Thank you so much, now it all makes sense!!!
kelkel
North Carolina
Member for 3 months
One unsuccessful IUI
June 20, 2008
Hello Everyone!! Just found this site the other day. I'm kinda new at all this. I don't know all the abbreviations yet, but I catch on kinda fast. I have one daughter, "Lainey", we call her Laineybug. She is three yrs old. I had to take clomid to get preg w/her. It worked the third month. So my husband and I wanted to try again. I thought,OK, I'll take some more clomid and have a baby. Well, that didn't work. So my gyn sent me to a specialist and had an IUI. I thought, cool, I'll wait 2 weeks and find out I'm Preggers. Well, that didn't work either. So today I'm starting the whole process over again. I was just wondering do the the more IUI's you have, the better your chances or is it just luck of the draw? Also, how do you cope with the feelings? One moment you think you could be and the next you're not? Just wondering if anyone has any advise?
KelKel, I was thinking have you and your dh looked into other forms of fertility meds to help you. It can take a couple tries with IUI. Is your dr doing u/s to follow the growth of your follice size(s)?
I'm going to post a list of other forms of fertility meds. You might want to look into Injectable Gonadotropins with IUI. Many ladies have tried this with much success. In fact I will be moving toward that in the end of the year with IUI. I do believe that you going this way will give you much success than clomid and IUI. Like I wrote before it might take a couple of tries but the success rate is good but keep in mind nothing is 100% in the fertility world. Do you have any medical concerns that we need to be aware of for example PCOS, high FSH levels and does your dh...sperm count, hormone issues? Keep me posted and good luck.
MEDICATIONS:
Clomid works by tricking your brain (hypothalamus primarily) into thinking there is no estrogen around. Your hypothalamus will respond by producing more GnRH hormone that’ll trigger a greater production of FSH/LH from the pituitary, stimulating a follicle to grow in the ovary for those who are not ovulating.
Letrozole (Femara) works by stopping the production of estrogen. Your hypothalamus recognizes this decrease in Estrogen, and purposely creates more hormones in the same fashion as Clomid to help the ovary make a follicle.
Injectable Gonadotropins come in two forms: urinary or recombinant products. Urinary gonadotropins (Bravelle, Menopur, Repronex) are derived from the urine of postmenopausal nuns in monasteries (yep, that’s correct) and are highly filtered and purified for their FSH and LH and made into a powdered form. Recombinant gonadotropins (Gonal-F, Follistim) are genetically engineered in a laboratory and are “pure” FSH. Luveris is a recombinant injectable form of LH.
Human Chorionic Gonadotopin (hCG) can be purchased as either a urinary or recombinant product. We usually use hCG at high doses once the follicle(s) are mature to induce ovulation just like the human body would. Now, we use hCG instead of LH (like your body does) because they work the same and hCG is much less expensive than if we used LH.
Your RE can dose your gonadotropins according to your reproductive history. Usually the higher the gonadotropins dose, the greater the likelihood of “rescuing” more than one follicle. Remember, these follicles were going to be lost since your brain only selects one out each month, with the following month bringing about a whole new cohort of follicles from which again, only one would have been selected out by your brain.
Some of you may be on Lupron (GnRH agonist) which works by eventually shutting down the brain’s (hypothalamus) production of GnRH. Therefore, the pituitary will not produce any FSH or LH resulting in no ovarian stimulation. Your body senses this immediate lack of no follicular development/Estrogen and thus believes it is in a menopausal state, giving you all of these symptoms. It usually takes Lupron upto a week before it shuts the production of GnRH and once Lupron is stopped, these symptoms are truly reversible.
Cetrotide or Antagon are GnRH antagonists and work like Lupron, except that their action is immediate, and doesn’t take a week for this to occur. The primary reason Lupron, Antagon, or Cetrotide is given is so that your body doesn’t on its own do things that would ruin a stimulation cycle, such as your brain prematurely secreting an abundance of LH…Not fun if you just paid $10,000 for IVF and then the doc says “sorry, your body didn’t cooperate with us so we have to cancel the cycle”.
