Best Practices with an IUI?

[bluestskies]

Hi all,

I'm new here. DH and I will be ttc later this year and will likely be doing an IUI. I wasn't sure if this should be posted here or in the other forum, but because my questions were more about what I should be doing, I guessed it would be here. :)

So long story short, DH battled and beat cancer. However we were told he should bank before treatment because of the chemo and radiation and potential ill effects, which he did. I'm guessing we will be trying IUI first because we have no fertility issues, so was curious if there is a tailored best practices list for things I should be doing to conceive a boy...keeping in mind that insemination will be in the uterus. I've been trying to read up on everything in the forums but it's so much to take in from supplements I'm just 'sounding out' to learning abbreviations etc - so any info here would be great. I guess my main question is: are most sways or best practices to essentially help the 'male' sperm survive/beat the 'female' sperm to the egg through 'normal' conception? So because I'm bypassing that step and they won't need to travel all the way up, am I going to have to just rely on the timing of the insemination? Or are some of the best practices for the cervix environment? Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

[Keshet]

I'm interested in hearing any responses for this. I'm undergoing IUI currently and hoping/praying for a girl.

[atomic sagebrush]

i think IUI in general does tend to sway blue anyway so that it is all good.

I really can't say strongly enough how much you need to avoid the methods where yuo are inserting anything into your uterine environment when doing IUI. MAJOR no-no, and if you read to do that on some other site, it is very important that you listen to me becuase you will both lower your odds of pregnancy and also raise your risks of infection. Follow doc's instructions!

I recommend doing HE type diet and supps (none of the dangerous supps recommended on other sites!), weight training, and have your husband release on his own or with you, with a condom, every 2-4 days.

Timing does not sway and your doctor should time your IUI for best odds of conception and NOT gender swaying. IF your doctor is willing to alter the timing of IUI for gender swaying, get a new doctor because they do not have your best interests at heart. (remember, they do get paid by the cycle so some clinics have unfortunately been all too willing to err on the side of not conceiving and having to do round after round of IUI, which becomes very expensive)

Good luck!!

[bluestskies]

Thank you for your response!

I am super new and still learning, but wasn't planning on any kind of insertion or douching - I actually thought that wouldn't have an effect anyway because I thought it was just to alter ph levels in the vaginal canal/cervix to help male sperm make it on up easier, not for when it was put directly in my uterus via IUI!

I was hoping to mainly stick to supplements or a diet change during this time - but wasn't sure what that would affect, if anything. Would it matter if I made all the boy sway diet changes if the sperm is just deposited directly in my uterus? Unfortunately my husband won't be doing any sways - he already had his sperm frozen before treatment last year so that's set in stone.

[missmegrn]

I have been swaying boy I am planning on doing iui within the next few months. I have been ttc since Dec 2012 with no luck at all. After going to an RE and placing me on clomid for 3 cycles to regulate ovulation due to my newly diagnosed PCOS and late ovulation, he concluded that oral meds will probably not help me (clomid did nothing to help my cycle) and we are going to try iui with injections for one cycle since it is all we can afford at this moment, as everything will be out of pocket. I go for an hsg test next week to check my tubes and hopefully we will be on our way to get pregnant. Good luck to us both!

[missmegrn]

Just curious, why does iui seem to sway blue? I am not sure what injections I will be on as I just found out Monday that iui would be the next step for me if I chose to move forward with fertility treatments. TIA

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you for your response!

I am super new and still learning, but wasn't planning on any kind of insertion or douching - I actually thought that wouldn't have an effect anyway because I thought it was just to alter ph levels in the vaginal canal/cervix to help male sperm make it on up easier, not for when it was put directly in my uterus via IUI!

I was hoping to mainly stick to supplements or a diet change during this time - but wasn't sure what that would affect, if anything. Would it matter if I made all the boy sway diet changes if the sperm is just deposited directly in my uterus? Unfortunately my husband won't be doing any sways - he already had his sperm frozen before treatment last year so that's set in stone.

I'm glad to hear it, just had to make sure because occasionally people will hatch some pretty extreme plans. :)

I DO think making changes in your diet will help. We honestly don't know how all this works, but the operating theory is that your body "wants" to conceive a boy if you have a lot of nutrients coming in becuase boys need more nutrients pretty much from the minute of conception onward and are more vulnerable to lacking diets and lower maternal condition. So at the very least, even if we aren't accomplishing anything else (and I believe we would be) we would still be providing your body with the nutrients to help sustain a boy pregnancy.

