# Hi All - I am new here and have questions



## HR

Hi All,

I am a newbie here.  I am living in denmark and currently on IUI treamtment.  Its has been one and half years now since we started trying for a baby.  This month I have began with IUI for the first time.  Since its my first time, I have several questions in my mind.  This cycle's routine went on like this for me.  

On the 2nd day of my cycle I had an ultra sound(u/s).  Took Pergotime tablets from day 3 to day 7.  Then on the 10th day had an u/s with follicles of size 13.5.  Then again an u/s on 13th day with follicle size of 17.5.  The doctor asked me to take the ovitrelle injection on the 14th day and asked me to come for insemination on the 16th day.  Yesterday was my day of insemination.  This was done exactly after 39 hours after taking ovitrelle injection.  The follicle was of size 23.5.  The endometrium was of size 11.  The doctor told me that I might ovulate yesterday itself.  Usually I will be feeling some pain in my pelvic area when I am ovulating.  This has been there for many years now.  But until now I have not felt any pelvic area pain as a sign of ovulation.  Nor I am having any cervical mucus as a sign of ovulation.  Usually I will have cervical mucus before my ovulation.  This has given me lots of doubts about my ovulation.  I am worried if I am not ovulating at all.  Moreover I also read that the washed sperms only live upto 6-12 hours.  This is making me feel even more worried as I know that I haven't ovulated until now and the sperm life has ended by this 6-12 hours count.  Has anyone experienced this before?  Are the doctors missing something here ?  Does ovitrelle guarantee an ovulation for sure?  Does these medications change anything in our body that might not show us the signs of ovulation?  I am in 2ww now and I am already feeling that this treatment will fail for me   

Please share your experiences ....


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## Caz

HR, welcome to Fertility Friends. 

I have never had IUI but have just checked that Pergotime is equivilent to clomid in the UK. This is a drug that is often given to ladies who don't ovulate to get them to do so. The mechanism by which is does this is to trick your body into producing more sex hormones than it otherwise is. 
Ovitrelle is basically a massive dose of HCG and this is what triggers ovulation. HCG is the hormone your body produces naturally in pregnancy (and, barring one or two very rare medical complications, *only* produced it during pregnancy). It is, however very similar chemically to LH (Lutinising Hormone) which is the hormone your body produces in a massive surge (the one you pick up on an ovulation prediction stick) to tell your ovaries to release the ripend egg from the follicle - i.e. to ovulate... ok I am sure you can see where this is going.  Basically, ovitrelle, pregnyl and other HCG "trigger" medications act to make your body ripen your eggs and ovulate. In an IVF cycle, you will see that surgical egg collection takes place exactly 36 hours after the HCG trigger jab and just before the body (usually) has had time to release the eggs itself. Delays to EC of even a few hours can mean you miss the boat so I imagine it's fairly finely tuned process. Therefore, with IUI, basting (when the sperm is put back) can take place sometime after between about 36 and 48 hours - eggs only live about 24 hours after ovulation so it's important to make sure you get the basting done in the right time window.

It does seem that different clinics have different protocols as to when they like to do the basting and I can't answer whether later or earlier is more successful because I don't know (perhaps someone on the IUI boards might have more advice there). What I can say it that your follicles and uterine lining look about spot on timing wise, for ovulation and that drugs like ovitrelle and, in particular clomid, will affect the whole manner in which your body produced hormones naturally so it is reasonable to expect you might see differences to how your body reacts in a natural cycle. Most people, however, report an increase of symptoms like low ovulation pain or Egg white CM rather than less / absense of it but this in itself doesn't necessarily mean you haven't ovulated and it could simple be that the follicle yo ovulated from was in a less "tender" spot or that the pain you feel is not ovulatory at all or that all the EWCM was washed away when you had your basting done (and, in fact, seeing as you are bypassing that bit anyway, you don't really need to worry about whether it is or not.) 
I guess the answers is, it's more than likely you did ovulate but nothing is ever 100% certain. The only way you could really tell if you ovulated at the time you should have is by having a scan about 48 hours after the ovitrelle jab and seeing the emtpy follicles - you may possibly be able to have a blood test (progesterone) now to see whether it indicates ovulation took place but the chances are the result of this would be affected by the drugs you took and might not be reliable either.

As for your query about washed sperm, actually I have no idea. I think sperm doesn't live long at all outside the body and outside laborotory conditions but not sure how long washed sperm live inside the body and, as it would still take several hours to reach your egg (which, at this point would still be in your fallopian tube) it would seem a but of a flawed treatment to me if it didn't last at least long enough to make it to the egg! Bear in mind that in natural conception the fertilisation takes place in the fallopian tube.

Again, I think if you ask on the IUI boards you might find a little more information from those who know how it all works so I will leave you a link to the IUI boards, and also a couple more useful links. Please do have a look around and explore and start posting around the boards and making friends. FF is a wonderfully supportive community and you can only get the best out of it if you start posting and joining in so, please do so.

*What Every New Member Needs To Know (includes a list of common abbreviations) ~ *   CLICK HERE

*IUI Beginners Guide ~ *   CLIcK HERE 

*IUI ~*CLICK HERE

*2WW, Ladies in Waiting ~ *CLICK HERE

You can have a bit of fun or just gossip while you are on FF too so check out the general chit chat / jokes / hobbies area:

*Girl & Boy talk - Community & Fun Board ~ *CLICK HERE

You can also chat live in our excellent chat room. We have a newbie night in the chat room every week (*Wednesday at 8pm*), where you can meet other new members and get technical support with navigating the site and using all the functions available here.  CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON NEWBIE CHAT 

You can also "meet" and chat with people in your local area through the *Location boards*. This is especially useful to find people who may be using the same clinic and or in the same area as you.

Wishing you lots of luck! 

C~x


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## HR

Thank you so much for the explanations Caz.  Thanks for all the links, now I will look for more information in the IUI forum.  Thanks for your welcome


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