Success without meds????

TandThopefulmommys2b

My partner and I are going to try our first IUI the second week in January......my doctor is choosing to not put me on any meds....just giving it a go until meds are necessary. Just wondering if anyone out there has had success on the first attempt med free? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated:) Any hints on things to do to increase our chances of conceiving?

moewhit

More info is needed....for example are you 35+, how is your ovarian reserve, have you ever conceived, how are your hormone levels at baseline? These are just a few questions that my MD considered prior to starting me on meds to boost my ovulation response.

In my case, my MD wanted to be aggressive and not waste time (I'm 40) or money. He recommended Clomid despite the fact that I'm very healthy with regular periods and have a very large ovarian reserve ie many follicles. So as I anticipated I had a huge response to the meds and had too many ripe folicles therefore my IUI was cancelled two weeks ago. MD wants to decrease dose by half for next cycle. However between you and me (others?) If the early ultrasounds show many follicles, I'm not taking the meds and will see what my body does.

Hopefully the IUI will take place in 2 weeks for ME TOO!
Your MD may be taking you on the timely scenic route. It may take several IUIs to get the timing right especially if you don't do the HCG trigger shot just before the IUI. Its all about the timing.....Good luck!
M

bluesky10

I did my first IUI on Monday. I did meds, my doctor figures get the most for your buck. I am 26, took clomid on days 4-10. I had two folliculs that were big enough to use.

Personally if your doc tells you to take meds, then do it. If you dont want to take them tell the doctor that. IT doesnt do any good to lie about it.

cosmosmomma

My daughter was conceived via IUI on the first try without meds. If you are doing IUI, it's worth a shot to see if your body will "react" naturally without any meds. My doctor was going to have me try meds if I hadn't conceived after the 2 unsuccessful IUI's. Personally, I was hoping it would work without meds since I am very short and don't know how me or my body would handle multiple pregnancies should that have occurred. Good luck.

cosmosmomma

By the way, I was 37 when I conceived my daughter, so age is not always a factor. You can be much younger or older internally, just depending on lots of things.

moewhit

I totally agree with you Tammy! And congrats on your success for the 35+ crowd My doctor keeps telling me that I don't fit the typical mold for a 40 year old. I have a friend that's 10 years younger than me and she's unable to conceive. It's like our ovaries were switched. Apparently, I'm very fertile. So I do have to take pause with Bluesky10 when she says, if your doctor tells you to take meds then take them and don't lie. I'm in the medical profession and tend to be very logical. It something doesn't make sense, I question it. Why would I take meds to "stimulate" follicles if I already have a large reserve/response?? My doctors rationale was because I'm 40 but then looking at all other factors internally, I'm in my 20's. So Ms Bluesky, as you grow wiser, you will realize that it's okay to question your doctor and have open dialogue and not just blindly go with taking meds. Find out the pros/cons. Which is what I did. The pro is, if I don't take the lower dosage of Clomid, I could become pregnant on my own without the high rate of multiples that meds cause. If it doesn't work then thats fine (atleast my body won't be exposed to meds back to back). Then I will try the lower dose meds if all else fails. So there's no harm in being an informed consumer....

bluesky10

I have went through a bad history of doctors and I do question everything when it comes to them.

My point with the lying is, if he tells you to take them and you just lie and say ou did, what good does that do? If you dont want to take them then tell him that. THe problem is if you dont take them and they think you are, and you dont get preggo with out them, they are going to want to put you back on the high dose. So tell him right out you want to try with out it, if he says no, find a new doc.

I am sure if you are in the health profession you hate when a person lies to you about doing something instead of just being honest about it.
I am wiser then you think, I chose to be honest with my doctor.

moewhit

Absolutely! I WILL have that conversation with my MD. I have no intention of withholding that info. Don't think you fully understood my post. My point is that I would be vocal with him if the baseline tests still show that I still have lots of follicles. My original post was really focusing on not allowing him to talk me into meds if there's no need to boost my ovulation. Luckily my MD is easy to talk to and very receptive.

