For an ivf cycle, a woman’s body is practically bombarded by powerful drugs; first to shut down her ovaries (down regulation), and then other drugs to stimulate them to produce more eggs(FSH), and yet another drug to trigger ovulation (HCG). Women react to these drugs in different ways and one (costs aside), may understandably be wary of subjecting the body to them. The effects of long term use of these drugs (necessary when one has to repeat treatment cycles) can be worrisome and is still being studied.
NATURAL CYCLE IVF is definitely worth considering. In effect, you get the best of both worlds. For this procedure, it is the single egg produced in a woman’s normal cycle that is inseminated. Also known as no or low stimulation IVF, it is an invitro fertilisation procedure which uses no artificial fertility drugs, or very low dose ones.
Why Would I Want To Have IVF Without Fertility Drugs?
For some couples, the choice is financial. It is done at a fraction of the cost of standard IVF, so it may be their only chance at treatment. Some people prefer to try this method before moving on to traditional IVF.
For others, the choice may be medical. They may be contraindicated to fertility drugs (for instance, with a previous history of ovarian cancer or depression) or they may have reacted badly to a course of fertility drugs before. Women who have suffered with ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome may be offered this type of treatment as the syndrome is very serious and can be life-threatening so it may not be safe for them to continue with standard IVF.
Some couples just don't like drugs and prefer a more natural approach to infertility.
A point to note is that because of the improvement in the embryo culture technology, we are now at a point where even one egg gives a reasonable chance of success – about 15% per cycle. Therefore, in women who do not wish to use fertility medications, cannot afford fertility medications, or who do not produce many eggs even when they use fertility medications – Natural Cycle IVF is a logical and often successful alternative. Given that the success is 15% per attempt, it has been the experience of many centers that with several cycles of Natural IVF, one can achieve the same success rate of one cycle of stimulated IVF (45%).
Please see http://www.invitrofertilisation.blogspot.com for conclusion of this topic.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
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