Injectables and IUI, preliminary RE meeting, need help with questions

[Renaendel]

I meet with my Re on Feb 5th to discuss moving to Injectibles with iui from Femara 5mg. Any suggestions on questions I should ask because I am in uncharted territory.

History: we know I can get pregnant. The problem is that I lost my right tube with my first ectopic. After that and getting my polyps removed I was put on 5mg femara to hopefully get extra eggs on my left ovary. My right tube is dominant, and I mean really dominant. I ovulate left every 4-6 months while medicated. It would not be a big deal and I would be more patient but I am already 35 and we need to get pregnant before the polyps grow back and fill my uterus again. We have been on this protocol for about 9 months now. So the goal of the injectables is to hopefully finally force 1-2 eggs out of my left ovary each month so it would not be an IVF level dosing.

Suggestions, ideas, comments or whatever!

 

[Ilovetomatoes]

Hi there, in all honesty, I have no experience regarding IUI since we immediately jump to IVF.I think it is really up to you on how you want to proceed knowing your condition. Your RE can suugest but in the end you do what you are comfortable with. Maybe give yourself a timeline even though it sounds that IUI might work perfectly for your condition. Personally, I'd give IUI 2 times if it works the first time then great if not I don't think I want to prolong it due to polyp. Good luck! Hopefully you'll see a BFP soon!

 

[KatO79]

Hi Renaendel :wave:

I remember you from other threads

I've just been through my 1st IUI and it was with injectables (50 IU Puregon) and I'm currently in the 2WW (I'm 5 dpiui today). DH and I have unexplained infertility

I'm so awful going in with questions myself I didn't have any for our RE but she explained things well and I didn't really have any afterwards But I have the "Plan to Get Pregnant" book by Zita West (that I haven't been able to find in months and first found after my 1st meeting with our RE) and she suggests these questions:

- Why have you recommended this particular treatment to me?

- Are there alternative treatments? If so, why are they less suitable for me?

- Which drugs will I have to take and what are their common side effects?

- Can you break down the costs for me, so that I'm clear about all the financial implications of the treatment?

- Could there be further costs at a later stage?

- What are the next steps? What tests need to be done?

- When can I expect treatment to begin?

- How many people in my/our situation have you treated in the last 2 years and how many have a baby? What are your overall statistics?

- What kind of counselling/support do you provide?

- If this treatment doesn't work, do I have any other options?


Hope this helps and you can just use the questions you feel are most important if need be. Hope your 1st appointment goes well

 

[Renaendel]

Amazing! Thank you so much, both of you. These are great questions, and I am getting more and more excited for this to happen now.

 

[waitingongod1]

I would also ask how does iuiwork. How many appointments will there be ect. I'm going through my first iui and it is stressing me out more that I don't know how things are going to go next week after ultrasound. Wish I would have asked more. What days to have sex. Ect.

 

[Ilovetomatoes]

Renaendel, it'll be so worth it! Another thing is to make sure you get all of your tests donebefore you start. I don't know how comprehensive is the tests they do for IUI but for IVF my DH had to do a specific SA. On regular SA, everything looks great but when he did they special tests we found out that we need to do ICSI or most of the eggs wouldn't get fertilized. I'm sure your RE is familiar with the test if you want to do it if not I can try to get you the name of the test. Good luck! I'm excited for you

Kat! I remember you from the TWW board last year. Glad to know that you finally got things going! FX for a BFP soon!

 

[3chords]

A few I can think of:

1. What's their threshold for follicles before cancelling your cycle. For you that's less important b/c you have on ovary but it's conceivable that on injectables you still produce 3, 4, 5 follicles there. Most clinics will cut you off at some point to avoid high order multiples so I think it's good to know to mentally prepare.

2. How many of these cycles would they do before recommending moving on to IVF. I know somebody whose RE, after 4 cycles said that he didn't feel right continuing to collect $ when he felt that the process was inefficient and she'd be better off doing IVF.

 

[KatO79]

Kat! I remember you from the TWW board last year. Glad to know that you finally got things going! FX for a BFP soon!

Thanks ILT It's been a long journey. We had to have been trying for 12 months before our GP would refer us (which we hit around October 2014) and then things got delayed (won't get into that) so we could first get started on our IUI this month. I have a journal in the LTTTC journal forum if you're ever interested in checking out my journey so far

Congrats on your BFP

Again, good luck Renaendel

 

[Ilovetomatoes]

Kat, I'll check out your journal then. Fyi, I'm more of the silent stalker type . Thank you and I have all my fingers crossed for you.

Good luck Renaendel....I'll be stalking.

 

[KatO79]

Kat, I'll check out your journal then. Fyi, I'm more of the silent stalker type . Thank you and I have all my fingers crossed for you.

Good luck Renaendel....I'll be stalking.

Thanks ILT and feel free to stalk away

 

[Renaendel]

Thanks for you stalking too ladies. i have added your great questions to my list. I don't know how they will handle the higher order multiple thing with one tube. I have picked an egg off my right ovary with my left tube before. (August misscarriage) maybe they will count all the left follicles and add one on the right just to be safe?

I am excited and a little nervous. I am tender today from just my two right follies this month. I can't imagine what 12+ feels like in IVF.

 

[Ilovetomatoes]

Renaendel, is not too bad actually. I felt bloated and a bit tender. but otherwise, not much other pain beside the shots. We got 16 eggs out .

 

[Want1Too]

Hi Renaendel - The ladies had a lot of great questions. I would just like to add a couple more that i don't think I seen on here already.
I would also see if they take your insurance and if your insurance covers it and if so how much does insurance cover?
Ask about cost of injections? Also make sure your insurance company if your insurance covers it that they place your prescription with an approved pharmacy. I know this happened to me my insurance rejected the first pharmacy b.c they have contract with Caremark.
Ask if they do monitoring during cycle? I know some RE dont, some do at extra cost and other it is included
How accessible are they? I can tell you some stories on here their RE is closed on weekends, so what happens if you ovulate Friday night.RE was open on weekend that when they scheduled IUI, IVF etc.

 

[Renaendel]

Yay, today is appointment day! Thanks for all your awesome help ladies!