RE f/u-Moving on to IVF

ronniesgirl1981 · January 2014

We met with our RE today after 2 failed clomid IUIs. Our diagnosis remains unexplained. Because the question of when to move from IUIs to IVF came up recently, I thought it might be helpful to share my RE's opinions on the matter:

-He said we could try a 3rd clomid IUI. In one of my cycles I had 2 follicles on 50 mg of clomid and only 1 in the other. He said we could increase the dosage, but that an increase in the dosage would really only increase the side effects and not our chances of success. He estimated that after 2 failed clomid IUIs, our likelihood of success on a 3rd was only 15%.

-We could move onto injects. Given our history, he put our chances of success at only 18%. He also said that the most likely outcome of an injects cycle was cancellation due to the risk of HOM. ETA: He also said that the conventional method was to move from clomid to injects to IVF, but that new studies suggests skipping IUI w/ injects (I think he said this was especially true in cases where the dx is unexplained).

-We could move straight to IVF. He thinks our chances of success from one cycle of IVF are close to 60%. He also said that we'd be using essentially the same drugs in an IVF cycle as we would in an injects IUI cycle (different dosage) and his opinion is that if we are going to go through that we might as well go the route that is much more likely to be successful.

I really cannot believe that we are at this juncture already, but his explanation makes sense to us. We'll be benched again in February for an SHG, mock transfer, injects class, and an in-depth review of our IVF plan with my PA. In the meantime, I've got lots of new things to learn!

jencity9 · January 2014

Wow! That is a lot to take in, but the potential success rate sounds exciting! What is a mock transfer?

ronniesgirl1981 · January 2014

@jencity9 According to my little booklet, a mock transfer is used to "identify cervical or uterine irregularities." It's supposed to measure my cervix and uterus. I'm guessing they need that info in order to know where to place the embryo at transfer.

rox825 · January 2014

I'm glad that you're moving forward with a good plan that you're comfortable with. Starting the IVF process with such great odds of success is very exciting, good luck!