IUI is the light of hope for many couples who are suffering from a lack of pregnancy by natural methods. Trying to get pregnant for more than one year and facing IUI failure every time means low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and more societal pressure.
Opting for infertility treatments like IUI, and IVF brings a new light of hope in the life of the couple.
There are expectations of not only the couple but of the family, and society also with the very first IUI, but what to do if the first IUI fails?
The pain of the first IUI failure is not only emotional and psychological but physical also.
While no way can decrease the pain of the first IUI failure there is always hope ahead.
The Emotional Devastation Of The First IUI Fail
What to do if the first IUI fails is the main concern of many couples. Coping with the emotional devastation after the miscarriage can result in having a turmoil of emotions at a single time that ranges from:
- Grief
- Hopelessness
- Sadness
- Guilt
- Anger
- Jealousy (with other parents) to
- Intense feelings of loneliness (especially when one sees the other parents smiling, and playing with their children)
Many couples find it challenging to talk about the pain of the loss. They do not know how to cope with the pain of the first IUI failure.
There is an emotional breakdown that further leads to physical health degradation. But one should never forget that losing hope before trying 4 to 5 IUI cycles is not advisable.
Even infertility experts suggest opting for more than 4 cycles before switching to other infertility treatments.
What To Do To Overcome The Emotional Disbalance?
The long recovery time from a miscarriage depends a lot on your overall emotional and mental health. Although your body will recover from the physical symptoms of a miscarriage, it looks like you will never be able to handle the loss of a baby.
Taking enough time to grieve is important, but equally important is knowing when – and how – to move on. This transition usually occurs by self-care, allowing time to heal and nourish your body and mind.
Continuing certainly doesn’t mean forgetting about your pregnancy. Seeking support to reduce your pain from support groups will help. Go out and express your feelings to your friends and family members. Keeping the pain to yourself will only multiply it by many folds. One day your role may be reversed. You will support another parent who has had a miscarriage.
It is also important not to rush pregnancy within any given time frame. Your gynecologist will tell you when you should try again, but your physical readiness will be much different from your mental readiness. Planning a new pregnancy before overcoming the pain of the previously failed pregnancy will never help. Give yourself time and space to overcome the pain and emotional turmoil.
The Physical Ups and Downs After The Failed IUI
Facing failed IUIs is not easy to handle not only emotionally but physically also. Some women know that they are pregnant after they miss their first menstrual cycle, some may know after weeks of missing the cycle, and some may not even know after miscarriage.
The body starts to develop itself to nurture the growing baby but if it faces miscarriage there are many ways it reacts to remove the residuals left.
It depends on the period of gestation that has already been completed before the miscarriage that the body develops itself to regain. Your doctor may give you medications in the form of oral pills and also vaginal pills to remove any residual of the embryo if left.
This process is surely not easy to take both emotionally and physically. To overcome the physical strain you may go for the following suggestions
Let Yourself Express The Pain
The pain of losing a baby that you have dreamed of holding in your hands, pampering all day, seeing him grow in front of your eyes, and becoming your strength, later on, is the hardest thing to bear. You may not be able to decide whether to feel guilty, feel sorry, feel empathetic, or feel angry at yourself. Seeing other parents enjoying their parenthood with smiling faces and cheerful lives may increase your pain a lot.
The best solution to overcome or to cope with this pain is to let it get expressed. Keeping the emotions inside you will only make you feel worse and degrade your health. If you want to overcome it, face it. Cry if you feel like it, shout, or express your anger but never keep these emotions inside you. There is always hope for everyone and you are also blessed with that hope.
Talk To Your Friends And Family
If you keep the pain of pregnancy failure to yourself, you will chock all your happiness.
If you keep thinking about what to do if the first IUI fails, before going for the treatment you will do badly only to yourself. Stop assuming things and putting yourself in grief all the time. Go out in the open and talk to anyone you prefer.
It may be your friend, or any of your family members whom you trust will understand your situation completely. Expressing the feelings in words will always give you relief.
