Plans
So Den and I are discussing future plans. In a previous post Freyja brought up that we may not need IVF, knowing what our issues are…. and my mind has been pondering the same thing.
We did IVF because we didn’t know what the issue was, and nothing else had worked. It turned out to be not just a treatment but also very educational: we learned that my problem is my egg maturity. I make a TON of eggs on very little medication – on low doses of clomid I made 4 eggs each cycle, and on relatively low doses of follistim (150iu) during IVF I made 24 eggs – however most of those eggs were either dead or immature. ICSI didn’t help raise the odds at all, because duh, you need mature eggs for ICSI.
So the question becomes: is there a way to help my eggs mature WITHOUT doing IVF? I think there should be. I don’t know what drugs are best, or even what drugs are available really…. I’m going to have to do more research on that. But really when you think about our issues, what we need to do is give my eggs a boost with some sort of medication. The sperm isn’t the issue, and the fertilization isn’t the issue (which we know from IVF). Timed intercourse should be fine.
I pulled out our new insurance’s coverage booklet to take a look. I hadn’t taken much of a look at it besides confirming that it covers no IVF at all. But it DOES cover “diagnosis and treatment of infertility” – as long as it’s not any form of ART (including IUI and IVF). $30 co-pay per visit. So I says HMMMM. That sounds suspiciously like they would cover visits to the RE for consults, ultrasound monitoring…. it *may* even cover medication for timed intercourse cycles. Though the medication part is iffy, because they only cover meds ordered through their approved pharmacies, and you can’t order this shit from your local pharmacy. So we may have to pay out of pocket for the very expensive medications – but hell that’s a lot cheaper than an IVF cycle. And we can go have a consult to find out what our options are without worrying about paying for the consult, just a co-pay.
We’re not sure when we’ll want to go back. Probably about 6 months. We’ll try on our own until then and hope that we get lucky. I really want to let my body at least have a chance.
So there’s our plan. It is subject to change.
natalie, for what it may be worth to you, eastern medicine, specifically acupuncture and herbs, are known to help improve egg quality. I’ve always heard that it takes at least 3 months to take effect for this purpose. it’s also good for just balancing hormones, and even depression. if you’re interested in considering it, just be sure to find a good practitioner that specializes in fertility issues. I see both my RE and acu at the same time and use the eastern to complement the western. (actually the only time I got pg I was seeing just the acu…)
I certainly don’t mean to provide unwanted assvice, and it’s not for everyone, but thought I’d raise it as food for thought… ~luna
That is fantastic news. :)
This seems like wonderful news for you and Den to look forward to. I will pray it works for you.
Good Luck! I truly hope that you don’t need any medication at all. I pray that this next one will be much easier for you for both of your sakes. I hope that your body knows what to do now. We will be thinking about you as always.
I agree with Luna, looking into eastern practices while you wait might be a good idea. Besides, it might help you in your grief now. Also, making an appt with the RE now for a couple months from now won’t hurt. It helped me immensely knowing I had that appt out there, something in the midst of all this crap to look forward to (look forward, be terrified of, dread, you know the mix of sh*tty emotions).
About the approved pharmacies – that shouldn’t be a big problem. My insurance (BCBS) approved 3 pharmacies for fertility meds, and they gave me a list. One was about a 40-minute drive from my house, but all of them delivered. They are guaranteed to arrive the day you need to start, so I got sick of battling traffic and started having them deliver the meds. I don’t know where you live, but I wouldn’t worry too much about approved pharmacy question. Best of luck to you.
Just want to let you know that there will be an “approved pharmacy” that covers your medication, it just may be mail order.
We think that egg maturity might have been an issue for me as well. I was ovualting, we have no sperm issues, and I wasn’t getting pregnant. The only obvious problem was my short cycle. My RE suggested some fertility drugs to try to extend my cycle so that my body wasn’t trying to produce and ovulate a mature egg in only 9 days – which was what was happening. Our lucky combination was Femara (to get us more “targets”) and 150IU injections of Menopur every other day (to help the eggs grow better). Also, my insurance sounds very much like yours — and they covered all doctors appointments, ultrasounds, etc. Just not the actual sperm washing or IUI procedures. They also covered Femara (and Clomid when I used it) but not the Menopur (because it was injectible and obviously for treating IF). Good luck!!
Hey, another immature egger here. We would get pregnant and lose our babies almost immediately, seven times in a row.
My doctor also tried Femera with us (did not work, we had another chemical loss), and was about to add Follistim when my company changed insurance providers and we had only two months left of IVF coverage. We skipped right to IVF, because why not? But she thinks Follistim might have worked for me. I still have some in my ‘fridge if you wanted it. . . I also have trigger and a half bottle of progesterone. You are welcome to any of it, since it will expire before I could use it again.
You can e-mail me through my blog if you are interested.
Anyway, once we did IVF, we discovered the same issue. Lots of eggs, few mature. So, she said in the future, she would focus on egg maturity as our issue – the Follistim was supposed to really “pump ’em up!”
My local grocery pharmacy gets some of the meds and will special order others for me if I ask. I’m not sure where you live, but it’s Publix pharmacy (in the grocery store). They are AWESOME. I’ve gotten Ovidrel and they offered to get FSH for me. They’ve also gotten clomid, progesterone supps, and Femara. Good luck!
Good luck! Hope everything works for you.
Our insurance was like Michelle’s– wouldn’t cover Clomid, but it did cover Tamoxifen b/c it wasn’t obviously for TTC. All of our u/s were billed as “ovarian disfunction” and they covered all of those, too. Good thing, b/c we sure couldn’t afford them.
Still thinking of you non-stop, btw. :hugs:
I know I’m not a doc but so far both your IVF doc, the two REs I’ve been to see, my OB and two thirds of the doc’s Zeno has seen over the last few years have proved to be INCOMPETENT. So, I tend to have as much faith in my own research as what they tell me. Maybe that’s bad but it is how I perceive things. So anyway, it seems logical to me that there should be some kind of drug that can help you with your egg issues without having to go through IVF…
Also a word of advice on testing and diagnosis – my insurance reads the same way. My first few doctor visits at my old RE and the HSG were covered. Then my consults with the new doc and my lap have all been covered. However, I learned with the first doc that once I do my very first medicated cycle with a doctor, he must put the treatment code as being for IF for all subsequent things and so after that NOTHING is covered. Consequently I do not plan to do a medicated treatment cycle with my new doc until I’ve had ALL my tests ran. Maybe your doc or your insurance aren’t exactly the same but I wanted to let you know about my experience just in case.