · #7 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 01:33 PM

HI. I am trying to conceive with my partner using fresh sperm. So far we have just tried artifical insemination (ai) however we are considering IUI. We are concerned about sperm washing, and the entire procedure. I was wondering if anyone had any advice.

2moms2be · #8 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 02:03 PM

Ali! What are your concerns about the procedure? It does not hurt the sperm, as a matter of fact it makes it more concentrate and they have to do it for IUI.

Feel free to join us on the chatty thread!

AliandAmy · #9 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 05:31 PM

I want to wash sperm. We are doing it at home with fresh sperm, and I want to know if it is possable for use to wash it.

AliandAmy · #10 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 05:35 PM

Hi. I was wondering if anyone was going through what my partner and I are going through. We are trying to conceive a child genictically connected to both of use. Our desire is to use the fresh sperm of my partner's uncle, and for me to carry. We first tried for over a year with artifical insermination at home with fresh sperm. We have not been able to conceive. We have been to several doctors, however, there is a FDA rule that states that unless you are having sexual intercourse with the person supplying the sperm, the sperm must be frozen for 6 months. This rule is to ensure the "safety" of the person receiving the sperm, -and the doctor from lawsuits (so I have been told.) Because a woman having sexual intercorse with the person supplying the sperm has already exposed themselves to STDs, doctors will perform IUI with fresh sperm for them. However, I too, have exposed myself to anything a person having sexual intercourse has been exposed to due to the fact that I have inserted his fresh sperm inside me. In addition, he has been tested, and is not sexually active. Yet these facts do not seem to matter, and no one will help me. The cost to freeze sperm is in the thousands, and I just think it is so unfair that I should have to go through this. I was wondering if anyone was facing the same obsticles.

2moms2be · #11 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 05:39 PM

You only need/want washed for IUI or IVF because it is going directly into the uterus. You dont want washed sperm for Vaginal Insemination(at home). Washing sperm takes away all the semen and dead sperm. For at home insems. you WANT unwashed sperm because the semen along with the vaginal mucus is what helps get the sperm into the uterus. NEVER put unwashed semen into the uterus...you will cause one heck of an infection. IUI should only be done by a medical staffer.

HTH

2moms2be · #12 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by 2moms2be

NEVER put unwashed semen into the uterus...

I should have said cervix, sorry.

2moms2be · #13 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 06:07 PM

I am not going through what you are...maybe one of the other girls on here are...

But, I would think at this point you can say you ARE having sexual intercourse with him! You have swapped bodily fluids (at least one way) on several occasions and that really is the definition for it. I would just lie quite frankly. He and you (if you have not already) should have a fertility work up done to make sure there are no underlying problems.

I wish you luck, and you may want to post your last question on the chatty thread, cause all of the girls on this board read that.

AliandAmy · #14 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 06:14 PM

yea i want to do iui at home

2moms2be · #15 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 06:22 PM

Here is some info on sperm washing:
Male Fertility: Sperm Washing

Have you had your labs run to test your ferility? If not your GYN can get them run for you, and all that costs is a visit. That way you can at least know if the issue lies with him or you.