[atomic sagebrush]

Just curious, why does iui seem to sway blue? I am not sure what injections I will be on as I just found out Monday that iui would be the next step for me if I chose to move forward with fertility treatments. TIA

We honestly don't know. It may be the sperm bypassing the VJ environment or that they are all capacitated simultaneously before being inserted very close to the egg (ensuring a lot of ready-to-go sperm make it to the egg)

It's hard to see it in studies done on IUI (they come up pretty close to 50-50) becuase so many couples who have it done are lower in fertility, esp. on the husband's side and may be coming in more likely to conceive girls to begin with. But in studies that were done on timing, when couples who wanted boys got IUI on day of ovulation, they did have overwhelmingly boys (I don't have the papers in front of me right now but it was above 75%). Subsequent studies found that timing did not sway, so it leaves us with IUI swaying blue for the average couple - and in fact probably all couples, just that we can't pick it out in the other studies because of the other co-factors.

I am super excited for you!!!

[Keshet]

Bummer that it sways blue, since I am requiring iui and hope for a girl :-(

[bluestskies]

I'm glad to hear it, just had to make sure because occasionally people will hatch some pretty extreme plans. :)

I DO think making changes in your diet will help. We honestly don't know how all this works, but the operating theory is that your body "wants" to conceive a boy if you have a lot of nutrients coming in becuase boys need more nutrients pretty much from the minute of conception onward and are more vulnerable to lacking diets and lower maternal condition. So at the very least, even if we aren't accomplishing anything else (and I believe we would be) we would still be providing your body with the nutrients to help sustain a boy pregnancy.

Thank you so much. I will work on a boy diet, just in case, and as you said, if nothing else, I'll have all the more nutrients! :)


We honestly don't know. It may be the sperm bypassing the VJ environment or that they are all capacitated simultaneously before being inserted very close to the egg (ensuring a lot of ready-to-go sperm make it to the egg)

It's hard to see it in studies done on IUI (they come up pretty close to 50-50) becuase so many couples who have it done are lower in fertility, esp. on the husband's side and may be coming in more likely to conceive girls to begin with. But in studies that were done on timing, when couples who wanted boys got IUI on day of ovulation, they did have overwhelmingly boys (I don't have the papers in front of me right now but it was above 75%). Subsequent studies found that timing did not sway, so it leaves us with IUI swaying blue for the average couple - and in fact probably all couples, just that we can't pick it out in the other studies because of the other co-factors.

I am super excited for you!!!

This is really interesting!! I would fall into the no fertility issues group (as I said we just are having to go IUI due to preserve dh's sperm from chemo/radiation) so am intrigued at these statistics! Do you know the sample size or who conducted the study? Hopefully with a diet sway we can get a little guy!

I also had read about IUI's are 50/50 like anything, but didn't know male fertility issues tend to sway girl. Do you know why that is though (just curious)?

Also on an unrelated note, just because you are so knowledgable :) :) do you know if the success rate of 20% for IUI's is equal across the board for all couples, or does that vary based on infertility issues? The one thing we are worried about is we only have 4 vials (so apparently 4 tries only) and 20% is a little nerve-wrecking if that is our best case scenario.

[atomic sagebrush]

Bummer that it sways blue, since I am requiring iui and hope for a girl :-(

Peopel who really truly need IUI in order to get pregnant may be coming in more "set" for girls than the population as a whole, though.

[atomic sagebrush]

There's more than one study that found that, for a while timing was in vogue and it was tested more than one time. Not super large sample sizes, not super respectable people testing it either (lots o people selling revolutionary methods of sex selection LOL), but when it comes to studies we have to take what we can get because so few respectable people are interested in studying it. :/

No one knows why male fertility issues and sperm quality seems to sway pink, but it has been shown in tons of studies (one of the best proven things) and it's all things that are totally dissimilar and unrelated, like biking and marathon running, certian careers like pesticide application/anesthesia/chemist, things that lower oxygen levels like deep sea divers and fighter pilots, smoking and marijuana use, certain medications and even diseases - all have been well demonstrated, anything that is harmful to sperm sways pink for reasons we can only guess at.

Success with IUI does vary by couple - is IVF any sort of option??? That way you could be assured you'd be able to put some babies on ice if you needed to.

[Keshet]

Do you think that old eggs qualifies me as being one of those people more set to have girls? Or is it other kinds of fertility problems that sways pink?

[atomic sagebrush]

Do you think that old eggs qualifies me as being one of those people more set to have girls? Or is it other kinds of fertility problems that sways pink?

