# Donor IUI at 40, anyone else done that ?



## KLconfused (Jan 2, 2010)

Hi all
Ive been on FF a lot but am new to this section. I turned 40 last week and hate it!! I feel so down and demoralised still doing fertility treatment now. Sorry. I know its negative but heads in a dark space at the moment. 

I have a daughter from ICSI and she is 10 months old. My husband has an issue with his sperm where they don't swim so we have used ICSI. Since daughter was born we have done another round of ICSI which failed. Were currently doing a FET cycle. 

After this FET cycle we have decided to move on to donor sperm. There are no known issues with me so we will use IUI. I feel like im doing things the wrong way round as im going from ICSI to IUI. I know the success rates of IUI are lower than ICSI. Am I wasting my time with IUI? If I have to do ICSI I may as well use my husbands sperm. We have done enough cycles, neither of us want full IVF again. 

Anyone moved to donor sperm and tried IUI ? Or anyone doing IUI over 40 with their partners sperm? How many goes should I have before stopping if it doesn't work?


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## KiddyKat (Jan 25, 2013)

Hi KL,

I don't know the answers to your questions but DH and I are facing the donor sperm route. 

What clinic are you using? We've opted for ARGC after having initial tests at create. ARGC are however, retesting everything and I can't help but feel its a big waste of time I haven't got as I'm 42 next week. Just as we have agreed to go down treatment route, I'm starting to really doubt it will ever happen for us and I too feel in a dark place.

Hope someone can answer your questions and I wish you the very best of luck xxxx


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## LMB (Aug 31, 2008)

Hi - just read your post and it resonated with me.. My husband and I used donor sperm originally to conceive my daughter when I was 37 due to male factor issues - he wasn't producing any sperm due to childhood illness, so IVF wasn't an option for us.


  I conceived my DD after 3 IuI cycles..  We purchased additional straws of the donor in case we wanted a sibling.  When my DD was 18mths, we started IuI treatment again... Believing that as I conceived quite easily 1st time round, we all thought (drs included) that I would fall pregnant again.. We proceeded to have 6 IUI's and then 1 x IVF without any success.. By this time I was 40 - ironically my test date was on my 40th birthday for my 1st IVF cycle which was a very hard pill to swallow!  


In between it all our clinic miscalculated the number of straws left, as we thought we had 11 and intended to do 6 IUI's and 2 x Ivfs.. Anyway to cut story short, we chose another donor and because my egg quality was poor, my dr suggested that I should as revert back to  IuI as I had as equal chance to conceive as with with IVF (I only fertilised 1 egg),  so we decided to return to 3 shots at IuI with new donor and final shot of IVF to see whether I would respond any differently... Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful with the 2nd IVF which I completed 2 weeks before my 41st birthday.. 


After 2.5 years trying to conceive  have decided that IVF is not going to work and only so much money that can throw at it.. I still have a real yearning for another baby... We were at counsellor last week and exploring egg and sperm  donation in Spain which was quite an emotional session as my husband and I are not on same page...  husband is not so keen on double donor as he thinks its just too complicated to manage in years to come - he would prefer to adopt, although time is ticking on and will take 2 yrs to complete the family through this route and is super intrusive... 


On reflection, I would not have reverted back to IuI after 1st unsuccessful ivi as I feel as though I wasted time with IuI.. The plus side of IuI is it is non evasive and so cheaper..


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## LMB (Aug 31, 2008)

Forgot to mention that my clinic recommends 8 cycles of IuI with review of tubes etc after about 4 to 6 unsuccessful cycles...


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## KLconfused (Jan 2, 2010)

Thanks for your replies. Its amazing how badly being 40 can hit. My friends are doing better with it than me but they are not going through fertility treatment. 

Im in the 2WW from the FET but if this doesn't work were definitely doing donor sperm. No more IVF. If IUI doesn't work I don't know what we'll do but we will cross that bridge if we get there. Ive just read through the natural BFP success thread for over 40. As ive never had working sperm in me I really hope I can be one of the lucky ones. 

Good luck on all your journeys.


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