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Hi Pam! Good luck with your IUI. I just had my first one last Thursday. The doc told me it wouldn'thurt, but my cervix was a bit tight (doc said it was due to never being pg before), and he had to force it through. That really hurt. My advice would be to take some advil or some sort of mild pain reliever before if you have not been pg before. Another woman I've talked to said she had to have her cervix dialated, and that hurt a lot too! I think most women do not have very much pain with IUI, though. Most women have a pretty good opening in their cervix even if they haven't been pg. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

uh oh KellyN, I'm scared now because i have not been pregnant before. this would be our first. Thanx for answering me.Do you know what the odds of getting pg this way is?

Pam,
Don't let Kelly's experience freak you out, I think it is probably unusual. I am currently 13 weeks pregnant, and it took me a bunch of IUIs to get here. (Unfortunately, we had no chance of success outside of IUI or IVF due to male issues.) I am a huge chicken when it comes to any kind of medical thing, and I think IUIs are no big deal. They only take about one minute, and generally aren't much worse than a pap smear. (I would take an IUI over having a blood test, hands down, if that gives you any perspective). My 1st IUI was the worst and it was not that bad. The reason the first caused a little bit of pain is that I was scared and completely tensed up, which makes it more difficult. The more relaxed you can be the easier it is. Have you had an HSG yet? If you have, then I can tell you that comparatively an IUI is a whole lot easier than that.
Also, DO NOT take Advil or Aleve unless your doctor okays it!!!!! Advil and Aleve, because they are antinflammatories, can cause ovulation problems, specifically scientific research has shown they can cause a failure of the follicles to burst and release eggs, which means you could be ruining your chance of success and making your IUI a waste of time. My doctor told me ABSOLUTELY NO Advil, Aleve, ibubrofen or other anti-inflammatory type drug etc. before or after the IUI. You don't want to take it in the two week wait, because Advil is on the forbidden drug list for pregnancy. I've heard its anti-inflammatory properties can interfere with implantation (although I haven't seen any science on that), and I have read that it has a possibility of causing miscarriage or birth defects. I never took anything with any of my IUIs, and never felt like I really needed anything.
As for the odds of success with IUI, it probably depends somewhat on what your particular situation is. Generally the odds are 15-20% each time, which is the same as if you were trying things the natural way with all normal conditions. Hope this helps.

KT - thanx, yes i had an hsg and hated it, i found it painful but if i had to again i would thank goodness i dont. My clinic has said they try things in 3 cycles... 3 cycles iui tries if not then move to ivf etc etc. I'm glad you had iui success can i ask how many times you had to try them? I ovulate myself so i probably wont need drugs but just an assumption. We probably wont go to ivf unless we get coverage from work but we havnt inquired yet because i dont want that stress just yet. we can afford iui's for a bit, i think i would try max 4, then if no luck i think i'll count my blessings i'm with a good man and still hope for the best naturally- it's a long shot but doc says still possible.

what cycle day do you go in for an iui on? does anyone know

Pam,
Here's my story- its long and probably more info than you want. There are a lot of people who get pregnant in the first 3-4 IUIs. I had a lot of IUIs, but I am also 38 years old which doesn't help, was really trying to avoid IVF, and through trial and error we discovered that apparently I must have some very slight tubal issue going on because I can only get pregnant in the 3 month window of increased chance after the HSG.
I ovulated regularly on a 26 or 27 day cycle, and we knew the problem was my husband, so we started natural (no drugs) IUIs before any testing on me. My doctor's philosphy is since there is about a 20% chance through IUI, statisically after 5 tries you should move on to something else or at least do something different.
Because the sperm we were using had been frozen first, it only lives about 24 hours so timing was critical (if you use fresh it lives 2-3 days so you don't have to be as exact). Our timing wasn't exactly right the first few times so we tried 7 or 8 IUIs, to make sure we had 5 good ones. When that didn't work, I had an HSG to make sure my tubes were okay and also because it gives you an increased chance for three months. My tubes were clear and I got pregnant through IUI the month after the HSG. Unfortunately I m/c at 6 weeks. Then it was 3 IUIs and nothing, then 2 IUIs with Clomid and still nothing. Then I switched to Femara and we decided to do another HSG not for diagnostic purposes, but rather to try to re-create the conditions of the last time I got pregnant. When I didn't get pregnant the month after the HSG like the 1st time my Doctor was really pushing for IVF (something that I really wanted to avoid, and wasn't sure I could handle) or at least an injectible cycle, but I said I did not want to do that until my 3 month window after the HSG was over. I am so glad I held out because I got pregnant the next month. All signs point to a normal healthy pregnancy.
As for what day you go in for your IUI, you need to get there as close to ovulation as possible, but preferably right before. If you are more than 12 hours after ovulation it is a waste of time. Because we needed to be so exact, we used a combination of BBT, OPKs, and the Clearplan monitor for timing. You can't just rely on BBT, because it only tells you if your timing was right after the fact. If it goes up (which shows you ovulated) the morning after your IUI, your timing was good. That's how we would know if our timing had not been good enough.

Pam and KT, my doc told me to take advil for my ovulation pains that I get because of the clomid I'm taking. I don't see any problem with taking it before an IUI, if ovulation happens after that?? It is true that you should not take these drugs after implantation (when the baby attaches to your blood system), but the advil should be out of your system by then. Who knows it may even help with ttc. After all, many many women take baby aspirine (which also thins the blood) to improve circulation. Although, I wouldn't want to take an advil every day. Baby asprin is a much smaller dose. Still, if you are before ovulation, what's the problem??

Crystal,
According to my doctor and some articles I looked at, the problem with Advil and anti-inflammatories (I don't know anything about aspirin) is that scientific research has shown that they can cause a failure of the follicles to burst and release eggs, which means that if you take them close to and before ovulation, there is a chance you could actually prevent a normal ovulation. I don't know how big of a dose it would take to cause that to happen, or if it would have to be an accumulated regular dosage or usage; or the percentage chance of it occuring, but it is a risk. Although I am not a scientist (my husband is), I suspect that it is because the follicle that surrounds the egg is really just a cyst that ruptures to release the egg. (If it doesn't rupture and release the egg, it can turn into a bigger and painful cyst). I think the concern is that the Advil or other anti-inflammatory acts on this "good" cyst as it would when you are using it to reduce pain of a bad cyst- it can reduce the "swelling" meaning the size or function of the follicle. I couldn't find the articles I saw before, but here are some websites that do talk a little about it:
http://www.conceivingconcepts.com/news
/v2i11.html
http://www.fertilityplus.or
g/faq/nsaids.html;

http://www.aarda.o
rg/research/research_display.php?ID=7

Thanks KT. That makes sense to me now why I can take it during ovulation, but not before. Thanks for the links, they were very helpful. I am a scientist, but not that kind.

Yikes! My doc didn't tell me any of that. You would think that RE's would go over that stuff with you. Thanks for your post KT!

KT thank you so much for your story. i'm 40 and we have male fertility problems. So far i'm ok but learning far more than i ever thought i'd need to know about baby making!!

Pam, I'm 39 with no fertilty issues. We did DIUI 10 times before we became successful. At our age, the expected success rate is 10% so 10x was "right on schedule."

lena congratulations. wow 10 x's. I dont think i would have tried more than 4 -6 as they seem to say in every article i read 4-6 cycles and if it doesnt work go to ivf but we cant afford that route. What kept you motivated to keep tyring?

Pam and Lena- Glad to hear from people my age! I am not to the IUI yet. But will be if I am not pregnant in the next two months. Baby dust to you guys and keep us posted.