IUI versus IVF

[Kyell2]

Hi ladies, just looking for advice as to whether you think there is any point trying IUI or should we just jump straight to IVF.

We’ll be using donor sperm and I have no issues that we know of so I kinda thought I should try IUI first. But will only a 10-15% chance of it working and it costs over £1000 a shot (with a straw of donor sperm each time) are we just wasting our time?

Any advice/thoughts welcome 😊 x

[Rosebud3]

Hi Kyell, my DH and I are in a very similar position to you and your partner - we’re also using donor sperm and I don’t have any issues that we know of.

We decided to try IUI first as it’s a lot less invasive than IVF and despite the low success rates we thought we must have stood a reasonable chance of success due to my age, no known issues on my behalf and the fact we were using the best quality sperm. However, we had 3 IUIs and they all turned out to be unsuccessful. Each one ended up resulting in a lot of frustration and heartache.

In hindsight, we felt that going through IUI left too much of the outcome down to chance. Our first IUI was done based on the arrival of my egg white discharge (as for some reason the OPKs didn’t work for me even though blood tests confirmed I was ovulating) and the second and third IUIs were done following a couple of scans and then estimated trigger shots. We personally felt that the timing of all 3 of our IUIs weren’t pin pointed enough - leaving them open to a lot of pot luck! Which is not something you can afford to do when you have a limited supply of donor sperm!

So after trying our luck with 3 IUIs we decided to move on to IVF which despite being more invasive we actually feel more comfortable with as a lot of the “chance” factors have been removed.

If we could turn back time we would try our luck with 1 IUI but would then move on to IVF.

I hope that helps! X

[Kyell2 in reply to Rosebud3]

I’m so sorry that your IUI attempts didn’t work, it must be soul destroying😔. I think that we would only give IUI once or twice and then move to IVF. It’s the less invasive bit that I think appeals to me so I’m thinking one shot won’t hurt and see how we get on (but fully expecting it to fail).

Thank you so much for replying. Good luck with the IVF, how is it going? x

[Rosebud3 in reply to Kyell2]

Yes the less invasive part was the main appeal for us too. I think one shot is worth a go! You never know you might be lucky The IVF is going ok so far thank you, got our first scan next week so will hopefully move on to the next stage then🤞 Hope everything goes well for you xx

[Lizzielizzielizzie]

How old are you? As in my area they don’t recommend iui for women over 35 as it’s proven you’re more likely to get pregnant if you go straight to ivf if you’re older.

Having said that, my friends who used donor sperm had two pregnancies from three rounds of iui in their early 30s and they have two lovely boys now.

[Kyell2 in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

I’m 35 so right on the cusp, but I have had every blooming rest under the sun and everything looks really good with AMH (not that it really matters as it’s all a luck thing from what I can see with IUI).

The consultant seemed unconcerned about my age but i am a little bit worried about their quality. She’s just left it up to us to decide so maybe I’ll give it one shot and see.

Thank you for your advice and I hope you are doing well x

[HPLondon]

I was 29 when we did 3 x unsuccessful IUI’s - did with my husbands sperm though which were v low numbers (under 10 million). Im glad we did it so we know we’ve done everything we could before IVF but we mainly did it because NHS was taking so long and we needed to feel we were moving forward in some way - so paid privately for the IUI’s. I would say they were incredibly hard emotionally though. We were unlucky but it does of course work for some people, especially if no issues with sperm. Good luck!

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I had IUI three times when I was 34, which didn't work. I had ivf/icsi at 35 and fell pregnant first go much to our surprise and delight! IUI does work for some people though! Xx