These are the ways you may be able to avoid IVF altogether and save a ton of money.
Blocked Fallopian Tube – A hysterosalpingogram or HSG is a X-ray that checks your Fallopian tube for blockage. Sometimes due to muscle contraction, the tube is pinched and appeared in X-ray as blocked. A second HSG and opinion can be performed, and if fallopian tubes show up without muscle pinching the tube done at the right time, can show positive results, that is fallopian tubes aren’t block. And therefore you can try to conceive naturally without need for IVF first.
One Fallopian Tube Blocked – If only one tube is blocked, you can still try naturally without IVF.
Ovulation Issues – use of drugs prior to expensive IVF. Use of Clomid to increase number of eggs released can be an alternative way to bet against IVF and save a lot of money. Of course, there are many factors that can cause infertility.
Use of Contraceptive to reduce size of Fibroids. Fibroids sometimes can be reduced with the use of contraceptive, although this method has received objections from some doctors. Once Fibroids are reduced in size, it can help with clearing the pathway for sperm to enter uterus and implant.
Exercise & Weight Management– there are interesting research that shows exercise and weight loss is linked to improved fertility (although no one in industry wants to further investigate this as it doesn’t make more money). Try losing weight and exercise and improve your blood circulation through acupuncture and massage. More blood flow, more oxygen, more chances?
Practise Superstitious Old Wives Tales – go buy yourself a packet of McDonald’s Large French Fries for improving Implantation success. Why? Because sometimes placebo like McDonald’s fries, makes the woman happier and more confident, less worried and thus overall well being improves. Why not? If you believe it, it can happen.
Polyp Checkup – A simple 10 minute investment at your Gynecologist for a saline uterus sonogram plus another 10 minutes of Polyp snipping, can clear the uterus for nice implantation and for sperm to swim and meet the egg. As simple as that. You may not need IVF after this procedure and you can save your baby / fetus from being miscarried. It cost less than IVF and after procedure, many couples have conceived naturally. That said, time is of essence.
The key to any of the above is that you have to take action quickly as time is your money. Say for example, if you are 38, depending on your body type, you have literally 24 cycles before your chances exponentially diminished to zero.
The worse is to try, not knowing you are at high risk of miscarriage (say polyp blockage, fibroids, missing chemical for implantation or simple bad uterus). Then you are happy because you got pregnant, gets onto the roller coaster, and then through your first miscarriage, both you and your partner or yourself (single), go through emotional trauma and get delayed for 6 months. this emotional and financial trauma can totally be avoid if you go through some test prior to trying naturally even if you feel great.