How long did you try before going to IVF

[Aayla]

a bit of background: I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 18 (I am now 37). No one told me how or what to do because 20 years ago little was known. I was just told that when the time comes I will need help. Fast forward to 6 years ago. a year before we got married hubby and I started going to the doc because we knew I would need help. I had another condition pop up (Hyperplasia with Atypia). It took years to get that dealt with. Last year we did clomid for 2 months and it did nothing and my weight went up like crazy. I already have a weight issue and losing it while on a high dose of progesterone every day was next to impossible. I was finally able to get down to a weight the doc liked but I gained it all back in 2 months. I was taken off of it and told to lose the weight. Back on the provera I go to make sure the hyperplasia doesn't come back. This year I got a new doc and he put me on Letrozole (aka Femara) even though I didn't lose the weight.

1st cycle didn't work as the dose wasn't right
2nd cycle I ovulated but didn't catch the egg
3rd cycle I got pregnant but miscarried
after nearly 2 months (from start of mc to af) I finally got af and was able to try again. So here I am in my 4th cycle. I am 14dpo and all tests so far are negative. AF is due monday. I feel no symptoms like I did during my pregnant cycle. But I know every pregnancy is different.

I know that 4 cycles isn't much in the grand scheme of things but because we have been in and out of docs for nearly 6 years it seems like it's been longer.

So i ask those of you are doing IVF, how long did you try everything else before going this route? It's expensive here in Canada and not covered by medical except some medication. There is also a weight limit. They won't do IVF with people having a bmi over 30. Mine is in the 40's. So I know that I have to lose weight and save up so that will take time. and in the interim we will continue with the Letrozole. But it's exhausting. Charting, Timing sex, peeing on sticks, symptom spotting. It's driving me batty and i haven't been doing it for long.

Did any of you stop for awhile to just focus on the things I have to? I'm not getting any younger and I will be 38 in May. I don't have much time left really.

Thanks!

 

[Holly ttc]

Hi there! I tried naturally for three and a half years before going to an re. There we discovered I had pcos and dh had poor morphology. Even with all of that my doctor was pretty positive we could get a positive without ivf. Did seven months of femara (one didn't cause ovulation so it "didn't count") and timed intercourse. After that he suggested we go straight to ivf. I just finished my first round that salt ended in a negative but I have three more frosties waiting for me so as soon as my body cooperates and let's af show up I'll be starting it all up again.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Timetotry]

I also have PCOS
I stopped bcp Jan 2013, and we started actively trying in July 2013. I did temps and OPK's, monitored cm and timed intercourse. No luck.
I started seeing my RE Aug 2014. Did 3 rounds of clomid, and then 4 rounds of iui.
I just had my laprascopic surgery and ovarian drilling, and will start ivf in Feb (approx). I'm back on birth control pills now.
So in total, 2.5 years of trying before ivf (3 if you count when I stopped bcp)

 

[MMW430]

We did 3 cycles of letrozole, and nothing. We then jumped right to IVF, which resulted in our son. We wanted to use our frozen to try again (we had 5 blasts), the first one failed, and then horrifyingly the remaining 4 somehow didn't survive the thaw. We started over at a new clinic in late August. We did two iui's with clomid. The first time didn't work, but we just found out the second time did! I will never regret doing IVF, because it resulted in our son, but I'm also very happy my new re wanted to try iui. It saved us a TON of money. Insurance didn't cover anything. However, our clinic at the time had a loan program, which we took advantage of. Do they have anything like that where you are?

We never took a break. I wouldn't loved to take a break, but I have extenuating health circumstances where I need to take medicine, and I can't be on any when ttc, so I needed to get pregnant ASAP, but I would've really loved a break sometimes. TTC is exhausting.

 

[KatO79]

I'm 36 and my DH is 38 and we've been LTTTC #1 for a little over 2 years now. In Denmark, they don't test you until you've been trying for 1 year, no matter your age because they state only pays if you're considered infertile which you are after 1 year. But once we hit that mark, we were referred to a clinic that got us both tested. My HSG showed completely clear tubes and my CD3 hormone tests showed my hormones were completely fine. My DH has had slightly varied results but they've never been under just slightly under normal. So our clinic wanted us to try IUI and were pretty confident it would work for us. We did 6 failed IUI cycles, all with me taking slightly increasing amounts of Puregon each round. We mostly had 2 follies each time but once had 1 follie and once had 3 follies. Once our 3rd cycle failed, we were referred for IVF at a local hospital (since it's cheaper for the state and they pay for 3 IVF rounds). In total (including those 3 months where we did IUIs #4-6) we were on the IVF waiting list for about 7 months. Just been through my first round of IVF and going in for my beta on December 10th.

But this is the same timeline for everyone in this country unless you're super lucky and can start IVF sooner or you want to pay for it yourselves and start sooner that way. If I'd had a choice, I would've probably only done 3 rounds of IUI before moving on to IVF. I haven't had any chosen breaks, only the about 4 months we had to wait before we coud do IVF. But if I'd had it my way, I wouldn't have had any breaks seeing as how I'm 36 (going on 37 in May) and don't feel like I have that luxury.

