Un-necessary IVF

Stand

Hi All,

Three years ago, my wife and myself visited a fertility clinic to seek medical advice as why my wife is having difficulty conceiving after 5 year of trying. She suffers from endometriosis and one of her ovaries had been removed prior our marriage.

There were series of examination carried out in the clinic and the final advice from the doctor was to undergo IVF procedure as it is the only way she could get pregnant.

So, we fallowed the doctor's advice and book for an IVF after saving enough money. The procedure failed on our first attempt. We have to save money again for the second try. We rung them if they give a discount for the second try, they said they don't give discounts.

While we're in the period of saving money for the second try, about 3 months after the first failed attempt, my wife got pregnant naturally. It was a great feeling, we felt thankful to the clinic because we thought that if where not on the failed IVF, my wife wouldn’t have gotten pregnant. We thought her system was stimulated as a result of the procedure.

Three year after our first baby, my wife got pregnant again naturally. This made us think that we’ve been given a wrong advised by the doctor that she’s incapable of conceiving naturally.

My question is, was there a mistake done to my wife? She was advised to undergo IVF because it’s the only way she could get pregnant when in reality she very much capable of conceiving naturally?

Im very much interested on how other people feel about his.

Thanks in advance.
Stand.

Neyite

If your wife had only two positive pregnancy tests in 8 years of trying, then I would not agree with your assessment that she is more than capable of getting pregnant. It sounds to me like she has immense difficulty in getting pregnant.

I would agree though that her system may have been stimulated very much by the hormones that she had to take undergoing IVF. Without it she may not have gotten pregnant naturally. With some women, after one pregnancy (successful or otherwise) their system seems to get the hang of what to do in there, and go on to have children naturally without a problem. I would suspect that in your wifes case this is what may have happened.

I recognise that fertility treatment is expensive, I am undergoing it myself, however, in our particular clinic the consultant and nursing staff are more than happy to discuss the treatment and the odds involved, and leave it up to us if we want to spend the money.

I am due to go in in a day or so, and if you are interested I can invent a friend who has endo and one ovary and ask the nurse if the treatment I am on (clomid and pregnyl shots) would work or would she have to go straight to IVF? I know it would not be a consultant saying it, but the nurses end up doing most of the procedures and would have a good bit of knowledge to give an unofficial opinion.

Stand

Thanks Neyite,
The invent a friend idea is brilliant. If you could do this it'll be appreciated.
Regards,
Stand

Neyite

Hey Stand,
I ran it past the nurse as I suggested, and she felt that going straight to IVF would depend on a couple of factors - The severity of the Endo (the removed ovary would not be an issue) her age, and her bloodwork levels would all play a part - if certain hormonal levels were abnormally low then it would certainly be possible that nothing but IVF would resolve the issues.

She said that here in Ireland, consultants do their best to solve infertility at the least invasive (and cheaper) stages, as IVF takes a huge toll on the body of a woman its not something they would suggest lightly. And from my own experience, I have seen that mine follows this method. I got the feeling that she trusted the consultants judgement utterly even though she obviously wouldnt know him/her.

Now, if you didnt get the treatment in Ireland, say America or Austrialia, then I would share your concern, because I have read a lot of fora about treatments, and they seem to be insurance funded so clinics go on a spending spree, but here I have been monitored very closely indeed, and any risk to me and they cancel the cycle.

Hope this helps you some.