There is a lot of “dicking” around — so to speak — with infertility treatment. How many women waste months or years on useless clomid IUIs because insurance companies won’t let them do IVF until they have tried all the other options. IVF works, its a fairly simple procedure, and doing it sooner probably saves everybody money and get more people the families they want.

That is not to say it should be used if there is an identified treatable condition that is causing the infertility, but in a lot of cases the cause is unknown.

The idea that IVF is some kind of horrendously invasive and extreme procedure just gives the insurance companies reason not to pay for it and probably scares some women into not doing it, when it would work for them. I don’t know how many people told me “I don’t think I would take such extreme measures to have a baby” when I was struggling with infertility. I would have undergone much more extreme measures to get my kids.

And, it seems to me that the struggle and expense that people go through for an adoption is far more than what I went through for IVF, but no one ever says “why don’t you just try IVF” when someone is trying to adopt.

I have seen too many friends waste a lot of time, energy, and money on months of clomid and IUIs where the success rate is barely higher than regular old sex (I think at best maybe 10%?) – by the time their REs want them to move on to IVF they’re either too broke or too emotionally exhausted to continue. We were diagnosed w/ male factor infertility after 2 years of TTC – we probably should have been diagnosed much earlier but I was just seeing my OB at first and he wanted to run the gamut on me and almost had me talked into clomid et al when I finally decided to go to an RE. The RE tested my husband off the bat and after a second test to confirm the results convinced us that IVF was the best route. Our chances from IUI would have been about 2-3% but he gave us about a 50% chance with IVF/ICSI. I am so glad I listened to him – not once did I feel like he was trying to sell anything to me or push me into teh more expensive choice. In fact, he probably could have made a lot more money having me do multiple rounds of useless IUIs before getting to IVF eventually anyway. And luckily for us, it worked both times we’ve done it. I have a wonderful 2 year old son and am expecting another boy in December.

You never know until it happens to you. It is an individual decision and the having to try to figure out what the problem is can take you down roads you don’t need to travel. I was 36 when I started trying and went through a year of trying with no success then moved on to RE that had differing opinions. I was told it was just my age when my hormone levels were fine. I took a 1 year break then at 38 ended up seeing a new RE who figured out I had scar tissue from a ruptured appendix when I was 12. I had surgery to see the extent of the damage was and found out the only way I could conceive was with IVF. I tell you this story to say if they had been more aggressive in the beginning with me I would have saved a ton of money on unnecessary procedures and herbs and alternative treatments and could have gone straight to ivf. I did 1 round of IVF and it was successful and I now have a 2 year old. I am ready to have #2 and have no hesitation about doing ivf again. I agree with the other post it was not a horrendous process and happened pretty quick. Although I know people who have had failed cycles or never got pregnant and they have a different feeling on the subject. Either way it is an individual choice and if it is something you feel you want to pursue you should. Trust your gut.

uhm…why should infertility treatments be covered at all?

I really want to get into this, but I am NOT going to bother.

I went to a RE who made us go through a bunch of tests to make sure everything was working. I can’t even imagine going to a RE and have him/her want to do something without finding out what could be wrong. IUI did work for us. And I’m glad it did. But if there are issues, IVF could and should be used. Most people who have problems covering the treatment of infertility are fertile. That would be like me saying, just because I don’t have to worry about birth control, I don’t want it covered by insurance. Walk in our shoes…and before you get into the “just adopt” debate with this adoptee, I’ll happily say, “you first.” Adoption is wonderful. It is a great option. But it isn’t for everyone. Really.

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Why are people entitled to have biological children though? While I happen to be very fertile, I suffer from hyperemesis during pregnancy, and the only child I have has developmental disabilities. So I can’t necessarily have more biological children, despite my fertility. I’m not opposed to IVF being covered but I don’t think it should be a first priority of our healthcare system. I have good and expensive insurance and my child’s necessary treatments aren’t always covered, due to financial considerations. I do think our system should provide for born children before trying to help infertile women conceive. Sorry if that’s heartless.

Dr. David does not do IVF because he is not a board certified RE. He either did not take the boards, or failed them. Either way, he is unable to do IVF and now has an agenda against it.