# home insemination anyone?



## Matilda Snowflake (Jul 5, 2016)

Has anyone tried home insemination?  age, how, any success?  The one thing I would feel absolutely comfortable with is home insemination.  So, I'm thinking why not give it a try if the IVF OE/DE route worries me so much.  I know home insemination(and IUI in general) in our age has very low chances of success.  But who knows...maybe I would be the exception to the rule!  An additional problem with me (age 42, just turned) is that my period has always been irregular so I probably haven't been ovulating very much in my life...and as timing is everything with home insemination...hmph.  Can I just check, it's not possible to absolutely find out about these ovulation matters, right?  Doctors can't  be 100% sure beforehand if the cycle will ovulate or why it won't, right?  They can't easily make you ovulate (apart from heavy medication which can lead to OHSS etc. especially if you have PCO).  My mum seems to think that it's a simple matter to get women to ovulate.  I had to explain to her that the pill for regular period has nothing to do with ovulation.  She thinks that I'm just being pessimistic.  She thinks I'm ovulating all the time and that's why I don't get my periods...very strange theory...  The period blood (in anovulatory cycle) is the lining of the uterus or something like that, right?  And is it the case that when a woman ovulates the always get bleeding too or not (usually the same bleeding of course) so it's not possible that if I've had let's say 6 periods a year I have ovulated 8 times.  But it could be true that someone has 6 periods and has not ovulated at all.  Right?  I've had one natural conception at age 35, pretty much as a result of a single try.  (That story has boosted my mum's belief of me as some kind of super breeding machine...I wish!!)  But prior to that pregnancy I'd been in many relationships where we stopped using contraception and no pregnancies ever - so in my mind I think I won't get pregnant easily.  And now I'm also old!!!!  So...here comes my crazy plan, which is something I probably have talked about earlier as my thoughts have a habit of going round and round...  In my country it's illegal to import semen.  My plan is to go to Denmark on every vacation, which would be Xmas, Easter, Summer.  Holiday there and do my dirty deeds in the evenings...  Several home inseminations.  Hoping to get the timing right by accident.  How impossible does that sound?  I would waste a lot of money, but it would still be cheaper than IVF (or two, or three...)  At least I would feel totally comfortable with home inseminations which I'm not with the other treatments.  The wimp that I am!


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## Calluna (Jun 14, 2012)

Hi Matilda,

There's a thread on Cryos (under donor conception) where you'll find people using home insemination (including some success stories). 

You could use the pill to time a bleed and then clomid or letrozole to induce ovulation (letrozole has a lower risk of multiple follicles releasing eggs) to give you a good chance of getting the timing right to coincide with your holidays. 

If it's problematic to be prescribed letrozole or clomid in your country you could maybe make an appointment with a fertility clinic in Denmark. 

Good luck x


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## mandalay (Sep 20, 2013)

Hi Matilda 
I don't have experience of home insemination but wanted to reply. I was a little anxious about how I would feel about the embryo transfer process. It was no worse than the smear. I think you could request the minimum people to be present. You can opt for a more natural protocol on the meds too. If you try home insemination and it doesn't click, using a doctor isn't as bad as you may think. Good luck xxx


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## Matilda Snowflake (Jul 5, 2016)

Thanks.  These are things I need to think about.  I'm not so worried about the transfer.  But I'm not yet completely okay with the idea of DE.  I still hold on to the dream of OE.  Would feel sad not to let my OEs have a life.  If there was some good quality eggs there after all.  (That's something you can't know for sure before egg retrieval, right?  And even then, it's just for that batch.)  I'm sure these are familiar thoughts to many.  My child is cuddling with me here, it's hard to think I would ignore an OE as wonderful as my child.  There are 3 main issues with OE IVF that I am freaked out about: 1) the amount of medication (general worries, OHSS, doziness and side effects in the middle of running my life as a single mum), 2) egg retrieval (painful, over here you have no option but to be awake), 3) egg retrieval and medication effects on the body (body has to repair cells/tissue that have been artificially, dramatically meddled with - body's errors in repair, cancer).


