Seeking advice - move on to IVF or no

jazziep · August 2018

I am of AMA. All my bloodwork, ultrasounds, xrays show that I have healthy ovaries, was ovulating before medication, and have a good egg reserve for my age. We've had 2 failed IUIs.
Our male fertility is low. My husband has diabetes and had a testicular torsion when young.
Our last washed sample was only 1.61 million. And our first washed sample was just over 3 million. Our clinic states that a healthy donor sample is typically around 10 million.
Because of my age (38) and my husband's results, they are suggesting we take a month off then go to IVF. They said we could try banking samples, freezing, and then combining with a fresh next IUI, however, they said freezing does have an affect on motility which is one of our issues.
IVF would be completely out of pocket and I had bad reactions to the IUI meds and there are so many more for IVF.
Thoughts? The clinic thinks IVF is the best option for us.

wishiwaspreggo · August 2018

As a multiple-IUI veteran and based off what you're saying here, I suggest moving on to IVF. If you were taking Clomid for IUI, that would have more side effects than injectable FSH. If your husband's numbers are that low it would definitely impact your chances of a successful IUI but with IVF they don't need near as many sperm and can select the best ones for ICSI. And while IVF is certainly more expensive than IUI, if you need multiple cycles of IUI it could easily add up to the cost of one IVF cycle. Plus there's a chance you'd get frozen embryos from an IVF cycle and could try again with FET if it doesn't work on the first go-round. FET is relatively inexpensive and comparable in costs to an injectables IUI cycle. Plus the odds are much greater of success with FET.

Just my two cents! I'm doing IVF for most of these reasons (though I am using donor sperm). In the end I could do 2 or 3 cycles of IUI with a 10-15% chance of success per attempt or 1 IVF cycle with a 40-50% chance of success with the hopes of having enough frozen embryos for another chance that's 40-50% successful.

jazziep · September 2018

I just wanted to say thank you.

I have friends who where shocked that they'd move me to IVF so quickly and they used the same Doctor as I have. They did more rounds of IUI.

But their DHs didn't have the same challenges as mine. And the doctor was stressing that our male factors will make IUI statistically very hard. But that IVF should have better results.

It's a daunting process to face.

mrsyng · September 2018

@jazziep I agree with the pp on moving straight to ivf too. We have MFI too. DH has a slightly higher count than yours with low motility & morphology. We completed 4 cycles of iui with 2 other attempts that were cancelled due to poor response, only 1 time did we get a BFP but resulted in a MC. I stopped counting cost a long time ago since it would only stress me out. But I believe we spent at least approx half the cost of an ivf doing IUIs since my insurance covered 1/2 of IUIs but we are OOP for ivf.

Wishing you some good luck!

jazziep · September 2018

I am so sorry for your MC loss.

My heart is with you and I am wishing you luck as well!

Holls214 · September 2018

I would honestly also suggest going to IVF as well. I am not AMA yet, but we did 7 IUI's over the course of more than a year and I honestly regret wasting so much time on them. IVF is a lot more expensive but yields higher results. My husband also had some problems with his numbers and motility. Best of luck to you.

brokenparents · September 2018

Hey @jazziep we are in a very similar situation. My husbands first semen analysis at age 37 said he had zero sperm found in his sample. He had testicular torsion when he was young as well and never told anyone and it affected both of his testicles now. We just did a repeat semen analysis and are waiting for the results, but it sounds like we will have to do Micro TESE surgery to find pockets of hidden sperm in his testicles.

Because of this, they might only find a few dozen (if any) so we will have to do IVF with ICSI. Doing IVF might help you guys in the same way. I know those IUI's can add up $$$, so maybe doing IVF with ICSI would get you guys some nice embryos! Good luck

brokenparents · September 2018

I also wanted to add, I have been listening to a really interesting and funny podcast called Matt and Doree's Eggcelent Adventure. They are both around 40 and he has a low sperm count and are moving on to IVF. I went back and started from the beginning, they answer a lot of questions and talk about their journey.

somewhereinnyc · September 2018

@jazziep I agree with all the previous posters. We are unexplained/ borderline mfi for morphology and 3 iui cycles w clomid didn’t work. They cited only a 15% chance for us (im not AMA, produced multiple mature eggs per cycle, and husband’s counts were very high). IUI is barely more effective than timing sex if your problem is not ovulation.

NicWalker10 · September 2018

@jazzip agree with moving on to IVF. I was also AMA when we started IVF at the ripe old age of 37; We did IVF solely due to male factor infertility (low morphology and low motality) we did IVF with ICSI and, like other said, this allows them to hand select specific sperm to get the job done. We had success on the second try. My first stim cycle I didn't really do anyting to prepare and we didn't have great results. Second cycle, I did a lot of my own research (thank you bump discussion boards!!) and prepped with a lot of supplements, abandoning personal care products with harmful ingredients and added acupuncture and we ended up with amazing egg production and fertilization rates. we also did PGS and had great quality embryos from that cycle. first transfer worked and I am blessed to have my son as a result. I'm back on the boards as i'm trying again with not so much success but that's not pertinent to you and your journey....I just wanted to jump on to say I was where you are, went right to IVF and with some prepping ended up with great results so I am all for you not wasting time, money, energy and heartache on any more IUI. it is all crazy expensive, but once you're in this game, you want to be out ASAP so i support going all in and working with you clinic on financing options. GOOD lUCK!!!!!

jazziep · October 2018

Hi Ladies!

Thank you for all of the support. We did move on to IVF and are currently PUPO. Blood test next week and fingers crossed!

cato99 · October 2018

Congratulations on being PUPO! Fingers crossed for a positive beta next week. I just re-joined the boards so I'm just seeing your post, but I wanted to chime in to say that our 5 IUIs went nowhere for us and I wish we had gone to IVF sooner. We were pretty much unexplained IF until we gave up on IUIs and went on to IVF, and only in the course of doing tests for it we discovered that DH's sperm, while initially healthy, died off surprisingly quickly and simply didn't live long enough for normal fertilization, so IVF with ICSI finally brought results. I hope this is the ticket for you!

Seeking advice - move on to IVF or no

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