WW3TD?

lin681 · June 2012

Hi ladies, I introduced myself a few months back. I have mostly been lurking.

I have seen an RE had all the initial testing done...everything came back normal in March. DH and I decided to TTC naturally for 3 more months. Unfortunately those 3 months were up today. AF arrived today.

My RE gave us 2 choices clomid w trigger for 3 months OR clomid w trigger and IUI. With unexplained fertility what do you think I should do? I feel I should try just clomid and trigger 1st . What do you ladies think?

Oh yeah forgot to add I do ovulate ever month around CD 20.

Thanks!!!

alb245 · June 2012

I'm assuming your insurance is covering both (including u/s monitoring, meds, etc)? If not, I personally would want to try whatever insurance is covering first. If you're OOP for both then I would want a ballpark from your RE of how much each one costs. Also, did your RE give you any stats/percentages of success for the two options? That might also sway my decision.

GL with whatever you decide!

Neesey · June 2012

I'm in a similar boat and do ovulate on my own usually between cd19-22. But because of my age my RE said IUI would be our best shot. I figure too that we only get so many cycles with clomid so we want to do everything we can during those cycles.

lin681 · June 2012

alb245:
I'm assuming your insurance is covering both (including u/s monitoring, meds, etc)? If not, I personally would want to try whatever insurance is covering first. If you're OOP for both then I would want a ballpark from your RE of how much each one costs. Also, did your RE give you any stats/percentages of success for the two options? That might also sway my decision.
GL with whatever you decide!

Both are OOP. Clomid cycle around $300

Clomid + IUI around $700

alb245 · June 2012

Good point Neesy about the lifetime max of Clomid. Honestly I would go for the IUI's. $400 more may seem like a lot now but to me it would be worth it.

whoberry · June 2012

We have an unexplained diagnosis as well and we are out of pocket. We opted to do Clomid alone for a few cycles before adding in the IUI. We didn't want to jump right into more invasive and expensive treatment options. Also it took DH awhile to get comfortable with the idea of IUI. For the longest time we figured it was just my cycle that needed to be fixed b/c it was wacky so we thought Clomid would be the magic ticket for us.

My RE said Clomid alone would only give us a 6% chance of pregnancy but Clomid + IUI would give us 10%. Certainly something to think about it. I would probably try at least one Clomid only cycle before going to IUI. Good luck!

cdale86 · June 2012

I would go the IUI route. We are also unexplained. After trying on our own and then with meds for so long with no change in results, I was so excited to move on to IUI. I just didn't want to waste anymore time. Maybe those sperm just need a little boost and to bypass your CM. Personally, I want to go full force (within RE recs) to get our take home baby ASAP. Anything to boost our chances! It really depends on what is really important to you and DH. You may really want to conceive "normally" (in the privacy of your own home) rather than in the doctors office with DH, MD and RN all with you. It definitely took some time for me to come to terms with that. GL in whatever you decide.

Gregermis · June 2012

we are MFI, so we of course went with clomid + IUI to start. When we were looking up success rates with clomid+ TI vs clomid+ IUI, we felt better that we chose IUI rather than TI. Also, everyone is different, but sex + clomid SUCKED! Even with too much pre-seed it was really uncomfortable for me.

Good luck!

DebateThis · June 2012

cdale86:
I would go the IUI route. We are also unexplained. After trying on our own and then with meds for so long with no change in results, I was so excited to move on to IUI. I just didn't want to waste anymore time. Maybe those sperm just need a little boost and to bypass your CM. Personally, I want to go full force (within RE recs) to get our take home baby ASAP. Anything to boost our chances! It really depends on what is really important to you and DH. You may really want to conceive "normally" (in the privacy of your own home) rather than in the doctors office with DH, MD and RN all with you. It definitely took some time for me to come to terms with that. GL in whatever you decide.

Ditto all of this.

One more thing in your follow-up post that made me raise my eyebrows - definitely double check the price that your RE gave you for monitoring. I know that in other polls we've done on this board the average is usually somewhere around $1500-$1800 for a complete IUI cycle (mine was I think $1900 last cycle). $700 seems way too low. You'll want to check to see if that amount covers the entire cycle - ultrasounds, bloodwork, sperm wash, and the actual IUI. And then plan on between $60 and $120 for the meds (clomid and trigger shot).

Good luck with your decision.

BellaLux · June 2012

No personal experience/suggestion, but I wish you luck!

katib77 · June 2012

justplanelove:
We are in the Unexplained category & OOP as well. We went with the IUI & here was my mindset when we made that decision:
Since I was ovulating & having regular cycles & DH's SA was normal, than most likely there was something wrong with "matching" the sperm & egg. This is most easily accomplished by washing the sperm & giving the best swimmers a head start where you know the timing is right.
TI doesn't really give you any advantage unless your problem is that you can't pinpoint your O date, you don't O at all or don't have a very strong O.
Since you only have 6 chances with Clomid, we decided that less is more in this case & doing all we could during those cycles was better than "playing with fire".
I hope that helped & I wish you the best of luck!

I totally agree with all of this! Even though we were MFI so went straight to IUI, I think clomid TI should really just be for those that either just need clomid in order to ovulate or if you really can't afford IUI at the time...and even then I think it's better to just save up for IUI. And while I know that sucks (trust me, this is the second year in a row having to put treatment on hold to have the OOP money) it's really what's best.

lin681 · June 2012

Thanks for all your advice! I really appreciate the help and I have a lot to think about.

lesleyzeb · June 2012

Hi, I asked a similar question a couple days ago - we are unknown IF, now at 1 1/2 years TTC. This was our first Clomid + TI cycle (BFN). Our RE suggested an IUI with the meds but as cdale said, we were really hoping we just needed a boost and could still do it the old-fashioned way (doesn't it seem to be easy for everyone else?!?).

Thanks, justplanelove, for this:

TI doesn't really give you any advantage unless your problem is that you can't pinpoint your O date, you don't O at all or don't have a very strong O.

That actually really made me stop and think. Why can't the docs be that clear?? Although my left ovary didn't do much on the Clomid, I've always had completely regular cycles and charting/OPK usually showed O. You might have just convinced me to go with the IUI this next round.

We are OOP on most of this - the u/s are $200 and I had 3 this time (cd 4, 12 and 15), I think the blood work will be taken care of by insurance; haven't asked of the IUI cost yet but sounds like it might push us to around $1000 total, not counting b/w and Rxs. Generic clomid was around $7 but the Ovidrel OOP was $111. The girls on the board have some good recs for mail order pharmacies but definitely check and see exactly what your insurance covers first - mine allegedly covers Ovidrel at the max co-pay so I think it'll drop to $60.

Good luck! I think I will ask my RE what the success rate is between TI and IUI in this situation.

maggie2324 · June 2012

I would start by doing an IUI. If the sperm wash is great, then consider doing TI for a couple cycles before going back to IUI. This way you have a good understanding of how the sperm hold up and can keep doing IUIs if they are only average or below.

Want a personalized experience?

WW3TD?

Re: WW3TD?

IF, 5 losses, 1 son, 1 on the way.

Choose Another Board

Search Boards