TandThopefulmommys2b

Thank you all for your feedback....it's greatly appreciated. I am 33 years old, no known fertility issues, newly diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (no affect on fertility). I am an RN in trauma ICU which is my only downfall because my job can be stressful at times:) I was originally going to go the IVF route because we only have 6 units and our donor is no longer donating and we would conceivably like to have two children with the same donor. My doc explained that the success of IVF is much greater than with IUI and that he would only have to use 1 unit as opposed to IUI where he could use up to two per cycle. This was the driving force behind our decision initially. However, with much contemplation we decided to give IUI a shot at least once and see what happens. That being said, I don't know if we are being foolish and just "wasting" a unit and time on trying this method. We are going to give it a shot and see what happens, hopefully the odds will work in our favor! I just hope that we are not being foolish.....

bluesky10

Are you going medicated with a trigger or not? If you do medicated and a trigger you should only have to use one.

My partner and I used one on her and it took first time(unproven sperm as well). I am now currently 8 days and counting before I can test with the same donor. If the doctor is willing to jump right to IVF then why not give the medicated a try first?

TandThopefulmommys2b

I am not using any meds or a trigger shot. Literally just going into the office when I am ovulating and they are inseminating. My doc is skeptical about using meds becuase of the high risk of mulitple births....with my recent MS diagnosis mulitiples would be too much stress on my body (or so my doctor says). In some ways I feel like he is putting too much of his personal beliefs into my situation which I am not thrilled about. When initially learning of my diagnosis he was skeptical about getting me pregnant at all. My neurologist said that getting preganant is acutally one of the best things for MS because women go into remission while pregnant. I guess I was just trying to gauge the success rates of IUI without meds before we were to proceed with this method. I also wanted to see if I could gain as much feedback as possible before insemination day. I am 33 and as I said before would conceivably like to have two children and time is certainly not on my side. I know I am still young, but I also now as time goes on the success rates drop with age.....Just trying to be smart about all of this:)

bluesky10

If I were you, and felt skeptical about the doc I would be looking for a new one. My partner was 33 when she had our daughter. She also has a 12 year old son. In between she had a miscarrage of 5 babies.

She took clomid and trigger shot. She had 3 good eggs, and we ended up with our daughter.

From speaking to my doctor(I took clomid, was inseminated on the 20th with 2 good eggs), on a low dose of it (50mg) you are likely to only get a couple good eggs. They also told me that there is a higher rate of multiples but it doesnt always happen that way. I personally am hoping for twins.

My point, if you feel like there is to much personal opinion being put in, then find a new doc.

TandThopefulmommys2b

We were contemplating going to a new doc, however, we decided to stay with the one we have because all of the initial testing I had done will have to be redone if I go to another doc and my insurance won't pay for the same testing twice. Unfortunately I feel like our hands are tied right now. We tried calling the office today to inquire about meds, but the office is closed because we had a snowstorm last night. I am going to see if we are able to take low dose meds and see what his response will be....hopefully he will have a positive response. I feel that if we are the ones paying for it, then we should have the final say.....Thanks for the feedback!

bluesky10

Is there another doc with in that office you could switch to?

TandThopefulmommys2b

Unfortunately no....he is the only doctor in that particular practice. I guess we are just going to the call the office tomorrow and see what happens....fingers crossed because if all goes well we go the second week in January. When do you find out your results?

bluesky10

I have 6 more days before I hit 2 weeks. My cycle is due the 3rd so will see.