I think it's other fertility problems (lower sperm quality, bad cervical mucus) BUT what you have to understand is, it's never just "old eggs", our fertility declines overall and so you may very well fall into this cateory without realizing it. :)

[Keshet]

I can only hope for a good outcome. Part of me still wonders about going for IVF. I tried IVF twice and wasn't successful. I'm older at 42. The Dr. Thought that I would have a better chance with iui because I would be able to afford 4 iui cycles for the same price as 1 ivf. That would give me more eggs to work with. While, I am so torn because I really wish I can do ivf, I also must face reality. I reasoned that if I would do ivf, it would only be one more. And if it didn't work, then I would want to try for either gender. But since I don't expect an abundance of blasts, maybe one, I will end up with either a girl, or an boy, or nothing. And I want something. And if the blast is not a girl, I would try naturally. And since it has been harder at my age to get pregnant naturally, I decided to turn to medical intervention to help with that process. So I didn't feel like I could justify the cost in my case. My ivf cycles were terrible. I know that you weren't asking for all this info, I feel like I am not so entirely convinced, but am proceeding with iui currently. Maybe we should have a special subgroup for those of us going through iui, but still wishing for a particular gender-- since we don't clearly fit into HT or sway.

[bluestskies]

There's more than one study that found that, for a while timing was in vogue and it was tested more than one time. Not super large sample sizes, not super respectable people testing it either (lots o people selling revolutionary methods of sex selection LOL), but when it comes to studies we have to take what we can get because so few respectable people are interested in studying it. :/

No one knows why male fertility issues and sperm quality seems to sway pink, but it has been shown in tons of studies (one of the best proven things) and it's all things that are totally dissimilar and unrelated, like biking and marathon running, certian careers like pesticide application/anesthesia/chemist, things that lower oxygen levels like deep sea divers and fighter pilots, smoking and marijuana use, certain medications and even diseases - all have been well demonstrated, anything that is harmful to sperm sways pink for reasons we can only guess at.

Success with IUI does vary by couple - is IVF any sort of option??? That way you could be assured you'd be able to put some babies on ice if you needed to.

Thank you so much for all the info! IVF is definitely an option, and we are considering it, but IUI's seemed to be easier on the body and maybe a good try because of no fertility struggles. That being said, even if 20% is our "best" odds of success per try, that's really not too good so we might just jump to IVF instead. Definitely in the early stages of discussing (amongst ourselves and will of course be talking with our doctors too) but the other factor is we will likely only be wanting 1 child, so we could use all 4 tries with an IUI (but that still technically leaves a 20% chance NONE will take?). If we changed our minds down the road and wanted a 2nd baby, he would be far enough removed from chemo to try naturally.


I can only hope for a good outcome. Part of me still wonders about going for IVF. I tried IVF twice and wasn't successful. I'm older at 42. The Dr. Thought that I would have a better chance with iui because I would be able to afford 4 iui cycles for the same price as 1 ivf. That would give me more eggs to work with. While, I am so torn because I really wish I can do ivf, I also must face reality. I reasoned that if I would do ivf, it would only be one more. And if it didn't work, then I would want to try for either gender. But since I don't expect an abundance of blasts, maybe one, I will end up with either a girl, or an boy, or nothing. And I want something. And if the blast is not a girl, I would try naturally. And since it has been harder at my age to get pregnant naturally, I decided to turn to medical intervention to help with that process. So I didn't feel like I could justify the cost in my case. My ivf cycles were terrible. I know that you weren't asking for all this info, I feel like I am not so entirely convinced, but am proceeding with iui currently. Maybe we should have a special subgroup for those of us going through iui, but still wishing for a particular gender-- since we don't clearly fit into HT or sway.

I wish you all the best with your IUI...please keep us posted! :)

[atomic sagebrush]

I can only hope for a good outcome. Part of me still wonders about going for IVF. I tried IVF twice and wasn't successful. I'm older at 42. The Dr. Thought that I would have a better chance with iui because I would be able to afford 4 iui cycles for the same price as 1 ivf. That would give me more eggs to work with. While, I am so torn because I really wish I can do ivf, I also must face reality. I reasoned that if I would do ivf, it would only be one more. And if it didn't work, then I would want to try for either gender. But since I don't expect an abundance of blasts, maybe one, I will end up with either a girl, or an boy, or nothing. And I want something. And if the blast is not a girl, I would try naturally. And since it has been harder at my age to get pregnant naturally, I decided to turn to medical intervention to help with that process. So I didn't feel like I could justify the cost in my case. My ivf cycles were terrible. I know that you weren't asking for all this info, I feel like I am not so entirely convinced, but am proceeding with iui currently. Maybe we should have a special subgroup for those of us going through iui, but still wishing for a particular gender-- since we don't clearly fit into HT or sway.

