Monday, August 31, 2009

Is IVF the right thing?

I stumbled on this article titled, "Is In Vitro Fertization Overused?"

Wow... made me think! Are we doing the right thing to jump on the IVF bandwagon? At 39, I don't think I have a bunch of time to sit around and wait for possible fixes for Mr. Jem's swimmers.

Arghhh!! What to do?

Jem

4 comments:

Brandy said...

Hmmm...from everything I've read, IVF is still used as a last resort and people are "wasting" time and money on other procedures (like IUI) because IVF is so costly and there is so little insurance coverage.

We have male factor infertility. We've been to a specialist and they can't find the cause for the low count. Physiologically everything is normal, hormone levels are normal, no blockages, nothing. Medications have not helped to increase his count. So IVF is pretty much our only option.

www.brandysheaif.blogspot.com

Jem said...

Brandy,

What medications did Mr. Brandy go on? Did you try any other ART methods first?

We were told we could go to a urologist, but that the end result would most probably be IVF. It's not just our last result, but our first resort (after trying naturally, of course).

Pie said...

I always see IVF as a last stop on a long journey. Sure, there are some diagnoses, like severe male factor that needs ICSI, that justify skipping less invasive procedures. But I can't imagine most people would just jump into IVF given the cost, invasivness, and other ART procedures available (like IUI).

Jem said...

Pie,

Precisely why I freaked! I guess we do have sever male factor. The other option we had was IUI, but using donor sperm.

Jem