Follistim AQ

manda210

So we had one unsuccessful IUI on clomid and now my doc is talking injectables because i want to be more aggressive since it was soooo hard on me emotionally the first time...she is wanting me to use Follistim AQ 100units a day for 8 days...anyone have any info on this?? success rate?? cost?? I am 99% sure my insurance wont cover it since they told me the other day they dont cover fertility meds BUT they did cover some of the clomid which does confuse me...but i would appreciate any info you can give!! Thanks

maui

For my clinic it is $1,400 for IUI with ultrasounds and monitoring and $1,500 for injectables ....that is the cost with no insurance.

latebloomer

I had 2 natural IUIs that both failed (Jan & Feb) and then took March off to regroup and talk to the doctor to see what else was available before moving to IVF and breaking the bank. She suggested injectibles so she prescribed Follistim and Luveris and I did them from CD3 to CD9. I got 3 mature follies with the smallest being 18 and had my 3rd IUI on Friday the 8th so now I'm in my 2WW. My prescription insurance is though Medco and they covered both meds with me only having to pay a copay. My total out of pocket was $257 but included in that were the Sharps container for needle disposal and alcohol wipes (a whole freakin' box of like 200!) and my HCG shot and tons of needles. She ordered the Follistim 600 and 900 so that cost covered both. I took 225IU of the Follistim nightly and the Luveris was 75IU nightly. The Follistim was easy to use because the medicine itself is in a 3-4in round thingy that looks like a perfume sample and you put it in the pen and turn it to the dosage you want, attach the need and inject. Very easy to do. The Luveris was more of a challenge because it's like the trigger shot where you have to mix it and then inject it. Overall not a bad experience but the pharmacy did say, "wow you have awesome insurance. We see so many patients here that their insurance doesn't cover it and the Follistim is $1,000 by itself." So if I didn't have insurance the total out of pocket for the meds would have been $1500. My health insurance is a different story so I'm having to pay for the IUI stuff out of pocket until I've been trying for 6 months with no success. Even then once they start paying it's $10k worth of coverage and that's a lifetime benefit so once the $10k is exhausted, I'm back to out of pocket if I decided to keep trying. If you decided to go the injectibles route I would suggest asking the doctor what meds she plans to use so you can check with your insurance first (which is what I did and was very surprsed and pleased that they were covered) and then ask how they need to be stored. Mine had me refrigerate the follistim. With the weather starting to turn warmer now it will be imporant to store them properly or they could lose their potency and that's too much money to be wasting! Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions I can answer for you.

latebloomer