Keshet I am in agreement with your doctor and I feel that you'd be tossing money away at 42 on IVF unless you went with donor eggs. For success with IVF you need lots of eggs, for success with natural conception or IUI you only need one golden egg and it's just a better bet.

If you guys want to start a support thread I will sticky it for you!

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you so much for all the info! IVF is definitely an option, and we are considering it, but IUI's seemed to be easier on the body and maybe a good try because of no fertility struggles. That being said, even if 20% is our "best" odds of success per try, that's really not too good so we might just jump to IVF instead. Definitely in the early stages of discussing (amongst ourselves and will of course be talking with our doctors too) but the other factor is we will likely only be wanting 1 child, so we could use all 4 tries with an IUI (but that still technically leaves a 20% chance NONE will take?). If we changed our minds down the road and wanted a 2nd baby, he would be far enough removed from chemo to try naturally.



I wish you all the best with your IUI...please keep us posted! :)


Yes exactly - it was YOU who I was referring to IVF, not Keshet.

The odds of success with IUI are not cumulative - it doesn't work like "well this round I have 20%, next time that goes up to 40, then 60, then 80". You have 20% every time and then what do you do when you've used up all the vials??

I know it's super expensive though, but if you were to do IVF you could do it with ICSI and then be (hopefully) assured of some frosties - you would be able to get more than one baby per vial even, if it came down to that. :)

[Keshet]

Thank you Atomic. I needed to hear that. It has been hard for me to wrap my head around what the dr. Says with what I see on this website. There were so many stories that were positive and I kept hoping that I would be one of them. My journey has taken me a long time (3-4 years), because of cost, and time, and a resistant family. It has occupied my thoughts daily. I'm afraid that at this point, I will be so lucky to get pregnant at all. Atomic, thank you for your rational and thoughtful advice. I feel I stopped belonging on this website because I didn't know where I fit in anymore. And the regular infertility websites are overwhelming and make me feel worse and don't address my gender desire. But I still read this website several times a day--just to see what is going on. I've grown quite attached. I go for my check up today (day 10) to see if I have grown enough eggs and whether or not we proceed or cancel. It didn't look so good at the start of my cycle. I would love a support thread for iui/wishful thinking or for those of us who have moved on from both IVF and swaying and just want support. What do I do to start it?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[atomic sagebrush]

bump this for me and I will either locate one (we do have a couple forums along these lines) or start a thread. You aren't alone here, there is a whole group of ladies in the same boat waiting for Goldie the Golden Egg to show up. Don't give up hope, it only takes ONE egg!!!

[The Anchor]

Me me me! :wave:

I'm 41. I had 3 OHWs at 35, 37 and 39. I had a m/c with #3 (I had just turned 40 when I had the m/c). That was Oct 2012. I've had two rounds of IVF, one fresh and one FET. Late last year I did one round of IUI, chemical pregnancy that one. The docs didn't give me much hope for IVF but I ended up having 4 normals if you can believe it. I wasn't going for gender though, I just need one more baby :)

After my IUI, my doc actually suggested to just go it naturally. Unless it's male factor or hostile CM, there is no doubt the swimmers are getting there, it's all the quality of the eggies that matters at this point.

I've been going back and forth...I DID get that fading BFP after the IUI after all. Maybe I should stick it out? I just don't think I can justify it right now, but who knows where I'll be 2 months from now, LOL. GOOD LUCK Keshet and bluestskies.

[Keshet]

Anchor, our stories sound so similar. Did you do iui after the ivf or vice versa? Why did the doctor suggest that natural afterwards? Is IUI still an option for you? What's next for you?

[The Anchor]

I did IVF first, then one round of IUI. The clinic pretty much told me no more IVF for me, it kinda felt like IUI was the "consolation round". Male factor is not an issue for us, I've got very friendly CM, and have had a plethora of sonos, ultrasounds, hystero...my uterus is in great shape :). At this point, we are just waiting for one of the last of my "good" eggs, IYKWIM. It's all a waiting game now, and the pressure is on my side, LOL.

[Keshet]

It's hard to go through this month after month. For me, it has been mixed with a such anticipation and then lows. Good luck to you. I'd love to stay posted on your process.

[bluestskies]

Yes exactly - it was YOU who I was referring to IVF, not Keshet.

The odds of success with IUI are not cumulative - it doesn't work like "well this round I have 20%, next time that goes up to 40, then 60, then 80". You have 20% every time and then what do you do when you've used up all the vials??