Find A Support Group
Remember always that you are not the only one who is suffering from the pain of miscarriage. There are many others out in the world who have faced the same situation and have come out strong.
Find a support group that relates to your situation and seek guidance on how to live a normal life after facing failure in having a successful pregnancy. Never let your hope die because it is the only positive thing during this negative situation.
Seek Spiritual Guidance
If you have believed in spirituality, you must seek help from there. Take help from any religious leader or the one you trust. Enlightenment has the extreme power to cure all pains.
Consult A Therapist
A grief counselor can help you in coping with the pain and overcome it with support. If you feel the need, you should also go for couple counseling with your partner.
Reasons For The First IUI Fail
Lack of knowledge while going for the first IUI is the major cause of the first IUI failure. Though IUI is the most affordable, effective, least time-consuming, and couple-friendly treatment the sad truth is, that it is not the best infertility treatment for every couple. Some infertility conditions are not suitable for IUI treatment.
Endometriosis
Endometriosis is the condition in which the tissues that should form the lining of the uterus, outgrow it and cluster outside it. Women who suffer from infertility due to this have a very low success rate of pregnancy. Endometriosis is classified into four stages based on the length of the abnormally grown tissues.
The four stages are minimal, mild, moderate, and the last stage severe endometriosis.
Women who suffer from the fourth stage of endometriosis have very few chances of their eggs getting fertilized. IUI is not the best infertility treatment for such women.
Quality Of Eggs
The most important reason for the first IUI failure is the poor quality of eggs. As the age of women increases, the quality of eggs decreases. Around the age of 35 years and 40 years, women possess a low rate of fertility.
Neither the hormones are produced in a sufficient quantity, nor the body is supportive of pregnancy.
On the other hand, young women who are aged between 22 years and 35 years have the highest chances of getting pregnant through IUI treatment.
Low-Quality Sperms
The failure of infertility treatment is always not because of the woman. Sometimes the reason for the failure of treatment depends on the male partner or the sperm donor.
There is a one-third chance that infertility treatment has failed because of a woman partner and also one-third is the responsibility of the male partner.
For fertilization that results in a successful pregnancy, the sperm should be in a healthy state. Their quantity and quality both should be satisfactory enough to result in successful infertility treatment. Poor quality of sperm is one of the main reasons for the failure of IUI treatment.
Blocked Fallopian Tubes
The fallopian tubes are one of the most important organs in the female reproductive system. They help in forwarding the mature eggs towards the uterus after they are released from the ovary.
Women may face their first IUI failure due to obstructed fallopian tubes because of some disease or pelvic infection. To have a successful infertility treatment, women must have at least one unblocked fallopian tube.
Before going for the IUI treatment, it is advisable to consult an expert to avoid the first IUI failure.
Ovulation
For successful infertility treatment, continuous tracking of ovulation is very important. During IUI treatment sperms are injected into the uterus artificially.
But, if the injected sperms do not fertilize the egg(s) produced by the female body there is no meaning of this procedure. Infertility experts sometimes give medicines to trigger ovulation. Hence, the timing of ovulation and sperm injection should be coordinated to avoid failure of the treatment adopted.
What To Do If The First IUI Fails?
If you are planning to have further IUI cycles or to change the infertility treatment, you must discuss the following point with your infertility expert first.
What Went Wrong?
There are many reasons for the first IUI failure, they may be related to male infertility or female infertility problems. Discussing with the expert about all the possible issues that went wrong will help in improving the chances of the next IUI cycles. Some conditions are not at all suitable for successful IUI.
If the reason for failing IUI was one of these then the treatment should be changed. If the reason was not one of these then the couple after consulting the expert should opt for further cycles as it is advised to undergo at least 4 IUI cycles before losing hope with it.
What Are The Chances Of Success, If The IUI Cycle Is R0epeated?
Sometimes the odds of a successful IUI are increased because the expert and the couple know the reason(s) for the failure of the first IUI. Not repeating the same mistakes will help in increasing the chances by many folds during the present cycle.