I'm going to post a list of other forms of fertility meds. You might want to look into Injectable Gonadotropins with IUI. Many ladies have tried this with much success. In fact I will be moving toward that in the end of the year with IUI. I do believe that you going this way will give you much success than clomid and IUI. Like I wrote before it might take a couple of tries but the success rate is good but keep in mind nothing is 100% in the fertility world. Do you have any medical concerns that we need to be aware of for example PCOS, high FSH levels and does your dh...sperm count, hormone issues? Keep me posted and good luck.
MEDICATIONS:
Clomid works by tricking your brain (hypothalamus primarily) into thinking there is no estrogen around. Your hypothalamus will respond by producing more GnRH hormone that’ll trigger a greater production of FSH/LH from the pituitary, stimulating a follicle to grow in the ovary for those who are not ovulating.
Letrozole (Femara) works by stopping the production of estrogen. Your hypothalamus recognizes this decrease in Estrogen, and purposely creates more hormones in the same fashion as Clomid to help the ovary make a follicle.
Injectable Gonadotropins come in two forms: urinary or recombinant products. Urinary gonadotropins (Bravelle, Menopur, Repronex) are derived from the urine of postmenopausal nuns in monasteries (yep, that’s correct) and are highly filtered and purified for their FSH and LH and made into a powdered form. Recombinant gonadotropins (Gonal-F, Follistim) are genetically engineered in a laboratory and are “pure” FSH. Luveris is a recombinant injectable form of LH.
Human Chorionic Gonadotopin (hCG) can be purchased as either a urinary or recombinant product. We usually use hCG at high doses once the follicle(s) are mature to induce ovulation just like the human body would. Now, we use hCG instead of LH (like your body does) because they work the same and hCG is much less expensive than if we used LH.
Your RE can dose your gonadotropins according to your reproductive history. Usually the higher the gonadotropins dose, the greater the likelihood of “rescuing” more than one follicle. Remember, these follicles were going to be lost since your brain only selects one out each month, with the following month bringing about a whole new cohort of follicles from which again, only one would have been selected out by your brain.
Some of you may be on Lupron (GnRH agonist) which works by eventually shutting down the brain’s (hypothalamus) production of GnRH. Therefore, the pituitary will not produce any FSH or LH resulting in no ovarian stimulation. Your body senses this immediate lack of no follicular development/Estrogen and thus believes it is in a menopausal state, giving you all of these symptoms. It usually takes Lupron upto a week before it shuts the production of GnRH and once Lupron is stopped, these symptoms are truly reversible.
Cetrotide or Antagon are GnRH antagonists and work like Lupron, except that their action is immediate, and doesn’t take a week for this to occur. The primary reason Lupron, Antagon, or Cetrotide is given is so that your body doesn’t on its own do things that would ruin a stimulation cycle, such as your brain prematurely secreting an abundance of LH…Not fun if you just paid $10,000 for IVF and then the doc says “sorry, your body didn’t cooperate with us so we have to cancel the cycle”.
Yes, the 1st iui they gave me femara days 3-7 and Overdril, an injection to take 2 days before insemination. This time they gave me the same. Hopefully this will be it, all my levels have been good. My dh sperm counts are really good. I just don't have AF every month, or ovulate every month. My cycles can vary from 32-48 days. The meds seem to help keep me regular though. I don't think we'll do IVF. Finacially, it's just not something we can do. Ins. does not cover it. Today was my last day of Femara, I don't know how I should be feeling. I'm just really, really tired. We just keep praying and my dd and I keep talking to my ovaries, telling them to do a good job. She wants a baby sister so bad. She has already named her Leela. She can't say Leah, which me and dh like, but I love Leela so much we decided on that if we ever have another girl.
June 20, 2008
just copy and paste that link and it will help you out. I'm just making a fast post for you dear to welcome you and if you need anything we are here for you!!!! ***babydust***