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## mandalay (Sep 20, 2013)

It's just a thought... and I know we are all avid readers on these boards.. but have you looked at Zita West.com and the natural or mild IVF options? You are only 42. It's said that we get our second rise in fertility in our early forties. Maybe a company like Zita West could help you explore ways to boost your chances with OE through milder meds or not even meds at all. Stop thinking you are old. You aren't! xx


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

one thing springs to mind and that is that if you have ivf you have scans which would pick up health issues give you a good idea about your lining etc. how about monitoring your own cycle and if possible paying for scans privately at various points eg, 2 weeks, four weeks after a bleed, or whatever, you don't have the ivf risks but you would have at least some of the information. that way you'd be less likely to waste your trips in your plan, they could tell you about your ovaries, lining etc, any fibroids or other problems..

good luck.


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## Beside_the_seaside (Oct 9, 2012)

I'm trying to understand your plan. You say it's illegal to import semen into the country where you live. So you plan to travel to Denmark during holidays at Xmas, Easter, Summer. Then import donor sperm into Denmark (presumably to a hotel?) where you will do 'home inseminations'. And this not knowing when you might be ovulating, as you have infrequent periods and only ovulate 6 - 8 times a year.

Honestly, it won't work. Nothing to do with your age. At only just turned 42, you probably still have quite a good chance of getting pregnant with your own eggs. I'm saying this based on the likelihood of anyone getting pregnant if they had sex only 3 times a year, plus with no idea whether the timing was right or not! I'd say you need a little bit of a rethink.

As *Calluna *says - why not make an appointment (e.g. skype a consultation) with a fertility clinic in Denmark? I've heard that this clinic http://www.storkklinik.dk/en/fertility-center-denmark/home.html will handle sperm (whether imported internationally, e.g. from USA, or within Denmark e.g. from Cryos). Their website says they offer all types of fertility treatment: natural and hormone-stimulated insemination, IVF/ICSI etc. If you want an insemination (IUI) they could at least offer you IUI that is properly monitored, at precisely the right time, and with or without ovarian stimulation drugs. Again as *Calluna *says, the ovarian stimulation drugs can be tablets (like Femara/Letrazole), as opposed to injections, and quite mild.

Of course, you'll find other reputable clinics in Denmark such as Vitanova (Link: https://vitanova.dk/en/insemination/ and https://vitanova.dk/en/ivf-treatment/ ) and Copenhagen Fertility Center (Link: http://www.copenhagenfertilitycenter.com/uk/ )

IVF might still be the most efficient / effective way to get pregnant with own eggs. It's worth discussing your concerns about the process with a fertility specialist, as you'll probably find they can reassure you.

I'm looking at the concerns you mention about IVF:
1) the amount of medication (general worries, OHSS, doziness and side effects ...)
2) egg retrieval (painful, over here you have no option but to be awake), 
3) egg retrieval and medication effects on the body (body has to repair cells/tissue that have been artificially, dramatically meddled with - body's errors in repair, cancer).

I've had a couple of IVF cycles now and the process was much, much easier than I had anticipated it would be. Here's a couple of thoughts, FWIW:

1) There are lots of different medication protocols. If you're concerned, ask your doctor to consider a minimal stimulation protocol, using very few drugs. It need not involve any injections (although the injections are only sub-cutaneous, really easy and almost totally painless). Instead you can be given tablets like Femara/Clomid. Serum in Athens are one clinic that seems to favour using lots of these types of protocols, but I think all clinics have these protocols within their repertoire.

2) Egg retrieval - I've had 3 procedures so far and NEVER had any conscious awareness of any single one of them. One under general anaesthetic, two under 'sedation' - you still sleep through it. They can't risk a patient being in any pain during egg retrieval, not least because the margins are so small when they're aspirating follicles, that if you flinched even a couple of millimetres, they could surely ruin the collection.

3) Your point on "repair/cancer" - during egg retrieval they basically use a fine needle to drain fluid away from each ovarian follicle and the egg comes away with that. I think you're worrying unduly here. If there is an increased cancer risk from stimulation drugs at all, then it will be miniscule, particularly over a one-off cycle. Please discuss this with a doctor.

Also - as regards embryo transfer - the process is basically the same as a cervical smear test. Yes you're completely awake, but it's quick and not painful. Very slightly awkward/uncomfortable perhaps, but no more.

As you've mentioned donor egg IVF, I'd say that one thing to note about DE cycles is that they're not a drug free option. I've no personal experience of it, but from what I understand, the recipient has to take suppression drugs, which _can _have some unpleasant side effects. Then drugs to thicken the uterine lining. Then still a transfer procedure of course.

I do hope you can get some good advice on what best to do next.

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## mandalay (Sep 20, 2013)

I came across this and thought of you.
http://www.thestorkconception.co.uk
It may improve your chances.


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