Introduction

hithertorue

*waves*
Hi all,

I feel like I have to start with a thank you... Thank you to all of you. I have been a board hoverer for over a year now, here and many others, too. Whenever I had a weird symptom, or twinge, or question, Google usually lead me here! In my dark days and my excited days, I usually found some solace by knowing I was not the first to go through something or feel crazy for being so consumed by a little symptom. I never got the courage to post though, it felt like if I focused too much on this stuff then I would be admitting and acknowledging there was something wrong...

Well here I am, staring down the barrel (at least for me), facing our first medicated IUI cycle after 21 failed cycles.

We saw a fertility specialist in December 2018 for the first time. I originally just wanted to go to check tubal patancy as I had previously (few years back) had my structure/etc checked and all was normal and I have been ovulating regularly without fail and mostly average cycles. I was seeing an acupuncturist and naturopath to ensure I was functioning at my best and there were few concerns. Well the fertility clinic was having none of that. They wanted a full investigative cycle and DH to do an analysis and survival test. He had done one in the summer time which showed lower motility and hyper viscosity but numbers were good. He didn't follow up for a result with the clinic he obtained the result from though as work was too busy and he saw the naturopath instead. By the time that had happened we were booked to see the fertility clinic, so we were slow on taking any steps to investigate his side of the picture.

The results of our investigative cycle were that my cycle was fairly norm but my FSH was a little high and my AMH was ahead of the curve for being a little low. DH had similar results to the summertime though the specialist was not really concerned with hyperviscosity only focused on lower motility. His survival test also came back with 4% survival after 24hrs. While his summer test was high 80s.... (I still think driving a sample to the clinic on a -40C day would make anything shrivel and die so why not sperm?)

The suggestion was to jump right into a medicated iui cycle. I was still hesitant. What could be done for DH? Why would I want to be medicated if my cycles were mostly normal? I felt a bit cornered to say the least. I am not a fan of needles (I used to kick and scream going for a blood draw)... I stomached my way through the investigative cycle but I was not thrilled about going another round of blood tests with the added thrill of injectable meds! 

DH was put on 2 fertility supplements for 2 months (we elected 3 months) and then a retest which we just did this past month. Results were marginally better, survival back to where it was last summer (I think that bad test was a fluke and weather related), but still not great on motility and still hyperviscous. So IUI was the route. Medicated because of my AMH level and to get a better chance at success....

So here I am Day 1 and knowing I'm going to need some extra support and feel like it's time to offer some to others where I can also! Off to call the clinic and let them know I'm headed to pick up my first prescription of Letrozole! 

inthewoods23

Hi @hithertorue! Welcome! Hope your stay here is short. If you have any questions about IUIs, I've been through 3 (failed) IUIs, but the process isn't bad at all. 

hithertorue

Hi @inthewoods23 - thanks for your welcome and encouragement! I think it's just the fear of the unknown for me right now.... what will the drugs be like, will they make me crazy, how will it impact my work... the appointment burnout from the investigative cycle is still fresh in my mind. I was exhausted after that just from the sheer number of appointments and constantly being "in it" and not feeling like you could not think about it for a day.

nancinator

Hi @hithertorue ! 

It is a lot more intense than trying on your own because of the monitoring ultrasounds and bloodwork. But the medications had very little affect on me (I had clomid and ovidrel for 2 IUI cycles). The benefit is there’s no chance of missing an ovulation. For example this month I thought I was ovulating today but it came early on Friday (I always feel a pain on my right side or left side, lasting a few hours) and my husband was away so I was pissed to say the least! We are taking a break from fertility treatment and starting again in June. Best of luck to you and hope IUI works!!