Infertility. Painful, i have this week!

IUI stands for Intra Uterine Insemination. A female releases just one egg in a monthly cycle. If coitus happens on the day the ovum is released, the sperms travel from the vagina to mouth of uterus ( cervix) to the uterine cavity and finally to the tube to meet the resting egg. Semen which is deposited in vagina at sex, doesn't go into the uterus, Only the sperms in the semen go there. So there is a filtration effect at the cervix. If normal semen is put inside the uterus, it will be thrown away as uterus gets irritated by the chemicals in the semen. This is usually taken care of by the filtration effect, and only sperms are allowed to pass through the cervix into the fallopian tube. In some patients IUI is recommended if the cervix is not favourable, or sperm count is low etc. Its NOT a short cut to pregnancy. It just provides a way in which most motile sperms from the semen sample is harvested and then directly pushed into the urerus, from there it fallopian tubes. So effectively in IUI the path that sperms take to travel from vagina to the awaiting egg in the fallopian tube is cut short. This can help pregnancy. In IUI the semen needs to be washed and treated to remove the seminal plasma and other dead cell debris and the most motiel sperms seperated are introduced in the uterine acvity

IUI is not painful , but you need to relax during the procedure. It is usually done without giving any anesthesia to the patient. IUI isusually done on day of follicle rupture or within 36 hours of giving inj HCG for follicle rupture. On the day of doing IUI the doctor will ask the husband to give a semen sample by masturbation in a sterile dry container. Then this will be kept at 37degrees in a 5% CO2 atmosphere in an incubator to allow the semen to liquefy. Once done this liquified semen is mixed with some reagents and subjected to semen washing, and the most motile sperms are harvested, These are then put inside the uterus through a thin sterile plastic tube. For this an internal examination is needed.