SA IUI or IVF

FishyMom · June 2013

Hello everyone,

I am looking for some opinions... My siggy is not working.. But I will try to explain.

dh and I have been ttc since Jan 2011. Finally saw an re in feb, and was diagnosed with low sperm count (.8), RE said nothing we could do, she said you don't have to birth a child to be a parent... Did not even give the option of IVF. Needless to say I have not seen her since!

We went and saw a urologist, DH was diagnosed with vertiolce, but his second test (2 months later) came back at 8.8, which is much better.. Still not normal, but we'll take it.

We now have a new RE and I absolutely love her! She said that everything looks great with me and she said that she this that we have a shot with IUI with the last SA, but she wanted another one done.

Just got the results from test number 3 (2 months later) and the SA has dropped to 4.4... I have to do one more cd3 around again for insurance purposes, and then I have my infectious disease to do then also... After that test she said we will come up with a plan... She was a bit disappointed that DH SA came back lower, but did not indicate what she thought would happen going forward...

Can anyone anticipate if they will say IVF or IUI?

I really appreciate any opinions, thoughts, or personal experiences you can share.

htn1763 · June 2013

Our first SA was 6 million. At that point our RE said only option was IVF. Our second SA (after a couple months of vitamins/supps) was 30 mil. so we were give the go ahead for IUIs. We did 3 (you can see the sperm counts after washing for each of those). All failed. We then went to IVF and were succesful first try. That ended in a m/c but after testing it was just that unlucky 30% and not the sperm.

Hindsight is 20/20, but I wish we hadn't wasted our time and money with IUIs.

FishyMom · June 2013

Thanks!! I appreciate that! DH is really worried about putting me thru ivf because it is him with the issue (men are silly) I would move heaven and earth to have a baby with DH. We are one of the lucky few that IVF is 100% covered after deductible.

I was actually a little disappointed when she said she wanted to to IUI first, but now I am disappointed that we may have to move right to IVF (I suppose women are just as silly!).

JennySC34 · June 2013

Don't know what she'll decide. I have heard from a fellow ivf friend who's DH had a vertiocle that they extracted sperm straight through the testes in a surgical procedure to get a better count. I don't know if this helps or not. She was discussing the whole procedure very openly in our shots class. I remember feeling bad for her DH. Not too bad though because even though it was painful they finally did get what they needed and banked enough sperm for a cycle of IVF where they used PICSI and AH. GL with the new RE!

JennySC34 · June 2013

htn1763:
Our first SA was 6 million. At that point our RE said only option was IVF. Our second SA (after a couple months of vitamins/supps) was 30 mil. so we were give the go ahead for IUIs. We did 3 (you can see the sperm counts after washing for each of those). All failed. We then went to IVF and were succesful first try. That ended in a m/c but after testing it was just that unlucky 30% and not the sperm.
Hindsight is 20/20, but I wish we hadn't wasted our time and money with IUIs.

me too! My DH and I did five! And we don't have sperm issue but after all is said and done i felt it was a waste of time and money.

FishyMom · June 2013

Thanks Jenny! I had not thought about that... Might be something to ask about, but I think DH would NOT be happy about that. Lol

htn1763 · June 2013

I promise, IVF is way worse in theory than it actually is. I was so scared of how "intrusive" it was, but it wasn't bad at all. It's more the anticipation. It's not bad at all.

JennySC34 · June 2013

Yep I hope u don't have to go there!

RosyGlow · June 2013

htn1763:
I promise, IVF is way worse in theory than it actually is. I was so scared of how "intrusive" it was, but it wasn't bad at all. It's more the anticipation. It's not bad at all.

Absolutely this...it's not too bad at all! I'm covered by insurance as well, and it's totally affordable. Some insurance companies require IUI first, so perhaps your doctor was trying to think in terms of that? These would all be good questions to bring to your doctor...she should be able to help.

Also, sorry you had such a crappy RE the first time. What a blow to the self esteem...you will get there...we've seen all kinds of crazy SA results on this board, and babies still happen. IVF is a miracle worker!

ekc0630 · June 2013

We are low numbers MFI. ER suggested IVF right off but we could try IUI. IUI sounds great in theory but when numbers are low already it didn't matter for us. We wasted what would have been enough for IVF on IUI (5 tries) all unsuccessful. I start my IVF protocol July 5th and am praying for great results!

Good Luck

MrsSJE2011 · June 2013

Being insured also, please keep in mind that it is not necessarily what your RE recommends but what your insurance approves. I always suggest contacting your insurance company and ask for a copy of their infertility policy which will spell out exactly what values you have to have for them to approve different options and how many tries you have to do of one intervention before they will let you move on (ie 3 IUIs before IVF) etc.

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