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IUI vs IVF advice??

I am 43 years old, healthy, single, and I want a family. I have tried 4 rounds of IUI without any egg stimulation drugs....now my doctor wants to introduce the egg stimulation (Follistim) but stick with IUI. He says that at my age, there is not much of an increased possibility of pregnancy with IVF over IUI. When I read various websites, they seem to indicate that there's a greater chance at success with IVF, but they don't specifically compare the 2 with women over 40. Does anyone have more information or feedback about this??

Thanks!!
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Avatar universal
IVF is much better at your age, that doctor is wasting precious time!
Helpful - 0
11543943 tn?1419195098
I am a surrogate.  After having two children without any difficulty with my husband, I then went on to be a gestational carrier x 2.  (*using the couples eggs/sperm, pregnant first time both times.)
I retired from surrogacy until a friend lost his daughter to SIDS. I offered to act as their surrogate, but, as a TS, being a GS is a lot more work, time commitment, needles!
I got pregnant on Clomid/IUI on our second cycle, I was 35.9 years old.
I gave birth at 36.7 years old at 38 weeks.  Healthy, wonderful!
I want to give them a sibling, but, I am having trouble finding Clomid this time? I guess the midwife used, who is going to handle the IUI again, does not have the connection she had previously (she is a Midwife by training, not with prescriptive authority.)
Not sure what to do? Advice. I say Clomid and IUI again.... But it seems hard to get an MD to prescribe?
Helpful - 0
299260 tn?1304216105
I agree with the ladies. I'm 37 & I tried iui three times & hadn't gotten pregnant.  I have good egg quality & dh had a "normal" semen analysis, but my eggs & his swimmers never seemed to connect. When you do IVF, they're screening for the best eggs & best swimmers. I had 22 eggs retrieve & we were able to do ICSI, where they inject one swimmer into each egg & then pick the best embryo after five days. We only transferrred one embryo & froze the other 16 that made it. It is more expensive, but there are package deals out there. Ask your RE (or the new one) and also, look into the Attain program, which we went through. It offers 6 attempts (3 fresh, 3 frozen) & if you still don't bring home a baby, they'll refund up to 70% of the payment. Good luck & best wishes!!! :)  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks so much for the input, everyone.....I have felt that my doc was wasting time, and I have made an appointment with another for a second opinion. His argument was that the most important aspect is the quality of eggs...and that IF you have any quality eggs, the IUI versus IVF factor was negligible in women my age. I appreciate your advice and wish all of you the very best!
Helpful - 0
374593 tn?1257879950
I agree with the other women, with IVF they can pick and choose which embryos look best to put back in, so thererfore your starting out with a better chance. However if you do IUI with Stims and get a few eggs, then you would also have a good chance of one sticking as well i would think.. Either way I would say try the follistim or IVF, we got pregnant with IUI and follistim several times (I was 28 however). GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I think your doctor is wasting precious time, and you should consider a second opinion!  At 43, every month really matters.  My understanding (having considered doing ivf with my own eggs at 45) is that ivf is far preferable because they can control so many more factors:  they know that at least the eggs and sperm meet up, the embryos are placed directly in your uterus, your uterus is ready to receive the embryos, etc.  At 43, you probably aren't going to have as many mature eggs even after stim drugs, and the embryo quality probably won't be super (so both egg quantity and quality will be the concern).  Because older eggs have so many problems that cause miscarriages, you will need a lot of embryos to choose from.  I am currently pregnant having used a carefully-screened, young egg donor.  She only produced 6 mature eggs.  All fertilized, but in the end, we only had two that made it to 5 days.  The clinic assured me that two would be enough to be hopeful because the donor was so young.  I think in a woman 43 or older, they would put in all possible embryos, because the quality would be poorer.  I wish you the best!  
Helpful - 0
803938 tn?1403748253
IVF is better: you get to start with embryos! I have tried both (at age 37-38), I had no results with IUI (3 Clomid, 2 Follistim). Then I had one IVF, I was very briefly pregnant but it did not stick. I finally became pregnant without any help (at 40).

With IUI I always had 1 or 2 good follicules. With IVF I had 2 good embryos, but some women will have more embryos, even at 43.

If I had to try again, I would definitively go with IVF - if money were not a problem because of course 1 round of IVF will buy 10 rounds of IUI with Follistim.
Helpful - 0
296076 tn?1371334474
I don't know why he waisted 4 months without stim...  hmmm are you with and RE?  I did follisstim and got pg on the second round with iui.. but I was only 29.. IVF sees what eggs are doing well and then implants those.. as you get older your eggs get more rotten...  anyway I would get a second opinion.. you are 43 so you need to get going...
Helpful - 0
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