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Pro
The drugs / hormones helped me to get pregnant! In my personal opinion nothing to be afraid of, if a child is your goal.
Pro
I had some hair loss after IVF, but that’s happened to me before (pre-fertility treatment) so who knows what caused it.
Fun fact: my IVF cycle didn’t actually yield any embryos, but I got pregnant “naturally” the next month. I’m convinced it was the residual hormones, but of course there’s no way to know for certain. Planning another retrieval as soon as I can after this baby is born.
This was in March, and no side effects. During, I was surprised how tired I was in estrogen priming - it was way worse than the stims themselves. Otherwise, I was just really weepy - I would cry at the strangest things. I got pretty bloated, but it went down within a couple of months.
Interesting your RE is recommending IUI. My husband had poor morphology but high semen count and my RE recommended IVF using ICSI, stating IUI had a lower effective rate especially with our diagnosis of male factor fertility.
Same. My hubby's volume was high and motility was normal. Morphology was low and recommended IVF. Also told IUI with those numbers would probably be a multiple cycle game.
We just had our first transfer (able to get 8 quality embryos from first IVF cycle), so still in the two week wait stage.
Second what P1 said above. We had to use clomid for 3 cycles to conceive. It was a tough decision for me personally as I’ve always approached health more “holistically”, never have taken much medication, etc. But a baby was our goal and the one thing that helped me so much with my anxiety surrounding the meds is that everything is temporary. Whatever side effect etc. you are feeling that day will not last, it’s not you (it’s the meds), and it’s bringing you one step closer to your baby. I was lucky and didn’t have many of the symptoms a lot of people seem to have with Clomid but did have headaches on and off, dry mouth, gained a few lbs (the meds just made me really hungry so I ate without restricting myself)
My wife is anovulatory due to PCOS. She is taking letrozole for a few cycles now and we have managed to get pregnant (albeit chemical pregnancy). The side effects are very minimal for her, sore breasts and a tiny bit more mood swings but her periods are now much more regular and less painful.
Highly recommend it. Also letrozole is preferable to clomifene as the latter is limited to 12 cycles lifetime.
After one year of unexplained fertility I got an HSG treatment so they basically flush your ovaries with oil. Basically cleaning up your pipes. It worked! I got pregnant 2 months later unfortunately it became my 3rd miscarriage but immediately got pregnant again after and now I am 15 weeks pregnant!
Check if you get HSG with oil or water. In my country I was part of a study that it HSG with oil is more effective!
I’ve taken Letrozole and Clomid for IUI cycles and neither were terrible to deal with. The ongoing toll of infertility is far worse than any side effects from those meds in my opinion!
Pro
If you want a baby, I think the drugs sound like the way to go.
My symptoms were generally fatigue, bloating and mood swings / emotional. All of it is manageable, and all of it stopped when I went off the medication after the drugs left my system.
If a baby is your goal, pull out all the stops and do the medicated IUI. With morphology so low (ours is also low) I’m shocked that this is their recommendation… but I do agree with trying something less invasive first. I went this route and did 3 failed IUIs before moving to IVf. The meds are fine, and actually help to put control in place to help you achieve your goal faster. I agree with other comments regarding exhaustion from the estrace, and general weepiness. Not sure if that was a side effect of the drugs or the rollercoaster ride that is fertility treatment. Good luck as you embark on your journey. 🍀
Thank you everyone! Really helps to hear from others who have gone through this and especially helps to realize it is temporary.