 

[messica]

I have a few thoughts for you.......the first being, have you ever had bloodwork done to check the status of your fertility? Simple cycle timed bloodwork can be a great indicator of how much time you have left and the health of your remaining eggs. Also, have you had ultrasound done to check the health of your uterus? Did you have bloodwork done to check hormone levels when you miscarried? Did they ever determine a cause?

When taking the femara are you having follicle studies done with that? How is your PCOS responding to the med?


I'm going to be a bit blunt when I say taking a short term med and timing intercourse is CAKE compared to IVF. If that alone is exhausting to you I'd suggest doing some treatment counseling before exploring the option of going that far. It's an every single day commitment for months. It's extremely invasive, expensive, and intense in every way. It will take you to a level of exhausted you never believed possible. If I can gently suggest, it really sounds like something you might not be ready to endure just yet. If your hormone levels indicate you've got time, take it. Work on getting your weight down, work on mentally preparing yourself if you need to go that far, give yourself some breathing room to process what's happening as it comes up. Don't rush if you don't need to because that just makes it so much harder!


To answer your questions, we officially tried 23 cycles before moving to IVF (not preventing before that so technically longer). 12 medicated/monitored cycles and 3 failed IUI's. IVF was EXTREMELY expensive and we paid for all but a few diagnostic tests out of pocket. I've been through a lot in life and can honestly say it was hands down the hardest thing I've ever done, both physically, mentally and emotionally. If you know you can fall pregnant, I'd definitely give it more time. Plenty of women get pregnant well into their forties. Sometimes that's not the plan but it may indeed be just how it's supposed to happen for you

 

[tinadecember]

We already have a daughter who we conceived within 2 cycles back in 2010 and decided to try for baby number 2 in Summer 2013. After 12 cycles of negatives we went for general fertility tests to rule out any problems and the results came back that my DH has a low sperm count and motility. We tried clomid for 4 cycles which made no difference and he was prescribed Tamoxifen to raise his counts which also didn't make a huge difference and was told that ICSI would be our only hope.
We completed our first cycle of IVF with ICSI in September this year which unfortunately was a BFN and we have 1 more frozen embryo to use which we will be transferring in January.
Personally we chose to take a little break between IVF cycles due to the stress it puts on your body both physically and emotionally. Like you mentioned in your post, you aren't getting any younger and if you were considering IVF then I personally would do it now rather than in a few years time when your egg quality would be significantly worse.

Sending you so much luck in whatever route you decide to take xx

 

[Aayla]

I have a few thoughts for you.......the first being, have you ever had bloodwork done to check the status of your fertility? Simple cycle timed bloodwork can be a great indicator of how much time you have left and the health of your remaining eggs. Also, have you had ultrasound done to check the health of your uterus? Did you have bloodwork done to check hormone levels when you miscarried? Did they ever determine a cause?

Fertility doc says my uterus is hospitable. I used to have a problem called Hyperplasia but that was dealt with. They didn't check anything with the miscarriage. After the mc they rechecked for the hyperplasia (it can come back at any time) but after that came back fine I was given a new prespcription for Letrozole and sent on my way. I have had no blood draws to see what my eggs are like. They do suspect that I have never ovulated in my life (or I did but in my early years when I first started menstrating).

When taking the femara are you having follicle studies done with that? How is your PCOS responding to the med?

They did not do that and I always wondered why. It seems to be normal for most. I am responding well to it. Clomid made me gain weight but the Letrozole is doing well for me. We found the right dose on my second cycle and I'm ovulating on schedule and my period is also on schedule which never used to be. I just got af right on time. 35 day cycle.

I'm going to be a bit blunt when I say taking a short term med and timing intercourse is CAKE compared to IVF. If that alone is exhausting to you I'd suggest doing some treatment counseling before exploring the option of going that far. It's an every single day commitment for months. It's extremely invasive, expensive, and intense in every way. It will take you to a level of exhausted you never believed possible. If I can gently suggest, it really sounds like something you might not be ready to endure just yet. If your hormone levels indicate you've got time, take it. Work on getting your weight down, work on mentally preparing yourself if you need to go that far, give yourself some breathing room to process what's happening as it comes up. Don't rush if you don't need to because that just makes it so much harder!

I think I am emotionally exhausted from the negative just after a positive. It's coming into christmas and I was supposed to be 5 months and we were going to do a christmas reveal. I'm trying to live my life but TTC is all consuming.
I appreciate the honesty. It's what I look for. I'm not likely ready. Certainly not financially.
I got pregnant once so it stands to reason the odds are in my favour to get pregnant again. I know I just need time.
I used to be consumed with getting fit and then a few things happened to throw me off course. I haven't been able to get my groove back in the last 6 months. I'm getting a new program for Christmas so that is exciting and i can't wait to start.
I've made a new plan for this month in regards to TTC. At least to take the stress and pressure off. No opks as I ovulate fairly consistantly and we have a very active sex life and no testing unless af is late. Just going to take it easy through the Christmas season.


Thank you all! It's nice to hear other people's journeys.