Natural IVF?

[MinnieMcMoose]

I might be getting a little ahead of myself, as I'm only halfway through a six month course of Clomid, but was wondering if anyone has any success or failure stories about natural IVF?
From what I've read, it may be suitable for us, as we have unexplained secondary infertility. I'm ovulating regularly, tubes are clear, hubby's sperm is good and we already have a child together.
I understand natural IVF is a lot cheaper than regular IVF, but haven't seen much about comparative success rates.
If anyone has any stories to share, please do. Thanks xx

 

[BronteForever]

I don't know a ton about it, but just researched it via the web. Hope you get some answers. However, I know alot of clinics won't do a natural IVF because it has really low success rates. They do more of a "modified" or "mini-IVF" where you are on lower doses of the meds and try to focus on quality rather than quantity. There's several people on here that have done them and most of them I think go for multiple cycles to get multiple embryos banked so to speak before transfering.

So I think it's a myth that it's significantly cheaper. Though I could be wrong.

You are mostly eliminating med costs. To give you an idea my meds were around $2,500 (imported them from the UK) of the $25,000 we should have invested after the first cycle. Though we paid for two cycles upfront and unlimited FETS. Any additional meds needed for those will be in addition to it. So you aren't saving much and decreasing odds.

I think alot of times it's recommenced for those that haven't had success with traditional IVF, those with low reserves, those that are older and/or don't produce as quality eggs anymore, or really, really, really don't like meds. I don't think it's usually done for financial. I read that on places too and I think it's kind of misleading. You save some money, but often might have to do multiple cycles and it's not "that much" money.

 

[MinnieMcMoose]

Thank you for your answer.
I was kind of thinking more about not being pumped full of drugs that I technically don't need, seeings I am ovulating fine on my own.
It makes sense about it being aimed at people who have low egg reserves tho. Hadn't thought about that. I naively thought that when they transfer two embryos, it's because they've only taken two eggs! I've got a lot to learn!

 

[BronteForever]

Got it. It's rarely recommended for people ovulating on their own, I believe. It's much more for people who have ovulation issues or egg quality issues actually. You really want to get as many eggs as you can safely get to give yourself a better shot. They want to stimulate them as much as they can with meds without doing it too much to give you more issues. If all goes well and they retrieve around 10-15 eggs, you can assume about 60 percent will fertilize and then maybe half of those will make it to day 5 to do a transfer. That puts you down to around 3-4 embryos to work with. It all really varies though.

If you only had two follicles or potential eggs on a regular cycle, they would actually cancel the cycle most likely, because the odds of it being successful are low. That's why alot of women with Mini-IVF do multiple cycles (which is definitely something you could look into if interested and IVF is needed). Even if they are getting 1-2 eggs per cycle, frequently they won't fertilize or make it to the necessary developmental stage of an embryo needed to transfer them back. But your chances at high quality embryos are good with Mini IVF. It just might take a few attempts to get there.

Also, on your first attempt at IVF they will likely start you on a lower dosage of meds at first while they monitor how you respond. So if it makes you feel better, they start lower doses and only go higher if needed. If you end up not pregnant after the first cycle then they can adjust a ton of stuff as needed.

Hope that helps.

 

[MinnieMcMoose]

Thank you, yes, it really does help.
Hopefully I won't get to that stage, I'm hopeful the Clomid will work, even though I'm on cycle 4 already. But just want to be prepared for the next step.

 

[BronteForever]

Definitely hope Clomid works for you. Or even an IUI if needed. Good luck!