QuestionHi,
I'm on my 4th cycle of IUI - I just had it done Thursday morning. I did a digital ovulation test Wednesday night and it was positive (smiley face) and per my Fertility Specialist, I did an injection of Ovedril that night and went in Thursday morning for the IUI. The smiley face still showed up on Thursday morning. (we used a fresh semen sample). Out of curiosity, I did another ovulation test this Friday morning and there is still the positive LH surge - I looked at the test stick and the control and test lines were both very blue. My question is, did we do the IUI too soon? I know the sperm can survive from 2 to 5 days so I'm hoping it will be OK, but what do you think? Also, since I just had the IUI yesterday morning, is it OK to have intercourse this evening or should we be avoiding intercourse right now? Thanks in advance for your answers.
Jackie
AnswerHello Jackie from the U.S.,
When only 1 IUI is done, usually it is timed to be 36 hrs from the HCG trigger or LH surge. Since your OPK showed an LH surge, the HCG was probably redundant but there is no harm in that. As to the timing of the IUI, I can't comment on that. There is too much variability and in fact we cannot know exactly when ovulation has occurred. The goal is to get fresh sperm into the tube prior to the egg release. For this reason, I am a believer in the two IUI protocol (24 hrs and 48hrs), but the efficacy of this is debatable and there have been several papers showing that the one IUI works just as well. There are too many things to try to control for in those studies so I don't believe any of them are conclusive.
It is okay to have intercourse.
Good Luck,
Edward J. Ramirez, M.D., FACOG
Executive Medical Director
The Fertility and Gynecology Center
Monterey Bay IVF Program
www.montereybayivf.com
Monterey, California, U.S.A.
for additional information check out my blog at http://womenshealthandfertility.blogspot.com check me out on twitter with me at @montereybayivf and facebook @montereybayivf
