FCiF Episode 1015 - A New Hope

Yeah I'm a geek. Deal. And no the 1015 is not a random number.

So my sister saw a snippet about in-vitro maturation* on the Early Show the other day. And being the good girl that she is, she called to talk to me about it. I hadn't realized it was being used much at all in the U.S. To be honest, I've stopped paying much attention to treatment options as I wait for my body to stabilize. It's the easiest on everyone - trust me. But this piqued** my interest.

You know that IVF has always been a pretty non-option for us. I react way too strongly in many ways to ovulation inducing drugs, and we do not have the money or the credit to pay for IVF. Despite that, I think in his realization that he would really like a baby please, Hub brought up the fact that IVF would be the only sure way we'd know if my eggs were any good or not and if that was the real problem. I think it has come into his consciousness as something that might be our only hope so to speak. But, seeing as the cons were far too compelling to ignore, we were thinking of trying one more IUI when my body seemed best fit for it and preparing for adoption concurrently.

Then I started researching IVM. Now, I don't know how much it costs - only that it's supposed to be cheaper than IVF.*** What I DO know is that you don't do all the traditional stimming that IVF involves. In fact, it's something like 3 days of one drug, and then you're done. THAT, I could handle. The problems are that it's not been long studied, the success rates aren't all that high (but it would be good to know my eggs were maturing for sure), and this article sites a study that found higher miscarriage rates with IVM than with IVF. There's also the question of who is even doing it in the U.S. And if someone is, and needs volunteers for a study - ME PLEASE! I'm a good subject! I'm under 35! I have PCOS and a slightly reduced sperm count issue. Helloooo!

Obviously more research is needed on my part. If anyone has such research, please point me in the right direction. Much thanks.

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*I originally found a more interesting, lay person sort of article, but when I spotted the phrase, "embryos are then implanted in the womb" it was thrown out immediately. ugh.

**Yes, this is the correct spelling of "pique," pronounced, "peek."

***VERY very relative to be sure.

****My I'm saucy today.