TandThopefulmommys2b

That's exciting! Good luck to you and your partner:) On a side note, we talked to our fertility doc today and he is going to put me on clomid! If all goes well, we will be going for our first IUI sometime around the 14th of January!

bluesky10

Good luck, and thank you!

johanna1031

Success without meds is definitely a possibility (although it looks like you're now doing meds). I was 35 (am now 36) when we did our IUI - got pregnant on the second cycle, and our baby is due in early March. We had no reason to think that I had any fertility issues, so decided to try just inseminations to begin with. I also have MS (I was diagnosed when I was 30). Your neurologist is right, pregnancy should actually be good for you. According to mine, and everything I've read on the subject, the time to worry about is immediately post-partum when you are exhausted and stressed. As I'm sure you know, stress is often associated with MS exacerbations. We'll never really know what worked for us, or why we were lucky enough to get pregnant on the second cycle. But I will say that I did accupuncture and took chinese herbs. I was also diligent about tracking my cycle and knowing my body. We had a small battle trying to convince our doc on the timing of the second insemination (she wanted to do it later that I thought we should). I didn't give up, and as it turns out, I was right. I'm also a nurse (I work in an intermediate care unit), and yes, your job can be stressful :-). I feel like perhaps we are living parallel lives :-) Good luck to you! I hope you have quick success!

TandThopefulmommys2b

It is funny how similar our stories are! Certainly does seem like a parallel life! Anyway, I have not been tracking my ovulation because we were always under the impression that we were doing IVF, and when you do IVF, you don't have to track ovulation. My cycle is like clockwork though and I have no reason to think that I have any unknown fertility issues. I am currently taking clomid and have an appointment on Tuesday for an ultrasound to check follicle size and it all goes well we will be going for our first IUI next Wednesday or Thursday. Then of course the dreaded 2WW to follow:( Anyway, I am not at all ignorant to the statistics of first time success...just hoping to be in that small percentage of people who are the lucky ones! If not, there's always next month:) So happy for your success!!!!!

2moms

My partner got pregnant on her 5th attempt without medication... baby is coming Monday! Hope that helps.

www.2momstobe.blogspot.com

slh7735

My partner and I concieved our son via IUI on our first try and er did not use any medication!! I think the key is being relaxed and knoing that if it is going to happen then it will. I hope that things work out for you two and I hope that you keep us all updated. Good Luck!

TandThopefulmommys2b

So, turns out that our IUI was unsuccessful.....it something I expected, but when you actually get the confirmation it's such a disappointment. Well, after long hard consideration, we have decided to proceed with IVF....I am hoping and praying that it works! This process seems to be much more complicated and so time consuming! Whatever the process it will all be worth it in the end! I thank you all for sharing your stories and for all of the support! Baby dust to alllllll!!!!

bluesky10

After one IUI your jumping to IVF?

TandThopefulmommys2b

Yep, my doc suggested only trying twice anyway because one of my fallopian tubes is closed, so rather than trying another IUI we are just going to do IVF....hoping for success!

Yvonne

I am 35. I had a positive pregnancy test after my first IUI (without meds). My HCG level and progesterone level were low from the beginning of the positive pregnancy test. My doctor started me on progesterone supositories. My progesterone level went up, but my HCG level went down. My doctor had me stop taking the progesterone, and I started my period 3 days later. I am now on cycle day 8, waiting for the ovulation surge in about 5 days. We will go in for our second IUI and will start the progesterone immediately after the IUI. I believe I will have a positive pregnancy test again. I am optimistic that my levels will be high this time since we will be starting the progesterone earlier. Staying Positive!

Yvonne

After my second IUI without meds, I am not pregnant. My doctor wants to start me on Chlomid.

TandThopefulmommys2b

Well, just an update, I know it's been a while since my last post....after a failed IUI and a cancelled IVF due to poor stim response, I am happy to report that I am pregnant! We couldn't wait the full two weeks, so after just 6 days we decided to do a HPT and suprisingly it was positive! We found out at home on Easter Sunday, but got the official word from the doc yesterday! It's all very exciting...next week we find out if it's one bean or two:) Our initial Beta was 577 Second beta is next Monday along with an ultrasound. Fingers crossed for a healthy pregnancy! Good luck to all still in the process....it will happen...just keep the faith!

johanna1031

CONGRATS! best wishes for a happy and healthy pregnancy! hope everything is going well!

TandThopefulmommys2b

Thank you for the well wishes:) 2nd Beta was 3918, up from 577! Ultrasound confirmed twins!!!! Cannot believe it....totally in shock, but totally excited!!!!