The changes may remain the same. It may also happen that after a few to several cycles, the odds of successful IUI decrease by significant numbers. Few clinics offer data analytics tools to predict the chances of further successful IUI cycles.
Possible Side Effects Of Repeating The Same Treatment
If your fertility expert suggests you repeat the IUI cycle, you must ask about the possible consequences of the same. It may happen that after repeated cycles of IUI, Clomid(clomiphene) which is used for triggering ovulation shows some side effects. If more than six IUI cycles opt, the use of Clomid should be stopped.
Repeating the treatment will always have a huge impact on your savings. Though IUI is affordable as compared to other infertility treatments, it is not free of cost.
Emotional draining, exhaustion, frustration, low self-esteem, and even suicidal tendencies are common side effects of failed infertility treatments. It is not easy for anyone to face repeated IUI failures when the only hope of having a baby is infertility treatment.
Any Additional Testing Recommended
IUI treatment is quite simple and requires the least clinical checkups and medicines. But if you are going for the first IUI cycle and now thinking about what to do if the first IUI fails, you must go for further testing before switching to further cycles of the treatment. Genetic screening, karyotyping, testing for reproductive immunology issues, or a more advanced uterine evaluation may be done to ensure higher success rates.
Taking The Second Opinion
Before switching to any other infertility treatment or even if you are planning to have further IUI cycles, you must take a second opinion. Consulting different infertility experts is always advisable. It will boost your confidence and also remove the doubts if any.
How To Increase The Success Rate Of Your Next IUI?
If you have faced an unsuccessful IUI cycle, it does not mean that your chances of a successful IUI are zero. Take these tips to increase the chances of your next IUI success:
1. Choosing The Right Type Of IUI
IUI procedure usually has a higher success rate for many infertile couples. The types of fertility drugs used and when to take them are also important. Using the washed sperms increases the success rate of IUI a lot.
2. Take Special Care Of Yourself
- Adopt a healthy diet and supplement with foods that are associated with increased fertility. Take a diet that is rich in whole foods, including leafy vegetables, different types of fruits, and whole grains. Take dairy products as much as you can. Eating one or two times dairy products a day helps in improving the chances of successful IUI.
- Stay hydrated and free of toxins by drinking plenty of water.
- Include a daily dose of multivitamins in your supplements. Taking a daily dose of folic acids is helpful. You can have as many supplements as your doctor prescribes and your body needs.
3. Find ways to reduce and relieve stress
There is a lot of evidence that stress can reduce your chances of getting pregnant. Even the stress you experience in the face of infertility can interfere with conception and can cause miscarriages. Discover what helps relieve stress and do it regularly. Common stress relief measures include hiking, cycling, yoga every day, or joining a support group.
4. Take expectorants to increase your chances of having a successful IUI cycle
Fertility drugs like Clomid can contribute to too much sebum build-up in the uterus. Cough syrup can help thin the mucus in your cervix to prevent cervical mucus from becoming too thick and unsuitable to allow sperm to survive.
5. Avoid Strenuous Exercise Right Before And After Fertilization
Strenuous activities can cause uterine contractions and hinder implantation. Light exercises like gentle aerobics, swimming, walking, and yoga are all right. High-impact exercises such as jogging and aerobics should be avoided. It’s best to relax before and after the procedure to give your body a chance to relax and calm down.
6. Have A Backup Plan
While IUI can improve your chances of getting pregnant, it’s not understandable. If you’re not sure what is causing your fertility challenge, use this time to root out your basics. You should start with a fertility test. Take online FAQs to understand your situation better. It will be like a second opinion for you.
If you are looking for fertility treatment for successful conception then IUI may be the answer for you. It is worth trying before doing IVF, which is a much more expensive procedure.
What to do if the first IUI fails is a question that almost every couple has before opting for an IUI cycle. The success rates are high but failures are also part of it. Coming out from the pain of a failed IUI cycle is hard but not impossible. At Subhag Infertility Clinic, you can expect the highest level of dedication. Your happiness is their satisfaction.
