# Iui or egg-sharing?



## Felicity123 (Nov 1, 2013)

Not sure if this is the best section for this, but anyway..  I’m almost 32 and single, no known fertility issues (blood tests all fine) but irregular periods (docs said possible PCOS - ovaries were slightly enlarged on scan with a few cysts - but even they didn’t seem convinced given normal bloods and no other symptoms).  I would of course love to meet someone and conceive naturally, but I’ve been single for a while now and I’m quite happy that way - every time I meet someone or go on a date, i feel like my heart’s not in it and I’m looking at them as a potential donor rather than a partner, which feels very unfair to both of us.  My heart and head seem to be in agreement on this one - the perfect man can come in to my life when I’m 32, 42, 62 it doesn’t matter, but children need to happen in the next couple of years, my heart aches for them and would break in to a million pieces if i let them pass me by waiting for the right time/right man/right everything.  Bit dramatic, but I’m sure you understand.

I’ve considered one night stands or pride angel et al, but it all feels very seedy and unsafe (if you’ve had a different experience please tell me and save me lots of ££££!) so my options are iui or egg-sharing (financially I can’t even consider regular ivf right now, might never be able to).

Donor iui at my two nearest clinics is around £2000, which is pushing me towards egg-sharing (also around £2000), but I found a 3-cycle diui package for £3000 which seems like a pretty good deal (relatively speaking).  

I’m wondering if with multi-cycle packages (probably applies more to ivf than iui, but still) there’s more incentive for the clinic to get everything 100% the first time so they end up with more profit.  And that maybe that’s an advantage over paying per go?  I don’t know, maybe I’m just over-thinking and being cynical.

Any thoughts/insights/opinions in to iui vs egg-sharing or anything else would be greatly received.


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## BEmama (Jun 24, 2018)

First of all I would make sure that those are really the full costs at those clinics - we had a bad experience with wanting to egg share, being quoted one price, and then being told much later that it would be a lot more costly than initially stated because of hidden extras. 

Percentage-wise, I can tell you mine (I am 31, very good AMH, no fertility problems) 1 IUI would give a 20% clinical pregnancy rate, 3 IUI 48.8%. 1 egg sharing IVF is 51%. So those last two are similar, there I would compare the cost as well as the toll it would take on your body medication-wise.


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## pollita (Feb 23, 2011)

I went for egg-sharing IVF to begin with, despite initially going for a consult for IUI, due to cost and increased likelihood of it working!

What I will say though is check out lots of clinics. My clinic charges £1500 per IUI cycle inc donor sperm, meds and all HFEA fees. If you go au natural (ie. No drugs, just a natural cycle) then you can knock about £400 off that price.

More importantly, egg-sharing is free at many clinics. I'm always shocked that some charge what seems like a small amount but usually ends up being almost as much as a full IVF cycle at other clinics. I paid £500 to sign up as an egg sharer for the tests as a one off, and £500 for donor sperm per cycle. That was it. No drug costs, no cycle costs, nada. When I'd used up my egg sharing cycles a full found of IVF for me, including drugs and treatment, cost £4000-£6000 per cycle depending on how many drugs I used. So even if you end up having to travel a little further to a clinic that does it for free, it wouldn't cost £2000!


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## ComeOnBaby (Sep 2, 2018)

I personally think there's a lot to be said for avoiding IVF if you can.  It's a very invasive process and is a lot to put your body through.  Hence I plan to start with natural IUIs as I also have no known fertility issues plus a strong egg reserve.  It's a very personal decision though.  

Are you likely to want more than one child do you think?  If so, an advantage of IVF is that you may well have the option of freezing embryos for a sibling later on.


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## Felicity123 (Nov 1, 2013)

Thank you all for replying.  You pretty much summer up my thinking - would like to avoid ivf if possible but I know it has a much greater chance of success..  I’m going to take a closer look at the clinics that offer free egg-sharing (and ask about any hidden costs!) and maybe book some open-evenings or consultations and take it from there.


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## djjim22 (Mar 7, 2014)

I think as everyone else has said it is a very personal choice whether to go IUI or IVF. In my area there aren't many clinics who will treat single women so I had to travel about 50 miles (I know some people travel much, much further). So the clinic I chose was £1000 per vial of donor sperm so IUI would have worked out just as expensive as egg sharing (which at my clinic it also ended up costing me about £3000 - including the sperm). Egg sharing is also something which needs to be thought about long and hard but was something I chose to do. I have a very low AMH so worried it would have been rounds and rounds of IUI. Anyway, I ended up being extremely lucky and my first IVF was successful, as Comeonbaby has also said if you do IVF and manage to get some frozen embryos it means the possibility of a sibling is there. I had one frozen embryo after I had my daughter and was surprised by how strong the desire was to give her a sibling. Having a frozen embryo meant she would have a full sibling. Again, I was so lucky to become pregnant again with her brother.  I am planning on trying for a third in a few years time hopefully. Although I don't have any frozen embryos left there is sibling sperm available but I now have the dilemma of IUI or IVF again (my clinic has stopped egg sharing so I need to start saving!)

Whatever you decide will be the right decision for you. There are lots of people on here for support and advice. Good luck with whatever you choose.


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## Felicity123 (Nov 1, 2013)

Thank you for taking the time to share Djjim22.  Congratulations on your babies!  I hope your third try works first time too.


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