I know it's super expensive though, but if you were to do IVF you could do it with ICSI and then be (hopefully) assured of some frosties - you would be able to get more than one baby per vial even, if it came down to that. :)

Oh interesting. Potentially I could do 2 IUI tries and with the last 2 vials save them for IVF - I didn't realize more than one baby could be from the same vial, but I guess now that I think about it, that totally makes sense.

Quick question - ICSI - what is different about that with IVF normally? I googled it and thought ICSI was what IVF was. haha I am still learning a lot, obviously. :)

Also as an aside - I know here ph levels have been debunked here but we had DH sperm tested and they said his ph was like 8.9 or 9. Is that included in any sort of sway statistic? Or does it not matter doing IUI's or IVF's? Just curious!

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes provided all went well. I ~believe~ you could even decide not to thaw the vials until after ER (egg retrieval) and that way if you had a poor response to medication and didn't make but one or two eggs you could freeze them or even decide to do IUI at that point (if you only made 1-2 eggs on your medication). This is something an RE would be totally able to help plan.

RE ICSI it is when they actually inject sperm into the egg so sometimes you can end up with more embryos that way.

pH doesn't matter with either IUI or IVF. Whether it sways or not, the sperm is prewashed and that changes everything anyway.

[Keshet]

Well, I'm now one day after my IUI. Officially in the 2ww.

[Mrs_Incredible]

Well, I'm now one day after my IUI. Officially in the 2ww.

Good luck!! Xxx


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[atomic sagebrush]

good luck Keshet! SEnding you tons of "omg that old lady is having a baby" dust! ;)

[bluestskies]

Halfway 2ww Keshet!! Fingers crossed and lots of baby dust!!


So I was just wondering (and I know this might be more in the assisted category but since this thread is already open...) I read that sperm spinning in ineffective here and in an article online. Ok. But in the same article it mentions that spinning for IUI/IVF to wash the sperm is essentially the same thing and that, "Since sperm swim-up, and the percoll and albumin methods are standard procedures for IUI and IVF, they are considered safe. Attempted gender selection is either an additional or modified step to these standard techniques, or in some cases, perhaps just a side-effect." Is an additional or modified step illegal like Microsort? Does the method of washing sperm differ from doctor to doctor? And sperm swim up is a normal method of prepping for IUI's? I guess I wonder if it naturally assists in selection (if x sink to the bottom with sediment) and y's move up to be collected (kind of along the lines of what was discussed earlier about IUI's naturally swaying boy)?

I'm still trying to research what percoll and albumin are (I only found this summary Comparison of four methods for sperm pre... [Arch Androl. 2004 May-Jun] - PubMed - NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15204678) but an abstract only goes so far)...

[atomic sagebrush]

It's not illegal but it's not done very much, because it may cut down odds of conception and for something that is not going to be 100% anyway. ANd you have to be careful with some of those studies because they are not always supported by overall facts.

I really really think the reason the IUI sways blue has nothing to do with the washing methods but because all the sperm are precapacitated and dumped into the uterus all at once.

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, the methods of sperm preparation vary by clinic. Percoll, albumin, swim up, etc. are just various methods for preparing the sperm pre-IUI. Some data has indicated that one vs. the other may end up with different gender ratios

[bluestskies]

Yes, the methods of sperm preparation vary by clinic. Percoll, albumin, swim up, etc. are just various methods for preparing the sperm pre-IUI. Some data has indicated that one vs. the other may end up with different gender ratios

Thank you for both replies. That makes sense. I guess I'm just trying to get all the facts and even if limited, make the best decisions, within reason that I can (as in I would rather better odds of conception than gender). But if it's something small I can do, I want to at least try. Do you know which preparation methods have better boy ratios off the top of your head? Thank you so much for all of your help!!

[atomic sagebrush]

not off the top of my head, I can look it up but in the process of moving right now and my paperwork is all disorganized, some of it's back at my old house still.

[bluestskies]

That would be amazing...but seriously no rush whatsoever. We are planning this out for the end of the year to start choosing a clinic and meeting with docs, and then ttc early next year. I'm halfway through a Masters program and would like to not be pregnant for as much of it as possible. :) So right now I'm just in the gathering as much info as I possibly can stage ha.

[bluestskies]

Hi Atomic! I just was curious if you ever happened to find that paperwork? No worries if not, but just thought I'd check in!

[atomic sagebrush]

There were SO many and they all seem to show differnt things. IF you go to Google Scholar and type "Sperm Washing Gender ratio" you will get a list of a whole bunch of them. :)

[bluestskies]

I'll check it out, thank you!!